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IMG Bollettieri Tennis Academy In 1978, Bollettieri founded the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, a full-time tennis boarding school dedicated to preparing students of all ages and abilities for college within an environment that combined intense tennis training with a specially designed academic curriculum. At its pinnacle in 1987, the Academy had 32 students in the main draw of Wimbledon and 27 at the U.S. Open. Today the Bollettieri Tennis Academy at IMG Academies covers 190 acres and has grown to be the most successful and diversified multi-sport training complex in the world. Nick has coached many top players including Andre Agassi, Monica Seles, Tommy Haas, Jim Courier and Anna Kournikova. Alumni of the academy include Pete Sampras, Bjorn Borg, Boris Becker, the Williams sisters, Mary Pierce and Martina Hingis. The goal of Bollettieri's program is to "build champions, but we are more interested in helping our students develop in all walks of life. We are coaches, trainers, educators and counselors, committed to building tennis players, athletes and individuals." More recently, Bollettieri has developed the comprehensive "Tennis in a Can" high-school tennis program, giving children a place to belong and a sport to have for an entire lifetime. He is a regular contributor to Tennis, TennisLife and Florida Tennis magazines. He was listed among the 50 most influential people by Tennis magazine and among the 25 people who have influence tennis this past century by Sporting Life. Bollettieri has produced
11 instructional videos, six strategy videos, and has written five books
including the Bollettieri Tennis Handbook. Who is Nick Bollettieri_ If you pay any attention to pro tennis,
you've probably heard about Florida tennis guru Nick Bollettieri. If
not, I'm sure you have heard the names Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Jim
Courier, Anna Kornikova, Monica Seles and the Williams sisters. Nick
Bollettieri is credited with developing these, and many other, world-class
tennis champions. There are two conflicting views of the Bollettieri image. One is that he is a tennis genius that gets uncut tennis phenoms to reach their potential and go beyond what they ever thought they could be. Then there's the image that he's a pompous peacock that takes too much credit for a player's success and whines too much when former players downplay his contributions to their careers. Undoubtedly, the truth lies someplace between these emotional poles of opinion. What's clear is that the list of world-class tennis players who have worked with Bollettieri at some point in their careers is long and noteworthy. Getting There I was recently on a business trip in Tampa and decided to look into taking a lesson or clinic at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy (NBTA). The NBTA is located on the west coast of Florida in Bradenton, about fifty miles south of Tampa. It's also where the Pittsburgh Pirates have their spring training facility. The 45+-acre facility is a state-of-the-art sports complex for athletic training. It opened in 1981 and was built on the site of on old Florida tomato farm. The tennis program includes the International Performance Institute and NBTA's highly acclaimed Sports Psychology Division - PerforMax. Facilities consist of 70 outdoor courts (hard, Har-Tru®, red clay), and eight indoor courts (hard, Supreme, artificial grass). Given the prestigious reputation of the NBTA, I initially assumed doing anything there would be beyond my tennis skills and certainly beyond the amount I was prepared to pay for a few hours of tennis. I had heard that some big name Florida tennis pros get $300/hr for private lessons! Naturally, the first thing I did was check out the NBTA Web site. After just a few mouse clicks, I discovered that the NBTA offered half day adult programs for $120, and they even provided lunch! That's not bad for a place at the alter of a tennis god. The half day program also fit my tight schedule perfectly. The Web site provided a toll-free number that I called to get details and see if space was available on the day I wanted to attend. I was immediately directed to Trudy, who apparently handles all phone inquiries since every time I called the NBTA I spoke with Trudy. Trudy patiently answered all my questions. But equally important, her manner and tone made me feel like she personally wanted me to attend the NBTA. It was like my doting aunt tying to get me to come down to Bradenton for a visit. Trudy would not be the last NBTA staff to make me feel welcome. It's the "Bollettieri way." Trudy got me set up to attend a Tuesday afternoon session. I was somewhat surprised that this worked out since I called on Monday morning to make the final arrangements. During the drive down I-75 from Tampa to Bradenton the skies were cloudy and I ran into some rain. I was disappointed but knew the afternoon wouldn't be a total disaster since Trudy mentioned that the NBTA also has indoor courts and adult programs get priority. Happily, by the time I drove through the gates of the NBTA, the sun was beginning to shine and the afternoon turned out to be a beautiful day for tennis with a cooling breeze and the temp around 80. Of course this is Florida, so the humidity was also between 80 and 90%. Can't have it all! One of the first things that impress you at the NBTA is their organization. The guard at the gate had my name on his clip board and directed me to a parking space in front of the registration office a short distance away. The people in the office had all my paper work ready to go and even gave me an official NBTA laminated ID card! It's the "Bollettieri way." Roaming the Bollettieri Academy Grounds I arrived at the NBTA a few hours before the start of the afternoon clinic. I wanted to get there early so I'd have an opportunity to scout around the facility to see the various amenities, take some pics, pick up some T-shirts at the pro shop, but most importantly, to check out what was happening on the tennis courts. Before coming to Florida, I was told that it was very unlikely I would actually see Bollettieri himself; he is rarely around the Academy. Guess what_ As I wandered toward the center of the complex, were the two stadium courts are located, I came upon Nick in the middle of coaching session with ATP tour star Max Mirnyi, also known as "The Beast." Mirnyi is 6'5'' and looks like a tree coming down on you as he falls into the court following his massive service motion. He's one of the few remaining true serve and volley players. If you're actually playing against him you probably would never notice this because you'd be trying to protect yourself from getting hit in the head with his big serve. Yes, the mph are there, but the really devastating thing is the tremendous movement of the ball after it bounces off the court. His hitting partner was no slouch player, but he literally could not touch Max's serve.
