• To warm up properly
• To drill on their weaknesses
• To get up early enough to be ready
• To warm up for doubles properly on match day
• To complete and turn in academic work ahead of time when
missing class

After open heart surgery, two back surgeries, and a hip replacement, I
was beginning to get straightened out (2001).
My good friend Athletic Director Alan White called me into his office,“Tom, you’re looking much better, and by the way you’re adding the
women’s team to your job next fall.”
Good friend, did I say? Actually I’ve taught women or girls all my career.
The tennis boom (late ’60s) hit when I first started teaching and in Wilson,
North Carolina, alone I taught three generations of girls, women, mammas,
and grandmas. But I’d never coached the college women’s team.
Thirty-seven years of men’s tennis, now they let me coach the girls. What
bothered me wasn’t all I’d observed about the women. (There are some
“horror” stories out there). It was coaching two teams at once. I later said
you had to have a M.W.A. degree to do it (Management While
Wandering Around).

I had watched our previous four women’s coaches enough to know they
were good coaches; two were men, two women. Very good people and
coaches, and I worked easily with all four. The job just didn’t pay much. So, I
was somewhat surprised by the initial response at the returning girls team
meeting. Before I said anything, one young lady offered, “we are so glad we
now have a man coach.” They all shook their heads in agreement. I didn’t
agree and told them so, in my first “coaching” of women. I offered, “You
wouldn’t mind a good woman coach. What you don’t want is a poor coach,
man or woman.” Many times I’ve heard women say, “I don’t want to work
for a woman boss.” I’ve seen too many good women in leadership positions
not to object to this logic. Elon University itself has several fine women
leaders and two-thirds of its students are women.

It was tough to find adequate coaches in 1960 when there were no
women’s collegiate sports. You have to remember women’s collegiate
sports as we now know them began, really, only in the ’70s. How could
women have the experience men coaches had? They had been denied
the formal opportunity of learning by playing. Another overlooked factor
were the backyard games boys played in childhood. It irked me to hear
“girls can’t serve because they can’t throw.” They couldn’t throw as well
as teenaged boys, who’d grown up with baseball and football free play
experience. If you think women are anatomically limited in throwing,
watch modern women’s tennis, or better still, collegiate women’s softball.
Zing!

Perhaps a problem harder than experience for women coaches was
society itself. Title IX may rule the gym but not the home. Women who
coached early on now had three jobs: Teaching, coaching, and running the
home. Unless you had a husband willing to help at home it was extremely
difficult for these young, often very capable, wives and mothers to coach
long. There was a period of time we lost a lot of potentially great women
coaches. Many survived. Many men saw the light and began to share the
load. All things being equal, women should coach women’s tennis. Until
we get to “equal,” I’d rather my granddaughter play for a competent coach,
male or female.

The next “myth” about women tennis players (often posed by men) was,
“they should go to the net more.” The men coaches would corner me and
tell me “about girls and the net.”
Once, during practice, I brought the women over to observe the men in a
drill designed for aggressive approaching and volleying. The women were
very courteous.
I then asked the men, “What would you change if this court were five feet
wider and five feet longer?”
Immediately one of the guys said, “We couldn’t go to the net as much.”
I ushered the women back to the “girls’ side” and explained, “If you are a
little smaller, not quite as quick and maybe not quite as strong, then the
court is bigger for you, or for most women. It makes sense not to want to
go in as much and that’s okay.”
Later I asked the guys if they’d still go in on a larger court? “Yes, but with
more caution.”
There is a situation where you can take a “percentage advantage,” by
going to the net and pressuring the other player. You have to design your
skills at attacking and learn to identify the proper ball to go in on.

Men are from Mars; women are from Venus. How do you identify these
differences as far as coaching goes? The best source for a “crash course”
on the subject would be to consult Anson Dorrance’s book on the subject.
Dorrance, legendary women’s soccer coach at UNC-Chapel Hill, does a
clinical job sharing his discoveries. I found one of his first suggestions to hold truth immediately. You’ve got to give the girls about 20 minutes prior
to when practices start to discuss the day. Seriously. This is actually part of
practice. And if you view this as a waste of time, you’ll probably witness a
lousy practice. Once they “air the day” they’re ready to go. Try it.

