Charting movement outside the sidelines in mini tennis – a preliminary to assessing collision risk in Tag Tennis

In the default game of Tag Tennis, sidelines are shared.   Wondering what the risk of collision between players might be,  I jumped online and looked at a sample of  mini tennis videos.

I put the results into a chart:

A larger version of the above chart can be viewed  here.

The results show that the Touchtennis players moved outside their sidelines most frequently.  The Touchtennis players were the most skilled of all the players I observed -  thus they could control the ball to move their opponent around the court most effectively, so the results make sense.

This leads to the next step in the project – to count the number of potential collision points – the moments when players on two courts side-by-side move beyond their sidelines towards each other at the same time.

I hope to collect data which will enable me to do this during the Touchtennis Technifibre Oz Open,  on 31st Jaunary.

Below are the links to the mini tennis videos observed to produce the above results :

Russians

Versacourt

EasyPlay

Touchtennis

Touchtennis

OzHotShot

Grass

BestRally

PlayStay

Stormot

now hit it harder

My tennis coach had spent twenty minutes going through the service motions.  The new technique had clicked in.  Now I just needed more racket head speed.

He was an ex-player scraping out a living.  He was inexperienced in coaching.

So he did not say

“Now you just need more racket head speed”.

Standing just behind me, with quiet aggression, he said,

“Now hit it harder”.

I guess he thought the aggression would motivate me.

It didn’t.  It froze me.  My mind was filled by a vision – his fist plunged through the top of my head into my brain and back out again.

Twenty years prior, I had witnessed an alcohol-fueled  physical attack between two men who were emotionally close to me.  One man lay on the floor – I don’t remember why.  The attacker had knelt down beside him and with an aggressive movement of his fist had nicked the forehead of the man lying down.   The injury, though bloody, was minor, but I had gone into St John’s Ambulance First Aid Trainee automatic pilot mode, knelt down to help him – to the detriment of my blood-stained white skirt, and my relationship with the attacker – and ignored the trauma.

Now I needed my whole brain to learn to serve, and the deep level of my concentration opened the lid on the coffin of that buried trauma.

The vision and emotion of the attacking fist will always be projected in my mind onto that coach.

My own coaching style has since developed as emotionally distant; I keep emotions out of my voice, and use precise terms or say nothing at all.

Tag Tennis is born

Summer 2005.  I was assisting Graeme Livingstone with his tennis squads.

I told Graeme about the new game I’d learned on my coaching course.  He encouraged me to try it out with his 5-strong squad of nine-year old girls.

As soon as I said “Tag” they got the idea of playing a point and tagging their team-mate as in a relay race.

When they were waiting their turn they supported and coached each other; when they were playing their point they were listening to and acting on their team-mates’ tactical advice.  They were playing as a team and teaching each other.

Some players were much more advanced technically than others, because Graeme’s philosophy is to prioritize good group dynamics above technical ability.   As they played, they automatically handicapped themselves and made allowances for the weaker players.

Graeme,  smiling,  said “they’re loving it”.

Tag Tennis was born.

1-court tag tennis

In this video,  four players play singles on one court.

The ‘tagging’ happens when the players do high-fives, hand the ball to the next player, or tap the next player with their racket between points.

The scores can be kept individually and as teams.

Tag Tennis domain name – renewal decision time

Tagtennis.co.uk has done its job of being a bill-board.   As a business the site is confusing because ‘co’ stands for ‘company’, but Tag Tennis is not a company, it is just a game.

So the next step would be to redevelop, but there is no business model for the game to make any money to finance that cost.

It would make more sense for the domain to host a news site, sitting alongside  others like tennis,  and football; or an event booking portal, like ten-pin bowling.  Perhaps a gaming entrepreneur will take it up to host an internet spectator sport rivalling Starcraft.

But I will not be renewing my subscription, so I won’t be the person who takes it there.

Thoughts that have helped me to come to the decision not to renew:

Douglas Richard – ‘Stop spending’.

Andrew Austin – ‘When you’re on a journey of transformation you need to know how to let go’.

Patrick Harris – ‘Know when you’ve arrived’ – in “The Truth About Creativity”.

James Shramko – ‘It’s not about the website’.

