Preparing for the Court

Tennis is all about movement on the court.  To be able to move well on the court, one wants to be comfortable in the clothing that they wear.  Clothing used in tennis is often made of a light weight dri-fit material that is usually a mixture of spandex, polyester and cotton.  Players often use this material because it allows them to move faster and not have heavy clothing to slow them down.  This material is also great because it soaks up sweat without getting heavy.

 Many women tennis players either wear a tank top of some sort along with a tennis skirt.  The tennis skirts have spandex underneath that is often used to hold the tennis balls similar to a pocket.  Women prefer to wear the skirts along with a shirt, or they simply just like to wear a tennis dress that is made to play in with the same spandex material.  Men often wear a dri fit shirt along with any pair of shorts they prefer.  There are many different styles and types of clothing that tennis players can choose to wear during games.

Some different places in Topeka that you can go to purchase tennis clothing are:

Dick's Sporting Goods

Hibbett Sports

Target

Wood Valley

Also Online at:

Nike

Adidas

Tennis Warehouse

Here is a slideshow of many different kinds of clothing you can choose from.  

iTennis

We live in a world that is full of interactive technology that we depend on.  Many of us carry our mobile devices constantly in our pockets, while checking it many times a day whether it's for social interaction, weather updates, texting, checking our online banks etc.  So why not put tennis and technology together?!  I have done some research online to find the best tennis apps available.

• Tennis Score Tracker is an app in Apple that one can buy for .99.   This app has two modes, the first one is for player to input their score in after each match to keep track of all their scores.  The second mode is for observers, to record each point for an easier way to keep track. For more information go to BrightHub.

• Tennis Dictionary is an app you can find for .99.  The terminology in tennis can be confusing! One may even be embarrassed to ask what a particular term may mean!  Tennis Dictionary lets you search specific terms, browse by category, or the most popular.  For more information go to BrightHub

• If you are looking to track the latest scores of tennis matches, the best app for you is the ESPN app.  This app lets you choose your favorite teams or players and updates you with information on certain tournaments.  This app is free, I highly recommend this app not only for tennis but for any sport you may follow! For more information visit Apple

• If you're looking to play some tennis even just sitting at home! This tennis app is called Cross Court Tennis.  This app can be played on the lite version for free, or the full version for 1.99.  It is a tennis game app that lets you play in different tournaments, customize your character, or do career mode.  I have played the lite version of this game before and it was pretty fun! Here is more information from The Best Tennis Apps.  

Suiting Up

A tennis racket is one of the most essential items needed to play the game.  As a beginner, or even on the intermediate level, finding a good racket can be a difficult process!  There are countless number of brands: Head, Wilson, Avery, Dunlap, Prince and many more that you can choose from.  Not only are you having to decide between a certain brand, but also between grip size, head size, string tension, weight, etc.  To be honest, the first tennis racket I owned and used for about 3 years was a basic racket that I bought from Walmart for twenty dollars.  It was a Head brand and it worked just fine for me starting off as a beginner.    Usually, unless you are a serious competitor who needs a specific type of racket, there are only a few different categories that you'll have to choose from.  It doesn't really matter too much about what brand you choose to buy from, although I would advise to buy from one of the more mainstream brands (like the ones I mentioned above). 
                                                  

Picture Courtesy of Dick's Sporting Goods

This picture helps give you a visual of the parts of the tennis racket so that you can choose the best one for  you.  Usually beginners start off with a larger grip size, head size and light in weight.  This is the most basic specifications for a tennis racket, a big head size to give you a bigger target to hit the ball, and lighter in weight to help you be more mobile with your racket. My advice would be to go into a store that sells tennis rackets and get a feel for all of the different ones.  If you are a stronger person, you may want a little heavier of a racket as opposed to one that feels like a feather.  Picking a tennis racket that fits you is like finding the perfect pair of jeans, everyone is different and you have to find that perfect racket to help boost your tennis performance.  Dick's and Tennis Express show some great ways to help find the best racket for you.

Some different websites and stores in Topeka with tennis rackets for you to browse are Wood Valley , Dick's , and  Head.

Here are some articles from Yahoo, Steve Tennis  and Squidoo that have reviews and recommendations about good rackets to use. 

Topeka Tennis

Hopefully now that you've been following this blog for some time, you're getting the basics down and may be ready for the next level.  There are many leagues, lessons, and camps available for both adults and kids.  This is a great way to interact and meet new people who love to do what you do.  Besides getting to play more tennis, these camps and leagues are also great just to get away from the plain old boring work out sessions and play a little more competitively with others!

There are two main leagues for adults to sign up for that are great for competing and getting better.  The first one is right here in Topeka at Wood Valley.  Wood Valley offers great adult leagues and clinics.  You can choose to enroll in a league, at any time of the year (because of the indoor tennis courts), and you will play competitively against other tennis players.  Don't worry though! They put you in leagues depending on your level of play, so you don't have to freak out about not being good enough.  Wood Valley also offers clinics for adults.  These clinics are for both men and women, and there are intense one and casual ones.  You can choose whichever clinic you would like based on what you plan to accomplish from it.  Signing up for these clinics and leagues do require you to have a membership with Wood Valley; but there are so many other great pluses.  Wood Valley offers: tennis, swimming, golf, gym, basketball, and so many other sports, so it is a great way to get involved and play all the tennis you want as well! Visit Wood Valley's website for more information.

The second league for adults is a national league called USTA.  USTA stands for United States Tennis Association and our is known as the USTA Missouri Valley which includes the central states.  You do have to pay for a membership with USTA as well.  With this league, it is a bit more competitive, you have the opportunity to travel within the central states to play different tennis tournaments.  Quite a bit of the tournaments are played here in Topeka at Kossover.  This association is great because you become a part of a community where you can interact with people who play tennis all over.  For more background information and membership sign up, visit USTA.

If you have any younger kids that you would like to get involved in tennis at a younger age, here are many links for camps as well!

Parks & Rec
Wood Valley