Category Archives: Growth & Development

By Johnny Parkes, USTA Senior Manager Player ID and Development, MTPS

The warm-up is the most underutilized and undervalued part of a training session. Picture the standard dynamic warm-ups and you will usually see players running a couple laps followed by some dynamic stretches with low engagement and boredom; players are monotonously trying to get through it. Some may throw in a couple sprints at the end and off they go. If the warm-ups are in the gym, you may see players cycling on a bike with their arms crossed for 5 minutes before lying around the floor, some foam rolling and most chatting with each other. No engagement, no challenge, no purpose in their preparation. 

For years I have questioned the way dynamic warm-ups are delivered; what I am seeing youth athletes do does not align with what we know about principles of growth and maturation physically, cognitively, emotionally, and socially.

The warm-up is the best time to work on athletic development skills. It should be integrated into every training session and competitive event. If organized right, the warm-up will be a progressive plan to optimize athletic development through a blend of general movement skills and tennis-specific skills. It should be FUN. 

We must re-evaluate and modify how we currently deliver warm-ups to capture the engagement of athletes to best prepare them physically AND mentally.

DEVELOPING YOUR M-V-P

Whether you have 10 minutes or 30 minutes to do a warm-up, it should be done with an MVP in mind; a Mission, Vision and Purpose.  

I have detailed my M-V-P below, that has drawn inspiration from master tennis coaches, athletic development coaches such as the legendary Vern Gambetta owner of the GAIN Network, Athletic Medicine experts such as Ed Ryan, former Director of Sports Medicine USOPC, sports science/strength and conditioning experts such as Dr. Paul Lubbers and Dr. Mark Kovacs. You can develop one to fit your philosophy, wants and needs.

MISSION

Enhance Athletic Performance through a systematic, integrated and progressive approach in an environment that instills habits of daily physical and mental preparation to develop the most robust, adaptable tennis athletes possible.

VALUES

• Environment
• Teaching and Coaching
• Growth Mindset
• Relationships
• High Standards
• Commitment to Excellence

PURPOSE

Develop competent, confident athletes that meet the demands of the sport.

Once your M-V-P is established, it will provide direction for you to develop the framework informed by science and delivered with art. The warm-up can be structured according to the RAMP concept:

• Raise – designed to increase blood flow, muscle temperature and elasticity and neural activation. 
• Activate – Engage muscles for the upcoming session
• Mobilize – Focus on movement patterns which will be used during the game
• Prepare (Potentiate) – Gradually increase the stress in preparation the upcoming session

AD WARM-UP FRAMEWORK:

Using this concept as a guide, I created a framework incorporating physical and mental skills to be developed every day. If you can commit 10 minutes each day to warm-up, the equates to 60 minutes over 6 days, more than most children do PE these days. If you have 30 minutes, the cumulative effect is 3 hours a week to develop fundamental and sport-specific skill with the mental skill qualities that can create robust, adaptable tennis athletes. My framework is detailed in this picture:

Movement and Mobility – During this stage replace the 3 L’s (No laps, lines or lectures), with the 3 C’s, Challenge Coordination and Competence will ensure increasing blood flow, muscle temperature AND neural activation.

• Movement – Locomotor activities such as skipping, shuffling, carioca, serpentine runs etc. Use leader/follower, proprioceptive cues to challenge neural activation.
• Mobility – 3 for 1’s. Combine several dynamic stretches together to sequence flowing from one movement to the next that will challenge movement problems with balance and stability.

Strength and Balance – Movement patterns such as squat and lunge help mobilize joints and increase movement capacity. It can be effective and efficient in providing an opportunity to individualize based on appropriate pre-habilitation and rehabilitation exercises for the athlete’s needs

Athletic Movement – As the intensity increases we can incorporate a progression of movement or skill patterns, that provide an opportunity to deliver effective speed, agility, and change of direction training that challenge decision making.

Tennis Movement Preparation:

As the warm-up come to an end, it is good to finish with an activity that challenges the athletes at full speed with the opportunity to problem solve and make decisions as the last activity they do before picking up their racquets. Depending on the objective of practice, we may choose an athletic skill that underpins the tennis skill and mimics the skill(s) about to be performed.

The attention to detail in designing the warm-up reflects a coach’s intention to develop robust, adaptable athletes from the ground up.

Our job as coaches should also be to nurture an enjoyment and love for their off-court development. The warm-up, cool-down or stand-alone athletic development session should be something for the player to look forward to. Nothing brings a coach more satisfaction than having their athletes run up to them asking to do certain activities because they are fun, dynamic and appropriate.

So, give it a go, create your M-V-P and reimagine the way in which you deliver the warm-up outside the standard dynamic warm-up. Why not create an environment where athletes maximize their enjoyment in every part of their training schedule starting with the warm-up? Use constraints, insert games, challenge creativity and you just may see a young athlete’s ability to get creative, problem solve and make decisions improve alongside their physical development, which can be accelerated at faster rates with the cumulative effect that the warm-up gives you over the course of a week, month and year.