INTERMEDIATE
Our intermediate level programme is in place to develop players who are no longer at the beginner level of the game. Depending on the age most of these players now play a minimum of two to three times a week. This programme is for tennis players starting from our Intermediate Foundation Red 5 year olds all the way up to our Intermediate yellow 13+ year olds and our intermediate adults. These players are now looking to develop their tennis further and willing to compete in Hong Kong tournaments.
In this programme we work on fitness, tactics, technique and mental aspects of the game. Our intermediate players will also follow the ITF regulated pathway with different coloured balls (of different pressures) and different court sizes in order to develop technique as quickly and as safely as possible without hindering kids’ movement. At this level we offer lessons in red ball, orange ball, green ball and finally yellow ball.
An intermediate player should have at least 2-4 years foundation. By this we expect our players to be able to hit forehands, backhands, backhand slice, volleys, over heads, first serve and second serve. These players should also have some experience in match play. The intermediate programme is for players who have the foundations, and are now willing to train hard and develop into a competitive national level junior player. We will assist in their development and teach them how to attack, defend, neutralise and, most importantly, compete.
OUR BEGINNER PROGRAMMES ARE LISTED BELOW:
INTERMEDIATE FOUNDATION RED
Age: 3 - 5 y/old
INTERMEDIATE DEVELOPMENT ORANGE
Age: 5 - 8 y/old
INTERMEDIATE DEVELOPMENT GREEN
Age: 8 - 11 y/old
INTERMEDIATE YELLOW
Age: 11 - 13+ y/old
Hard-working: Our view on hard work is simplified by a famous quote that goes “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard”
Open minded: Being open minded to us means being accepting of criticism and other people’s opinions, stances or vision. How our players accept constructive criticism by our coaches can be a big determining factor on their growth as a player. Open minded players are good listeners and are able to accept comments from various angles. Being this flexible and able to absorb information and come to conclusions or action plans to move forward helps our players immensely in match situations. When scenarios change, conditions change, locations change or opponents game plans change our players have to be able to navigate through these changes and find ways to win. Open minded players are able to navigate through change. This also closely links to the importance we stress on having a growth mindset where our players are not scared of limitations rather focus on what they have to practically do in order to achieve tasks that then ultimately translates into achieving their goals.
We believe it’s fundamental to set out a blue print and have our players follow important values that we believe will pave the path for them to become better tennis players and people. In order to have success at our Academy and any future endeavour we narrowed our player profile to the above four character traits. Being respectful, passionate, hard working and open minded.
Respectful: Although we have narrowed down four main traits we look for in our players, we believe this to be the most important. We value the person we coach and simple actions such as being polite, supportive of other players and coaches, being respectful after losses and showing fair play, to us shows we have developed not only a great tennis player but a great person. As coaches being part of someone’s development means transmitting the right values and also being role models. Our coaches are all expected to show the utmost respect to all the players we train and we are very happy when we see this behaviour reciprocated by our players!
Passionate: We believe success and passion go hand in hand. In order to become successful at any given task or discipline one must work endlessly and meticulously for a sustained amount of time, and if someone is not truly passionate about what they do they simply will not put in the amount of time and effort needed to become great. When we see our players smiling on the court, sweating and working hard or fist pumping and roaring after winning an important point we know we are on the right path, because if you’re not truly passionate about what you do why do it at all?
PLAYERS BLUEPRINT
FOLLOWING OUR BLUEPRINT
It is important that players at all levels including our Intermediate players starting from intermediate foundation red understand our player blue print. We understand that the lower age groups may not fully understand these words words, however it is our role as coaches to teach our players these important character traits through coaching moments, and picking up when our players are going against our player blueprint. It is our role as coaches to not only coach technique and tactics but to also employ empathy and relate to everyone we coach, whilst instilling our philosophy and system. By implementing this blue print from our younger age groups our players will be very mentally ready and have good habits when they progress from intermediate to our high performance level programmes, where character development and the mental aspects of the game are of immense importance.
PLAYER ATTITUDE
EVALUATION SCALE
1
2
3
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
In order to be in line with our player blueprints our players at all level and ages need to score at least 7/10 in each area in order to remain in our Academy groups and in our programmes. It is essential that every player at the Academy is on the same page and follows our vision.
At the end of the term our players will be judged on a Total score /50. In order to stay in our Academy and our groups for the following term our players must score a minimum of 35/50.
RESPECT
The player must integrate well with other players in the groups and our coaches. We expect our players to be polite to other peers at the Academy. Simply treat others the way you would like to be treated.
PASSION
Does the player show passion on the court during trainings. Does the player come motivated and enthusiastically to the court.
HARD-WORKING
Does the player give his 100% every training and in different aspects of training - drills, live rally ball drills, point play. Giving 100% for us is purely measured in relation to the players effort on the court!
OPEN-MINDEDNESS
Is the player open to suggestions and does he take constructive criticism well. Is the player welcoming to new players.
SCORE
/10
SCORE
/10
SCORE
/10
SCORE
/10
The final grading criteria is outside the Player Blue-print, however it is fundamental in regards to training and being part of the Academy.
COMMITMENT
Does the player take the commitment of tennis training seriously. Does the player miss trainings frequently.
SCORE
/10
PROGRESSION IN PLAYER PATHWAY
After developing the correct fundamentals, our coaches will scout and allow players to progress to either:
1. An older age intermediate group (which sometimes results in the change of colour ball and court dimension).
2. Progress to a high performance group of the same age, or of the age above depending on the level of the specific player and their improvement.
* The technical, tactical, physical and mental components of training from one level of programme to the next change substantially and players are to be aware that a jump from level from intermediate - high performance is earned through hard work and shown improvement both as a player and as a person.
WEEKLY SCHEDULE
RED BALL LESSONS
ORANGE BALL LESSONS
GREEN BALL LESSONS
YELLOW BALL LESSONS
* Morlotti Academy offers early afternoon lessons (2-4pm) for students that finish school earlier ( GSIS Students, CDNIS Students)
* Morlotti Academy offers early afternoon lessons ( 1-4pm) for students that have half days of school.
* Sunday Group / Private lessons available on request
* Morlotti Academy coaches are available to work from 7am - 11pm daily Monday - Saturday