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February 15th, 2010
One of the reasons I wanted to run a camp was to make a difference in the world, especially given the increasing dearth of good role models for kids. A painful condition against which I
and so many others have railed over the years. Especially being a parent of three, I am always vigilant to be on the look out for wholesome experiences and people to introduce my kids to.
At camp we can create that idyllic, almost Camelot environment where public and loud praise goes first to those who have exhibited good sportsmanship and etiquette.
We can and do expect there to be no foul language (at all), smoking, drinking, drugs, bullying tolerated at camp. Kindness and fair play are the heroes in our community and we make a big deal about them.
Any other behavior is simply not tolerated.
Our job is to prolong childhood and keep the crude and distasteful behaviors out of our world.
It takes a while to get used to being in an environment where the expectation of saying please, thank you and may I, are just the way we do things here.
It is perhaps one of the most important life skills and gifts we can give those who come to camp.
The reason camp can do this is because we have a closed community where we can control who, what, when and where any influence can enter our world. And more importantly, we insist that all who enter buy into this lofty ideal.
It is idyllic and perhaps just like a Camelot.
Joel Lavenson has owned and directed the family run Maine Golf and Tennis Academy since 1985. Joel has worked with the most successful and dominating atheletes and teams in the sports world and brings to the Maine Golf and Tennis Academy the experience, knowledge and high tech training that is the very newest and most powerful developmental approach for young athletes. I addition to spending time with his family, running the academy, and continuing his private marriage counseling practice, Joel now has a blog. Please visit the Maine Golf and Tennis Academy blog to read more interesting sports an camp related articles and watch tennis and golf videos from camp.
Tags: kindness is taught at camp
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February 15th, 2010
February 15, 2010
Hey, Tiger, Listen Up!
Tom Watson points at the longtime elephant in the clubhouse
JOE POSNANSKI
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Tom Watson has been troubled by Tiger Woods’s act for a long time now. The cursing. The banging of clubs. The detached disdain. Watson cannot stand that stuff. He thinks it’s disrespectful to the game’s history. He considers it dismissive of the great players who came before. More than anything: Tom Watson believes it is impolite.
This is because, more than anything, Watson believes golf is a gentleman’s game.
Watson has rarely said anything about it. Sure, he might mention his disgust in passing during an interview or to a friend. “He really shouldn’t be setting that sort of example for kids,” he has told me more than once. But Watson did not want to talk about it publicly.
“Tiger doesn’t need my advice,” he would say.
What he meant was this: Tiger didn’t want his advice. And Watson knew it. Yes, Watson has won eight major championships, five of them British Opens. Yes, he has been named PGA player of the year six times. (Only Woods, a 10-time laureate, has won the honor more.) Yes, Watson is, even now, an iconic world golf figure. And he has never been shy about expressing his views about golf or anything else.* He is, most will tell you, a bit of a scold.
*When I was writing a column for The Kansas City Star, I occasionally would do a piece with nothing but what I hoped were funny lists. Watson called me up one time to tell me he did not like the list columns. At all.** “Do you want to be just a silly sportswriter,” he asked, “or do you want to try to be great?” No, Tom’s not shy about expressing his views.
**He wasn’t the only reason, but I did stop doing the list columns.
Still, Watson came to understand that Woods was not interested in his views. Watson’s various interactions with Tiger seemed to leave him pretty cold. And so he mostly kept them to himself. “I’m just an old man,” he would say. “I don’t know these younger players very well. If they ask, sure, I’ll be happy to answer anything. But they don’t need me telling them anything.”
Well, look who’s talking now. Twice recently, Watson has come out, once in his Kansas City hometown and again at a golf tournament in Dubai, and lambasted Woods. What’s most interesting is that Watson has not really blasted Woods over his off-the-course stuff—the infidelities and the stay at the sex-addiction clinic, which made him the butt of late-night talk-show jokes. No, on those subjects Watson has basically said what everyone says: Woods should apologize and make things right with his family and make amends. Obvious stuff.
But when it comes to Woods’s behavior on the golf course, well, Watson rages.
