By Carl Petersen BPE, BSc (PT) & Nina Nittinger Dipl.KFFR/Sports Mgt.

Today’s players have to be in great shape to be competitive on a consistent basis. The competition schedule, environmental factors and associated travel can be grueling. The physical and mental demands of the sport all take their toll on even the finest tuned athletes. Developing proper training habits early and sticking to them will pay off in the long run. Players must strive to develop a training and playing attitude that help them improve not only as a player but as a person.

"Don't play to get into shape, get into shape to play."

Successful players require physical ability, technical skill and mental toughness. Designing programs to ensure optimal tennis training and performance is both an art and a science. The practical training tips in this Fit to Play article are designed by coaches, physical therapists, sport medicine physicians and other sport science and medicine personnel.

(Diagram Courtesy racquetTECH Publishers)

Gone are the days of the professional coach showing up on court for the allotted hour of coaching. Successful High Performance Coaches must ensure they are well versed and educated in regards to the many factors that influence athletic development and tennis performance.

To ensure proper training, practice progressions and optimize performance it is important to look at all of the factors that affect physical training and on-court play.

This includes:

• The athletes chronological age.(how old they are).
• Growth and development concerns.
• The athletes training age (how many years they have been seriously training).
• Technical and biomechanical strengths and weakness as identified by the athlete, coach, physical therapist or strength and conditioning coach.
• The athletes body type.
• The pre-existing general and specific fitness level.
• General health status.
• The rehabilitation status of any past or current injuries.
• Physical strengths and weaknesses as identified by sport specific field testing and lab testing where appropriate.
• Mental strengths and weaknesses as identified by the athlete, coach, sport psychologist or mental trainer.

For example in squash, many factors come into play when trying to optimize training and performance. The Fit to Play training model uses the concept of "Interconnecting Gears" to illustrate the importance of different factors in producing optimal performance. This is a concept promoted by Dr. Howie Wenger from the University of Victoria, British Columbia. The on court performance gear must turn smoothly and efficiently in to allow optimal training and performance. Players, regardless of their skill level, must be physically and mentally prepared, be well recovered, healthy and practice proper nutritional and hydration habits to optimally perform and reach their full potential.

Performance is the central gear and all of the other gears have an effect on its movement and ultimately affect a player’s performance. Some athletes can have success with high abilities in certain areas like skill however to perform optimally and consistently, all of the gears must be working and turning smoothly as well.

Designing a well rounded physical training, on-court practice and competition schedule requires a good line of communication between the athlete, coach, physical therapist, strength and conditioning (fitness coach) and other involved Sport Medicine and Science personnel. As training age increases and training and competition demands become more comprehensive and sophisticated athletes will need to draw upon the advice and knowledge of other professionals to ensure a safe, effective, conditioning program.

Carl Petersen is a Partner and Director of High Performance Training at City Sports & Physiotherapy Clinic’s in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  He works with athletes ranging from club level to those on the WTA / ATP tennis and World Cup ski tour. He travelled fulltime with the Canadian Alpine Ski Team for 15 years. His physiotherapy and fitness coaching roles have given him the opportunity to work with, coach and design training programs for Olympic Gold, World Championship Gold and World Cup medallists. Petersen has worked and lectured to physicians, therapists and coaches on 5 continents most recently in Australia, England, Ireland, Paraguay, Argentina, Turkey, Switzerland and the USA. He has published over 200 articles in a variety of publications for both the Scientific and lay community which have been translated into 6 languages. He has also written or co-authored 3 books including Fit to Play Tennis-High Performance Training Tips and has produced a series of  core stability training DVD’s entitled Fit to Play™ & Perform.  More information available at   www.citysportsphysio.com

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