ATHLETES TRAINING: “I’m Back” to Back Wins!

Suzann at the Canadian Open, "I'm Back!

Suzann Pettersen going winless since her breakthrough season in 2007 nails down a solid 5 stroke victory to WIN the Canadian Open. “I’ve been playing very good since 2007,” said the six-time LPGA Tour winner who has carded 19 top-10 finishes, including six runner-up finishes since the end of 2007, when she won five times. “Gave myself a lot of chances to win tournaments, and like I’ve been saying, if you put yourself in position often enough, you’ll figure out how to close the deal.” Suzann’s win at the CN Canadian Open has lifted her to 2nd in the Rolex Rankings of women’s golf!!!

Leander and Lukas the 2009 US Men's Doubles Champions

Leander Paes in excruciating elbow pain from his Mixed doubles final the day before, found a way with partner Lukas Dlouhy to WIN the US Open Mens Doubles Championship. For Paes it is his fifth men’s doubles Grand Slam crown, 41st overall and second grandslam title of the year!

Leander and Suzann have become good friends over the past two years. Earlier this summer Leander made the trip down to the Women’s US Open golf to watch Suzann’s 3rd round while Suzann flew straight from her victory in Canada last week to watch Leander’s quarter-final match in New York.

Coaches Corner: Swinging into the Fall

Suzann swinging in the Lance Armstrong gym at Nike

Were swinging into the fall with everyone healthy, fit and ready to go.  Golf and tennis tours are moving from the middle to the end of their seasons.  Off-season workouts have started for some of the young athletes and  are just around the corner for others, FUN,FUN,FUN!  AthletesTraining.com is about to take on a whole new website look while S5 Bands are in their final stages of development!

So were headed into the fall with a lot of momentum and very excited to have knew rising star team members CJ Wagner, Samatha Wagner and Alice Barbieri in the program. Some of our younger pro track members are prepping up for Q school while others are competing around the world on different tours.  Leander  and Rennae  roll into the US OPEN tennis this week while Trevor Immelman, Skip Kendall  and Suzann Pettersen head off to the EuropeanTour, Nationwide Tour and Canadian Women’s Open.

It’s been a great summer with 17 year team member Leander Paes winning the French Open Doubles title, finaling Wimbledon Mixed  and  MVP/Champion of the World Team Tennis league.   10 year AT member Rennae  Stubbs was also on the WTT Champions team while finaling Wimbeldon doubles and Rodger Cup doubles last week in Montreal.  13 year old Yueer Cindy Feng had a great summer moving to No. 4 in the US National Polo rankings with 2 wins at the AJGA’s Thunderbird and Betsy Rawls while qualifying for the Women’s US Open.  15 year old Motin Young had a solid summer  with four  2nd place finishes moving him from #775 to number #54 in the 18 and under Polo national rankings.

Were sad but glad to see Kristina Wong headed off to Stanford.  Kristina also had a great summer moving into into the top 2 in Junior National rankings and top 5 in Women’s Amateur rankings.  She also had strong win at the NY State Amatuer and is member of the CHAMPIONS US Junior Solheim Cup team.

The theme for the fall is “CABLES and PULLEYS”.  Were transitioning into cables and pulleys before picking up the heavier free weights in the off-season and of course were always working our bands.  We’ll be changing up the workouts by using different gyms to keep the training fun and exciting.  ”TIME TO GET TO WORK!”

Stay Discliped,

Coach D

AthletesTraining: Yueer ‘CINDY’ FENG WINS 2nd AJGA INVITATIONAL OF SEASON

By winning her 2nd AJGA Invitational of the season, the McDonald’s Betsy Rawls Invitational , Cindy moves to a career high #4 in the US Polo Junior girls rankings.  Go Cindy!!!

Athletes Training and S5 Bands on the Road

Suzann Pettersen and Dave at US Open

Yueer 'Cindy' Feng and Dave at US Open

Last week was an amazing week on the road in Bethlehem, Pa and New York City.  We were in Bethlehem at the US Open Women’s Golf watching and working with Suzann Pettersen and 13 year old rising star Yueer ‘Cindy’ Feng and then made a quick trip up to New York City to watch Leander Paes and Rennae Stubbs play World Team Tennis for the Washington Kastles.

