I was recently invited to be part of a USTA Foundation Fantasy Camp at the USTA Campus in Orlando, Florida. It was an incredible weekend with many great speakers and coaches, including Chris Evert, Sloane Stephens, Nick Bollettieri, Jim Courier, Jimmy Arias, and Brian Godfried. One of my favorite events was having breakfast with Gil Reyes, Andre Agassi’s (and many other top players’) long-time trainer. All professional athletes have trainers and physios to guide their training specifically for their sport. Very few of these trainers become well-known out of their sport. Gil Reyes made his…
As parents and coaches in youth athletics, we are bombarded with articles, information, and research on how this generation is playing too much. Too much time practicing, competing, and training. We are all hesitant to be the ones to lead a new trend, so I thought I would take a different angle and talk about the importance of the rest day. Do what you want for six days a week, but your athlete MUST have one rest day per week. Let’s just concentrate on that piece of it. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?! Some of us fall prey to…
In this week’s article, Dr. Joani Essenmacher has given us 8 stretching exercises to address the muscle imbalances from tennis that Dr. Raiszadeh shared with us in his article “5 Most Common Back Injuries in Young Athletes”. There are many stretching exercises for your back and tennis, but these are specifically for the imbalance that can lead to back injuries. These exercises combined with her 8 Strengthening Exercises will certainly improve your ability to have a healthy back at all ages while playing tennis (or other asymmetrical sports). Many thanks to Joani for taking the time…
In this post, Dr. Joani Essenmacher gives us 8 strengthening exercises to address the muscle imbalances to avoid the back injuries given to us by Dr. Raiszadeh in his article of the 5 Most Common Back Injuries in Young Athletes. Joani has over 25 years experience with professional tennis players on the WTA TOUR. Safe to say, she knows these injuries well! Many thanks to Joani for taking the time out of her busy schedule to share these exercises with us. These strengthening exercises are for all ages of athletes who want to maintain a healthy back while playing asymmetrical…
In my last post, Dr. Kamshad Raiszadeh shared with us the 5 Common Back Injuries he sees in young athletes, why these muscle imbalances are prevalent in tennis players and some solutions to avoid them. In this next series, Dr. Joani Essenmacher, a physical therapist and athletic trainer with over 27 years experience with players on the WTA TOUR, will give us some tips to address the muscle imbalances caused by tennis. Let’s meet Joani! I first met Joani Essenmacher when I was 20 years in my second full year on the WTA TOUR. The trainers see us…