Tags: good sportsmanship in golf for juniors
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February 13th, 2010
US Team pulls upset and defeats France in Fed. Cup
Going into France and playing on clay in front of a huge crowd in Lievin made the US team a huge underdog. Coach Mary Joe
Fernandez and her team not only pulled out the victory but they did it in close matches. Melanie Oudin picture above with our own MGTA Advanced Travel Team member, Charlie Schwartz was the #1 singles player and started off with a had fought victory.
My tip for you on how to handle tough Matches.
Our MGTA Tennis Teams uses the 4 F’s in competition.
Faith Fight Focus Finish
These words say it all and now put these into your mind as you compete in your matches. Good Luck and we look forward to showing you all how to incorporate these 4 F’s into your tennis game this summer at MGTA.
Good Luck to the US Team as they now take on Russia in the Semi-Finals of the international women’s event called Fed. Cup!
Chris Langdon
Director of Tennis
Maine Golf and Tennis Academy
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February 1st, 2010
Choosing a tennis camp means considering many factors, the most important of which is your Goals or Purpose for going to a tennis camp.
Establishing those criteria will help you become clear on “What” your want from a golf camp. These two Big “what” factors will, once identified by you, allow you to make the little “how to get there” factors a lot easier to consider. So it is important to decide first those Big factors.
Once those are established, you need to make sure that all your other supporting decisions thereafter, either point or support the Big and most important criteria, of Goals and Purpose. Examples of the Little factors, by comparison to the Big Criteria are: length of stay; amount of time during the day devoted to golf play versus practice; distance from home; difficulty of travel to and from the camp; geographical locale of the camp; how big the camp is; cost; scholarships available; quality of the staff; quality of the program, focus of the camp’s program; who the other campers are in terms of their goals and purpose; and many other criteria that you may have.
Once you have established the “What” or the Big Arrow ( Goals and Purpose) I like to call it, all the Little Arrows ( how to get there) will just need to point in the same direction as the Big Arrow and the process will be more simple and much more likely to get you what you want.
(Goals and Purpose) The BIG ARROW:
Here are some helpful questions to ask yourself about WHAT you want a golf camp to be for you:
Is it to learn if you like the game?
Is it to improve already learned skills?
Is it to Improve and learn new skills?
Is it to push yourself as far as you can go?
Is it to have measured improvement ?i.e. better scores, more power, more strokes, better serve, more points and games won.
Is it to qualify for a team or tournament play?
Is it to qualify for a golf scholarship in future?
Is it to sharpen competitive skills?
Is it to be with others you know?
Is it to learn quickly or immerse yourself in an intense golf program
Is it to learn to enjoy the game to play comfortably with others.
Is it to add to many interests?
Is it to focus on golf as your main interest?
As you can see, once you have established your goals and purpose for going to a golf camp, the rest of the Little Arrow criteria will easily point towards supporting the Big Arrow (Goal and Purpose) or they will not.
Now you can see easily that if, for example, skill development to get a scholasrhip or to qualify for a team is the Big Arrow, your will consider quality of the program before you are concerned with geographic locale. And conversely, if just wanting to find out if you like the game is the Big Arrow, then matching the LIttle Arrows of program and other campers interests while at camp become more important.
Remember, set the Big Arrow first and make sure all the Little Arrows point in the same direction.
As in Tennis – As in Life. The lessons are the same.
Joel Lavenson has owned and directed the family run Maine Golf and Tennis Academy since 1985. Joel has worked with the most successful and dominating atheletes and teams in the sports world and brings to the Maine Golf and Tennis Academy the experience, knowledge and high tech training that is the very newest and most powerful developmental approach for young athletes. I addition to spending time with his family, running the academy, and continuing his private marriage counseling practice, Joel now has a blog. Please visit the Maine Golf and Tennis Academy blog to read more interesting sports an camp related articles and watch tennis and golf videos from camp.
Posted in tennis | No Comments »
February 1st, 2010
Choosing a golf camp means considering many factors, the most important of which is your Goals or Purpose for going to a golf camp.
Establishing those criteria will help you become clear on “What” your want from a golf camp. These two Big “what” factors will, once identified by you, allow you to make the little “how to get there” factors a lot easier to consider. So it is important to decide first those Big factors.
