By John Lumley
A Bathurst Academy training camp was held on December 15 and 16 at Georgian Court University (GCU) and Philadelphia. The camp was led by John Lumley. The first day was held at GCU, where John met up with Peter Cipriano (New York), Alex Spence and Todd Meringoff (both Boston). After a quick warm-up, John led the players through a series of doubles drills. Mixing up the teams, John created different scenarios encouraging the players to move and stand in more aggressive positions. It was very helpful to see how court positioning can allow a team to be more dominant and aggressive from either end of the court.
To finish the day, we played matches with everyone playing with different partners. The matches were very close with two out of the three going to five games all. Peter, having played at GCU before, loved being back on the court. For Alex and Todd, it was a first visit and they had an enjoyable visit! Peter headed back to New York, while everyone else drove back to Philadelphia to catch up with the rest of the players.While some played at GCU, Pat Winthrop (Newport) practiced in Philadelphia with Head Professional Rob Whitehouse. Rob worked on Pat’s volley return of serve, ground strokes, and movement-based drills. After that Pat played Henry Smith – an up and coming junior from Philadelphia. Jon Crowell (Philadelphia) joined the session later to finish out the day.The dream team of Pat, Alex, Todd, and John went out for dinner to close out the day. Over dinner we discussed training and diet as we all tucked into big bowls of pasta and bread to replenish after a hard day’s training and to gear up for the next day!!
On Sunday we started bright and early with some light movement and target drills to warm up. Once the team was ready to fire up, we moved into doubles drills. We began by working on volley return of serve and controlling the ball with length in order to put the forehand corner serving end player under pressure. I also wanted the guys to hit the ball flatter down the middle with pace to keep the servers more on edge and honest to the cut volley cross court.
After a quick stop at Chipotle to refuel we got back on court for singles. It had been a long weekend with lots of hours on court, but everyone gave it their best. Jon, playing on his home court, played some great points with good control and aggression. Pat moved the ball nicely around the court with lovely length and looked smooth and in control all the time. He also can bring on the heat when he feels like it, which is great to keep an opponent honest! Alex has a cannon on both sides – especially his forehand – and used it successfully on the return of serve combined with crisp volleys. Todd, with fantastic hands, has the ability to turn tough balls with pace into offensive shots of his own. That combined with a solid backhand, he has a great all-around game.
All in all, it was a superb weekend with top level play. Thank you to the guys for making the effort to come and work on their games. A massive thanks to the Player Development Program for sponsoring the weekend and for giving our guys the best chance possible for the 2019 Bathurst Cup! Let’s go USA!!
(Note: the Player Development Program (PDP) is a collaborative effort between the USCTA and the US Court Tennis Preservation Foundation. The PDP focuses on four areas: juniors, junior elites, women, and top amateurs. Now in its fourth year, PDP programs are led by several committees with key assistance from a number of U.S. professionals and are supported by generous donors. Many thanks to all, especially the donors who have made it possible to grow our game and improve our amateur talent.)
Peter Cipriano, Todd Meringoff & Alex Spence at Lakewood
