Bare with me on this one..it's a bit of a "stream of consciousness"!!!
On the odd occasion I have time (very, very rare these days!) I'm partial to a round of golf, although playing as infrequently as I have recently has played merry hell with my handicap! This weekend saw me with a rare Sunday with no coaching and therefore gave the opportunity to savour watching the final round of The Open Championship, from Royal St Georges, on the Kent coastline. I love Links golf (the term given to coastal courses) as the course and most often the weather provide a real and very different challenge to the players. This year the weather was particularly horrible, with driving wind and rain, requiring the players to shape their shots in a very different fashion than they are normally used to. After four days of competition Darren Clarke came out on top, his ability to change his ball flight to a much lower trajectory than normal and his ability to read and flight the ball on the wind left him the clear winner.
So, how does this relate to tennis I hear you ask?! Well, in my role I am often asked about talent and in the golf example the commentators talked extensively about how "talented" Darren Clarke must be to be able to change his "natural" shot shape. And it got me thinking (and researching), Clarke isn't more talented than Mickleson or McIlroy or any of the other great players - he has simply practiced those types of shots enough times that when he needed them, they were there, in his muscle memory, waiting to be called upon. And so you should practice to (not golf - tennis obviously!)
"Perfect practice makes perfect" is perfectly true - it takes between 3000-5000 correct repetitions for a neural pathway to be created for a given skill or action, there's a reason the pro's have hit thousands and thousands and thousands of balls, high forehands thousands of times, low forehands thousands of times, ISO forehands thousands of times (you get the picture...)! Those correct repetitions mean that when they need that shot, it's automatic, a sub-conscious process, borne out through countless repetitions.
The process is called "myelination" or to most people - muscle-memory and it links nicely into my last piece about a single topic per lesson - repetition of a skill, under careful scrutiny until it is repeatable, before moving on to a new skill set. This process is covered very well in Daniel Coyle's "The Talent Code" and if any coaches haven't read it yet, you really should!
Anyway, the point of this rather rambling post (sorry about that!) is, make sure when you practice, you practice with purpose and full concentration on creating the correct feeling. Learning a new technique takes full focus (initially) and should be really mentally tiring! A good coach to make corrections when required and help you understand your errors is also handy! It is a hard but ultimately rewarding process - embrace it.
Cheers
Monday 18 July 2011
Tuesday 5 July 2011
This way, that way, my way?
There has been some fascinating debate (lots of it constructive, some of it nasty, sadly) on tennis forums (or a certain forum specifically) recently around the validity of certain teaching systems or methods and I feel compelled to make a post around my opinions on this matter.
Firstly, let me nail my colours to the mast - I work for RPT Europe ( Registro Professional de Tenis) as a coach tutor, training coaches to teach tennis using a system developed in Spain and widely credited by coaches and players world wide, including Toni Nadal (Rafa Nadal), Antonio Martinez Cascales (JC Ferrero) and Emilio Sanchez/Sergio Casal (Sanchez-Casal Academy). I am a huge advocate of this method of teaching and if I were going to recommend a coach looking to do just one course of training, I would recommend an RPT course without hesitiation as I feel it gives the best overall training for coaches.
However, I would never recommend doing just one training course. Speaking personally I have certifications from the LTA (Level 3), RPT (Level 5), MTI (Level 4) and USPTA (Pro 1) and whilst I still believe my RPT qualifications were the best all around training, there are plenty of elements from each of the other courses that I have taken away and use on a daily basis.
To put it into context, 4 years ago, I thought I knew everything about teaching tennis, I had been coaching for about 12 years and had 'my system' down and I had a piece of paper to say I knew what I was doing. Then, whilst in Barcelona and working with a group of coaches from Spain and Argentina I realised I actually knew nothing, I had a closed mind to new ideas and ways of working! Over that week I gradually managed to open my eyes and realise there was so much more to learn. So, since then that is what I have done, absorb information from any source I can and even if I can only take one thing away from a training course, that's one thing that makes me a better coach than yesterday and hopefully helps my players one stage closer to their goals.
Now, whilst the RPT still provides the majority of my teaching method/teaching style, my point in all of this is that great coaches never stop learning, never stop looking for a better way, so instead of closing your mind to a 'new system' try it, there might be something in it you can use!
