Music at its best

Everyone has opinions on music. What they like and why they listen to certain artists and bands can be argued and discussed for hours amongst friends let alone on social network sites.

Personally I've always enjoyed listening to those artists who seem to be able to portray feelings in their music through just that as well as the words.



I'm currently completely impressed with 30 Seconds to Mars. I saw their This is War tour in Nottingham a few weeks ago, have all their albums and also their Radio 1 Live Lounge tracks they have done and would like to share their most recent one with you now. They were at Maida Vale for Radio 1 on 29th March 2010 and sang another amazing cover version along with an acoustic version of This is War that you can see above. Now here's the cover track they performed and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Close your eyes and take a listen.



Enjoy!

And if you're curious about their first cover they played at Maida Vale Studios... have a quick search for Stronger.

Chris

Life in Tennis

I've played tennis since I was very young, in fact there is a photo of me somewhere aged three playing with my Dad. I have since been reliably informed that I insisted that I was Bjorn Borg while my 'opponent' was John McEnroe! My first tennis racket was a sawn off old wooden one of my dad's; not the most maneouverable of rackets for a two or three year old but non-the-less it kept me amused whacking tennis balls against the wall of the house.

27 years later and I'm sharing my love for the game and helping others develop. Having coached for six years now, I can confidently say I'm very very lucky to be able to do this every day.

The LTA have structured British tennis for juniors in such a way that children as young as 4 or 5 are able to compete and play a very high standard of tennis.

Under 8's can play on a court the size of the width of a tennis court with a sponge ball to develop their hand-eye coordination. The ball is slow enough to work on fundementals of their swing and allows us to help them learn the rules of the game. Simple things like where to serve, what is 'out' and where to stand all the way up to much more advanced skills like moving forwards and backwards on the court. Coaching to this level of detail at such a young age means when they are ready to move to the next level we already have skills in place that are repeatable and trainable. Between the ages of 8 and 9 players train and compete on an Orange size tennis court (see the photo above). Seeing some of the best players nationally play and compete on this size court at this age is an absolute eye opener.

After the Mini Tennis Orange stage, 9 year olds train and compete on the full size court with a slightly softer ball: Mini Tennis Green. We are now playing on a larger court with a faster ball but because the fundamentals have been practiced and trained for three, maybe four years, players look very very comfortable on court and again, the level of play in matches and tournaments can be incredible to watch.

It is only after these three stages that young tennis players finally use a hard 'full' or Yellow tennis ball. At ten years old and because of this tier system, they have been practicing all the skills and tactics that are essential to their game at this stage. These players are now ready to challenge on a full sized court and indeed some 12 year olds who have worked through this system are often more than a match for a club adult player. Under 12 and 14 tournaments, of which I have been able to run both on numerous occasions, are a fabulous way of being able to see the development that players have been through.

It has been a fantastic change of career and one that I intend to stay in for many years. The enjoyment and satisfaction you get from coaching is unrivaled in my view and I hope to share some more of my experiences and stories on this blog in the future!

I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you have about anything I write about here, so please don't hesitate to comment or email.

Speak again soon :)
Chris

How we spend our time

Ok, so watching Wonders of the Solar System has really got my science mind going again. I've always had a thirst for scientific knowledge and some of the images and facts I'm seeing on this program has awoken my mind to this again. I stumbled on some incredible infrared images of the sun a few years ago and I'm sure everyone has seen the beautiful photo of a sunset viewed at the north pole or the Aurora Borealis.

Seeing these awe inspiring photographs has really made me question where I go and where I WANT to go on my next holiday?! Surely the best use of my holiday time would be going to see some of the most incredible views available on Earth?

There's a volcano in Ethiopia that bubbles lava permanently, a cave in Mexico that has 50 foot crystals, an ice field in Iceland that resembles Enceladus, Saturn's sixth largest moon. 1/4 million gallons of water flow over the Iguaçu Falls every second.

These staggering sights across the planet must be worth a little of our time?! To come back from a trip saying that you've seen and experienced a crystal clear view of the solar winds reacting with our Earth's magnetic field in a polution free sky, or felt goosebumps at the view over the Grand Canyon at sunset! I think I'll definitely carefully consider what my next holiday will be, and maybe this short blog has triggered a child hood memory or ambition in you, the reader, to chase a view or experience you will remember forever.

Feel free to comment, agree or disagree with me or share some of your own experiences and wishes.

Thanks for reading, and I'll speak to you all again soon :)

Chris

The Mystery of DNGRMS

I'm sure this may be a question that will haunt many future readers of this blog for hours, maybe even days on end but it is actually rather a simple collection of letters that resulted from some feeble scribbles many years ago at work with a good friend of mine.

Well, being the first post of my newly created blog, I'll quickly say hello and hope you're all having an interesting weekend. I've been inspired to start one from reading a friend's blog regularly (Abbzzw) and maybe in the future she might like to do a combined blog topic, we'll see.

In the coming days and weeks you will no doubt find bizarre ramblings from my mind which will hopefully raise a smile as well as views about the world and our lives which you may or may not agree with and on those occasions I urge you to comment on my post; it'd be fab to hear some views on the words I'm writing.

Right, enough typing, I'm going to have a think about laying out this blog and making it look even better ;)

Speak soon!