Hose-down after flood

Liquid Sunshine, bah humbug.  Flooding was actually the cleanest, least muddy one in quite some time, and even though the moat overflowed the south wall, the total depth never got to the level of the floor in the new shed.  Crew did great job, and thanks to Marian for the home-baked biscuts.  If this rain ends, should have dry courts mid-Sunday.

4 Guys, 2 Jacks plus serve Slo-Mo video

Mike, Brian, Kevin, Jim

Kevin & Jim won it!

Hey have you ever seen this play?  Server tries serve-volley, receiver lobs over server's partner for the point.  Hmm who's supposed to be standing where, and when?

Doubles strategy Brent Able

Here's a 5 min video discussing unforced errors from the deep player trying to make put-away shots, ie the setup vs put-away teamwork.  Well worth thinking about, IMO, YMMV.
http://www.webtennis.com/players/whats-the-right-shot-36-doubles-who-are-you-out-there/

Making your own post to the blog

Right now, anyone with a free google account (including a gmail account) can post or comment.  I've not yet set up a membership list, which will restrict it to Towerpoint members, but that may come in time.  Click Login and New Post in the top right corner, or just comment any given post (but those comments have to be clicked to be seen.  You can click the envelope icon, and then whenever there's a new post, you'll get an email notice.  You can also post without going to the blog, by email, I'll post how to shortly.  You can post a request to get a 3rd or 4th player for some reserve court time, to share a lesson with Hurley, a good instructional video,or anything else Tennis.  No corny jokes, chain-emails, or other off topic stuff, please.  Ideas, suggestions, tournament postings, all welcome.

Lynn after a summer off

Yep, there's lots of moving parts in a serve, getting them all stitched back together takes work and concentration...and maybe a little extra insight from watching yourself.  Lets see what a week or so can do to get those first serves working like they did last season.

Bob W serving, Klein at net

Click the icon for full screen.
I thought I'd need a tripod to pan and cover court action between serves, but now I think not.  Better positioning (baseline, directly behind, and from receiver's position) would help, but it's still only one camera position at a time.
If I can just get the editing vs portrait/landscape mode thing to work, this would be much better.
Suggestions and other ideas welcome.  Rus

Klein serving, Dick at Net

OK, another Slo-Mo service study.  Click the icon at the bottom right to go full-screen.  Soon as I find a better and more dependable way to get these uploaded, and after editing out the between-the-serve footage, fixing formatting hassles, and improving the camera angles, these will hopefully become a feature useful to everyone who's interested in improving their game.  Rus

Bigger Serves With A Fluid Motion

Bigger Serves With A Fluid Motion

Lots of us have a serve motion that starts out looking like a Japanese bow at the waist to our opponent,followed by straightening up and tossing the ball at the same time, followed by a quick swat at the ball .  That's one reason I started taking slo-mo's of our players serving.  Karla mentioned this video, which plays for about 5 minutes, from a pro who shows how to get the hang of a smooth toss-swing action.  Thanks Karla!  Great stuff.

Brian Slo-Mo Serve 10/12/13

What would you like to work on in your game?
Would some slow-motion clips help?
I know I've always wondered if what I thought I was doing right/wrong was ANYWHERE near my actual performance.
With slo-mo I can begin to see what I'm actually doing and work on improvements.
Now for TowerPoint Tennis, we can do both slo-mo (this is 1/8x), and relatively high-speed stop action photos for a frame-by-frame action slide show.
Just for the asking.  (And sometimes without)
Here's Brian, just a couple days back from a summer off, looking pretty good. (click the icon for full-screen)
Then scroll down to see more taken over the summer.  Let me know if you want to try it out! Rus

So here we have it, nifty, roomy, and electrified equipment shed, concrete ramp in place and ready for action.  As long as the new anti-flooded court pump wiring, newly plugged holes in the wall, and some reasonable weather holds, we're golden!

Pearly Gates, yes, it's them Pearly Gates for TowerPoint Tennis Players (and guests, too!)

This week we got a start on the long-awaited gates at the back of the courts.  I'm tempted to say "What a boring topic" but I'll resist, and simply acknowledge that Joe and I had all the fun we could have drilling holes for the gateposts for all 5 courts.  DJ's current plans are to have gates in courts 1 and 2 by the start of the season, and hopefully more, if not the rest, later in the season.  Coupled with some of the other improvements (shed with ramp, re-wired pumps, and a night-light (soon), plus new visiting signage and score board, the to-do list is making headway for sure.

Two sights winter-season players seldom see: the palm trees after they get their annual haircut, and an approaching dust storm, headed in from the south.  By the time league starts, both will be distant memories for those of us here through the summer.

Who wants to see their serve in slo-mo?  It will be available to all who want it this season, along with stop-action photos.  Here are a couple early tests to show some Summer Season Round Robin,

Then a Slo-Mo of Marty's Serve & Slice

And one of 3 positions for Ron, new to TowerPoint this season.