One personal idea that I tried was the theme: “Be your own choreogra-
pher.” I tried to encourage our women to design their own practices based on their needs. For some reason they have trouble with this. Once my
assistant Bob Owens had just been hitting ground strokes to one girl after
another, corner to corner. Imre Kwast, a Dutch player, came close to me
and said, “That’s what the ‘gulls like!’” And it’s true, they like to be directed.
I banged my head against the wall, trying to encourage them to design
their own practices, but “they are different” this way.

One day I asked Imre, “Do you have Easter in Holland?
“Why certainly,” she said, surprised.
“Do you have the Easter Bunny?” I asked.
“Sure,” she giggled, “We have the bunny too.”
I asked the team, “What’s the best thing that could happen to you in an
Easter egg hunt?”
Where was this going was the look on their faces.
Finally one girl answered: “If you know where the eggs were hidden it
would surely help!”
“Exactly,” I replied. “I’ve watched teams for 40 years, I know where the
points are, and I’ll tell you.”
From then on they called me the Easter Bunny. When I’d see them
execute a point I’d advised them on, I’d whisper “bunny point.” Other men
coaches contended: “They’ll practice all week on something I’ve taught
them but come to match time they forget it.” I’d smile to myself every time I
got to say “bunny point.”
This test was given to all team members. Richard Dutton always won.

Here are some “hidden points.” Fill out and return. Best papers, men and
women, will be rewarded.

The page numbers in parentheses indicate where the question is
answered.
Answer in 35 words or less, based on fall practice:

1. “Hone your return” (page 29).
2. “Churn and Burn” (page 88).
3. Seven volley spots (page 87).
4. Use your legs to volley (overhead) (page 87).
5. “Recoil” (page 88).
6. “On the rise” (pages 89, 106).
7. “Andy Moll” Drill (page 56).
8. “two and in” (pages 43, 46).
9. “Shank” target (page 85).
10. Going in (pages 46, 89).
11. Backing up (pages 46, 89).
12. Which knee is down on a low backhand volley (right-handers)?
    The left.) (page 117).
13. “Hit-turn” serve (overhead) (page 19).
14. “Doubles is a one-two game” (pages 29).
15. “Duties of all four doubles players” (pages 31, 32, 33).
16. Where is the underspin ball best used (which shots)?
    (pages 29, 36, 58).
17. “Touch and tighten” (page 88).
18. Short corner (significance) (page 36).
19. Cardinal sins in doubles (page 34).
20. “Chip and Charge” (page 58).
21. “Chip and Rip” (pages 42, 58).
22. They approach cross court. Your response: (Down the Line)
    (page 89).
23. “Spot specific” on volleys (too!) (page 56).
24. “The most important ground stroke” (Cross-court backhand if
    both players are right-handed) (pages 29, 41, 42).
25. Get the return out of “the hole” (page 59).
26. “The Cagey Cage” (page 84).
27. The values of hitting on the rise (pages 57, 58).
28. Borg’s speech (page 25).
29. Don’t change the “line of the ball” (pages 29, 43).
30. Who serves first for us in doubles? (The server who gives our team
    the best chance to win. This may not be the best server.) (page 59).

31. Double faults are: (See answer at bottom of test.

32. Know when to “pull the trigger.” (See answer at bottom of test.)

1. “The harder they hit it, the … ” (easier you swing … pages 21, 88.)
2. “Z” shaped return (pages 90, 117).
3. Compare the “hit spot” for a backhand two-hander to a one-
   handed backhand slice (pages 23, 86).
4. “Pulling the top spin backhand” (page 56).
5. “Learn the court” and team policy on dropping a questionable ball
   (page 53).
6. Two rally suggestions: (1. Hit ground strokes off the first bounce
   only. Second bounce hits are not legal, plus first bounce makes you
   hustle to the ball and hit some awkward shots. 2. There is no need
   to hit balls that are out of bounds. Just knock them down, or let
   them go, and start a new inbounds rally.)
7. Recommended technique on backhand overheads (page 87).
8. High volleys—down and at an angle. Low volleys—straight and
   deep and they get to hit it one more time (pages 41, 87, 88).

31. Double faults are double trouble in doubles