Dave and Dave with French Open Champ Leander Paes

Dave and Dave with Wimbledon Finalist Rennae Stubbs

Along with me during the trip was Dave Wolfenden of S5bands and we had the trip to remember.

Below are some of the pics from the week as everyone was relaxed and having a great time.  What impressed me the most was the how all the team members from the Washington Kastles and New York Sporttimes stayed after their matches to sign autographs for EVERY Kid!  I just thought it was great for the sport of Tennis.

Were also very proud to announce Leander Paes to the S5band’s Men’s Tennis developmental program.

And of course a big shout out Congrats to Kristina Wong for her Win at the New York State Amateur. Go Kristina!!!

Leander, Serena and Rennae cracking a backhand!

Serena and Rennae signing autographs for the kids!

AthletesTraining: Kristina Wong WINS New York State Amatuer

Kristina Wong Wins NY State Amatuer

With a number of close 2nds this past spring and earlier summer,  Kristina found a way today with her first WIN of the 2009 season at the New York State Amateur. Were very proud of our Stanford bound star! Go KRISTINA!!!!

Coach D & Kristina on the course

Kristina working the New Green S5 Band with Coach D

AthletesTraining: Leander & Rennae in FINALS at WIMBLEDON!

Leander Paes and Cara Black

Rennae Stubbs and Samantha Stosur

17 year team member Leander Paes and 10 year team member Rennae Stubbs both S5Bands users move into Finals of Wimbledon 2009.  Leander and partner Cara Black are in the Mixed doubles final while Rennae and her partner Samantha Stosur have moved into the Ladies’s doubles final.

Below are two exciting video’s we shot a few month’s back of Leander and Rennae working some bands and chains.  Check it out!

Good luck in Finals LP and Stubbys!

COACHES CORNER: Sizzling Summer

Coach Dave Herman

Summer is Sizzling with an ‘Amazing’ French Open Grand Slam Doubles WIN  from our legendry Leander Paes.  AT’s Rennae Stubbs and her doubles partner Samantha Stosur finaled Eastbourne this weekend so both Leander and Rennae roll into Wimbledon ready to go.

Were very proud of our Rising Star’s recent results. Yueer Cindy Feng qualied for the Women’s US Open which is coming up the 2nd week of July. Stanford bound Kristina Wong finishing 2nd at the Eastern Amateurs last week and has now moved up to #2 in the GolfWeek/Titliest Junior Rankings.   This week Motin Yeung finishing 2nd at the AJGA Rush Creek and were excited to see some solid play from Mickey Chan finishing 4th at the AJGA Southern Open Championships with a second round 66.  Great playing Andy Zhang winning 7 out of his 8 matches at the World Team Challenge and his team finishing 2nd in the event.

This week were cranking it back up with the Pro crew in town.  Arun, Skip, Suzann, and Trevor are all running around Orlando, so it’s going to be a busy week ramping it up…

Were looking forward to having C.J. and Samantha Wagner in the later part of the week for their intial assessments and introductions to the program.

The theme for the summer is “HARDWORK and RECOVERY”.   Plan your heavy work days and recover on your light work days.   Some times we can feel a little down and maybe a little discouraged.  Those days we can turn it around by getting into the gym for a light workout.  A light cardio, core and stretch can get those good feeling going and get your mind into a positive flow if things feel off track.  So no matter what, NO EXCUSES, we got to get to the gym!  I’m IN!

Check out the cool video below…. Leander working with his Green S5band….So we see, Hardwork PAES OFF!

Stay Disciplined,

Coach D

AthletesTraining: LEANDER PAES WINS the French Open with an ACE!

Leander WINS Roland Garros 2009

17 Year team member Leander Paes and his doubles partner Lukas Dlouhy beat the unseeded pair of Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman to win the 2009 French Open Men’s Doubles Championship.  The Indian Paes serves an Ace on the last point of the match to secure his 5th Grand Slam doubles Major.

In line with the upsets in the Singles, the final for the championship featured two unexpected pairs as the No. 3 seed Czech/Indian pair created a huge upset by toppling the clay monster pair and the No. 1 seed of Nestor/Zimonjic.

Nestor/Zimonjic had won four clay court tournaments coming into the Open—while the unseeded Moodie/Norman upset the evergreen Bryan brothers (as the American pair faltered yet again at clay after their maiden title in 2003).

