Adding weight to rackets?

With Nadal adding weight to his racket in the hopes of avenging some of last years defeats to Djokovic, the whole adding weight debate comes to live.

This is something that should be done only with a lot of thought and not just on a whim because you hear the pros are doing it.

There was a very good article in one of last Sunday's papers and for me one comment by Nadal shows how this shouldn't be taken lightly.  He said that he only added 3 grams, which is practically nothing, to the very top of his racket but he could feel it in his shoulder and is still adjusting to it.

Now bear in mind this is a professional athlete, who works out daily in the gym, and 3 grams has that effect on him.

Can you imagine how it will affect juniors!

And I say juniors because they are my concern more so than adults.  Adults can make their own minds up about these things and suffer the consequences themselves, but juniors and particularly the performance standard juniors live and breathe what their coaches say.

Unfortunately I have come across too many instances where coaches believing their student is the next Nadal or Wozniacki insists they should be using the same string, at the same tension, in the same weighted racket as the pros and now more than likely after reading or hearing about Nadal adding weight will be trying this too.

It amuses me that these professional people cannot differentiate between a professional athlete and a child who has still has plenty of growing left to do.  It can only lead to problems and unfortunately it is the child who will suffer.

I know of one coach who has no problem putting weight onto his students rackets even though the rackets they are using are already heavy rackets (320grams plus).
"Ah it gives them unbelievable power".
Don't get me wrong these are talented teenagers who play and practice regularly, but to reiterate what was said earlier, none of them are Nadal or built like Nadal, and if he finds 3 grams hard to get used to and feels the pressure of it on his shoulder, can you imagine the strain that these teenagers must be feeling when they add weight and I'm talking a lot more than 3 grams.

I think a lot of coaches are trying to be something they are not. And they don't do enough research about the long term effects of changes.  I know a lot of the problems can come from parents looking for immediate results, so coaches are under pressure to try new things to get quick results, but remember who suffers.
Not the parent and certainly not the coach but the child, who is then forced to sit out the season with a shoulder or elbow problem.

Remember while we may aspire for our kids to be the stars of the future, they are not there yet and their bodies are still developing.  Let them and their games develop at a pace their body can handle.