Bigger Better Tennis - Paul Dale

From Practice to Pressure: 5 Tournament Coaching Strategies That Transform Match Performance By Paul Dale | The 3AM Method The gap between practice sessions and tournament success depends on how well coaches create a bridge between the two.  However, many coaches find themselves at tournaments with individual players or teams, but without a clear tennis coaching strategy. There are three main jobs for the coach at the tournament:  (1) Bring practice topics to the tournament  (2) Send the player(s) into matches with those topics (2) Give informed reviews on those topics post-match When a player is under pressure, you get the clearest reflection of your coaching program's effectiveness, as well as where the work needs to be done once you return to your base.  Match pressure sharpens both the coaching delivery and the player's receptiveness.  During tournaments,  Here are my five keys to help coaches become tournament-ready:  1. Stick to the Plan: Brin...

When most players first pick up a tennis racquet, what’s the first thing they do? They start swinging Even without a coach, they imitate what they’ve seen on TV or from other players at the club — copying the appearance of a forehand, a serve, or a backhand. This appearance-first learning model has become the default approach across much of the tennis world. The majority of coaches around the world also take their lead from what they see the top players do, appearances, without understanding the fundamentals these top players have honed over years of work. And that’s a problem. The Danger of Appearance-First Learning This imitation approach might seem logical at first — after all, we learn many things by copying what we see. But in tennis, it creates a dangerous foundation. Why? Because tennis is not a closed-skill sport like golf, snooker, or diving, where the environment is predictable, stationary, and repeatable. In those sports, copying a swing or movement pattern can act...