Donna Testimonial
TESTIMONIAL FOR STEVE CATAPANO
If you hire Steve Catapano as your tennis instructor, I hope that he won’t disappoint you as much as he did me! No, wait!!!!!! Keep reading!!!!!! Why did Steve disappoint me????? For only one reason…….he moved away. Now, I have no one here who can help my tennis game as much as Steve did. OK, I am an engineer and we engineers love charts. So here is a table comparing my tennis game before and after Steve.
SKILL |
“BEFORE” STEVE |
“AFTER” STEVE |
Volleying |
My volleys were terrible. My grip was bad, my racquet position was bad & my body was always in the way of hitting the ball. | I know how to move to hit a volley & my racquet head is always (well maybe, mostly) up & I have the correct grip. I can hit high volleys! I can hit low volleys!! I can hit all volleys!!! |
Doubles |
I was strictly a singles player and had no real concept of how to play doubles smartly and assertively. Maybe this had something to do with my awful volleys! | Steve helped me be a much better doubles player. I can competently hit balls in the mid court (ground strokes & volleys) so I can effectively come to the net to put balls away. |
Overheads |
While my ground strokes were powerful, my overheads had no power whatsoever! | Steve taught me how to hit an effective overhead, something that my prior instructors ignored. He taught me where to position my feet & the grip I needed while hitting an overhead. Now my overheads have more power & accuracy! |
Serve |
Sad to say, but it was very difficult to hold my service. My serve was technically terrible & I had no control or power. My second serve was so weak that I usually lost the point on my opponent’s return of serve. | Once I could hit an overhead, Steve tackled my serve. We worked hard on where to toss the ball and even harder on getting me to pronate while hitting a serve. Now I can actually win some points with aces and I have had people tell me that my serve is really good. I know what to do to hit a kick serve and can actually execute it! |
Game Sense |
Prior to working with Steve, my ground strokes were the strongest part of my game. Unfortunately, pounding groundies without a plan is a sure way to spend hours on the court…..not always with a win L | Steve taught me where and when to hit my shots and also what to expect an opponent to do in return. He was relentless in making me pay for my poor shot choices by hitting winners against me. Eventually, I got smarter and now in competitive matches, I make my opponents pay for their poor choices! |
I am a pretty competitive person and I think that I am the most competitive with myself. I want to get better and work hard at getting better. Steve was the perfect instructor to help me with my game. He recognized that I wanted to improve and he was at least as committed to that goal as I was. He never got frustrated with how long it took me to grasp a skill. He understood that a 56 year old woman with 30 years of playing tennis wasn’t going to have the perfect technique. He tweaked my shots in such a way that I didn’t have to completely start over but gave me a game that is extremely effective.
In addition, Steve gives a lot of his time for the money you pay him. Some weeks, my 1-1/2 hr. lesson lasted 2-1/2 hrs. if he felt that we were making a lot of progress. Just beware!! As soon as you are completely dependent on his advice, he may just move away and leave you to a less competent instructor!!!!
Donna Roberts – Sedona AZ