3 parts of learning/teaching tennis

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by arche3

I'm against using high speed video for players to learn when they are beginners. I think beginners need a good real live coach and after they can hit a decent fh bh serve etc. Then start breaking down the small details of pro strokes analysing video. A beginner needs less stuff in their head. But you need a good coach that shows the player the proper feel of the strokes. The body needs muscle memory and the brain just gets in the way when you have no idea what its supposed to feel like.

Or they can hit on their own and use their intelligence. Seen many juniors by now who never took a lesson from a coach but were only coached by their 3.5 fathers, who are now in college with a tennis scholarship.

[5263]

Originally Posted by arche3

Yeah. Tennis is freakin hard.

Well, I don't agree playing is hard if taught right.
I do agree being good can be hard at anything, as being good usually means
being better than others.

I think racketball is soooo easy to play, but extremely challenging to be very
good; partly because the game is so easy to get started playing.

[5263]

Originally Posted by sureshs

Or they can hit on their own and use their intelligence. Seen many juniors by now who never took a lesson from a coach but were only coached by their 3.5 fathers, who are now in college with a tennis scholarship.

Bit of a stretch here I think. I can't think of one example like that in over 15 yrs
of jr tournaments.
I'm not saying didn't or can't happen, but would be quite rare imo.
4.0 parent,.... now maybe a few.

[5263]

how about this example,

Quote:
Originally Posted by toly
Let’s assume that ball travels from opponent’s racquet to your point of contact Ttr seconds and your back and forward swing takes Tsw (can be about 0.5sec). Thus you should start backward swing after Ttr-Tsw when the ball lives the opponent racket. That’s why there is practically no correlation between timing of your swing and ball’s bounce.

To illustrate this idea there is Safin difficult FH from baseline http://youtu.be/PvkLy7vZyy4. He almost finishes his forward swing before ball’s bounce.
quote end

answer-
Somewhat confusing ...

[arche3]

Originally Posted by sureshs

Or they can hit on their own and use their intelligence. Seen many juniors by now who never took a lesson from a coach but were only coached by their 3.5 fathers, who are now in college with a tennis scholarship.

Scholarship? Your making stuff up. Not likely by a hack parent. But 3.5 doesnt mean parent cant teach the right form if they have it as well.
Id rather an informed 3.5 parent than some kid learning by video.

[jakeytennis]

sureshs
you're right. too many coaches teach by giving out 100 instructions

that's why tennis isn't as popular or good in the US
because kids don't realize how simple and fun tennis is

and u never seen a player who's swings look correct, but they miss hit or frame every other shot?
this is because theyre tracking skills are bad or they dont watch the ball well enough

i've been around so many high school and middle school age tennis players. i see that kind of stuff all the time

[LuckyR]

Originally Posted by arche3

Scholarship? Your making stuff up. Not likely by a hack parent. But 3.5 doesnt mean parent cant teach the right form if they have it as well.
Id rather an informed 3.5 parent than some kid learning by video.

It would not suprise me if Richard Williams is not a very good player...

[5263]

Originally Posted by LuckyR

It would not suprise me if Richard Williams is not a very good player...

and they got lots of other coaching too.

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by jakeytennis

sureshs
you're right. too many coaches teach by giving out 100 instructions

that's why tennis isn't as popular or good in the US
because kids don't realize how simple and fun tennis is

and u never seen a player who's swings look correct, but they miss hit or frame every other shot?
this is because theyre tracking skills are bad or they dont watch the ball well enough

i've been around so many high school and middle school age tennis players. i see that kind of stuff all the time

You mean the impatient types? Yes seen a few of them. It is a mental issue, they just want to bash the ball. Never seen even a reasonable junior who is like that though (can't track a ball).

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by arche3

Scholarship? Your making stuff up. Not likely by a hack parent. But 3.5 doesnt mean parent cant teach the right form if they have it as well.
Id rather an informed 3.5 parent than some kid learning by video.

No, I don't make this up. Just this fall, a girl got a full ride. Granted it was a small private religious school, but she does play well. Her father had made me hit many times with her before tourneys. And before that others. And more on the way. 3.5 fathers who are on the court every evening and weekend with their kids because they cannot afford private lessons.

But the one that stands out graduated several years ago. His father was a 3.5 player who actually used to sneer (loudly) at kids who his son beat, and go through the calculation of how much money they spent on lessons per month and how much his son spent (0). Of course, as you can guess, he wasn't exactly a nice guy, challenging coaches all the time about this, and one day he got into a fist fight in doubles and was kicked out of the club!

[LuckyR]

Originally Posted by 5263

and they got lots of other coaching too.

Name a coach with more than 106 Pro titles.

[luvforty]

Originally Posted by arche3

Scholarship? Your making stuff up. Not likely by a hack parent. But 3.5 doesnt mean parent cant teach the right form if they have it as well.
Id rather an informed 3.5 parent than some kid learning by video.

boy or girl? totally different story...

friend of mine, 3.5 ish, coached daughter to D1 (excellent student also) full ride... lots of hardwork though.

myself, would be about a 4.0 (tennis scale) golfer, 1 season working with daughter and she is already D1 material...

you just need a logical mind to coach.

[TCF]

==========================

[sureshs]

This was a full scholarship. I know the details. She got into one school, then the coach of the newly formed team in the other school requested a release from the first school and threw in some extra stuff too.

I know others who would be evasive about what the "full" scholarship really was.

[NLBwell]

Teach the body to be comfortable with the proper strokes.

I'm about training body movements - "Kinesthetic learning." If there is a problem with a stroke I help the student get used to the right feeling.
I'm sure sometimes when posters see my advice to crack a whip, use a rope, use a baseball bat, chop a log, hold a glass of water, etc. they don't take me seriously, but these tips absolutely do work. I will ask the student to overemphasize parts of a stroke to get the feeling of the proper stroke.


I also keep a constant running dialog in a lesson for auditory learners (though not a step by step breakdown of every little thing) and visually demonstrate everything for visual learners. However, since you want the body to do something, you must physically train the body. Sometimes it drives me nuts to hear everyone having nit-picky debates on pronation, supination, etc. These don't really help someone learn things on a tennis court.

[Ash_Smith]

Originally Posted by NLBwell

Teach the body to be comfortable with the proper strokes.

I'm about training body movements - "Kinesthetic learning." If there is a problem with a stroke I help the student get used to the right feeling.

I will ask the student to overemphasize parts of a stroke to get the feeling of the proper stroke.

Then you are probably a very good coach