The internet becoming more mainstream has been a great way for many people to do many things in their life much easier and faster. If you like, you can make the decision to pay your bills online. Lets not forget about how much shopping we can do online whenever we feel like it.
The more amazing thing is amore and more people that are getting online more often these days have begun to start dating online as an additional resource for them to immediately hook up with other people, even if they live half way around the world, for that matter.
With all that being said, we can also trade online as many of you know. It didn't always used to be this way many years ago. Most everything was completed through the telephone. The clients would contact their broker to buy or sell or with any questions that they may have.
If you like you can still call these brokerage houses, nut you may find yourself waiting on the phone for a longer period of time than a live chat feature might take you. I realize that sometimes it is necessary to talk to an actual person when the problems and issues become way too complicated to communicate through other forms.
It is so much easier to take a quick every day look at your accounts of what you are trading with the use of online access. The brokers love it as well because it frees up more of their time to take care of other tasks that they might be in need of their attention. Most times the fees and commissions involved with trading online are much lower than other ways of trading your stocks.
If you happen to be very new and green to the investing markets game and will have many detailed questions about how many different things will work, a telephone will come in very handy. As with anything, in the beginning there will be a whole lot of education happening as you step into this new world for the first time.
Learning as much as you can about stocks and the basics of how trading works will be the first thing that you will want to do before attempting to open an account with a broker. This way you will be very ready to take the bull or bear by the horns and manage your finances quite happily.
It is important that you always know when you are going to have internet access and when you are not. What if your current or main internet connection ceases to work for some unknown or freak reason? Having a backup plan in place is always very necessary to have, especially in the case that you must buy or sell in a hurry. Always keep the telephone number of your broker on the ready and accessible place to find as well.
When deciding which brokerage house to start your accounts with, it has always been a good idea to find a broker that has been around for a very long time usually. This is not always the case as we have seen here in 2008, of course, with the many failed investment banks crumbling all around us.
Online trading can be like playing one of your favorite songs, or it can be like nails on a blackboard. It all depends on the type of person that you are with computers and if you understand what it is that you are doing with great fluidity. Otherwise, approach this wild beast as it were with great patience and learn slowly, bit by bit.
Let's think about what happens when you playing a game.
You get yourself into the point with a great return off a good wide serve by your opponent. You are moving (each other) all over the court building the point nicely when all of a sudden your opponent attacks by deciding to come to the net. You attempt a pass which they volley into the opposite corner and you head off to play a stunning running single-handed backhand pass down the line that a certain Mr Federer would be proud of.
Let's think about what just happened there.
You may have hit the ball maybe 6 or 7 times but what did you do for the majority of the point?
MOVE!
You moved to all of your tennis shots and you moved to recover.
The fact remains that the time spent hitting shots, never mind the actual time the ball spends on the strings is only a tiny fraction of the time spent moving to and away from your shots.
If this is the case, why do people spend so little time working on their tennis footwork and movement if it is the one thing you spend the most time doing?
FACT! The ATP tour stats on unforced errors are that over 70% of them are down to poor footwork.
Which means......?
If you really want to improve your game, it's very simple - you need to improve your movement and therefore your footwork.
And here is what you need to do!
When we look at footwork in tennis, the first thing you need to do is stop running so much on the court.
You should only run if you are a long way from the ball and it is the only way to get there quickly. Apart from that most of your movements around the court should be made using side shuffles and cross over steps (basically short step movements).
By having good footwork you get the flexibility of choice. You get to choose open or closed stance, cross court or down the line, backhand or inside out forehand, deep or short, passing shot or lob to name but a few. Without it you will have fewer choices available and the choices you do have may well suffer from poor execution.
You improve your agility, balance and co-ordination which are all vital components for high level play.
The type of footwork drills you should be using include cone drills like zig zags and drills that use ladders as a training aid.
My recommendation is that you start incorporating footwork drills into every one of your lesson/practice times. If your coach is not up to speed with all of this then do it on your own or find another coach!
You know that saying - what came first the chicken or the egg?
Well in the case of tennis it is without doubt the movement before the shot ' so try leaving your racket in the bag, work on your footwork and movement and discover how well you hit the ball when you finally do pull your racket out.
I have put together a special report on tennis footwork which goes into a bit more detail and includes 10 pages of drills to be used.
Both Terry Detty & Paul Gold are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.