FIRST..."SET UP THE OPPORTUNITY TO TEACH"
When I was a young coach coming up and wanting to eventually coach competitive players, a close friend of mine got the opportunity to coach a Davis Cup team. I thought this was the ultimate, and I desperately wanted to pick his brains and learn as much as possible about his experience. Something he told me back then stuck with me. He said, "Before you teach, you must first set up the opportunity to teach." This means not to presume that just because you're the "Coach", every player will be ready to follow your teachings without question. Far from it! Advanced players can be very wary of any advice from someone they haven't built trust with yet It's a common scenario for highly skilled players to be bombarded with advice on improving their game and ranking from every corner. In the realm of sports, it seems everyone is an expert. This reality further reinforced the need for a cautious coaching strategy. Advanced tennis players meet "experts" ...