Mini-Camp Journal

Weekend Mini Camp January 23 – 25, 2009
Boys 16 / 18’s High Performance Rodney Harmon

The following is my daily journal from the academy’s second Boys’ 16s & 18s High Performance Development Camp. 2008 USA Olympic Coach Rodney Harmon joined our staff for the weekend as our featured guest. I worked with Rodney for four years during my tenure with USTA Player Development Program back in the 90’s and was excited about bringing him to Chicago to see the talent here in the Midwest.

DAY ONE Friday January 23, 2009

The camp started at 7pm and Rodney kicked it off with his seminar on “winning patterns of play – Americans vs. Europeans”. Rodney discussed how Europeans train and how they set up their points, especially on clay courts. Rodney talk about how development of a clay based game is a huge issue for the USTA. This year they are having the top juniors skip the Australian Open to get extra play on the clay courts in Europe. The camp worked on these various patterns until 10pm that night.

(Harmon and Michael Moore)

DAY TWO Saturday January 24, 2009

Saturday is always the long day for the camp – a full 10 hours of tennis, seminars, and team competitions. One of the most interesting highlights was Rodney’s comments about the Federer vs. Blake match he coached at the Olympics this past year. We put the match on a large screen and Rodney went over key highlights and patterns they had discussed and how James had to overcome his emotions and nerves for the biggest match of his life. It was fascinating and I was impressed on how well Rodney spoke and grabbed the boy’s attention.

Later that day after a live ball drill session and lunch, the camp went into match play for three hours. Afterwards, Rodney spent the next two hours working with each player individually on specific technical aspects of their games that he had observed since arriving. Everyone left the courts that day with at least two very specific thoughts on their strokes and how to improve their games for the collegiate level.

The night closed at 8pm with a Pizza Party for the players, while the parents of the camp participants were able to spend time with Rodney.(Ben Hoogland and Harmon)

DAY THREE Sunday January 25 2009

The early three hour session was focused on doubles tactics and strategies. Emphasis was placed on the return of serve and poaching, along with Coach Torricelli’s comments on how important doubles is for collegiate tennis.

All campers were given notebooks to write down ideas and comments made to them throughout the camp and to share with their personal coaches.

(Tommy Marx)

It was terrific having Rodney in for the weekend. He certainly touched every player that was present and the enthusiasm left on the boys faces after the camp had me believing that players from across America had better watch out for the boys from the Midwest.
Thanks Rodney….