John Roddick Mini-Camp
I have known John since he was playing junior tennis in Texas and was one of America's most promising players. As an All-American at the University of Georgia, John had a stellar collegiate career. John had planned to play on the ATP tour, before a back injury cut his pro career short. John has opened Roddick Total Tennis, a residential academy in San Antonio, which is home to several of the top juniors in the world. These days John spends his time at the academy or on tour coaching some of the top American players, including his brother Andy and Mardy Fish. John has been a big contributor towards Andy's success and I was excited to have the opportunity to bring him to the academy.
Friday, March 6
The camp sold out and we had 32 players coming in from across the Midwest. The HTA staff made sure that all of the player's families were taken care of and we were ready for a terrific weekend of tennis. The camp started with John's opening seminar of "Exploiting your opponent's weakness." Three of our older academy members came in to help John demonstrate the various patterns and styles of play that he discussed. One of John's focal points was the concept of changing pace on the forehand side, to easily add variety to one's game. After John was finished I spoke on the subject of attaching an opponent's second serve with a return to the middle of the court to create short ball opportunities.
After the demonstrations the players were divided into four team's to compete in collegiate style Davis Cup competition. Each team was coached by one of the HTA Head Coaches.
Saturday, March 7
Saturday morning began with John providing video analysis on Andy's winning patterns and strategies. It was interesting to see which strategies Andy would implement against different opponents, and to see the adjustments he would make during matches. Immediately following the video session, HTA Director Ernie Katko presented the subject of "Making the court bigger". The players were then lead into live-ball drills to warm up for competition in the afternoon.
The afternoon session lasted nearly five hours and consisted of team competition and the highlight of the camp, Roddick providing individual video analysis of each of the 32 campers. With the special help of Patriot Productions(Mark Ortega), each of the juniors picked a specific stroke that we critiqued using super slo-motion high definition video. The juniors had their stroke compared in split screen to a WTA/ATP player of their choice. John's analysis was recorded and each of players received a DVD copy to share with their personal coach.
After the last ball of the eight and a half hour day was hit, the parents, players, and staff enjoyed a pizza party.
Sunday, March 8
We got an early start on Sunday, with Davis Cup play resuming at 8am. As the matches progressed throughout the morning, John and I ran a two court bank which we titles "Special Problems" court. This gave us an opportunity to work with each camper individually on a particular portion of their game.
The camp ended at 11:00 with our awards ceremony. Each team was given a special token for participating in the camp, and the winning team got HTA towels autographed by John.
Special thanks goes to John and his staff at Roddick Total Tennis. He was very easy for the players to communicate with and I really think the players benefited from working with him. He has a tremendous knowledge of the sport, and is truly motivated to giving back to the game. He was excited to see the talent in the Midwest and left impressed with how technically sound the juniors are. I really appreciate him finding the time to fly in and create this experience.
Thanks for coming John!
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