Are you ready for a change?

Barbara Youel | Towpath Member | Author of "First Serve", a plant-based cookbook with a tennis theme

The Game Changers in
theaters 

Monday, September 16, 2019.


August, 2019.  It’s the annual summer break
from scheduled tennis drills and matches. For me, it’s a time to take stock of
my fitness, both mental and physical. The first of January may be the
traditional day for resolutions, but I never feel moved to much action in the
dead of winter. August, on the other hand, is a time of promise and
anticipation of cooler temps and less humidity, the autumn holidays,
(especially Thanksgiving), and a kind of positive energy that creates my kind
of momentum. Fall Interclub and USTA leagues are just around the corner as well
as chances to be more intentional and motivated during weekly drills at
Towpath.




For a different kind of powerful motivator, you
can also mark your calendars for the Monday, September 16 public
release of the documentary, The Game Changers. I had the
chance to see this in June at an Engine 2 Immersion event and highly recommend
it if you are interested in improving your fitness for life, both on and off
the courts. 




Executive producers James Cameron (Titanic),
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Novak Djokovic, Lewis Hamilton, Chris Paul, Rip
Esselstyn and others headline the big names behind this film. I was glad to see
that my favorite doctor, Michael Greger MD (author of “How Not to Die”), is the
film’s scientific advisor. An excellent choice in my book!




Some of the team behind the highly-anticipated vegan documentary, 

The Game Changers. (Photo: Plant Based News)


This documentary follows the training and
successes of various elite athletes who excel in tennis, weightlifting,
bodybuilding, trail running, cycling, football, auto racing and more. To what
do they owe their success? PLANTS! Not only have whole plant-based foods
enhanced their performances, their recovery times have markedly improved too.
Now, before you think that this is not for you – we are amateur club players,
not professionals traveling the world with a nutritionist, physical therapist,
hitting partner and coach – think again. The Game Changers is
a fast-paced 88 minutes all focused on dispelling the myth that animal products
are the key for athletic success. It’s for you and it’s for me and for all who
want to be fit, active, perhaps pain-free and disease-free and oh yes, happy!
See you at the movies!





















(Towpath Tennis Member, Barb Youel, is the
author of "First Serve: 40 Delicious Plant-Based Recipes for a Year of
Tennis Grand Slams & Club Matches", Lean Green Living LLC, 2017.
Copies are available exclusively at Towpath Tennis Center for
$16.95. You can order yours today at 330-928-8763 or stop in The Shop for your
copy today.)

What is shadow stroking?

Dallas Aleman | Towpath Tennis Owner | Tennis Guru

Have you watched players such as Maria Sharapova, NovakDjokovic, or Marion Bartoli shadow stroke? They step back from a point they've just played and they practice a forehand or a backhand, sometimes to an excessive amount. But does this practice of shadow stroking actually work or are they just wasting energy?

               

upmysport.com

I think for any top player, we should never assume they are simply wasting energy. What these players are actually doing is a “computer reset” for their muscles to remember a stroke they practiced hundreds of thousands a time. Tennis and stroke production comes down to a collection of movements that add up to a finished dynamic product. That product is your tennis game, so when you play every movement counts. The more times you shadow stroke your forehand for instance, the quicker it’ll be to find your groove.  When you’re confident about your strokes, you allow yourself to be loose and agile where you won’t easily fall victim to breaking down under pressure. You know exactly how you should feel on the court. There’s a reason they call it muscle memory. 

However, please note that your stroke is dynamic. There is no such thing as a ‘finished’ forehand or backhand. Your game is a never-ending experiment so when you find the right groove, try to capture it by practicing shadow stroking. The more you do it, the less likely there will be a breakdown of a shot. Remember, it was Djokovic against Federer who hit the loosest, most fantastic forehand to change the outcome of the 2011 U.S. Open finals. Now do you think shadow stroking is a waste?

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