Friday 22nd April 2011
It was back to training on hard today to prepare Dave for his next tournament in Malta which he flies to tomorrow.
As we had a late evening last night we had a later start this morning getting to the club for 8.30am to warm up and start our session at 9am. We started off with a movement session for 25 minutes including ladder work and tennis specific footwork exercises. We then made good use of the 3kg medicine ball that I always travel with to work on a leg strength circuit until just before 10am when Dave had a short 5 minutes break to recover before working on his 1st and 2nd serves. From the singles and doubles matches this week we’ve made notes on areas of Dave’s serve that need improvement and we’ve also continued working on the goals that his coaches have set from back in England. This all came together really well in the training this morning; the 1st serve was much cleaner and more accurate and the 2nd serve was stronger and kicking better. The big question was would it hold up under pressure?
Dave working hard during the movement session
We’d already arranged to play a practise set with Jorge Wilton at 11.30am which was just what Dave needed to keep pushing his level and make sure that he’s achieving his goals when there is something on the line. To make it even more interesting (and to add a little pressure) I asked the boys if they were up for the loser buying the winner lunch. They both considered it for a few seconds (as they checked if they had enough money on them!) and then agreed – game on!
Dave and Jorge working hard for their lunch!
It was a good set and both players competed hard; Dave played the best he had done all week and ticked all the boxes of the goals that we had set in the morning. Dave ended up coming out on top and served really well but before we finished for lunch we all did a couple of Fan Drill sprints and I’ve got to mention that I came out quickest there!!
After lunch we watched some of the main draw matches before coming back to the hotel to rest for the afternoon. Often players will want to do more and more training in the lead up to the next event but I believe it’s very important that once you’ve found a good level and worked hard during a session it’s important to let that feeling sink in, mentally give yourself a boost and also give your body time to rest before going to the next tournament.
We had a brief walk around town in the afternoon and then met up with Jorge, Chris, Samm and his dad to have dinner together in the evening. It was a much nicer meal than the last one we had in the centre of town but we couldn’t help but let the local cats enjoy it with us!!
Today is our last day in Mostar, tomorrow we get the train back to Sarajevo and then Dave moves onto Malta and I go back to England. It’s been a good trip, not necessarily in terms of results but there have been much more positives than negatives and Dave’s all set to go for next week.
Here’s one I’ve been meaning to take all week, there are sign’s in town saying “Never forget” and “Remember 1993 ” but there are also more shocking sights like this one of someones home still covered in bullet holes:
Next up for me is 3 weeks in Florida with Devan McCluskey for 3 U18 ITF Grade 4 events starting in Daytona Beach leaving next Thursday – bring it on!
