TENNIS I

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 427, 19 November 1930, Page 4

TENNIS I

L- (Bi

"HALF VOLLEY.")

Week-end weather in Wanganui has been all against lawn tennis, play on grass courts being altogether out of the question and that on the asphalt being only sporadic. Perhaps the greatest activity has been at the Gonville club, which possesses a strong membership of enthusiasts. The general keenness and a policy of systematic coaching by an * expcerienced senior player, has had its effect at Gonvillc, a much-improved standard of play being the result. A little constructive criticism on the play of some of the Gonvillc members, is offered, it being the intention of “Half-Volley” to make mention of others at a later date.

Mrs Marshall is an experienced allround player who, if she continues to improve as she is doing at present, will have strong claims to being included in a Wanganui representative team. This lady has, however, still a lot to learn of general court craft, and she should concentrate n ore on her service than she does.

Miss 1). Moye is a young player who has every quality to enable her to play first-class tennis, and she is improving he- style since attending the instruction classes held by th'e club. She has a tendency to foot-fault, due to serving with the weight on the back instead of the front foot.

Miss N. Brown is a very promising player with an extremely effective fore-hand drive. Her back-hand is weak, however, and her game suffers from a lack of concentration. This player has another fault which is far too common amongst players at Gonvillc. When she is at the net she stands too close up and more often than not she volleys the ball before it has passed the net.

Miss Pawson is a keen player who shows marked improvement each season, and her success in club and open events last season shows that she is one of the best doubles players among the ladies that the club has. She owes this position largely to her volleying, of which she makes a specialty. She is inclined to run with her head down, which shows her up. She should always serve from just behind the back line, as she loses speed' and direction by serving as far back as she often does.

Miss Sunderland has been playing for one season only and her improvement has been extraordinary. Her fore hand drive is most effective. However, she is too slow off her feet, which could be remedied by five minutes skipping every morning. She also is too anxious to make every shot an absolute winner.

N.I. Championships. Taranaki tennis circles, having overcome their recent difiiculties, have now agreed that the North Island Championships shall be played at New Plymouth. The tournament will commence on January 6. The Hawera club are holding their usual Christmas tournament.

Dominion Championships Entry forms arc now available for the forty-first annual championship meeting of the New Zealand Association. The tournament is to be held this year on the Canterbury Association’s grass courts at Wilding Park, Christchurch, on December 26, 27, 29, 30, and 31. Entries close oi. Monday, December 15, with Mr D. Murray Kean, Wellington. The entries promise to be good in quality as well as quantity. The present champions are as fol-

Men’s Singles.—C. Angus (Canterbury). Women’s Singles.—Miss D, Nicholls (Wellington).

Men’s Doubles.—D. G. France and C. E. Malfroy (Wellington), Women’s Doubles.—Misses M. Andrew and M. Wake (Canterbury). Mixed Doubles.—N. R. C. Wilson and Miss M. Tracy (Wellington). Lawn Tennis Tuition The principles of progress in tennis are well set out by Suzanne Lenglen. “1 would not,” she said, “allow coaches to waste time oi. beginners by showing them how to hold their racquets. It is much better to let them follow their own instincts and so develop a style of their own. Many a promising player is ruined by too much nursing at the outset. After all, the business of a coach is not so much to teach as to correct.”

4 ‘Tell me,” she asked of a player whom,” after watching, she felt played naturally and by a kind of right instinct, but whom she felt sure did not know why he did so. “Tell me, have you ever studied tennis — the theory of it, 1 mean?” “Good Lord, no,” was the reply. “I don’t go in for diagrams, An ounce of practice is worth a pound of theory.’ ’

“It is that silly, bad, banal and utterly untruthful—er, what you call it, has ruined tennis players by the thousand,” she rejoined. “An ounce of practice is not worth a pound of theory. It takes just sixteen ounces of practice to equal a pound of theory. The theory must come first. It must be the ground-work. Don’t you understand that the technique of tennis must be learnt slowly and laboriously as the technique of painting? The theory is the very bones of the business. Without it you will be just a healthy, beefy athlete who plunges about the court without any plan, but hurling himself at the ball to hit it. Do you know why I boat you? Because I play with my head, and you with your strength.” There, in those few lines is the secret of it all. The reason for the difference between the good player and the rabbit.

Andrews Touring. E. I). Andrews, the New Zealander who is secretary of the Covered Courts Club at Dulwich, will be lost to English tournaments for some considerable time to come owing to his absence abroad on a world tour. He is to visit India and the East, but so far it is not known whether he will be able to touch New Zealand in his travels.