THE 3AM THEORY

  You could be mistaken for thinking tennis is all about aggression. At the top level, players are pounding the ball at every opportunity. You'd be surprised then if you learned that my goal when coaching advanced players is to first have them develop a defensive mental foundation.   I'm not suggesting that I teach players to send up continuous lobs during the rally or for them to stand at the back fence to retrieve balls. My goal with advanced players is to change the internal mental dialogue all players experince before every stroke.  A PLAYERS INTERNAL DIALOG BEFORE SHOTS Every player has a continuous mental dialogue inside their head when they play a point.  "How aggressive should I be on this ball?", "Is this the ball to change direction down the line?" etc. The internal dialogue inside our heads drives our decision making There's nothing wrong with this type of internal dialogue, but there are better questions to ask yourself before each shot. So,...

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 a...