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ETA Students are Ready to Compete!
Evert Tennis Academy Student have been training hard for their upcoming tournament this weekend. The last few weeks were marked by double fitness, mental coaching and a lot of live-ball training sessions to ensure the students are ready for this weekends’ tournament. The ITF tournament Copa Coqui in Puerto Rico, and The Hustle Hit & Never Quit Level 7 USTA-tournament in Delray Beach will be providing our students a stage to show their hard work and to start competing!
Program Director Ailton Borges hopes the students will become better in there all-round competing, “We hope this year the kids will be better at solving problems during the matches, so they will be more independent. [Also] we hope they will be able to turn around matches and to win matches while they’re in the middle of a match”. Senior Thomas Guy, playing at the ITF in Puerto Rico, has worked hard on his return the last couple of months. Guy is confident about his shape, “Over the last few weeks we had double fitness going on, so I think I’m really fit. My main goal this weekend is to compete with other people, doing the best I can and I expect the same from my opponents – I hope they will give it all on the court and try their best to beat me.”
Next to all the physical training, Dr. Vernice Richards is getting the students ready by working on their MentalConditioning. Allison Isaacs prepared for her participation in the USTA Tournament by tuning up her mental skills with Dr. Richards, but also her technique has improved, “My biggest improvement in my game is definitely my forehand and backhand, I feel very excited to play this weekend and [I] am very motivated.”
Isaacs is not the only student at ETA who has been working on her mental toughness with Dr. Richards. Estonian Hugo Koukhna is better than ever by tuning up is overall game, “I feel confident for this weekend, I have high expectations. I want to give the best I can and show myself the work that I put in.”
Senior Fernando Ospina, also playing at the ITF in Puerto Rico, has some good memories on his last trip to the ITF Copa Liga de Tenis de Bogota in July, “It was good and I won a couple of rounds. I improved my mental game and got confidence for this weekend. I expect myself to give a 100% and hope for the best.” Afternoon Program Director Cesar Civita has some final advice for the students, “Work hard every day and the results will come”.
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By Marleen van de Donk