Naomi Cavaday

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

RE: Naomi Cavaday

TennisLover · Strong Club Player

Naomi's blog is spot on. Couldn't agree more.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Perhaps Naomi would like to learn how to lose on Wednesday?

Fave GB girl vs second fave. Its hurting me

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

More goodness from Cav, on the vagaries of scheduling, and very illuminating it is too.

wimdledont · Challenger level

EDIT: Yeah, like insomniac folder says...

-- Edited by wimdledont on Saturday 13th of June 2015 08:20:38 PM

wimdledont · Challenger level

More from Naomi, on the transition from juniors...

naomicavaday.com/2015/06/17/transitioning/

TennisLover · Strong Club Player

What Naomi is saying in a nutshell (and I am a big advocate) is that development should be the main focus, not results :).

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Brilliant one from Naomi.

So true.

And such a problem if you have Matrix funding or anything other system which is based purely on results (and junior results, at that).

It's true that any other system allows subjectivity to enter (and possible bias and favourtism and all that) but, as I've been saying, you've got to trust the powers that be if the system is to work - if they're not trustworthy the system will never work anyway (they're too much of them in there, even with matrix funding) and it's only by having experts involved in the process that the problem Naomi highlights will be avoided.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Yes and No, but, specifically in relation to the process of transitioning, I disagree with the definition. You transition from junior to adult tennis when you can play like an adult plays tennis. yes winning has to be balanced against honing technique to facilitate accurate utilisation of increasing power that comes with physical maturity as important is exposure to a vast array of different tennis experiences.

8-12 and 12-15 are all about learning to play not transitioning. The nature of tennis is such that 11-13 yr olds playing on full courts with adult balls are playing a different game by the time they are 15, unlike football there just aren't the resources to have a vast network of junior tennis clubs which are age specific in terms of bespoke courts but I suppose it's not very different to other countries. Tennis unlike football because it is difficult to descale only once you are aproaching adult proportions can you really be consisered to have a basic adult technique ripe for transition. The problem lies in that are best 12 year olds at tennis (and as Naomi States how to win at tennis at 12) I would argue they are just not our best 12 year olds at sport, and there lies the problem as the girls quoted from other countries who went on to be stars were. Where good technique can out perform athleticism at junior level the system falls down when the elite athletes with good technique are the elite professionals.

Encouraging and facilitating mass participation for kids age 8-12 in and competition between state junior schools with strong links to clubs is the only way forward. Dads still want their daughters to play tennis over and above football, the LTA need to act now because that window is about to be slammed shut by the FA.

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Sunday 21st of June 2015 09:38:52 AM

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

More interesting insight, wise words, and a schedule update from Ms. Cavaday in a new blog post today: What Am I Up To?

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

A serious & important rallying cry this time from Naomi: A Tennis Players Body
I may have punched the air involuntary in agreement

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

A national paper could do much worse than to commission a series from Ms. Cavaday, who continues to eloquently explore relevant tennis subjects that just aren't covered elsewhere.

Recently, Ben Rothenberg, in a piece for the New York Times, clumsily tried to cover this area, with good intentions, but unusually poor and confused execution - which may have been the prompt for Naomi's piece - and subsequently stirred up a hornets nest and suffered a backlash.
It may not help that Rothenberg was defended by his good friend Courtney Nguyen, who works mostly for Sports Illustrated, a publication whose entire business model is centered upon their annual ~~objectification of women~~ swimsuit issue, and thus those messages are, at best, mixed.

Naomi's piece here is much more on point and useful.

Spectator · All-time great

Excellent post by Ms Cavaday. Ms Nguyen, by the way, has just left SI to work for the WTA. I hope she can improve it. I actually have found the WTA's characterisation of women tennis players, with its incessant focus on beauty, clothes, etc, and apparent assumption that no one could possibly be interested in things like, say, the statistics that show how the person actually plays, far more annoying even than the blatant objectification of SI. One could have a field day, for example, parsing the "Strong is Beautiful" campaign, which seemed to start from the premise that the desired end was beauty, which one therefore had to redefine ... rather than strength or excellence, which one could celebrate in se. Can you imagine the ATP starting a "Strong is handsome" campaign?

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Spectator wrote:
Excellent post by Ms Cavaday. Ms Nguyen, by the way, has just left SI to work for the WTA. I hope she can improve it. I actually have found the WTA's characterisation of women tennis players, with its incessant focus on beauty, clothes, etc, and apparent assumption that no one could possibly be interested in things like, say, the statistics that show how the person actually plays, far more annoying even than the blatant objectification of SI. One could have a field day, for example, parsing the "Strong is Beautiful" campaign, which seemed to start from the premise that the desired end was beauty, which one therefore had to redefine ... rather than strength or excellence, which one could celebrate in se. Can you imagine the ATP starting a "Strong is handsome" campaign?

Well said, Spectator.

Yes, it would be great to see a "Strong is Really Good, Beautiful is Irrelevant" campaign.

Jan · Hall of fame

Really good article from Naomi.
I must admit I find myself cringing when they show footage from players' parties with the emphasis on the fashion etc - nothing wrong with the ladies wanting to get dressed up for the occasion, but it does feel rather like a catwalk with everone ready to scrutinise them for what they look like.