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Rebecca Link figured her week in the Nick Bolletieri Academy would be hard. Even though she was braced for the intensity, the 12-year-old Ponus Ridge seventh-grader and Slammer Tennis World student was surprised by the physical demands.
"I was so sore after the first day,'' Rebecca said. "They told me by Thursday I'd be feeling better, and they were right. I was so happy."
Marvin Tyler, Link's coach at Slammer Tennis World, surprised Rebecca with a visit early in the camp. "My player's sitting there with two ice packs on her knees,'' Marvin said. "I told her, 'This is what the top players go through.'''
Link learned in the summer she had earned a one-week visit to the IMG Bolletieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Fla. The Bolletieri Academy is recognized as one of the world's top teaching programs. Her training began at 9 a.m. with an hour of fitness work. Players then hit tennis balls for two hours before lunch. After an hour break, players returned for two to three hours of match play. The camp also included mental study sessions. Players watched videos of their matches to identify flaws in their mental strategy. "Most of the drills I was familiar with from working with coach Marvin,'' Rebecca said. "They just ran them for a lot longer."
The searing Florida heat contributed to Rebecca's struggle. "You'd be sweating in the shade,'' Rebecca said. After a week, however, she came home with appreciation for how hard top-level tennis professionals train, a wealth of experience and new physical fitness drills to incorporate into her training.
"I asked her early in the week, 'Do you want to come back?''' Marvin said. "She said, 'no.' By Friday, she changed her mind. She was willing to come back if she gets the opportunity. Now she understands what pro tennis players go through."