All you winter season folks miss out on the big summer event: palm trees get a haircut.  Here you see it near completion, the boom truck working away to the left.  Shortly after this DJ throws a big gala bash at the center.  They drain the exercise pool, fill it with all the dried palm fronds, douse them in kerosene, and we have our version of Man on Fire here in the desert.  Everyone gets double Eskimo Pies, and we hum in unison, "How Dry I Am" while the summer league tennis players from around the valley accompany us with the EVSTL kazoo band.

Well, there's some things about the template I'm using that make things harder.  For example, to post, you have to have signed in first.  And you have to find the small print at the top right that says "New Post" and finally, I misremembered how to get email notice of a new post, it apparently is not the small envelope icon, but I'll change that some day soon.

We got haboobed

Fairly sudden wind and minor dust storm out of the south this afternoon
brought cooler weather but upset the bleachers and bulletin boards.  Damage appears minor.
Rus

Tennis Ladder Software

From http://www.tennisengine.com 

Please be advised that this system depends on a reasonable amount of match data. A player or doubles team needs to have at least 3 matches logged before an accurate ranking can be calculated.

The Tennis Engine computes player rankings based upon a proprietary algorithm that evaluates every match played for the life of the league or conference. The system is designed to rank each player based upon a combination of performance (derived from match results) and activity (how many matches played and against whom).

When a new match is entered, the Tennis Engine adjusts your ranking based on the following factors:

1. Current match win or loss
2. Current match performance (% of games won)
3. The strength of each of your past opponents
4. Your overall match winning percentage
5. Your overall game winning percentage

Furthermore, the ranking of every player who has played you or your opponent will be affected by the outcome of your match.

Winning or losing a close match with a highly rated player could boost your ranking, whereas a close match with a lower rated player could reduce your ranking. Decisive wins over lower rated players could be less rewarding than close wins over higher rated players. Confused? Simply put... winning matters the most, but after that it's all about whom you play and how close you play them.

Strength Rating

The rankings are based on each player's current Index value (i.e. the third ranked player has the third highest Index). Each player's Index is a combination of his Strength Rating and the number of wins. Each player's Strength Rating is viewable in his player profile.

Your Strength Rating (SR) is the measure of your ability to:

1. win matches against the field of participants
2. win a high percentage of games in all matches
3. perform well against higher rated players

Your Strength Rating will improve with more matches won and a better percentage of games won. The strength (SR) of the opponents you play is also factored into the calculation (Each player's SR is located inside his profile along with other information).

Your SR will fluctuate as other participants compete. It might rise as players whom you have defeated accumulate wins over other players. Inversely, your SR might dip if players who have beaten you suffer losses.

The online league is updated every time a match is entered. Any method and combination of scoring can be used.

Doubles

Margin of victory, opponent strength, and wins and losses are factored just as in singles - plus the Strength Rating (SR) of your chosen partner. A win or close loss with a weak partner will help build a healthy Strength Rating.

Tennis Serve Racquet Path - Linear vs Circular

Test to see how post without title appears.
To Do List: Find way to make "New Post" more prominnent.
Hmm spell checker a bit sketchy, did not pick up extra "n" in prominnent.   Maybe does at save or publish? will see.
well.  spell checker only checks.  yellow highlight of misspell, but no correction offered. bummer

Win 8 and explorer

looks like it is working with this combo now.

Logged in post

HI Rus, I have logged in. I am sitting here with my right big toe imflame from over eating something causing a gout flare up. Hope to be back out soon. Bob

this week's pairings & assignments 4/15/13

Joe & Frank R1C4
Sam & Pat  R1C2

For all the people that left before April You might want to stay longer next year as you missed a lot of good tennis The courts were full every day. Good fun

Phil

Hi All Towerpoint Tennis Players.
Check out the www.towerpointtennis.org as Rudy has been doing a fabulous job or getting the website set up and making it very informative.

Phil

Senior Tennis Players get Free Lessons

[The reality of this is TBDL.]   TowerPoint players already get a great discount  rate for lessons ($20/hr),but now, (Based on Blog revenues from Adsense) TowerPoint tennis players can get free lessons!  Just by occasional visits to the blogsite, we generate sufficient ad revenues to award at least once-a-week, a free hour of lessons with our resident Tennis Pro, Pat Hurley.  Every Blog visit will earn that player 1 chit, every post will earn 5 chits, and every comment will earn 3 chits.  Any report, article, or active link in a post or comment will earn 3 chits.  Every week 1 player (more if the participation is greater) will be drawn at random from the accumulated chit bowl for the "Free 1 hour lesson (for up to 4 players)".

So far looks good Rus

Hi Rus
This looks like it should be very informative for our tennis club.
Good Job

Seniors Tennis Mesa AZ

TowerPoint has one of the best and most welcoming Seniors Tennis clubs in the region.  At some resorts, play has to be scheduled, and there is no "drop-in" play.  Not at TowerPoint RV Resort.  Other than league or Toournament play, 3 of the 5 lighted courts are open to all, on a "round robin" basis so there is a mix of the best players and those just learning or looking to improve.  During the off season, TowerPoint is the destination location for dozens of players from surrounding resorts because of the welcoming atmosphere and opportunity to find both men and women at virtually every age (55+) and skill level.  Here, 6 players  from 2.5 to 3.5  have great fun as they play in rotation.

