THE TWO PATHWAYS TO TEACHING BEGINNERS

I have recently joined a team of coaches at a large club. During my first week, I noticed two very different approaches to coaching beginners.

The club we all work at has a thriving beginner coaching program. It's been a long time since I've worked with beginners, and it's my first coaching experience using the "Coloured Ball" system.

We use balls with varying degrees of pressure, making it a little easier for young children to control the ball. 

The "Blue" balls are used for very young beginners, followed by Red, Orange, and Green, and eventually, players use the standard yellow tennis ball.

Working alongside young players and many different coaches has uncovered two different teaching philosophies used worldwide, not just at our club.

The first philosophy, and most common one, is;

1. Function Follows Form

Coaches who adopt this philosophy believe that students should be taught the correct form of the stroke from the beginning and that function (the ability to control the ball to a target) will develop automatically from the proper "form" later. 

Swing checkpoints are an important part of
the "form" method of teaching beginners

These coaches focus on teaching back-swing and follow-through "checkpoints" to the students from their first lesson. They want their students to take their back-swing back early and follow through with their racquets finishing at their shoulders.

They believe that by teaching the student the stroke mechanics (back-swing, follow-through, and closed stance), the student will learn to make all the necessary adjustments needed to rally with confidence and control later. They expect their students to "connect the dots" themselves naturally.

The second philosophy is less common but is the one I have adopted and used for many years. It's:

2. Form Follows Function 

Advocates of the Form follows the function method of starting beginners and believe that fundamentals should be the students' first focus.

With ground-strokes, followers of function believe the most critical part of the ground-stroke is the target. They correctly state that contact controls whether the ball goes to the left or the right and the height of the ball.

Coaches using the "Function" method focus
on how to get the ball successfully to a target

These coaches aim to have their students rally together and control the ball's placement and depth-first.

 

Later, as the players gain control and confidence in keeping the ball under control, they are allowed to hit with more power. The player will automatically increase the depth of their back-swing to create more energy for the ball. Because of the increased velocity of their racquet speed, their follow-through also increases proportionately to their back-swing.

These two different philosophies are at the core of teaching tennis.

You can see that both of these "schools" of teaching beginners can eventually end up at the same point: having the players rally with control and confidence.

I would ask which method helps the most students and gives them the most success in the least amount of time?