Cheers
Firstly, let me nail my colours to the mast - I work for RPT Europe ( Registro Professional de Tenis) as a coach tutor, training coaches to teach tennis using a system developed in Spain and widely credited by coaches and players world wide, including Toni Nadal (Rafa Nadal), Antonio Martinez Cascales (JC Ferrero) and Emilio Sanchez/Sergio Casal (Sanchez-Casal Academy). I am a huge advocate of this method of teaching and if I were going to recommend a coach looking to do just one course of training, I would recommend an RPT course without hesitiation as I feel it gives the best overall training for coaches.
However, I would never recommend doing just one training course. Speaking personally I have certifications from the LTA (Level 3), RPT (Level 5), MTI (Level 4) and USPTA (Pro 1) and whilst I still believe my RPT qualifications were the best all around training, there are plenty of elements from each of the other courses that I have taken away and use on a daily basis.
To put it into context, 4 years ago, I thought I knew everything about teaching tennis, I had been coaching for about 12 years and had 'my system' down and I had a piece of paper to say I knew what I was doing. Then, whilst in Barcelona and working with a group of coaches from Spain and Argentina I realised I actually knew nothing, I had a closed mind to new ideas and ways of working! Over that week I gradually managed to open my eyes and realise there was so much more to learn. So, since then that is what I have done, absorb information from any source I can and even if I can only take one thing away from a training course, that's one thing that makes me a better coach than yesterday and hopefully helps my players one stage closer to their goals.
Now, whilst the RPT still provides the majority of my teaching method/teaching style, my point in all of this is that great coaches never stop learning, never stop looking for a better way, so instead of closing your mind to a 'new system' try it, there might be something in it you can use!
Cheers
Thursday 23 June 2011
One step at a time...
It occurred to me today (and partially last night while observing another coach's lesson) the importance of teaching one point at a time and concentrating on this particular point until enough repetition has been preformed until the neural path is formed (partially or fully).
An example...
1. Find the nearest book or magazine, pick a page at random and start reading aloud - no problem right?
2. Keep reading aloud whilst at the same time writing your name on a piece of paper - not so easy?
3. Keep reading aloud and writing your name and with your other hand touch your nose repeatedly - game over?
Okay, so aside from looking a bit daft to anyone who may have witnessed your experiment, you can see how difficult it is to focus on two or more tasks at the same time. Relating this back to tennis, if I am asking a student to concentrate on keeping the racquet head up on their forehand preparation, then that is all I am going to comment and offer instruction on. If they get their feet in a mess and I make a correction there as well, they now have two things to concentrate on - feet and racquet head. If, on the next ball, they forget to use their non-dominant hand and I make a correction there, they have three things to concentrate on - diminishing the effectiveness of all of them.
If my (our) goal is to work on racquet head, then we concentrate on racquet head technique only, the other issues are for another lesson, another day! Consistent repetition of technique is the only way to create the correct neural pathways (more on this in another post - one thing at a time right???!!!), so let's make sure we don't confuse the issue by trying too many corrections at once.
A great coach knows when it's time to add another ingredient to the mix, a poor coach chucks everything in the bowl at once and hopes for the best. In the case of the lesson I observed yesterday (a 6 year old lad), after half an hour, the steam coming out of his ears and the blank expression on his face suggested he had probably had enough instruction for a lifetime, let alone a quick lesson!
Cheers
An example...
1. Find the nearest book or magazine, pick a page at random and start reading aloud - no problem right?
2. Keep reading aloud whilst at the same time writing your name on a piece of paper - not so easy?
3. Keep reading aloud and writing your name and with your other hand touch your nose repeatedly - game over?
Okay, so aside from looking a bit daft to anyone who may have witnessed your experiment, you can see how difficult it is to focus on two or more tasks at the same time. Relating this back to tennis, if I am asking a student to concentrate on keeping the racquet head up on their forehand preparation, then that is all I am going to comment and offer instruction on. If they get their feet in a mess and I make a correction there as well, they now have two things to concentrate on - feet and racquet head. If, on the next ball, they forget to use their non-dominant hand and I make a correction there, they have three things to concentrate on - diminishing the effectiveness of all of them.
If my (our) goal is to work on racquet head, then we concentrate on racquet head technique only, the other issues are for another lesson, another day! Consistent repetition of technique is the only way to create the correct neural pathways (more on this in another post - one thing at a time right???!!!), so let's make sure we don't confuse the issue by trying too many corrections at once.