Once those are established, you need to make sure that all your other supporting decisions thereafter, either point or support the Big and most important criteria, of Goals and Purpose. Examples of the Little factors, by comparison to the Big Criteria are: length of stay; amount of time during the day devoted to golf play versus practice; distance from home; difficulty of travel to and from the camp; geographical locale of the camp; how big the camp is; cost; scholarships available; quality of the staff; quality of the program, focus of the camps program; who the other campers are in terms of their goals and purpose; and many others that you will surely have.
Once you have established the “What” or the Big Arrow ( Goals and Purpose) I like to call it, all the Little Arrows ( how to get there) will just need to point in the same direction as the Big Arrow and the process will be more simple and much more likely to get you what you want.
(Goals and Purpose) The BIG ARROW:
Here are some helpful questions to ask yourself about WHAT you want a golf camp to be for you:
Is it to learn if you like the game?
Is it to improve already learned skills?
Is it to Improve and learn new skills?
Is it to push yourself as far as you can go?
Is it to have measured improvement ?i.e. better scores, further distance, more pars, better handicap, more wins
Is it to qualify for a team or tournament play?
Is it to qualify for a golf scholarship in future?
Is it to sharpen competitive skills?
Is it to be with others you know?
Is it to learn quickly or immerse yourself in an intense golf program
Is it to learn to enjoy the game to play comfortably with others.
Is it to add to many interests?
Is it to focus on golf as your main interest?
As you can see, once you have established your goals and purpose for going to a golf camp, the rest of the Little Arrow criteria will easily point towards supporting the Big Arrow (Goal and Purpose) or they will not.
Now you can see easily that if, for example, skill development to get a scholasrhip or to qualify for a team is the Big Arrow, your will consider quality of the program before you are concerned with geographic locale. And conversely, if just wanting to find out if you like the game is the Big Arrow, then matching the LIttle Arrows of program and other campers interests while at camp become more important.
Remember, set the Big Arrow first and make sure all the Little Arrows point in the same direction.
As in Golf – As in Life. The lessons are the same.
Joel Lavenson has owned and directed the family run Maine Golf and Tennis Academy since 1985. Joel has worked with the most successful and dominating atheletes and teams in the sports world and brings to the Maine Golf and Tennis Academy the experience, knowledge and high tech training that is the very newest and most powerful developmental approach for young athletes. I addition to spending time with his family, running the academy, and continuing his private marriage counseling practice, Joel now has a blog. Please visit the Maine Golf and Tennis Academy blog to read more interesting sports an camp related articles and watch tennis and golf videos from camp.
Posted in golf | No Comments »
January 29th, 2010
Tip from Down Under at the Australian Open
Look at the quarter of the draw at the top, round of 16 match ups.
Roger Federer vs. Leyton Hewitt
Nikolay Davydenko vs. Fernando Verdasco
Great match ups and now we are down to one from that Quarter and it is Roger
Federer and why?
* Roger has the ability to hit under spin, topspin, reverse forehands
and most importantly take the ball on the rise and move forward. Yes he has
a very good first and second serve too.
* Many hours of practice to perfect the all court game. Roger under
the pressure is able to be brave enough to move forward and take the ball on
the rise and come into the net, that is hard to do unless you practice this
a lot.
* How many times did Roger his great first serves to take the pressure
off of himself too, wow amazing.
How to practice to play better
1. In your practice Matches try taking the ball on the rise more and move
forward especially when your opponents ball lands a little short.
2. In your practice Matches try different shots than you normally do like
under spin, reverse forehands for more topspin and drop shots.
3. Go out with a basket of balls and practice different shots, under spin
on both sides, reverse forehands and drop shots so you can be successful in
your matches
Good Luck and look forward to seeing you at MGTA this summer!
Chris Langdon
Director of Tennis
Maine Golf and Tennis Academy
Joel Lavenson has owned and directed the family run Maine Golf and Tennis Academy since 1985. Joel has worked with the most successful and dominating atheletes and teams in the sports world and brings to the Maine Golf and Tennis Academy the experience, knowledge and high tech training that is the very newest and most powerful developmental approach for young athletes. I addition to spending time with his family, running the academy, and continuing his private marriage counseling practice, Joel now has a blog. Please visit the Maine Golf and Tennis Academy blog to read more interesting sports an camp related articles and watch tennis and golf videos from camp.
Posted in tennis | No Comments »
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