Coach's forum

[x Southpaw x]

I have a suggestion. That is, to create a completely new forum about drills, different age groups - elementary, juniors, high school level, college level, over 32, over 60, all male, all female, etc.

Even complete lesson plans. We all know about kindergarten games like "snake" and "jail", and college drills like figure-of-eight. But many coaches in the world have personalized, effective teaching activities that no one else knows about.

And what about pedagogy? Class management, equipment transitions, extensions for advanced students within an activity, refinements for struggling students within an activity, etc.

 

[Easy Rider]

Nice idea.

 

[Coolio]

Good shout!

 

[Ihatetennis]

thumbs up

 

[okdude1992]

I'm a coach an I approve this message

 

[esgee48]

I have a dissenting opinion. The Tips/Instructions Forum already exists and is rather full of 'stuff'; some good, some not so good. Just have to Search and Filter. This is a case of more work for the Mods, who would decide what gets into the new forum and what gets moved back into Tips. IME, this means more pre-screening, similar to what goes on in the For Sale Forums. I would much rather see really good stuff 'pinned' to the top of the Tips Forum.

 

[x Southpaw x]

I have a dissenting opinion. The Tips/Instructions Forum already exists and is rather full of 'stuff'; some good, some not so good. Just have to Search and Filter. This is a case of more work for the Mods, who would decide what gets into the new forum and what gets moved back into Tips. IME, this means more pre-screening, similar to what goes on in the For Sale Forums. I would much rather see really good stuff 'pinned' to the top of the Tips Forum.

Tips and Instruction have a very different connotation to it. Similar to the quick fix frame-by-frame pages of the tennis magazine, Tip and Instruction provide a "picture" and clinic for the optimal modern stroke or strategy. It also is the locality for people SEEKING TO GET BETTER AT THE GAME.

Coach's forum has absolutely none of those. It looks something like this:
K-5
3min 4 laps round the court
12 min downs, ups, bounce, self-rally
10 min drop-feed forehand and backhand with task demonstrations
10 min game "Chance"
? min lesson closure

With task descriptions. What "Chance" is and so on.

As you can see, zero instruction and zero information for people trying to learn the game. You will never find this in Tips and Instruction. This is pedagogy not the class itself. It is the locality for people SEEKING TO BETTER THE TEACHING METHODOLOGY through coach-to-coach discussion and student-to-coach feedback.

 

[x Southpaw x]

The above is an example of a lesson plan. Encompassing that will be a block plan. Followed by a unit plan. With teaching objectives in the cognitive, psychomotor and affective/social realms.

A unit plan is catered to a specific age group and class for usually exactly one season and its objectives the teachers have for the students for that season, the block plan is a calendar-like structure with bullet points of each day's focus and tasks.

There is no room for debate about six playing styles or "what should I do", etc. This is not a forum for the ego to boast its knowledge and right-ness. This is a forum for people around the world who have chosen to be PROFESSIONAL TEACHERS, who have a responsibility to a large number of students of all ages, who are not debating superiority but rather collaborating and cooperating towards helping their students accelerate their tennis education.