Is coach...coaching right????

[dylanm_12]

Were always arguin with to make us run more but just wont listen, ALL we do is play matches and thats it, no drills, no footwork practice, no running, only matches.

I was wondering if this is a good method of coaching, because it seems that when you go to a tennis camp (or at least the ones i've been to) the one thing you do least if is play matches


so can yall give me your thought on what yall think

[OrangeOne]

Time to find a new coach...

[drakulie]

^^He has no idea what he is doing.

[dylanm_12]

i wish, but we barely got him this year so he wont b leaving for a while, they said that he was supposed to b a great coach cause his team pwned....after some reasearch and asking my assistant coach, it turns out that the reason his team did good was because his players had the money to get private lessons.


And unfortuanatly our assistant coach is leaving to go to college and most of the coaching we get is from our number 1 boys singles.

[autumn_leaf]

he's an idiot then. matches are the results of training/conditioning. it's not like you see track coaches go "only do your length of a sprint, no ladder runs." you need running to build up stamina and your footwork is obvious. i remember my old high school stopped doing conditioning a few years back because it wasn't fun so their skills became static.

[drakulie]

^^On your time away from these practice sessions, focus on things to improve your own game. Unfortunately, since you are stuck with someone who has no idead what they are doing>>> it is up to you to train yourself, and be ready for the coming year.

Good luck!

[autumn_leaf]

i wish, but we barely got him this year so he wont b leaving for a while, they said that he was supposed to b a great coach cause his team pwned....after some reasearch and asking my assistant coach, it turns out that the reason his team did good was because his players had the money to get private lessons.


And unfortuanatly our assistant coach is leaving to go to college and most of the coaching we get is from our number 1 boys singles.

honestly if this is your only problem there are a lot of great videos out there now online. youtube has a guy that shows everything from pronation on serves to volleying technique, likewise fuzzyyellowballs.com has great step by step videos. they are great ways to critique yourself if you can videotape your strokes. this is what i'm doing now as i have yet to see my form on tape, can't say it'll be a joy to see, but i know it'll help since i see people with awful form and it's obvious cause i'm watching them but i have no idea what i look like.

[dylanm_12]

thankyou all, haha so i guess im not crazy and this guy really does suk

[dylanm_12]

autumleaf

thats probably where i get like 70% of my coaching, youtube is the shix

[autumn_leaf]

autumleaf

thats probably where i get like 70% of my coaching, youtube is the shix

yea, it really helps with the visual. i used to read all these articles but some concepts you just can't get by reading. good luck with your tennis team.

[dylanm_12]

i know, luckly we also have sunday workouts for usta, i'll have to start recording everyone and send it to the youtube

[Vision84]

Some D1 colleges only really do matches in practices. However that is cause at that level everyone has sound technique and are advanced to the point where they own all the shots and are ready to practice incorporating into match play.

At a high school level you should be doing mostly drills with some matchplay. I suggest you find a new coach if possible. If you can get the whole team to complain in a mature manner then perhaps you can get something done. If that is not possible then my advice to you is spend the extra work outside of practice getting the coaching you need. Find some of your teammates and work with them on drills in your own free time. If you need suggestions for drills just tell us what you think you need work on the most and we will be glad to give you suggestions for drills.

[thejackal]

IMO you really should be getting better technically on your own time. drills do not help that much in practice because u dont get that much repetition, plus *most* HS tennis coaches aren't that qualified to teach technique. when i played varsity i hit for 4-5 hours a week on my own and used the team practices for match play and hanging out with teammates.

[Vision84]

You won't get much technical help in groups. You need to do that on your own or in private lessons. With groups it should be drill, drill, drill, some conditioning and matchplay.

[10s talk]

you can thank the teachers union for your coach, it sounds like he/she knows very little about tennis.


FWIW.... most unions force schools to hire unqualified teachers over qualified non teachers.

[5263]

Welcome to HS tennis, sorry.

On the bright side! Be glad he is not trying to run drills if he is clueless. At least you can go to practice and work on your match play as a team.
Get with you teammates and do some drills at least a couple times a week, even if you have to meet at different courts.

My HS team posted the first winning season ever for the school and we had a football coach who didn't even come down to the courts. We ran it like a club and did our drills, then some match play.

[The Home Run Kid]

This year marked the first one our tennis program had had any sort of conditioning regime. And it was mild, just a couple of sucides and slide drills and stuff. But yeah, prior to that, all they did was matches and "We're gonna do some forehand drills... line up on the baseline and hit forehands... yayyyy"

[Pusher]

Were always arguin with to make us run more but just wont listen, ALL we do is play matches and thats it, no drills, no footwork practice, no running, only matches.

I was wondering if this is a good method of coaching, because it seems that when you go to a tennis camp (or at least the ones i've been to) the one thing you do least if is play matches


so can yall give me your thought on what yall think

So what is keeping you from running? Practice time is limited-run on your own time.

[quicken]

Quit.
Move on to the next coach.
You need drills to hone your skillz.

[shindemac]

the problem is tennis season is short and practices are shorter. that said, if u have enough motivation, there's nothing stopping u from running, doing footwork drills, and doing drills on your own time. like others have said, there's a lot more resources available to kids today: internet, forums, videos, etc. whereas 15 years ago, the only options were learning from your coach or going to the library, i think having a bad coach is less of an impediment to your success.

[kv123]

Matches are where you put everything you learned or drilled into action.

First off you should be doing a warm-up which should warm up all your muscles and get you loose.

After that you should be rallying with the intent of trying to keep the ball in but most people play a bit of mini tennis to warm up your strokes and your mind.

After that the coach should be trying to help you with drilling on what the team needs work with whether it be footwork, serves , or strokes.

After drilling conditioning always helps to keep a person in shape and ready.

After all that, then the coach should be setting up matches to put what you've learned into a match situation to improve.