As I approached the fence adjacent to the court, Bollettieri glanced my way and said, "How ya doin'" You talking to me, I wondered_ Yep, he was! It's the "Bollettieri way." As it turned out, Mirnyi was getting tuned up for the ATP Masters Series event the following week at Indian Wells. Max had gotten off to a great start in the 2003 season after winning the men's doubles title at the 2002 US Open. He's currently 5th on the ATP Tour prize money list and had a big wins over Marcelo Rios and Wayne Ferreira at Indian Wells. A few weeks later he was named a member of the ATP tour's Team of the Month after he and Roger Federer won the NASDAQ-100 doubles title in Miami. Was this a direct result of his coaching session with Bollettieri!_ I overheard two interesting things while watching Nick work with Max. Everything Nick told Max was stuff you've heard before in any intermediate tennis clinic. For example, "Everything is directed up while serving." Second, Nick spent some time with Max hitting against a back board. Nick recommended that Max spend one half hour each day at the back board. I always assumed back boards were for wimpy players who couldn't find anyone to play with. But here was a world-class coach telling a work-class player that hitting against a back board will help his game! Nick never touched a racquet during his session with Max. He left that to Max's young hitting partner. Instead, Nick stood just out of racket range from Max, quietly giving him constant feedback as he hit ground strokes, serves and volleys. As Max was toweling off following his session with Nick I had a chance to chat and get my picture taken with him. Unfortunately (or fortunately_), his hitting partner is a much better tennis player than a photographer and he really shanked it getting Max and myself correctly framed in the picture. Max is a special role model for me. He's a big guy, like me (actually, he's three inches taller and about twenty pounds lighter), and sweats like a pig, or more accurately, a thoroughbred. After standing still for a minute there was a puddle of water under him! While finding my way to the cafeteria for lunch I was struck by all the tanned, incredibly fit kids walking around the grounds. A remarkable difference from the over weight slobs you typically find hanging out at the malls this time of year up north. NBTA has more than 200 full-time students from over 40 countries. After lunch I navigated through the complex of courts to the area where my clinic would take place. I got there about an hour early to allow lunch to settle and found Petr Korda, the former ATP star and 1998 Australian Open champion, giving a private lesson. Like Bollettieri, all his instructions involved really basic things about stroke mechanics. Hitting a tennis ball isn't that complex. It's when your body and mind make it complex that bad things occur. I happened to see John McEnroe at a seniors tour tournament in Florida last year. It's unbelievable how simple and easy he makes playing tennis look. You sometimes have the hallucination that you could go out there and compete with him. An Afternoon Clinic As the time for my afternoon clinic approached, some of the instructors appeared and began rolling carts of fruit and Gatorade onto the five Har-Tru courts my group would be using. For your $120 you also get all the fruit and Gatorade you can consume. Actually, the staff was very serious about hydration and keeping your energy levels up. This is particularly important for us northern folks who haven't had an opportunity to acclimate to Florida's humidity. We were then assigned four players to a court with one instructor. We would stay with the same instructor for the full afternoon session. I was sent to court C4. As I approached the court I saw that black guy with the foreign accent bouncing tennis balls with the side of his racquet frame. I quickly realized that my afternoon's instructor was going to be the Nigerian Nightmare! Most of the instructors I encountered at the NBTA were from outside the USA. All had superb communications skills and went out of their way to exude a friendly, welcoming attitude. It's the "Bollettieri way." After my group assembled on court, the Nightmare summarized the plan for the afternoon. He informed us his name was "Desmond" (last name Osugwie). But just to be sure, during one of the early ball pick-ups I asked him if he really was the infamous Nigerian Nightmare. He just grinned and said, "Yeh man, I heard about that Web page." Actually, Desmond really wasn't that big of a nightmare. At one point a player questioned the sanity of a twenty ball/player volleying drill, but he was out of shape