Team Rules
2010 Dunn Tennis
Need to know information
Each of you comes to this team with strengths and weakness that we will explore during the season. To make yourself a more successful tennis player and to be a positive member to the Dunn tennis team you first need to commit yourself to the team and to playing tennis.
Team Rules
1. Be on time.
2. No swearing! This team will not tolerate swearing on the court. You will lose points during the matches for this infraction. During practice is when you need to practice holding your tongue.
3. Never speak in a degrading manner to or about another one of your teammates. Support each other.
4. Do not throw your racquet, bounce it off the ground, or lose control of it.
5. Any violation of the school’s drug or alcohol policy could result in a team suspension for a finite period of time.
6. Any violation of the school’s drug or alcohol policy (including smoking violations) could result in loss of varsity letter, captainship, or other team/individual awards.
7. You must attend and participate in practice to play in matches. In particular, you must attend and participate in all of the practice the day before a match unless there are extraordinary circumstances.
The coaches will deal with any violation of a team rule.
Balance
Tennis is a balance between your physical ability and your mental toughness. Success will only happen when you have control of both.
Some helpful hints in the beginning of the season:
- Never tell yourself that you “suck”. Always think positive. This is harder said then done but instead of harping on your mistakes focus on what you have just done well.
- Never let your opponent know that they have “won”. This means that no matter what point of the match it is look positive. Opponents read body language. If your head is down, swearing, or looking angry your opponent will feed off of it.
- Always think that you can win. Matches can be won or lost on one point.
- Always looked prepared.
- Don’t let the opponent rush you.
- Finally, remember it is just a game.
The other balance that you have to create on tennis is the balance of team versus individual. You all want to win and play as high as you can. We will discuss this throughout the season as you deal with this issue.
Goals
For every team you need to make personal and team goals. Ask yourself the following questions.
1. What are my strengths?
2. What are my weaknesses?
3. What are my individual goals?
4. What are my team goals?
Matches
- Challenge matches - every week you will play challenge matches to become more match tough and to see what positions you will play on the team. These matches are where you are thinking about yourself and not the team. You need to focus on your personal goals and personal growth.
- Game matches – you will always be told the day before what position you will be playing for the upcoming match. You now have to focus on both your individual performance and also the team’s performance.
No matter what the outcome of your match, go support your teammates until everyone else is finished!
Final Thoughts
Enjoy yourself! I will not always have all the answers but I will try my best to help you. Try. You never want to walk off the court and say that you didn’t give everything you had.
