Wednesday, December 5, 2012

All Your Needs In One Place

You have to give it up for ESPN.  I mean they provide almost all of our sports coverage, from basketball to tennis.  Even if we may not see all the sports on TV, online, they provide access to all sports.  Under "tennis" in ESPN, they provide everything that a fan or tennis player could want to keep up with the game.  If you want to find tennis rankings, there it is, if you want to see the player interviews, there they are!  ESPN also offers there Twitter feed right there on their front page.  It gives you live tweets from people that ESPN follow who are tennis related to give you coverage about the sport.  If you want to find tennis related articles good or bad, there they are waiting to be read. 

Check out these articles and more located at ESPN




Staying Strong

As much as we try to avoid getting injured, there are always ways that we may hurt ourselves while doing everyday things.  Playing tennis is not a dangerous sport, but like anything else, you run the risk of getting injured.  Below is a list of a couple of common tennis injuries.  Be sure to take care of your body first, make sure you aren't at risk for any other these injuries, they could take a while to recover from.

Sprained Ankle: A sprained ankle is common in any sport, but can be more common in tennis because of the amount of movement one may do.  In tennis you move a lot side to side as well as forward and backward.  You can avoid this injury by getting proper tennis shoes, perhaps wearing a brace or taping your ankle if you are known to have weak ankles, and properly stretching. 

Shoulder Pain: In tennis, shoulder pain can come because of repetitive stroke motions.  Usually you can get shoulder pains from overuse of serving, and hitting overheads.  This injury can also lead to a torn rotators cuff, or Shoulder Bursitis.  Both of these could happen as a result of not treating your shoulders correctly, or not taking breaks.  One should do conditioning on the shoulder to make it stronger, continue to flex and stretch your shoulders for proper movement, and do not overload the amount of work you do. 

Tennis Elbow: One can get this injury from other things aside from playing tennis.  Tennis elbow is found is people who grip items for too long.  Making sure you have a proper sized racket can help avoid this injury.  Too small of a racket could cause you to squeeze too hard, while too big of a racket, could strain your muscles as well.  If you have taken a break from tennis, it is a good idea to ease back into the routine of things rather than playing for 5 hours straight. 

Monday, December 3, 2012

Tennis Questions

If you're like me, you like to know where everything came from, where it all started.  Have you ever wondered where the game of tennis came from?  Why is the word Love used in the game?  Where did the scoring come from? 

Here is a link that leads to an explanation of how tennis came about and the meaning behind some of the words. 


Ever wonder:

What all the videos for your questions answered!

Learning from Examples

I wish that I had time to come up with videos to show you all different drills, strategies, and strokes on playing tennis.  Unfortunately, I don't have all the free time to dedicate myself to that.  Instead, I have found some of the best YouTube channels of people who update their pages regularly on how to become better at tennis.  With sports, it's hard to explain how to do certain things using only words, one of the best ways to explain something is through videos.  These people have worked towards getting their videos out to the public to help them improve.

The Tennis Vault: This page is run by a man who calls himself Coach Kyril.  His channel shows how to improve on certain strokes, and different ways to put all this to practice. 

Tennis Coach TV: Another awesome channel that shows you how to improve your game.

Philipp Halfmann: Although this channel may look too intense, some people may benefit from this who are serious about getting better and competing.  This channel shows mainly tennis workouts that help you stronger on the court. 


Blogging

We all love reading blogs, why?  Because they give us new ideas, voice opinions, tell us stories,etc.  Blogs let us connect with others who may have the same passions.  I have a passion for tennis, and so that's why I created this blog, and I hope that other who enjoy tennis or what something new and exciting to do will also enjoy my blog and what I post.  By no means is my blog the best, I think each blog has pros and cons.  I have searched the internet for other blogs about tennis, and if you're curious, then check them out!

The New York Times: This blog is one that is all about tennis, and presents us with many different tennis news happenings around the world.  Here you can find the lastest tournament results, interviews etc.

Love Tennis: This blog was created by everyday people who voice their opinions about the tournaments.  They also keep up with what the tennis players are doing in their off time.

Tennis Blog: This tennis blog is created to help give people tips on how to improve their game.  It also includes a question and answer of things you might not know about.  Also included are interviews from coaches on how to improve and become more involved in tennis.

Tennis Shoes

I've mentioned that tennis requires certain gear (clothes, racket, balls, etc.) needed to play the game.  Shoes are also a very important part needed to support your feet.  In tennis, there are special shoes that one can choose to wear that may help them in their performance.  What's so special about tennis shoes?  Well number one, tennis shoes look awesome! There are many different styles and brands that you can choose from.  Number two, tennis shoes are made to give extra support in your ankles.  When playing tennis, yes  you will move forward and backwards a lot, but you will also be shuffling from side to side.  Tennis shoes are made to give extra support in the ankles, and extra padding in both your toes and heels.  I still have my tennis shoes from 5 years ago, and those shoes are all torn up.  If you look on the bottom, you can see all the places on your shoes that are worn out.  The combination of different motions and the material the tennis courts are made from, really wears down your shoes.  Below I have included a couple of links you can go to browse for tennis shoes, as well as some examples of what they look like. Enjoy!