Bigger Better Tennis - Paul Dale

We all 'like' many things … weekends, ice cream, the latest phone on the market or the new app everybody else is using. If we buy the latest phone and spend hours on it to connect with friends, play games or to become more visible on social media, that new phone you brought is returning the love. It is 'liking' you back! The fact is if we spend time nurturing those things we like, we will benefit from getting 'liked' back. Imagine your favorite ice cream flavor. Whenever you want ice cream you choose that same flavor because you 'like' it so much. Each time you sit down to enjoy that flavor, the flavor repays you by sending all that great flavor and texture back to you. That’s the ice cream returning your 'like.' However, that boy or girl in your class at school that you would like to get to know better behaves in the same way. If you like them, but don’t show them because you’re too shy, how can they return the 'like.' Your re

'It’s important to develop your game beyond technique and towards feeling… …with feeling, technique improves' The quote above is important because what many players and coaches believe is that great technique is the end destination. The belief is that with great technique you have arrived. That’s far from the reality! Great technique is really important. It’s part of   the armour that will protect you from the pressure that comes in high stakes tennis. Your game is much less prone to breakdown in matches because good technique is your firewall to the “bugs” your opponent is trying to hurt you with. However great technique is only the framework to the overall “building” that will be constructed around your game.   Those other additional parts to the “building” include things like shot selection (which shot to play) and strategy (your purpose). These elements will give your game greater overall meaning. Another problem with this technique above all else

One of the most neglected aspects of modern tennis is the ability to keep the ball low.  Young players today are so focused on hitting bigger shots and are so fixated on topspin that their ability to maintain a low ball is entirely missing. However, the top players understand the value of keeping a ball low in certain situations and employ underspin a lot more than you might otherwise think. Here's when keeping the ball low is beneficial… 1.   To Stop Your Opponent Attacking You It's the era of big groundstrokes! Dominant forehands are now the norm and any ball waist height today is an invitation for your opponent to go on the attack. If you throw in a low ball when you get in trouble during the rally, you neutralize your opponent's offense. The low ball has taken the ball out of their strike zone and gets you back into the rally on level terms. Underspin helps you to defend a point. By keeping the ball low, you are  neutralizing your opponents atta

An important coaching tool I use every day is the repetitive use of phrases. T hese common phrases help the student and I stay on the “same page”. They can also be used to set the tone of the lesson in terms of intensity. Here are some common phrases I use and the meaning behind them ' COACH YOURSELF!' Every lesson has a purpose and often that purpose is introducing new techniques or patterns to the player. Once the new technique or pattern has been explained I’ll most likely go straight to live points and challenge the player to reproduce the lesson topic while under pressure. To do this successfully the player needs to recall the key parts of the new technique or pattern and what I tend to do often is gently nudge the player with “Coach Yourself”! I’m asking for self-awareness, self-discipline, and I higher degree of focus from the player when I say this.  'YOU’RE BETTER THAN THAT!' Rather than being a negative statement, I use this phrase to demo

AS A COACH THE LANGUAGE I use is important. Something said the wrong way on court can have a negative effect on the player, while compliments tend to have a more positive effect. I use the 'TIMES SIX principle' when talking to players on-court or whenever they have just finished their match.  The 'TIMES SIX principle' means that anything you, say either as a parent or as a coach, is magnified by six times in the head of the player. It is therefore always important to filter your comments through the TIMES SIX 'filter' and imagine how your comment will be perceived if multiplied six times. An example could be if, as a coach or parent you remarked that the player had missed many first serves in the match (which could be completely correct), and told the player this soon after their match. The result of that comment could be disastrous (remember the TIMES SIX Principle) because the player could take the comment as a personal at

I’m not a fan of using repetition to practice when training players. I use repetition drills very rarely. Repetition drills are when a player has to hit many balls one after the other, either from a basket feed or with someone at the other end giving you the same ball. Repetition drills contain very little that is similar to match-play. I understand it looks good to people watching the lesson from a distance outside the court and on Instagram posts but repetition drills offer very little to players wanting to develop a new technique or pattern for their next match. Often coaches feel that they have done their job by showing the student the new technique and then drilling it many times through repetition. They believe the transfer of information (the new technique being taught) from the practice court to match court should happen automatically and is the players' responsibility. This is false. It’s the coach’s job to introduce the new technique AND to creat