and wimpy to begin with! The amazing thing about Desmond was that he spent the entire afternoon standing under the Florida sun dressed in a tennis jacket zipped up to his throat and didn't expel a drop of perspiration! Don't assume that the NBTA caters only to kid players on their way to stardom on the pro tour. Yes, you can see a lot of these types around the NBTA, but none of the adults in my afternoon clinic were much better than a 4.0, and many were middle-aged. Each day's morning and afternoon sessions at the NBTA cover a different htmlect of tennis. Here's the full week's program: Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday This is a typical daily schedule: 7:00 a.m. Breakfast Since it was Tuesday afternoon, we were scheduled work on specialty shots such as net approaches, drop shots and different types of lobs. One key about lobs, either offensive or defensive, is to follow through after contact. Without a follow through you can't control the flight of the ball. After about an hour of working on specialty shots, Desmond spent some time drilling us on the modern, open stance forehand. He said that with the increasingly fast pace of tennis, it's difficult to have sufficient time to turn your body perpendicular to the baseline to strike a forehand (closed stance) and then recover for the next ball. Using an open stance, your body stays parallel to the baseline and only your shoulders and trunk rotate. This lets you get into ball striking position faster and also enables you to recover quicker after moving laterally for wide balls. Desmond really stressed the importance of using the non-dominant arm to track the ball and maintain good balance during ground strokes. Watch what players do with their non-dominant arms and you'll easily what differentiates the whackers from the hackers. During fruit and Gatorade breaks, Desmond gave each person in our group a few individual pointers. He noticed that I was wrapping the racket too much around my body during the take back for backhands. He advised me to hold the racket parallel to an imaginary line to the target with my non-dominant hand. After some footwork drills, Desmond made the interesting comment that non-American tennis players generally have more refined footwork than Americans because they grow up kicking and manipulating soccer balls with their feet. Americans have better hand-eye coordination because they grow up playing sports involving hitting and catching balls. The three hour clinic went surprising fast. We were then permitted to play as much tennis as we wanted, so I hit with a guy from my group for an additional hour. By then it was 5 o'clock, and although I was still pumped about being at the Mecca of tennis, I was also fairly drained and didn't want to push the envelope. So I chugged a couple more bottles of Gatorade and headed back to my car after a quick change of my dripping wet clothes in the locker room. I still had the one hour drive back to Tampa in rush hour traffic ahead of me. Was it Worth it_ I would definitely come back for a longer stay at the NBTA. I can easily see how several consecutive days there would improve my tennis game. Three and five day structured adult programs are offered. If you are part of a USTA league team they can customize a training program for your group. NBTA's top of the line training program is the Pro Max. In addition to morning and afternoon group clinics, you receive a half-hour private lesson each day, video analysis, speed, strength and agility workouts, sports psychology sessions, massages and three meals a day. The 3 day Pro Max program runs $1,045 excluding accommodations. Ouch! If you're on a budget, you can get a taste of the full Bollettieri tennis training program on the Web, but it's not quite the same experience as a trip to Florida! A Final Bollettieri Tale I'll finish with my favorite Nick Bollettieri story told at a recent tennis conference by an early assistant of Nick's. Some years ago, he and Nick were standing on a court at the Academy working with a player. Their court was separated from adjacent courts by a walkway covered with a tin roof. Suddenly, they're interrupted with boink-clank-dink, the racket of a tennis ball bouncing on the tin roof and then landing on their court. Thirty seconds later they're distracted again with the same boink-clank-dink. Finally, after yet another boink-clank-dink, the exhtmlerated assistant complains to Nick that something needs to done about the constant interruptions emanating from the adjacent court. Nick turned to him and said, "Go tell that little shit Agassi to just keep swinging as hard as he can. "That's
the "Bollettieri way." |