With the rise of professional sport, and the option for many aspiring future stars of various sports codes, the realisation that a career can be developed from the sporting skills and aptitudes of young individuals have lead to dreams of playing for their favourite teams. This has been highlighted in New Zealand through the continued success, on an international stage, of the netball and football squads; along with the continued world dominance of rugby by the All Blacks. The rise to professionalism and the increasing globalisation of sport has changed the way that sport is viewed and engaged in by talented young athletes. The shift to a more professional work environment, high salaries, and the increased opportunity for young individuals, once they leave school, to seek employment within the commercial sports world.

For those aspiring to becoming elite athletes, trainers or amateurs performing at the highest level of their chosen sport, it is essential that they are trained and educated in an environment and culture that promotes excellence and provides the tools and training they need to achieve these goals. Incorporating an education base around the physiology and performance of the human body is essential for several reasons. Firstly, in the competitive world of sport, any competitive edge that you have can make the difference in a game; and in the future of your career. With the knowledge of how the body works, recuperates and reacts to physical pressure, this may provide the edge you need. Secondly, since the rise of professional sport, there has been some negative media attention drawn to those who do not make the cut; and are struggling to find other career opportunities. With a good educational base, not only will you get an edge over your competition, but if circumstances change or an injury stops you playing sport at the highest level, then the education gained at an academy of sports will enable you to carve out another career; perhaps training or educating the elite athletes of tomorrow.

New Zealand has some of the finest sporting educational facilities to be found, which provide leading edge learning’s in sport science and an ideal environment for training in a range of sports. Developing their sporting potential, their studies are supplemented with individual programme planning, testing and prescription in areas such as exercise physiology, biomechanics and physical training and conditioning. Specialist sporting educational facilities that are modelled on the same systems, sporting ethics and philosophies of the New Zealand Academy of Sport, ensure that the perfect balance of education, individual training and mentoring that will provide them with the platform of success.

Last week, Rafael Nadal won the 2009 BNP Paribas Tennis Tournament at Indian Wells, California, defeating Andy Murray easily in the final.

As we watched the tournament, we heard frequent discussions of Murray’s second serve, and that if he could develop a better second serve he would be almost unstoppable. Of course, he was almost unstoppable at Indian Wells, but did lose badly in the final, mostly because of poor serving. In that final match against Nadal, he lost his service games four times and won only 6 of 16 (38%) of his 2nd serve points. Let’s take nothing away from Nadal though; he has the best return game in tennis, possibly the best ever.

All tennis players, including beginners, know the importance of the serve. A good serve can result in easy points and puts pressure on an opponent. The first and second serves in tennis usually have different goals. With your first serve, you want to win the point with an ace, service winner, or at least put your opponent in a defensive position for the next shot. The first serve is generally flat and fast, and you can take more risk, knowing you have an attempt at a 2nd serve if you need it. The second serve is your backup safety. Your priority is to get the second serve in and start the point. If you miss the second serve, you will double fault and give your opponent a free point. Most tennis players put a lot more spin on the second serve, but this tends to reduce the speed of the serve.

Because of the slower pace, the second serve often gives the receiver plenty of time to get into position to hit an aggressive return. However, if you can make your second serve look similar to your first serve, at least in terms of the service motion, you can make it difficult for the receiver to predict the speed (and type of spin) of the serve, and you may retain a significant advantage, even as you serve slower and with more control.

We found some video of Andy Murray’s first serve and decided to look at it from a biomechanics point of view. This video is set up very well for video analysis. The camera is set up along the baseline, which allows us to get a side-on view of Andy during his serve. We can also see the complete service motion in the video, including the racquet head, and can see the racquet make contact with the ball. It would have been great if we could’ve seen the complete ball toss (the ball goes out of the top of the screen) and if the camera had been stable and mounted on a tripod; but in general, this is good video sports analysis footage.

You can see the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GFkqD7GBZQ  .

The power in the tennis serve, like many throwing or hitting sports (baseball hitting and pitching, football throw, and golf) is created by a chain of events. Each part of the body loads up with energy and transfers its energy to the next link in the chain. The timing of this energy transfer is critical to creating racquet head speed and therefore a good, fast serve.

In Andy’s serve, we see how he starts with his knee bend as he throws the ball up. You may also notice that as he bends his knees his hips turn away from the court. He then transfers this energy now stored in his hips by bringing his back foot up to his front foot and rotating his hips into the court. Once again notice that as he rotates his hips back into the court, his shoulders now rotate away. This counter rotation in both hips and then shoulders creates the potential for racket head speed; Andy is coiled up and ready to explode his racket toward the ball.

As he does this, he releases the potential energy, rotates his shoulders back into the court, and throws his racket at the ball. All these energy transfers add up to create the speed with which he will hit his serve. If his timing is off, his speed will not be as high.

The ball toss is, of course, just as important. If you do not throw the ball consistently, it will be very diffcult to perfect the timing of your kinetic chain (described above). Andy’s ball toss is high and a falls about a foot inside the court. If you want to hit a good hard serve, the ball needs to be in front of you, so that your body and racquet are moving forward when the ball is struck. If the ball toss is directly above your head, it is much more difficult to get theball moving forward with as much pace.

Ok, so Andy has a great first serve, and we can see that here. It is his second serve that the commentators were discussing. Unfortunately, we were unable to find any good footage of his second serve to compare it to his first serve. We are sure his coach is working hard on improving his kinetic chain sequence and timing to make it more difficult for his opponents to read his second serve.

Visit us at http://videosportsanalysis.blogspot.com to see more video analysis of different sports and to learn more about how to analyse sport using your video camera.

Christian Foundation Grants reported on a June 2008 ministry survey. This survey showed an astounding 78% of ministries need development or fundraising staff. Overall, 72% of the ministries surveyed indicated their need for development counsel or assistance. The complete results of the survey can be found at (christianfoundationgrants.com/NewsView.aspx?id=26).

This survey highlights the need for more funding resources like Christian Foundation Grants. Christian Foundation Grants provides help to ministries looking for Christian grants, Christian fundraising, Christian giving, faith based giving, etc.

Specifically, Christian Foundation Grants provides a subscription database to ministries who want to search for grants for their ministry. Grants can be a vital source of providing funding for a ministry at any stage of their growth—startup, expansion or growth.

A ministry may subscribe to the Christian Foundation Grants database and gain immediate access to over 4,000 foundations that accept applications for faith based organizations. It is the largest database of its kind. The subscription is only $149.00 per year. Christian Foundation Grants also provides free access to the largest network of grantwriters around the country who have written for Christian organizations.

Christian Foundation Grants is one solution to the funding needs of ministries around the countryv

The grant process is not a formula demanding rigid adherence. This is only a suggested approach that may be adapted to fit the needs of any nonprofit organization, depending on the intricacies of each situation. Fundraising is an art as well as a science. Remain flexible and use your God-given creativity!

The grant process consists primarily of drafting the grant proposal. However, prior to putting pen to paper, it is necessary to gather background information. First, gather all information relevant to the PURPOSE of the grant. How does the grant project further the mission and vision or your organization? Why is this project important? How is it beneficial? Your goal is to persuade the funding organization by clearly articulating compelling reasons for the grant.