Ian Godman – ‘The Tag Tennis animations can be embedded in any web site’.

How many balls did Agassi hit?

In answer to Jonathan Ross’s question about the number of balls he used to hit, Agassi says “thousands”.

I calculate that at 30 balls per minute – a conservative rally rate for pros – and 4 hours’ hitting per day, Agassi would have hit 7,200 balls per day.

Part 1:

Part 2:

I can’t wait to read the book – didn’t think to ask Santa!

Tag Tennis risk assessment

In the default version of Tag Tennis, the sidelines are shared.   These shots are  to gather evidence to assess the risk of collision between players.

1. the space between two badminton courts at the Rainbow Leisure Centre Epsom

2. an inside-out forehand takes the player well beyond the side-line

With grateful thanks to the players of Touchtennis http://www.touchtennis.com/

Trust and Fidelity

My late blossoming in tennis was misinterpreted by everyone – including me – as sexual attraction for my tennis coach.   In fact my infatuation was with tennis – the coach was the personification of the game.

Perhaps in an attempt to save his professional reputation, the tennis coach wrote a letter to the cub chairman accusing me of sexual harassment in the workplace, and I left the club and so did the coach, later.

This soap opera-like experience helped me to maintain a sense of humour and understand people as I built my tennis coaching career.  But the marriage was irreparably damaged and slowly came to an end.

I am grateful for the British legal process of divorce and proud of the way my husband – an investment banker whom I had worked with in a previous ‘life’ – and my two wonderful children have conducted themselves throughout the process.

As our marriage was based on fidelity, so our divorce will be based on trust.

Champions Tie-Break: tactical or practical?

I am hoping that next Saturday morning’s Ladies’ Third Team opposition will agree to start earlier and use the Champions Tie-Break format, because that way I would stand a chance of getting to the Association of British Tennis Officials  pre-AGM excellent officiation workshops on time.

But the decision will inevitably come down to tactics, not practicalities, since Time is one of the biggest tactical weapons available to women at ladies’ club tennis level.

I’m giving it long odds that I’ll get to the ABTO workshops on time.

Tag Tennis: find the gap

The idea behind this exercise is to find gaps in column 2 that might be filled by innovative technology and invention. (Work in progress)

TAG TENNIS: Organizer’s journey

1. Organizer Activity	2. Equipment / software / resources required	3. mind-state of organizer (O) / participant (P)
Pre-contemplation: conversations, living life, at work, at leisure	advert, video, role model, scoring infrastructure	O: “That’s new to me”
Contemplation: sees players having fun, hearing/seeing organizer testimonial	Videos, You Tube /other, social media, PR campaign	O: “I know how that’s done”
Evaluates Tag Tennis for use in their situation	Support system + person, media platform, telephone, email	O: “We’re going to have an event … better find out how much it’s gonna cost”
Seeks costings	Price list	O: “Now I’ve got something in writing to put to the meeting”
Seeks advice	Telephone, email	O: “Aah, I see”
seeks training	Training programme, book, CD,	O: “I’m getting my team trained up”
Views other organizers’ & participants’ data	Group, forum, web site	O: “I can see they’re having fun”
Talks to other organizers & participants	Trusted members	O: “If they can do it, I must be able to”
Assesses demand / requirement for event	Customer in appropriate management position within their organization	O: “I reckon that would enhance our corporate training”
Sets dates / times for event	Player availability / preferences, calendar, venue availability, event creation platform(s)	O: “I’m confident that’s the optimum date / time”
Places equipment order	Visual of equipment in use, purchase / rental / price options, order button, pay button, delivery system, first time user support	O, P: “I’m looking forward to using that equipment”
Books venue	Venue facilities, availability, price, payment terms	O: “I feel confident the venue management is wants this event to happen”
Writes / sends invitations	Event Invitation template
Writes / sends joining instructions	Payment confirmation facility, joining instruction template, map link	P: “that’s easy to get to”
Receives entries: data and money
Assesses participants’ credentials
Groups participants into teams
Discusses handicaps
Invites self-handicapping
Assigns handicaps
Chooses scoring format
Sets individual score-keeping apps
Sets up line judges
Sets up court
Toss for service & ends
Starts game
Inputs win/loss of rally into scoreboard
Updates game score & flashes light