Millikin Sports is looking at another improvement for the 2013-2014 CCIW season. The Millikin Tennis team is expanding to a Men’s and Women’s team. Coach Dustin Forman is excited about this change because, even in the preseason, he is seeing a bond between all of the athletes that hasn’t been present “in about ten years.” Forman says this year he has seen more team activities like team lunches, dinners, and hang-outs around campus. He enjoys seeing men and women in their new Millikin Tennis gear.
This change is accompanied by some new expectations. Forman expects each athlete to “compete hard, get better, and have fun.” The first and last two words he says to each athlete during matches are, “Have fun,” because he feels if the athletes enjoy what they’re doing and they have fun, they’re going to improve much quicker than if they disliked the sport. He also has the expectation for continuous improvement because of the high goals he has set for the team.
If the team is stagnant, they might lose out on some of the great opportunities for overall improvement as a team now that a Men’s team has been introduced. Forman’s main goals include each athlete making the All-Conference team at least once in their four years at Millikin, for the team to keep improving, for the team to make the Conference Tournament in the upcoming seasons and for the athletes to achieve off the court with Conference All Academic Honors.
Last year, all top six players had Academic Honors, and he would like to see the same for this year’s group. Forman is excited about this year because his top six players have some high school experience, where in the past most players have had little to no experience in high school tennis. This experience will not only help the athletes individually, but also their teammates.
Forman utilizes different levels of training strategies based on the athlete’s individual experience. In the summer, he sends an “optional, but highly recommended” training program that should prepare them for the collegiate level of practice. These practices consist of light work-outs that build lean muscle, since tennis is a sport of agility, rather than strength. On the court, he gives different tennis drills based on the player’s level. For example, with an accuracy drill, which trains athletes to have more control of their stroke and placement, more advanced players can only aim for the doubles alley, while the less experienced players receive a wider
target range. Forman uses the last thirty minutes of practice for conditioning to build the endurance the athletes will need for the longer tournaments.
Forman is looking forward to several of the upcoming tournaments. Although Millikin Tennis lost to Augustana, the number one rank in the Conference for this year, on 9/2 the match was much closer than in previous years. He sees this as a great sign of improvement and is looking forward to how the team does against Wesleyan and North Central.
Forman states that these teams “give a good idea of what the competition in the conference is going to be like.” He is also looking forward to playing against Monmouth, Illinois College and Blackburn College and thinks that these are “50/50 matches [and] they will come down to one or two points to determine if Millikin wins or loses the match.” The match against Monmouth will be away on September 12th, 2013, and the match against Illinois College on September 26th will be at home with a 3pm start.