Content area
Full Text
SUMMARY
ELITE JUNIOR PLAYERS TRAIN IN STRUCTURED HIGHPERFORMANCE PROGRAMS, ASPIRING TOWARD PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS, FROM A RELATIVELY YOUNG AGE. WHERE IMMEDIATE PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT IN THE PHYSICAL DOMAIN IS SOUGHT, ARGUABLY MORE IMPORTANT IS THE PREPARATORY WORK REQUIRED TO WITHSTAND THE RIGORS OF THE PROFESSIONAL TOUR. THIS ARTICLE PROVIDES AN INSIGHT INTO HOW THE PROGRAMMING CHALLENGES OFTENNIS-YEAR-ROUND COMPETITION, CONSTANT TRAVEL, IRREGULAR PLAYING TIMES, AND AN UNCERTAIN NUMBER OF MATCHES-CAN BE MET WITH A 1 7- TO 1 8- YEAR-OLD MALE PLAYER.
KEY WORDS:
tennis; periodization; strength and conditioning
INTRODUCTION
The planning of junior tennis player development is generally emulative, guided by the experiences of the coach (often as a player) or reflecting the schedules of the sport's well-performed contemporaries. These approaches, although meritorious, share limited scientific or systematic origin. While the contribution of large amounts of deliberate practice to the development of expertise has received critical support in other domains (2), how this framework is expressed through training-and more pertinently competition-in tennis is less clear. To this end, Reid et al. (15) have illustrated the merits of the International Tennis Federation junior tour and U.S. College system as developmental pathways, yet little research has investigated the role of planning and periodization as part of junior player development.
When these approaches to structuring competition calendars are coupled with an uncertain micro (weekly) backdrop, characterized by unpredictable playing times and numbers of matches, the challenge for professionals working to maximize the health, performance, and well-being of the tennis players is marked. For the strength and conditioning coach, the principles of program design and exercise prescription still apply, yet adaptability becomes paramount to accommodate this unpredictability. With this and the plethora of other variables that can influence programming (chiefly gender, age, and geography) in mind, the aim of this article is to provide some practical examples of macro and micro strength and conditioning planning delimited to a 17- to 18-year-old male professional tennis aspirant.
CONSIDERATIONS IN PLANNING FOR JUNIOR PLAYER DEVELOPMENT
Most 17- to 18-year-old athletes who train in a structured high-performance program and who aspire to professional success follow some form of planned competition schedule. These schedules are individualized, considering general performance targets related to 1 of 3 broad competitive foci: professional events only, professional events with...