team help

[richie-rich]

hey guys

my mixed team have just started to play this season, so obviously apart from a few of us, we dont have experience playing older people(no offence, but the team could be considered as babies) or people with a bit more experience, there's me and my best mate, we are both the "experienced ones" as such, i'm the oldest of the club, i'm 19, the average is about 16, so we're young, but my problem is mainly on the womens side, because they don't have the experience, don't get me wrong, they are good players, i think last night, a shot that summed up this for me was, (picture it as such) our team, is on the attack in a mixed double game, so the opponents are side by side, now one of the opponents is pretty damn good, so he forces the pair into defensive posistion, at this point, both teams are playing defensivly, our girl, hits a mid court clear, to this guy who is probably county level,she had bags of time, so her ideal shot, would of been to clear to the opposing woman, who - in honesty, is only an average player, yet the clear goes to this county guy, and he smash's back to the girl, rally over, point lost

what i'm trying to get at is, how do i go about getting the girls experience, or playing to potential, they play against the same people, once a week, which i know aint good enough, do i get say a new lady in, who has experience, to pull the girls together, as team captain, its my job to motivate, don't get me wrong i do that, but i'm not a coach, but what would be best, tell them to play more, which i don't think will happen, or bring a bit of expereince into the team?

i'm stuck, i'm new to all this, its just every match, we've been battered, i'm not blaming anyone, but the girls jus show the lack of experience, the serves are usually high,but close to the net, so easily killed off, net shots are played straight to the opponent, the clears, don't go as far as they should, its just too in-consistant

i dunno - any ideas would be great

thanks

[richie-rich]

please guys, could really do with some ideas - pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :D

[Dreamzz]

pair the girls up and play them against the guys.
they might lose terribly at first, but that's the only way to improve.
when they lose a point from an obvious error in tactics, point it out to them, but not too harshly.
if it's a mishit or a reasonable error, then just let the game flow.
once they get used to playing against stronger opponents, then their game will improve, although the difference in tactics in XD will need to be re-emphasized again after that.
that's how the ladies in my club train, anyways ...

[LazyBuddy]

From what you described, they are not only lacking of experience, they are lacking of the fundamentals as well, to a certain degree, at least. Things like high serve (not far enough), not as good net strokes, and mid court clears are pretty much asking for trouble regardless against anyone.

Personally, I think training (stroke or experience) have no short cuts. If your guys lost, you only lost to better players. Just help your teammates to anaylze their games (whether u just win or lose), and let them learn through their own mistakes.

Best of luck. ;)

[Trickster]

It's just a case that the experience will come the more league matches you all play together. As you say most of the girls are only 16 and when you are coming up against good players they maybe out of their depth. Its a different standard playing league to just club nights anyway. I suggest pratice, pratice and more pratice. There is no easy fix. Unless like you say get a better player or two in. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

[richie-rich]

cheers guys, good answers

i think the men v women is a good idea, i know, with them being babies - they'll have nerves, but this is our 3rd match, i'm gonna try and bring in say another lady - who can play against adults as such, but also at the end of the day, each player can only win 6 points out of 18 - but i dunno, the girls are good players, they need the experience and less nerves, i think the mens side is pretty good to be honest, me and my best mate (level doubles partner) are pretty much unstoppable, but again, we only get two games together, so that only 2 points, now i'm gonna keep the team consistant playign with the same partners etc.

cheers for the advice, i'll talk to em tomorrow bout getting a few men vs. women games going

Thanks

[LazyBuddy]

Rich,

Glad to see your guys at least start the progress, and willing to learn. Just try to point out that all the progress take efforts and time, therefore, give ur buddies some time and don't over push.

It sounds like their experience (maybe skill as well) are a bit below average in your league. Therefore, they have to play catch up / climb uphill. It's already a hard task, and no need to give them more pressure. Sure, everyone wants to win, but there's no shame to lose to a stronger opponent. As long as ur buddies willing to put into effort, and learn from their mistakes, all the work will pay off sooner or later.

Let the girls practice serves, defense and net strokes, as that could be their usual roles in mix games. Playing against wall and footwork practice don't even need a training partner, and can be done pretty much everywhere. Even when watching tv, they can practice changing grips by simplying holding a racket in hand. ;)

Wish ur guys best of luck! :)

[richie-rich]

yeah, they probs are a little low, its quite funny cos they keep saying "we can beat these, look hos old she is or how she doesn't move etc" then they come off court gutted when they lose and i'm like "serves you right,dont underestimate anyone in the league"

we need to make the scores a lil bit more respectable as such, i think the girls need to read the game a tad more opposed to just hitting it, its the simple things such as a net kill - the guy smashes the return comes to the net, either they take a huge swing, it goes out, or they totally miss it, or they do a proper kill, n it hits the net, i'm not expecting much this season, but next season we should play better

cheers for your help