Here's another way to post it, as a video rather than a link.  Can be from You Tube, or a file on your computer or phone.  Note that you can post here as an email without even going to the website.

Baseline Topspin Forehand

Racket back, bend your knees, that'll be twenty dollars, please.  The $30 lesson includes "follow the ball with your nose (AND  eyes) the last 3 feet into the strings." Notice how every time he turns his head to follow the ball into the point of contact.
Fed super-slo-mo topspin drive

techie issues

Internet Browser compatibility is always an issue for general access blogs, I guess.  Here,  http://tptennis.blogspot.com couldn't consistently be found by IE9, although IE8, Firefox, and GoogleChrome had no problems.  So I changed the way to access the blog, since no fix for IE9 seemed in the near future.  The blog now has its own internet address: www.tennis4seniors.com a name which also may help tennis players (headed to Mesa) find TowerPoint rather than one of the competing resorts.  The key however, is still to have the blog serve a really useful purpose for club members.  If the blog doesn't do that, it's not going to last no matter how many new visitors find the site, so all ideas and suggestions are welcome.  I chatted briefly with Bill E and he said "Let's see if anyone wants it" [before discussing how the blog might, or might not,fit in with the official TowerPoint Tennis website, www.towerpointtennis.org].  So if I can get 10-12 interested players who think one or more features are useful, we'll give it a shot this fall.  In the meantime, I'll do a little tweeking and solicit ideas from everyone.  If it catches on, fine, if not, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and I learned how to blog. :-)

FW: Towerpoint Tennis - Two Buck Tournament

---

From: Bill's email
Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2013 5:54 PM
To: TP - Bill Echert
Subject: Towerpoint Tennis - Two Buck Tournament

Two Buck Tournament at the Courts

Fridays   4 – 6 pm

April 12

April 19

April 26

Please sign-up at the courts for each Friday you want to play

Following tennis, gather for a Tennis Social hosted by Jeannette Laven at J-XX

Bring a beverage and a snack to share

Everyone is welcome

Jeannette Laven

218-XXXX

can post directly by email!

Here’s a neat feature, you can post without even going to the blog site, just send an email.  If this posts, that’s how it was done.

Lost & Found

There's a pair of sunglasses on, or above the bench on court 2.  There is a brown, zipper jacket/sweatshirt on the bleachers outside court 2, both have been there since Friday or Saturday

Rolling at MonteVista

(from a Pat Cramer email, thence via Bill's email list.  With a Blog, this could be posted directly.)

Towerpoint’s 2.5 and 4.0 teams are in the finals of the Monte Vista Team Tennis Tournament!

The 2.5 team starts play at 11 AM on Saturday.

The 4.0 team starts play at 1 PM on Saturday.

We still have teams playing in the round robin section today.

We will let you know if we have more teams playing on Saturday.

Thank you for your support.

Wind Screens

(from a Rich Junkin email to Bill Echert, then Bill email to list.  This could be done directly on the Blog)

It’s time to take down the wind screens at the courts.

Please meet at the courts on Tuesday at 8 AM.

Bring gloves, pliers and a step ladder.

Remember, many hands make quick work.

Thanks,

Rich Junkins

posting to check appearance as get more posts on page.

Testing, testing testing. Copied and pasted the web material below to see how it would work, including video clips.  Seems OK, in all 3 browsers, except IE9 has issue loading sometimes.

Many elements are combined to produce the serve – and one of the secrets is to have all the elements firing in the appropriate sequence.

Timing – we have all felt the effortless hits and unfortunately we all have at one time or another, felt the effortful hits.

One of the most important sequence during the serve occurs with regard to the racquet drop and the knee bend.

In general, on the serve, one must fire in quick sequence large muscles first leading to smaller and then smaller muscles, culminating in a whip at the top of the swing.

As regards the racquet drop and knee bend, the best one I heard on this was from Vic Braden, who said, “Fire the extensors baby!”

Check this one out – it makes sense and will help – guaranteed.

You may also like -

ETI 021 | Deep and Up the Middle

ETI 020 | Power Lines

ETI 017 | Moving to the Ball - Turn and Go

ETI 013 | Circle of Play

ETI 015 | Lobbing along the line of your shadow

Looking for match 4/8/13 7pm

(Find players, do a Ladder Challenge, share a Hurley session, identify a court maintenence problem, ask for new balls in the ball machine, whatever...blog makes it easy)

Rus & Marty (3.5) for an hour or so, we have court 5 reserved.

Need better interface for easy new posts

Page needs lengthening, added sections for Tourney schedule/results, Tennis Ladder, and daily coaching comments/video clip are located.  Captain's corner s/b reduced to heading rather than listing all pages on homepage.

minor refinements

cleaned up some unwanted features, but need to add page selections to left margin.

just starting out

Well, seems clunky from a design standpoint, but if the right elements canbe located and assembled, this may be the cheapest and easiest way to get a players' Blog underway for next season.  JMO, YMMV