Vic Braden is the most influential tennis coach to how I teach tennis today, and how I now know I was first introduced to the sport as a excited 7 year old at summer swim club. His book "Teaching Children Tennis The Vic Braden Way," has long been my way of instructing the sport to kids. He has a long established tennis college, the first of it's kind, where instructors go to learn how to improve their craft. He also founded a sport science research facility, connected to his tennis college. One field study he just completed and released the findings, was on kids teaching each other, and in different sports, not just tennis.
The article below is now a program that was the outgrowth of that study. I cut and pasted it here, and also another link to a brief FYI on the man himself.
Published: April 14, 2010 Updated: April 15, 2010 1:39 p.m.
Orange County Register News
Legendary tennis coach trains kids to be coaches, too
Vic Braden seeks parent volunteers for junior ambassadors coaching program.
/ THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
COTO DE CAZA
Nothing seems to slow down 80-year-old tennis coach Vic Braden, not
even the loss of eyesight in his left eye from an infection he suffered a
year ago.
Braden, the legendary coach known for using video to improve players’ strokes, has spent his life applying the laws of physics and biology to tennis instruction. His pioneering methods are now used at Vic Braden Tennis Colleges in Utah and Arizona.
Braden is now hard at work launching a junior ambassadors program for Orange County students. The program, primarily sponsored by the Ronald Simon Family Foundation and run by Braden, aims to train young tennis players to be coaches for kids who go to school where tennis courts are non-existent or rundown. Braden recently connected the varsity girls’ tennis team at Troy High School in Fullerton with elementary school students at Rolling Hills Elementary, also in Fullerton.
“I think it boosted up my confidence,” said Sara Gordon, a sophomore at Troy. “He would tell us even if you’re having a bad day, you can still try to win and you can still win.”The varsity girls’ tennis coach at Troy, Donna Judd, credited Braden for his ability to draw out the best in people. “He really makes you feel like you can do it,” Judd said.
Braden never intended to become a tennis icon. As a kid in Michigan in the ‘40s, Braden figured he would work on the railroad when he got older. His father worked as a coal miner and later in a paper mill, and his mother stayed home raising Braden and his six siblings.“I started playing tennis when I was caught in a theft,” Braden said.
At 10, Braden was caught stealing tennis balls that were hit over the fence of the tennis courts on his way to the football field. The recreation director told the young Braden, “You’re going to jail or learning to play.” So began Braden’s tennis career. He went on to play tennis at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, where he won the league singles championships before graduating in 1951.
Braden, the legendary coach known for using video to improve players’ strokes, has spent his life applying the laws of physics and biology to tennis instruction. His pioneering methods are now used at Vic Braden Tennis Colleges in Utah and Arizona.
Vic
Braden is re-starting his Tennis College in Coto De Caza for three
days, April 23-25, to rejuvenate the Coto Valley Country Club. He also
hopes the three-day tennis college will raise awareness for his
philanthropic effort: The Junior Tennis Ambassadors program.
Braden is now hard at work launching a junior ambassadors program for Orange County students. The program, primarily sponsored by the Ronald Simon Family Foundation and run by Braden, aims to train young tennis players to be coaches for kids who go to school where tennis courts are non-existent or rundown. Braden recently connected the varsity girls’ tennis team at Troy High School in Fullerton with elementary school students at Rolling Hills Elementary, also in Fullerton.
“I think it boosted up my confidence,” said Sara Gordon, a sophomore at Troy. “He would tell us even if you’re having a bad day, you can still try to win and you can still win.”The varsity girls’ tennis coach at Troy, Donna Judd, credited Braden for his ability to draw out the best in people. “He really makes you feel like you can do it,” Judd said.
Braden’s work as a school psychologist in the late ‘50s and early
‘60s laid the groundwork for the philanthropic efforts he is pursuing
today.
“I ran an experiment where I taught kids how to be coaches,” Braden said. “When they took responsibility for other kids, concentration went up.”As a coach and spectator, Braden has seen that the players who win are the ones who focus on the execution of each stroke, not on the outcome of the point, game, set or match. He said this focus has the potential to help kids perform better in school.
“I ran an experiment where I taught kids how to be coaches,” Braden said. “When they took responsibility for other kids, concentration went up.”As a coach and spectator, Braden has seen that the players who win are the ones who focus on the execution of each stroke, not on the outcome of the point, game, set or match. He said this focus has the potential to help kids perform better in school.
Braden never intended to become a tennis icon. As a kid in Michigan in the ‘40s, Braden figured he would work on the railroad when he got older. His father worked as a coal miner and later in a paper mill, and his mother stayed home raising Braden and his six siblings.“I started playing tennis when I was caught in a theft,” Braden said.
At 10, Braden was caught stealing tennis balls that were hit over the fence of the tennis courts on his way to the football field. The recreation director told the young Braden, “You’re going to jail or learning to play.” So began Braden’s tennis career. He went on to play tennis at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, where he won the league singles championships before graduating in 1951.
Braden said he’s in need of parent volunteers to assist in the
training of young players to serve as coaches to other kids for the
junior ambassadors program. To get involved, contact Vic Braden at
949-257-9863 or e-mail vicbraden@vicbraden.com.
Here is a link to another fantastic article about Vic Braden. Some of these quotes, about his opinions on the state of the game today are so dead on, and ring in my head right now.
http://www.racquetsportsindustry.com/articles/2010/06/21_pioneers_in_tennis_vic_brad.html
Here's a 15 second video clip where you'll get a little flavor of Vic.
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