Bigger Better Tennis - Paul Dale

Before I coach any player for the first time, there are several things I want to know about them.  I'm sure, as a coach also, you have been in this situation many times yourself. For me, when a new player strolls through the gate and onto my court for the first time I immediately begin watching for signs that will help me coach them later.  The important distinction here is that I am not looking at every student as being the same. Far from it. I understand now, after coaching for many years, that every player is different. As coaches, our ability to recognise the differences in each player, and coach them as individuals based on those differences will set us apart.  Here are 6 of the qualities I want to know about a new player: 1. WHAT MOTIVATES THEM? "There is so much time and effort required to be a top player, that if you don't love what you are doing it will be almost impossible to reach the top". There is a long list of things that motivate us to do things. We s...

Of all the tennis topics, the topic of tennis fitness has changed the most. Alternative fades come in, and are soon replaced by another different fitness idea that comes along. It's enormously confusing for us coaches and players to get a solid idea of what exactly we should be doing with regard to tennis fitness. What does seem to have gotten better however is that we now realize that tennis fitness should be related closely to what happens on the court in matches.  Often in the past, any tennis fitness done on-court was almost completely different from what was needed on-court in real matches.  PERIODIZATION Don't be scared by the long serious term Periodization. Here is what it means to us as tennis Coaches and Players. Periodization is a term to describe what we should do several weeks (sometimes months) out from an important tennis event that we want to peak for. By using periodization a player can build their game and their fitness so that on the day of the event they ar...

It's no secret that if you're looking for ways to improve your results, any improvement in your game will start on the practice court. Any positive change in your game will have to be practiced and worked on for at least several weeks.  But there are some changes you can make that will take less time, and that you will see immediate improvements to the way you are competing in competition. 1.  EAT BETWEEN CHANGEOVERS  This first tip may surprise you a bit but it has had a huge effect on many of the players I have trained. I encourage many of my trainees to take snacks during the changeovers.   Use the changeover to take in some food so that your blood sugar levels remain stable I'm not just referring to snacking at change-overs during matches either, I want players to snack during breaks in practice sessions also. I want them to operate at 100% during practice because I need them focused. There's a little bit of history to this particular tip which I think is importa...

BECOME AN OUTLIER... I'm not a big fan of attending ITF coaches workshops anymore and here's why. Much of what is presented at these Workshops is standard stuff, and listening repeatedly to similar topics and similar points of view will, unfortunately, stifle your creativity.    Here's what I would suggest. Once you have attended several Workshops already, you should take yourself out of the workshop scene and begin to integrate your new ideas and methodologies from the workshops onto the court, with the long-term goal of developing some of your own philosophies for later. It's important to understand that workshops in themselves are a tool, and that to get the full value from them, the ideas you pick-up at workshops need to be implemented and tested on-court over time.  At the beginning of my coaching career, I joined a tennis company that staffed resorts, hotels, and tennis clubs all around the world. After training with that company for a short time I was dispatche...