By Eli Buenaventura
For Variety

EVERY new year, everybody likes to come up with their own resolutions to spice up their lives for the rest of the year. For junior and recreational tennis players, however, their resolutions are focus more on to raise their game to a higher level. Here are my 10 resolutions to my kids’ tennis improvement in 2007.
1. Encourage them to listen to me. My kids tend to listen more to others than to me. If I yell at them for poor shot selections, they react with disgust. But I guess I need to be patient. . They are young and I should understand them better. I wish they could have the thinking of 30-year-old player while on the court. Anyhow, I will encourage them to listen to me in 2007.
2. Tell them to listen more to their coach. Most kids like to do stupid things while on the tennis court, smashing their rackets sometimes in disgust of a bad shot. And the worst of all, they ignore their coach. My kids are no exception. In 2007, I will see to it that they will be attentive to the coach’s instructions. Tennis coaches are trained to help kids learn the game properly and behave properly on the court
3. Encourage them to be more responsible kids. Last year, they used to go to the tennis court with myself preparing almost everything. This year, my resolution is to reverse this situation. I will encourage them to go to the tennis court without any proddings from me and be more responsible in taking care of their rackets, balls, water jugs and towels.
4. Practice with a purpose. This is the only way to excel in the game. I don’t intend my kids to become tennis pros. So two hours a day will be good enough to groove their shots to perfection. In 2007, I will keep reminding them to focus on practicing serves, volleys and finishing short balls. As I often told them, the serve is the only part of tennis where they have full control of the shot. It sounds harsh, but if my kids can’t do anything for things they have full control, what more can they do for things that they don’t.
5. Read more tennis magazines and journals. My kids have often ignored this opportunity. Last year, I told them to read tennis articles so they can understand better the instructions. But my advice only fell on deaf ears. This year, I will see to it that those subscription issues will not be in the bin gathering dust. I will keep encouraging my kids to read, read and read.
6. Play against all kinds of players. My kids abhor soft and dink shots. They want power in their shots all the time. Slicers and dinkers take their game off. The result is disastrous. My New Year resolution is to encourage them play all kinds of players and be ready to meet them on official matches. I told my kids that for them to handle soft shots without sacrificing power, they must reduce their swing speed at the beginning of the match. Switch to full gear when they already get the feel and the trajectory of the shot.
7. Play more double matches. I will encourage them to play more doubles matches next year. Junior players are typically singles players. They prefer to pound the balls from the baseline. I will continue to emphasize to my kids that they can learn a lot from playing doubles. They could practice a serve and volley game while playing doubles. Because there is very little window to let their shot passes, doubles game will teach them to be precise and quick in their thinking.
8. Be more consistent. Junior players are one or two-hit wonders. My kids are no exception. After the second shot, they don’t know what to do next. My new year’s resolution is to constantly remind them that consistency does not come from groundstroke skills alone. They also must be consistent in running for the balls. They must keep running to hit one more shot over their opponent’s side.
9. Work on drills. While juniors are full of stamina and energy, they are lazy to do drills to optimize their performance. Last year, I showed them a book of drills published by the USTA. Unfortunately, they were not serious about it. In 2007, I make it a resolution to do some drills for them. I know these will help their game a lot.
10. Apply geometry to their game. Very few junior players know the importance of geometry when they play their game. My kids have very little knowledge about it so most of the time they are in the wrong place and at the wrong time. The only thing they know about geometry is that hitting crosscourt makes court longer and the margin of error is very low. In 2007, I will teach them to apply geometry to their game.
Resolutions, like promises, can be broken. However, if I can keep some of them, my kids’ game will be in better times.