Want a simple way to level up your game fast? The tennis ball you choose can change how your body feels, how fast you learn, and whether practice builds confidence or fear. We sit down with coach Michele Krause to make a clear case for red, orange, and green balls as powerful tools for adult recreational tennis players, 

Tennis doesn’t have to feel exclusive or overly serious to be a real workout. In our episode (National Hit to be Fit Weekend) Michele shares the vision behind National Hit To Be Fit Weekend (May 15 to 17), a nationwide celebration that pairs National Tennis Month with a simple idea: make the court feel like a party and make it easy for anyone to say yes. Think music under the lights, big group energy, and a format that welcomes the person who has never played alongside the 4.0 who wants a sweat.

For more information on all things Cardio Tennis and National Hit to be Fit Weekend visit: http://Linktr.ee/cardiotennis

Register to host a Hit to be Fit event at: www.cardiotennisinstructor.com 

Here’s a complete transcript of our conversation with Michele:

Returning After Surgery With Red

Carolyn 0:07

Hi, this is Carolyn, and I’m here with Erin. And this is our second episode with Michele Krause. In the first one, she discussed National Hit to Be Fit weekend, and we’ll link to that in our show notes. In this episode, she tells us why all recreational players can take advantage of the red, orange, or green ball. So here it is. But I will tell you with like the red ball and the orange ball, I had to take a break from tennis um for a health issue. Right. And then I came back, I’ve had all my lymph nodes removed from one of my arms. And I came back um with the red ball. Okay. Red ball. So orange ball. And now I’m back to the regular ball and I’m fine. Never had lymphedema. Everything was great.

Why Slower Balls Should Be Normal

Michele 0:48

Okay. Because that I wanted to talk about that with the two of you. And and I didn’t know, Carolyn, like what how that progressed for you. And it makes me so happy. And this is a message that like you obviously can share because you experienced it at the foundation gala uh the other day in Indian Wells, one of the members there who couldn’t play because she was had just had a, you know, a surgery, etc. And I told her, when you’re ready to come back, when you’re ready to hit that ball, okay, please tell your coach, okay, that you need to start with red and orange. Okay, and that will save you because and most coaches don’t know this, and they just put the yellow ball out there. Okay, so whatever the health issue has been, okay, if you go back with yellow ball, okay, that ball is gonna one, it’s gonna bounce really high. Um, it’s moving faster. So in your brain, you’re like, I gotta go, I gotta move. And then you make a movement that you that one probably should not have made based upon their injury slash health situation. And now you’ve taken another step back. All right. And, you know, starting with the red ball, working more in a short cord until you start feeling comfortable with that, then go to the orange ball, add a little distance, that sort of thing. And the the gal that I was talking to, she was so grateful for that tip. You know, it had never you know crossed her mind. She probably didn’t even think about it, but she was she was so happy because she’s been doing since her surgery, she’s been doing all the right things. And Carolyn, I know I’m sure you have done all the right things as well in your journey. And you don’t want, you don’t want to have a step back. Yeah. So yay, red and orange ball. Yes. It still amazes me that we’re okay. If you look at other sports, okay, um, if if if someone in the golf world, okay, and I am not a golfer, but my husband is, okay, there are, I believe, four different T spots to tee off from. So obviously the difference is in distance. Okay. So you have that T spot that is closer to the whole. Okay, so there’s built-in things, and that’s a training tool. Okay, that’s a built-in way to make the sport easier. Okay, maybe you know, a lot of 90 plus people play golf. Okay, well, they’re not hidden off the pro tee, they’re hidden off the rookie tee. And guess what? They can still play the sport. So why we get hung up on these balls is just beyond me. All right. It’s a ball. If you are, if you have a racket and a ball and you’re hitting it, okay, then then life is good.Carolyn 3:49

I didn’t grow up playing tennis, right? Don’t kids now like there’s the orange ball tournament, not orange ball tournaments, but you use an orange ball. There’s a progression. Yeah. Yeah. Isn’t there a progression?

A Rally Challenge For Real Control

Michele 4:00

Yeah. So and the progression with kids. Yeah, the progression is red, orange, green. And and the thing is, I think what people also don’t understand is who whatever your skill level is, there’s always moments when you need to be going back and forth. Okay. There are circumstances. Well, I might be, I might be a 14-year-old greenball player, okay, but there’s gonna be skills that you’re gonna need to work on that you need to use the red or the orange for. So it’s not just like, okay, I I’ve I’ve worked my way up to yellow and I’m never gonna hit those other balls again. They’re train, they’re a training tool. All right. It’s like um, I always use the reference of a personal trainer. So a personal trainer has many tools in their toolkit, right? And just from dumbbells, you have all different weights of dumbbells, okay? You need all of them, okay, based upon that activity. In cardio tennis and our warm up and cooldown, there’s so many um activities that we do that require skill, okay, that actually require feel, touch, and spin. Okay. And a lot of our adult athletes um need a lot of work in that area. Yes. And it’s not, and it’s and I and I don’t mean that disrespectfully, okay. In fact, I kind of blame coaches on that because the coaches are not teaching them. Okay. So can you, and here’s here’s a here’s a challenge I will shout out to your listeners, okay? Um, go out with one of your friends and get into like the red court. You can you can go over the net from the service line, that’s fine. Okay, and see how many times you can rally a red ball over the net and keep it in the lines. All right. I mean, it sounds so simple, but unfortunately, many of our, and that’s what that’s with the red ball, and then work your, you know, work your way up. Can you hit 10 in a row? And if you can, if you can hit 10 in a row, that’s great, but ultimately I need you to hit 100 in a row.unknown 5:54