A great coach knows when it's time to add another ingredient to the mix, a poor coach chucks everything in the bowl at once and hopes for the best. In the case of the lesson I observed yesterday (a 6 year old lad), after half an hour, the steam coming out of his ears and the blank expression on his face suggested he had probably had enough instruction for a lifetime, let alone a quick lesson!
Cheers
Tuesday 21 June 2011
The ambiguity of language...
Something all new coaches are taught to consider is how they communicate to their new pupils, what tone of voice to use, what volume, intonation, clarity, speed, body language, gestures, position and so on and so forth. It's one of the first things we look at on the courses I tutor and it can be a potential minefield!
Never was this more accurately brought home to me that in a lesson I taught yesterday afternoon. We were attempting a very simple exercise with a group of mini red players (more on mini tennis structure in a future post for those uninitiated, but suffice to say for now they were all about 5 years old) that involved throwing and catching. Little Jimmy is throwing to his partner and is playing Darts (throwing from in front of his nose), "Jimmy, can you throw underarm for me?" says coach, at which point Jimmy puts his left arm across his body and literately throws the ball from under it.
Now, technically it's my fault! I knew what I wanted to see (and what Jimmy did wasn't it!), but to a 5 year old, with a very literal view (and ear apparently) of things, he did exactly what I had asked, he threw the ball "underarm"
This got me really thinking about the things we say as coaches and educators and how often we actually get across the point we mean to make. If a pupil misunderstands our words, do we really take the time to make sure they are performing the task as we want or need them to, or do we just settle for them being approximately right? I like to think, with my obsession to detail, I will always seek to clarify and confirm understanding and that I make this clear to my trainee coaches too and it is certainly something I am becoming more aware of.
The next time you take a lesson, or are on court next to a coach. have a listen to what they say and how they say it. If (when) they say something like "hit over the ball" (my pet hate :-( ), see if the pupil really understands what they mean - if they follow it literally they'll either miss the ball completely or hit it into the bottom of the net. What the coach probably means is hit up and across the back of the ball or similar, but that might not be what they say!
You've got to love the English language!
Cheers
Never was this more accurately brought home to me that in a lesson I taught yesterday afternoon. We were attempting a very simple exercise with a group of mini red players (more on mini tennis structure in a future post for those uninitiated, but suffice to say for now they were all about 5 years old) that involved throwing and catching. Little Jimmy is throwing to his partner and is playing Darts (throwing from in front of his nose), "Jimmy, can you throw underarm for me?" says coach, at which point Jimmy puts his left arm across his body and literately throws the ball from under it.
Now, technically it's my fault! I knew what I wanted to see (and what Jimmy did wasn't it!), but to a 5 year old, with a very literal view (and ear apparently) of things, he did exactly what I had asked, he threw the ball "underarm"
This got me really thinking about the things we say as coaches and educators and how often we actually get across the point we mean to make. If a pupil misunderstands our words, do we really take the time to make sure they are performing the task as we want or need them to, or do we just settle for them being approximately right? I like to think, with my obsession to detail, I will always seek to clarify and confirm understanding and that I make this clear to my trainee coaches too and it is certainly something I am becoming more aware of.
The next time you take a lesson, or are on court next to a coach. have a listen to what they say and how they say it. If (when) they say something like "hit over the ball" (my pet hate :-( ), see if the pupil really understands what they mean - if they follow it literally they'll either miss the ball completely or hit it into the bottom of the net. What the coach probably means is hit up and across the back of the ball or similar, but that might not be what they say!
You've got to love the English language!
Cheers
Welcome!
Thanks for checking in and welcome to my new blog! Having become moderately addicted to Facebook and now having a rough idea how Twitter works I figured it was time to master the whole blogging thing. I find myself spending far too much time obsessing over tiny details in tennis and tennis coaching (both about my own players and coaches who I am tutoring) so I have decided to share my thoughts with anybody who cares to listen (well read)!
I hope, whether through technical analysis, instruction, musings, match reports or any other nonsense I care to scribble down, you find something of note or interest to you. If you do please let me know!
Thanks for stopping by...
Ash
You look great today by the way :-)
I hope, whether through technical analysis, instruction, musings, match reports or any other nonsense I care to scribble down, you find something of note or interest to you. If you do please let me know!
Thanks for stopping by...
Ash
You look great today by the way :-)
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