Evolve | Tennis Training
The growth of the sports industry over the last decades is undeniable.
We found out that teaching in sports is not only about technique or bare fitness work.
Our holistic teaching method aims to develop elite humans first and world class athletes then.
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Introduction
The idea behind Evolve comes from the acknowledgement that future is unpredictable.
It means in other words that a 6 years old aspiring player who dreams about becoming a pro player one day is usually trained as it should play professional tournaments today rather than in 12 years from today.
This huge gap between pros wannabe and the standard demanded by the sport in 10+ years from today makes the job of coaches harder than ever.
Tennis is a constant evolutionary process, and we realized how much the way of playing the sport dramatically changes in just 4-5 years.
Climbing the top might seem really hard, but the real challenge is to secure a spot among the best players in the world over a long period of time.
Being consistent at getting results over time is crucial in order to build a successful sport project.
Our approach to teaching comes from the acknowledgment that we cannot predict the future but, thanks to science we can give players and organizations the tools to build successful careers, ones that are sustainable over time.
When the time to make some changes in their game will come, players must be able to adjust, doing what’s required in order to succeed.
Personal Development
At Evolve, we see tennis as a metaphor of life, a powerful teaching tool that anyone should benefit from.
It’s well known how hard is to become a pro player, especially in game sports, where competition can be brutal.
To be successful it's not enough to be a pro player but to be highly ranked for a long period of time.
It’s also well known that this hustle is not happening only in tennis courts but, in general, that’s how life works.
We want to prepare kids to be competitive and adapt to what will be out there, no matter what the future holds.
We do our best to give them the cognitive tools, the mental & emotional maturity plus the grinding spirit and perseverance reqiured to achive success.
We work with the most up-to-date science, biomechanical tools and teaching methods in order to make them competitive high-performance players.
The Evolve Training Plan is based on seven key components
Cognitive Training
Tennis is a very fast sport that cannot effort too much thinking while playing.
That’s why we create specific game situations to be solved on a cognitive level through progressions from easy to hard where our students must be able to take quick decisions on a subconscious level.
We must not forget that tennis is based on decision making.
Our student must develop a “cognitive wisdom”, that ultimately sets the gap between good hitters and successful pro players. It will make a lot of difference when playing under pressure, in important matches as well as crucial points.
Our cognitive program is designed to stimulate both sides of the brain through movement, one of the most powerful tools we have!
The ultimate goal is to create players able to express themselves in multiple ways, both logical and creative, both in and out of the court, winning a lot of matches and being good prospects in school at the same time.
Technical Training
At Evolve, we consider technique, a tool that can equally represent a strength or a weakness for our players.
In fact more than “instructions” we believe on biomechanical principles, all pointing to: elastic energy development.
The stretching-shortening cycles are our main focus since the very first steps into tennis and so we prefer to give, within the essential biomechanical principles, freedom to the players to express themselves, playing a guiding role in the discovery of those patterns that exploit our students’ full potential.
Is common knowledge that men and women cannot be taught the same tennis as well as right and left-handed players don’t process information in the very same way when it comes to learning.
In order to shape our technical model on players we adopt a scientific method based on creating a tennis profile for everyone of them.
Tactical Training
As we always say to our students, tennis is like formula 1… It’s essentially based on speed.
On one side, generating power is essential in order to make it possible but, on the other, as any other game sport, tennis is based on tactics and strategy.
Following our cognitive training program we teach our students how to use the safe trajectories and patterns of play on a subconscious level so they cruise through most of the rallies and then we teach them how to get out of that very same box we created in the first place, pushing them towards being creative and trusting their own instinct.
We believe the balance between safe choices and taking risks can be a powerful tool in life, wether they decide to become entrepreneurs, in running a family or any other path they will decide to take.
Mental Training
Achievements in tennis are not only determined by factors like technique, tactics and fitness level, but also by the mindset.
The relationship between body and mind has a huge impact on the player’s game, who must able to quickly to adversities. At Evolve, we deliver specific programs to everyone of our players in order to help them out in emotions management, understanding that mistakes play a key role in learning.
The attitude, the way of getting out of difficult situations, the personality and commitment are key factors when it comes to results, success or failures.
Our goal is to create a mindset for our students that allows them to step in the court ready to fight the battle of the day and keep grinding on every single point until the match is over, doing whatever is in their power to get through adversities so one day they will be able to win their own war.
Fitness Training
Tennis can happen to be very stressful sometimes, both mentally and physically. The brain and body are part a whole and they must work together in order to make our students’ game consistent.
The body must be ready to be pushed to the limit as sometimes it has to balance the mental fatigue and must be ready to execute when it's time to take decisions under a lot pressure.
After a long study, we realize that style and patterns of play, even in elite athletes, are not casual.
They are the combination of genetic traits, dominances, for which some motions are easier to perform than others and so certain patterns of play.
In our fitness sessions, we teach kids how to balance this set of traits, opening a much wider range of options when it comes to build a tactical plan or making some changes in their game or in their strokes.
Vision Training
The eyes are part of the brain.
In tennis, eyes are undoubtedly the most important piece of hardware of the player's toolbox, especially when it comes to decoding trajectories, speed, spin and opponent’s motions.
Through empirical studies, we realized that bad shots often come from lack of information rathen than technique.
That’s why at Evolve we decided to train vision in a very specific way, giving to player a well rounded set of tools that we believe it will make a huge difference when they’ll try to become pro athletes.
Profiling
All our students are exceptional in their own way.
Players come with a set of different physical predispositions, motor experiences, skills and cultural backgrounds, all summed up in a very unique combination.
By measuring all these characteristics we create an individual training plan that suits their needs with the goal of empowering their strengths as well as minimising weaknesses and injuries.
We also know that players may interpret the game in multiple ways. So, instead of changing the player’s game, we adapt our program to the vision of our students, giving them the best tools ever to reach their full potential.
We believe it is easier to get good at something they like rather than at something imposed by the coaching team and hopefully players will learn from each others peculiarities, enriching the Evolve learning experience.