Friends,

Each month we bring you a club or facility that has caught our attention for their outstanding contribution to our fellow Visionary Tennis members. If you have an outstanding facility that you would like to nominate for our monthly feature, please let us know at PlayerServices@VisionaryTennis.com.

Suwanee (sounds like the song Swanee River) is a small city of more than 9,000 in north metro Atlanta. Ideally located at the crossroads of major transportation corridors, Suwanee efficiently manages booming growth while preserving a small-town-America way of life.

Nestled among the townhomes and town square is Suwanee Station, in-town living with the rewards of life far from the crush of city traffic, pollution and taxes. What makes Suwanee Station so unique? With homes starting at $170,000, they provide an amenities package that meets or surpasses other high-end subdivisions.

Besides the $1-million-dollar clubhouse, work-out facility, walking trails, meeting rooms and banquet rooms, it is also the home to the Big Dog Tennis School and Academy, which features a year-round instructional academy, coaching all levels of tennis from tots to world-class players. They even organize and coach your ALTA and USTA teams.

Coming soon to Suwanee Station will be many retail stores such as Fresh Market. The Station is appropriately named because it has a proposed train stop that transports you from Gainesville to Atlanta then back.

Suwanee Station is a place to “Live — work — play” ... not to mention shop and enjoy a unique and easy-going low-maintenance lifestyle. The best of in-town living made better by living away from it all.

	Suwanee Station www.homelandcommunities.com

Love Doubles/Save Doubles Day at RCS

The day includes a Pro-AM, Clinic, Main Event and Meet the Players Party, featuring the world's # 1 doubles team and US Open and Australian Open Champions - Bob and Mike Bryan!

The world's #1 doubles team, The Bryan Brothers, along with Mark Knowles, Daniel Nestor, Travis Parrott and some of the top doubles players from the USA and around the world are inviting you to attend/participate in a special day to promote doubles and spend time with some of the best doubles players in the world.

Participate in the Pro-AM Round Robin and play with the best in the world. Join in the clinic and learn from Wayne Bryan, the tour's top doubles players, and some of Atlanta's best coaches. Sit back and watch the world's top doubles players in the 'USA vs. the World' main event. Enjoy the Meet the Players Party featuring the Bryan Brothers Band!

Purchase tickets:
Please visit www.lovedoubles.net for more information, a detailed schedule for the day, and to purchase tickets for the event. Don't delay as space is limited for this exciting event.

Visionary Tennis and Netcord fully support the Save Doubles/Love Doubles movement and this event, and ask that all of our users support the movement and help keep doubles alive. We hope to see you at the event. (Even if you cannot attend the event, you can still make an online donation to the cause by visiting www.lovedoubles.net and clicking on the Contributions link. Every little bit helps!)

It was Thanksgiving weekend when the pain started — a dull achy pain in my lower jaw.  It got worse and worse.  I remember not being able to enjoy the usual holiday indulgence because my tooth hurt so badly.  The only relief I got was by keeping ice directly on the tooth.  I spent the whole weekend with a cup of crushed ice in my hand anxious about how bad the pain would get.

On Monday I called my dentist’s emergency number and they referred me to an endodontist — the guys that specialize in root canals.  That afternoon I went in and had a root canal done.  It was over.  Thank God the pain was gone.

The dental guidelines say to see your dentist twice a year.  Truthfully, I hadn’t been doing that.  But since that weekend over 15 years ago, I have seen my dentist 3-4 times a year for cleanings and checkups.  I don’t want to repeat that experience.

Chiropractic is a lot like dentistry was years ago.  Fifty years ago, people only went to the dentist when the pain was so bad that they couldn’t deal with it any other way.  As a result many of our parents lost some or all of their teeth in their lifetime.  Since then we have learned that with regular dental checkups, many of the problems our parents experienced can be avoided and our smiles can last a lifetime.

Today some people still only seek chiropractic care once their pain is so bad that they can’t deal with it any longer, or they have tried other things that haven’t worked.  Unfortunately at that point, the care required is sometimes long and expensive.

One of my patients first came to see me when her back was so painful that she was unable to work.  Her back was bad  — I mean really bad. She told me that she had seen several different chiropractors over the years.  She had these “episodes“ 3-4 times a year, which kept her out of work for about a week each time.  When she was hurting she’d go see the other chiropractor for a few weeks.  Once she stopped hurting, she didn’t think about it any more; each time the pain would come back a couple of months later, and she’d return for more care.  It made sense to her.  As the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Right?

We sat down and after an examination I informed her that I’d be willing to take her case under one condition: once the pain stopped, for the next twelve months she would come in every four weeks whether she was hurting or not.  I was convinced that regular care could catch the problem when it was little — before she was in so much pain that she was unable to work.  She skeptically accepted my challenge and I accepted her as a patient.

That was almost ten years ago and I am glad to say that she hasn’t missed more than about a half day of work per year because of her back.  As a result, she gets paid for the four weeks that she used to miss each year and she hasn’t missed a monthly appointment since.  She refuses to let the problem get out of control again because she now knows that a little regular care can make a big difference!

Until next time,

Dr. Jim Heinz
Family Chiropractic Group
1376 Church Street
Decatur, GA
404-377-3377
heinzjim@bellsouth.net

A massage makes a great gift.  Call Jordana Alder at 478-284-1518 to schedule a special treat for a loved one.