Okay.Erin 5:54

I have terrible volleys. Which ball should be practical?Michele 5:57

I’m so glad we’re talking about this.Erin 5:59

So bad my volleys are, and I blame my coach way back when, when I started at 40.Michele 6:04

And you can blame me too, because I’m a coach and I, you know, I’ll take all these. Okay.

Fixing Volleys With Orange And Triples

Erin 6:09

Um Carolyn knows what coach I’m gonna blame.Michele 6:11

Yeah.Erin 6:12

So don’t worry, he’s not a listener.Michele 6:13

I would say, I would say, um, Erin, um, you know, again, you are a very typical female recreational tennis player. Okay, and I mean that in a great way. Oh no.Erin 6:25

Yep.Michele 6:26

And most gals, unfortunately, are afraid to be at the net. Yeah, because somehow, at some point, this hard yellow ball came at them or they got hit or whatnot. All right. So um definitely one should be starting their volley journey with with an orange ball minimally. Okay. Um, I will, I will, when I when I train, when I’m doing coach education, I will always state to a group, you know, what is what is one of the toughest skills in tennis? Well, reflex volleying. Okay. One of the toughest skills to do in tennis. And using a yellow ball is gonna make that a hundred times harder. So can you reflex volley with a partner with an orange or a green ball? Like, can you literally keep it in play and be cooperative? So those are the signs of skill, actual, actual lack or lack of skill. And it is humbling, okay? Like I do want to say, like, you’re gonna be uncomfortable. It’s going to be humbling, okay? But that’s okay. We need to be uncomfortable, we need to be a little humble because we need to know where we where we need to get to, right? Um, and so yeah, so it it it will show that will show reflex volley is gonna show up the weaknesses um pretty quickly. But I think that any recreational player can quickly improve their volley skills if they practice with orange and green, and more importantly, if they play triples. Okay, because triples forces you to be at the net. And what I always coach the athletes on in triples is I want them to be aggressive and go for everything. Because if they miss, they have two people to back them up, right? Because they’re afraid. I mean, I watch it all that time. I watch, and it’s men and women, okay? They’re at the net and they just want the balls literally like right there, and they let it go by them.Erin 8:37

Well, the other thing you can’t do in triples that you can do in doubles, because I find myself doing it all the time, and then I’m like, I need a magnet that keeps me at the net. Okay. But in triples, you can’t do what I do in doubles, which is like, I’ll be up there for a little bit, and then I’m like, I find myself on backtracking. Fading back. Fading back, yeah. And in triples, you have two people, you’re not gonna have three people on the baseline because then you’re gonna be out of room. Right. So it does force you to stay at the net. Exactly. But yeah, I’m gonna switch to that that ball and start over my volley journey.Michele 9:06

For our listeners, uh, you know, again, ask your coaches to, if you’re having a clinic or something, to play 10 minutes of triples in that clinic with the with the orange ball. And um, and or go out and practice with your one of your teammates or one of your besties. Um, my favorite ball is the green ball. I mean, I hit the green, I try, I train green ball all the time, and I’m I’m high skill and I’m high fitness. Okay. And it’s also easier on your body. So if you have wrist issues, elbow issues, shoulder issues, many, many reasons that that could all be happening, but I’m telling you, the yellow ball is not helping it. Okay, think about how hard and fast that ball is coming at you and the amount of absorption absorption of force that those body parts and joints are taking because of the yellow ball.Erin 10:01

Yeah. Who knew we’d get on such a kick about tennis balls? I love it. I do too. This is so exciting. A whole nother episode.Michele 10:10

Exactly. I’m I’m I’m I’m so when I was, you know, thinking about our time together, I really wanted to cover this topic, and I think you’ve covered it just fabulously. So thank you.Erin 10:19

Very well. Yes, thank you.

Green Ball Training And Closing

Carolyn 10:21

Thanks again to Michele for coming on the podcast. We have one more episode where she discusses her experience being part of the Gigi Fernandez camp at Indian Wells. Also, we’ve included links in our show notes to learn more about National Hit to Be Fit weekend. Thanks so much for listening and hope to see you on the court soon.