The Grips Program
The first post from the ITA Men's All-American is likely to be late Thursday night, with both singles and doubles on the schedule this evening, but my weekly entry for The Tennis Recruiting Network is available now.
It is a feature about The Grips Program, originated by junior coaches Aaron Fox and Craig Cignarelli, which is an exciting development in coaching, and learning, tennis. Please take a moment to read about it at Tennis Recruiting and at their website, gripsprogram.com.
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9 comments:
colette- fyi. i don't know anything at all, but it just feels like big change is in the air at usta player development. you probably already felt the same thing. clueless
Colette, a little off topic here, but have you seen that girl Cako play? I have not, her results have been stellar, and I do not ever remember hearing of her being involved in USTA HP. All I have heard about her is she has a pretty big serve. Anyway, just curious?
thanks
Hi Justthefacts,
I have seen Cako play since she was a total beginner and now see her at the Supernationals.
In the pros' (different ones) opinions back then, she was the hardest worker of any kid that they had seen. As you said, she just has risen and risen.
In my humble opinion, her mental approach is 100% unlike other teenagers. Her parents are from a foreign country and I think that might make for a different outlook. I do not mean that bad or good, but just different.
To me she has some talent, but more has a huge hunger to win and improve. Her serve doesn't strike me as anything different, definitely not on the same level as Vandeweighe or Marino, but her mental outlook is far superior to most kids.
She doesn't have time for the normal teenage stuff and is not interested in it. Proms, high school etc. do not interest her. Becoming a pro does and she goes after it.
i guess we will see how she does in the pros, as it is the age when she need to make a name for herself(as she hasnt), not in the juniors, but in the pros as she is already 17. and there can be tremendous amounts said for mental toughness and drive, but without the talent of the top players, its almost impossible to get to that level.
Good points. However, she did start later than the usual 6 or 7 years old, so that should be factored into it too. I don't know the exact age she that started but I remember that it was later. All I know is that she has steadily improved and seems to keep doing so.
Plus it probably depends on which yardstick we are using. To me, making it at all in the pro's is a huge deal and so tough. But to others, they are talking about being in the WTA top 10---no, do not see her there. But do see her making the tour.
"again" Pretty good start for her, as far as the PRO's. Beat Weinhold today to win a PRO Circuit title. Not the regular PRO Tour, but still impressive as a wildcard.
Love Tennis, Curious how long you have known of or watched Cako? Also, curious what "other" Pro's opinions you refer to in your earlier post?
She began playing at age 8, but didn't play her first national event till age 13 (2005 Easterbowl). She had a hodge podge of coaches (coaching has been a little thin in the PNW) until Jan 2006, when she hooked up with the coach she has today. Over that time she has risen from #44 or so in the 14's to #3 in the 18's and has now won a pro circuit event.
The USTA HP program is aware of her and has offered some help, including the wildcard that got her into Southlake tournament, but how much they will help remains to be seen. The USTA so far seems more interested in betting long on the young kids rather than looking for the players who are moving up at the ages that really matter.
Re: Cako,
The pro's that I am referring to are the ones in the PNW that she took from. Everytime my relative played Cako, all the different coaches would comment how Cako was the hardest worker of any kid they had. I never was at her practices as we did not live in the same town, but I believed them with the way that she rapidly improved. She went from losing 0 and 0 to the Champs kids (highest level in the PNW) to beating almost all of them, very quickly.
Despite her success, I am not sure that she will go pro but she sure seems to be doing well.
It sure proves to me how vital that "mental outlook" is, and how I should be working more with my kids on it.
Love Tennis, who is your relative that played her? Just curious.
For any young player to make the pro's it's a bit of a long shot. There really aren't that many can't miss prospects out there. I think Cako will absolutely make the pro's, just a question of to what level. She has the work ethic and the drive. She is absolutely focused on improving her game and fearles in employing whatever strategy she needs to beat any given player.
One limiting factor may be that she is focused on developing an all court game, which takes a little longer to assimilate than the one or two dimensional games most juniors are coming out with. When you consider that until age 14she was a ball retrieving moonballer and has, over the last two years, been morphing into an attacking all court player, her success is pretty remarkable
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