Restaurant of the Month — Pampas Steakhouse

Pampas Steakhouse features authentic Argentine cuisine, utilizing the traditional method of grilling a la parilla aover a bank of oak wood and hot coals. With Pampas grasslands nurturing the world's finest beef and the treasures of the Atlantic coastline, Argentine cooking celebrates the riches of both land and sea. At Pampas, you can experience the passion of Argentina and enjoy a steakhouse like no other.

Pampas' new private dining facility is now open for special celebrations, group events, holiday parties or business functions, and is designed to accommodate your needs in lush surroundings with personalized service that will surpass your expectations.

Be sure to bring the family by any Sunday between 12:30 and 4 pm for our specialty Parrillada de Carnes (mixed wood grill), Empanadas Pampas, plus choice of salad and side — all for a special family price. Come celebrate with us!

Visit us at 10970 State Bridge Road in Alpharetta, 678-339-0029. We're open Monday through Thursday from 5 - 10:30pm, Friday and Saturday from 5 - 11pm, and Sunday from 12:30pm - 11pm.
www.pampassteakhouse.com

I hope you have enjoyed the series on physical training; it truly is an area we can keep under our control, eliminating that particular weakness of our game. We may struggle with a particular stroke or strategy, but we can all be as physically fit as possible — which translates into moving better on court, getting more balls back, and playing at a high speed longer. These improvements alone will bring us the success we have all been striving for: MORE WINS!

This month I would like to start another series of articles continuing to examine the strategy of “controlling everything you can”. It is an area of the game often over-looked by most non-professional players.

Pros go to almost superstitious lengths to do this. You can see it in all aspects of their games; they are control freaks. Watch Sharapova bounce the ball the same number of times before she serves in the exact same deliberate exaggerated way. Lendl and now Agassi change to newly strung rackets when new balls are put into play. All the pros have a certain type string and tension they prefer that fits their style of play, and yet they will change these tensions a few pounds to adapt to the court surface. These are just a few of the examples. So what’s the deal? Do these things really matter or are these players merely being a little eclectic?

In the book of Proverbs it says, “As a man thinks in his heart, therefore he is.” Tim Galloway, in his book, The Inner Game of Tennis, described two inner selves at conflict with one another, and Thoreau said, “It is what a man thinks of himself that really determines his fate.” I guess you see where this is going. If you think it matters then it does. I do believe that is a big part of it. Agassi, one of the best tennis players who ever lived, has this thing about the ball boys or girls retrieving the balls and leaving the court in a certain way. On the other hand, Pete Sampras could care less and he led Agassi in head to head competition, and beat him all but one time when playing against him in Grand Slam finals.

The key is working through your game and finding out what works for YOU! By controlling every aspect and establishing things like service rituals you can develop calmness during tight match situations. It gives your mind somewhere to go. Does straightening strings after a point really help a pro hit the ball better? Yes, but not necessarily because the strings are straight. It helps them focus and calm themselves. They have certain key words or phrases they say to themselves during this time to keep their mind where it should be. Simple things like, “Watch the bounce”, or “Follow through”. Whatever they have found will help them play better and stay in the present (more on that in a later article).

Many years ago I use to think that string types and tensions really did not matter that much. Then I began to notice myself hitting very well for about two weeks and then dropping off. I began to notice a cycle — two weeks on two weeks off. My strings broke about every 4th week or so and I always waited until they broke before I restrung my racket. Aha! (I know, just call me slow!) I decided to try and restring my racket after two weeks instead of waiting for my strings to break. Sure enough my game leveled out and I began to consistently play at a higher level.

Most players either hit flat with little spin or hit higher with lots of spin. Then there are a few that hit flat with lots of spin, like me. We have to hit the ball hard to keep it over the net and heavy spin to keep it inside the baseline. There is not as much room for error and if you throw a change at us like string tension dropping too much, our games can suddenly go off.

I was using synthetic then and have since switched to gut. My strings still break in about 4 weeks, but after its initial tension drop of 10%, the tension does not drop anymore until it breaks. I have to string it at the upper end of the tension range for my racket because gut is a powerful string and have now switched to poly in the crosses to deaden the gut a little more and lock it in place. I no longer have any string movement and I get the playability and tension retaining qualities of the gut. I have tried some of the newer synthetics and have always come back to this combination. My stringer strings the poly 2-3 lbs lighter which is a feel I chose after side by side comparisons of similar rackets and strings. I can even tell if a racket was strung by my stringer! By controlling the string types in the crosses and the mains, the stringer and the machine he uses, the tension in the crosses and the mains, and when I restring, I am definitely hitting and playing at a higher level.

What did I learn? It pays to control everything you can.

Would a low level player with poor strokes notice a change in strings like this? Probably not. A player needs to have better quality strokes, say 4.0 ntrp or above. But if it helps you play with more confidence then why not? We are what we think. Better yet, we are what we control. What will you control and what will control you the next time your On Court?

Jay Jordan

Somewhere along the path of ‘growing up’, the essence of play becomes more and more elusive, like a dream’s receding memory. Many of us give in and allow the sheer fun of life to be discredited, forced to cower behind a wall of ‘reasonable expectations’.

But once in awhile, something rekindles that spark, awakens that child to come out and play. It is that moment that gives us all hope.

Visionary Tennis is all about that moment, and about bringing it back to you again and again and again. We want you to play. We want to remind you that ‘playing tennis’ really is just that. It’s not a job, it’s not a discipline —
it’s a game.