Today, the responsibility of writing the BLOG for the Tennis Club BLOG fell to me. There were 13 of us there and I was the first to draw in the lottery... BAM! I got the red stick! So I wrote the BLOG. So, I'm going to put it here since I put a lot of time into it. Then, I'll add the match info at the end.
Welcome to the Le Grand Tennis Club’s
ENGLISH (with a little 日本語) BLOG!!!
Table of Contents (目次)
1. Introduction
2. Practice Review, Level 1
3. Practice Review, Level 2
4. Tennis English: 1-Point Lesson
5. Tennis English: 英語と日本語の違い
6. Conclusion
1. Introduction
“HELLO!”
The first word Naomi Osaka said in her speech after winning the 2019 Australian Open. It was so simple and sweet, and original. I have never heard any player beginning a victory speech with a simple, “Hello!” I was not expecting to choose the RED chopstick after practice today because I was positioned right next to the “member-in-charge” today. I was the first one to pick and I picked the RED chopstick. At first, I was like, “OH NO!”, but it is actually a privilege to get to write the Le Grand BLOG. So I will do my best to produce an interesting and readable BLOG entry.
2. Practice Review, Level 1:
Today is Sunday, February 17, 2019. Practice at the Meiwa tennis courts started at 10 o’clock in the morning. Unfortunately, I arrived about thirty minutes late. When I arrived, 12 tennis club members were already into the first drill, “Volley and Stroke” practice. The second drill was “Serve and Receive” practice. I thought it would be colder today, but when the sun was shining, it was very warm. It felt good to be outside exercising and breathing the fresh air.
Around 11:15 pm the “Serve and Receive” practice ended and we split the two courts. One court was used for playing matches, and the other court was used for drills. Special thanks to the tennis coach for running the drills. There is a tennis tournament next Sunday in Chiran. There will be 4 teams representing Le Grand in that tournament. So, the match court was mainly for those teams playing in next week’s tournament. Matches were played until the end of the practice. Drills were done in many different variations until the end of the practice. It was a very fun practice today. It was a very good practice today. I think that everyone who came to today’s practice improved their tennis skills. Good job, everyone!
3. Practice Review, Level 2:
Today’s practice started at ten in the morning as usual, but unfortunately, I was not able to go to the practice on time. I actually ended up going to the tennis courts around half-an-hour late. When I arrived, the courts were buzzing with activity. Everyone, about twelve people, was going at it with the first round of drills, “Stroke and Volley”. The pace of today’s practice was a bit faster than normal Sundays. I’m not sure why, but I assume that it is because the practice leaders wanted to have a lot of time for “Match Practice” because of the tournament which will be held next Sunday in Chiran. There are four teams who will be representing Le Grand in the tournament, one team for the mixed doubles on Saturday, and then three teams for the men’s doubles on Sunday. In about 90 minutes, there were six or seven matches played on the match court. For me, match-play practice is extremely valuable because the weakest part of my game is the mental part. I need to put myself under the match-pressure so I can get used to it and learn to deal with it. When I am down 40-15 on my serve, I need to learn to buckle down, get my first serve in, and gut out a win. Thanks to Le Grand Tennis Club, I have been able to strengthen my mental game considerably over the last year and a half.
On the drill court, as I said, there were several varieties of drills going on. First, the coach was feeding two balls alternating between two lines, the first ball was to go down the line and the second ball was to go cross-court. The next drill was two balls at a time, first to the player on the ad side, then the player on the deuce side. The first ball was a short ball for an approach shot, and the second ball was a volley. Keeping the movement forward was key in this drill. Footwork to get in position for each shot was also key. During the drills, I switched over to the match court, so I missed participating in some of the other drills. There was an Overhead drill that I just missed that I wish I could have done because my overhead smash is awful.
The practice went right up to 1 o’clock so everyone had to cooperate to pick up balls and brush the courts. With everyone working together, as always, the clean-up went very fast.
4. Tennis English: 1-Point Lesson
“COME ON!!!”
In the introduction, I spoke about Naomi Osaka and how she said “Hello!” to start her victory speech at the Australian Open. Another phrase we heard her use a lot during the match was “COME ON!”. The correct pronunciation is “カッマーン” but don’t emphasize the “m” sound or hold it too long.
There are several meanings for the phrase “Come on”:
1. Come on = 頑張れ / やれやれ
2. Come on = 何してるんだ？ （ちょっと怒ってる気持ちで）
3. Come on = 行くよ
4. Come on = 違うでしょう！ / あれ！なんで？
など
When Naomi Osaka hit an incredible shot or an awesome winner, she would shout, “COME ON!” (#1). 逆にwhen I hit a bad shot, I shout, “Come ON!” (#2).
次回の練習で、良いショットを打ったら、”COME ON!” を大きく叫んでみて下さい。周りを気にしないでください。
楽しいよ！楽しみにしてます！
5. Tennis English: 英語と日本語の違い
「わっち」
日本語テニス用語で、「わっち」と言う言葉聞いたことがありますか？ 使い方は、ダブルスの時、敵のボールがアウトになりそうでしたら、後ろの選手は，「わっち」を叫んで、ネットの選手はボリーを打ちません。実は英語テニス用語で、「わっち」(WATCH)と言う言葉はありません。同じ場面で「Let it go!」か「NO!」か「IT’S OUT!」です。「わっち」を初めて聞いたときに、「なにを見て欲しい？」と思いました。結局ぼりーを打ちました。ダメでした。「わっち」は英語で、「watch a movie」とか「watch TV」とか 「watch the kids」です。テニスの用語ではありません。
6. Conclusion
I hope you were able to read and understand today’s BLOG entry. I actually write my own BLOG about my personal workouts, so writing this BLOG was a nice change from that. Feel free to use Google Translator for the English parts of today’s entry. If you have any questions about today’s practice or English or anything else, feel free to ask me, Daddy! Thank you, and see you on Wednesday. Our next practice is on Wednesday, February 20, 2019. I believe the venue is at Frespo, the indoor courts. Thank you, and Good Night!
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I played three matches with the number 1 girl in the club because her partner was absent. We actually played very well together. The first match we played we won 4-0. We played against two older but experienced players. We were getting all the breaks and catching the lines. It was a good match.
Our second match was against another team entering the tournament, and we lost 1-4. My serve suddenly decided to take a vacation. In my one and only service game, I double-faulted four times. You just can't win when you hit four double faults.
Our last match was against a member team not in the tournament, but we promptly lost the first two games, but we came roaring back winning the next 4 out of 5 games taking the match 4-3. I hit two aces that just clipped the service line, and then an incredible topspin lob that our opponent let go because he thought it was going out, but it landed inside the line. They were good wins.
In the end, I burned a good 1765 kcals. The main reason for the low Sunday burn was the fact that I came over 30 minutes late to the practice. That initial warm up and starting the drills are necessary for getting and keeping my heart rate up for the whole three-hour practice.
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