The stadium, although sparse, featured some big personalities, as Martina Navratilova was present to cheer for her former mixed doubles partner Leander Paes. Present alongside her was the Software Giant and philanthropist, and ex-chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates!

Paes/Dlouhy started in lousy fashion as they lost serve early in the opening set, and were spraying balls around the court as they quickly found themselves 2-5 down facing serve.

At this moment, Leander Paes suffered a terrible blow to the eye by Norman’s fast volley. Paes was hardly able to open his eyes, and the game halted for ten minutes as he tended to his eyes with ice.

The break was a wake-up call for the pair, as they showed superlative tennis in the next two sets and made me applaud this highly underrated and ignored form of tennis.

Leander Paes was the Great Wall of China at the net, as he showed supreme reflexes, McEnroeish volleys, and amazing overheads, to keep the opponents continuously off guard. Dlouhy, looked like an ideal match for his strengths, as he has big serves and huge inside out forehands to complement Paes’ acumen at the net.

The pair showed good tactical minds as they mixed their games with good lobs and flat-n-quick returns of serves. It was fascinating to watch the pair rearrange themselves all over the court, to provide beautiful court coverage.

Paes constantly guided his big serving partner with clever use of his four fingers behind-his-back to point out the part of the court Dlouhy should serve.

In the end, it was a thoroughly dominating performance by the No. 3 seeded pair, and they provided a pleasant change from the relatively slower pace of Singles tennis. So frenetic was the pace of play, that two to three shots were easily hit per second during rallies.

AthletesTraining: Team China is on FIRE!

Yueer "Cindy" Feng WINS AJGA Thunderbird International

Yueer Cindy Feng bested Sarah Brown in a two-hole, sudden-death playoff Monday to WIN the AJGA Thunderbird International Junior in Phoenix, AZ (which includes the Top 30 Junior Girls in the World) continuing her Red Hot WINNING streak! The WIN moves Cindy to the #5 in the Polo Golf Rankings.

Feng and Brown went back and forth all day and ended up tied at 3-under-par 213 at the end of regulation. They both made pars on the first playoff hole, No. 10, but Feng sunk a 15-footer for birdie on No. 11 to clinch the victory.

“I’m happy that I got the win but I know I could’ve done better,” Feng said.

Kristina Wong had another solid showing finishing 3rd place in the same event. Thru 11 she was tied for the lead with Cindy and Sarah as they battled to the finish.

Motin Yeung finished 2nd today shooting 72-66-69 (his personal BEST) in the IJGT Tournament of Champions in Orlando, Florida. 15 year old Motin continues his strong play in the 16 – 18 divisions.

11 year old Andy Zhang on a 6,800 course shot 74-72-72 to finish 6th in 13 – 15 division. (He’s only 11)

“I’m very impressed with the Focus and Disipline of our Chinese Kids who have been on fire.”  Dave Herman Athletes Training Coach.

Cindy, Motin and Coach D stretch it out.

COACHES CORNER: Looking into the Future

Coach D

We’re Excited about the Development of some NEW PROJECTS and want to congratulate some of our Athletes on their recent wins. AT.com is getting a New Look to the Website and were going a lot more interactive. Were also working on the New S5Bands.com product site which were hoping to have ready to go in July.  There’s an excellent article in this month’s issue of Golf Fitness Magazine about Cindy Feng’s transition from bands to weights, check it out!

Were heading into the Summer with a lot of momentum from Cindy, Andy and Jhared’s great play and congrats for the WINS guys! To Suzann and Kristina whom both had 2nd place finishes today and another 2nd place over the past month were proud, staying positive and poised for some Big Wins!

With the heat moving in we need to stay on top of our conditioning with proper hydration and caloric intake. We need to maintain with solid cardio sessions during the week, mix it up with some poolwork to beat the heat and Most Important Stay Hydrated! Everyone is moving into a competitive phase so we have to focus on recovery and repair in between competitive events.

Overall I’m very happy with the everyone’s physical progress. On the rehab note Arjun is getting better daily and is close to getting back to the PGA Tour. ALSO on special note to Freshman shortstop Bucky Maler for leading his VARSITY team to victory in his first high school game! Go Buck!

Stay Discliplined,

Coach D