May 2008 -- Question (from the inquiring minds of the USPTA staff): Since this month marks the 25th anniversary of your "Ask the Professor" column, tell us about some of the memorable experiences you've had answering questions from the members.
Answer: I have to say that, when I received a phone call in early 1983, asking if I would be interested in writing a column for our members that answered their specific questions, I was truly honored and, at the same time, very excited. As an associate professor at the University of Illinois, I looked at this request as an adventure: I could find out what was really on the minds of USPTA Professionals and what questions needed answering. I also could learn a great deal myself, from all of you.
Little did I know that, 25 years later, I would still be getting questions! And, that USPTA would still want me to keep responding. Let me say that it has been a privilege and an honor to serve the Association in this way.
As I thought about this 25th anniversary column, I reflected on all the topics that have run across my desk, and how I had to seek out some of the world's top minds to assist me in providing answers. I well remember the three-part series in the late '80s on periodization training, where I pulled on the expertise of people like Jim Loehr, Paul Roetert, Bill Kraemer (renowned physiologist), and the late Mike Nishihara (one of my former graduate students who had a keen interest in periodization). To this day, people tell me that they still reference that periodization series in some of their programs.
Over the years, the topics have run the gamut of what you, my colleagues and friends, have asked. I have attempted to respond to questions from all six sport sciences (physiology, biomechanics, motor learning, nutrition, sports medicine, and sport psychology). As stated earlier, I never had all the answers. I am reminded of the question not too long ago about the most recent information available to prevent tennis elbow. Well-known orthopedist Ben Kibler and current USTA chair of sport science, Todd Ellenbecker, played a huge role in helping develop that answer.
There have been the healthy challenges as well. I remember a column on movement training where I specifically discussed a question from a seminar I presented on how to teach forward movement in the volley. Kelly Jones, former world No. 1 doubles player, who was attending the seminar, challenged me to recheck my teaching, which was based solely on biomechanics. Having known Kelly for quite some time, I realized where his question was coming from and it caused me to take pause. Kelly was right! It wasn't that he was challenging my exact words. Instead, he was challenging me to be flexible in my teaching of movement in the volley. Here was one of the world's top volleyers making an important statement about teaching the volley and I needed to listen. So, that column dealt with movement on the volley but I gave credit to Kelly for helping me understand flexibility in my own analysis of teaching.
As I recollect all the columns I have written, six per year for 25 years, one truly sticks out as memorable (and, not necessarily in a good way). It happened in the mid-1980s, so I had only been writing the column for a few years. I received a letter from an obviously well-educated teaching professional in Germany. His question went something like this: If you have a reach of 10 feet with your racquet and you can hit a serve 100 miles per hour, at what angle does the ball have to leave the racquet face to land deep in the service box, within an inch of the service line? Astounded at the technical nature of the question, and knowing that my answer would go into some fairly rigorous detail as well, I called Tim Heckler (USPTA's CEO then and now) to ask if I really should answer the question. After I explained to Tim the kind of detail that would go into my answer, and whether it would be applicable to anyone other than a scientist, Tim said to go ahead, answer the question, but to end the column with a very clear application. So, I was off to the calculator to simulate some trajectories, etc. I even discussed this with Howard Brody, renowned physicist from the University of Pennsylvania.
After writing the article, deriving the necessary equations and explaining all the assumptions I had to make in order to answer the question appropriately, I then went into the application. The application was nothing special but I said something at the end that I didn't catch, nor did the USPTA editorial staff. Not detecting any cause for concern, I felt very comfortable with my answer and went on with life. The issue appeared in my mailbox about a month later and I read the column, wanting to evaluate how I could have answered this question more effectively. As I got to the end of the column and the application of the topic, this is what I read: "To really hit a serve with this kind of effectiveness, you should practically think about tossing the ball up and in front of you somewhere about a foot in front of the service line." WHAT!!! . in front of the
service line. Oh, no! How could this happen? Well, it did and, as I ate humble pie for quite some time, I armed myself with a very specific and explanatory slide that I carried on my travels.
As I got to the end of each presentation, I remarked that you have to be very clear in how you apply and explain sport science information to people. But, if you suggest something like my column did, be sure you prepare to take your student to the hospital. With that, I showed a slide of a player totally laid out, trying to hit a ball toss a foot in front of the service line. I then noted (tongue in cheek) that, hopefully, the hospital stay wasn't too long. And, so go the stories of the longtime columnist!
What a joyful ride this has been! Writing this column has been a rewarding labor of love.I thank each and every one of you for helping me grow as a sport scientist, a tennis-teaching professional and as a person. I look forward to my future attempts at answering all your questions.
Send questions to jgroppel@LGEPerformance.com.
