Differences between coaches who teach only adults and those who also teach juniors

[socallefty]

I‘ve found a stark contrast between long-time coaches who coach only adult rec players versus those who coach juniors in addition to adults. Since most adults are not serious about putting in the hard work outside of lessons to practice and improve technique, it seems like coaches who coach only adult rec players just run drills and focus on making sure the student has a good time during the lesson. They get repeat customers only if they keep the students happy and they don’t want to remake technique if the adult has many bad habits. They might give some technique tips, but they don’t really implement a multi-week program to fix specific technique or footwork holes - also, teaching proper footwork is rarely a focus. Doubles lessons are again about repetition and maybe some tactics, but rarely focus on improving serves, returns, volleys, hitting volleys while coming in, backhands etc. This results in people taking regular lessons while rarely improving beyond 3.5.

In contrast, coaches who teach juniors are used to taking kids through a fast progression to build up technique and footwork fundamentals from the start. Also, they can be tougher on the kids and not worry as much on being ’nice’ during the lesson as the parents will keep sending the kids to that coach if they see improvement. Coaches who are good at developing juniors get good word-of-mouth and don’t have to worry as much about retaining their students as many of them are on a multi-year development plan anyway. If an adult who is serious about improvement goes to such a coach, they actually put them on a serious development plan like they do with their junior students and they are more likely to coach adults to a 4.0 or 4.5 level.

That’s been my experience here in California and I wonder what others have experienced when they take lessons as adults.

 

[ballmachineguy]

Gotta know where you’re bread is buttered. Give ‘me what they want. In the end almost everything in life is about making money. Sad, really.

 

[giantschwinn]

What you say is generally true but I would disagree on one point...that junior coaches don't have to worry about retaining their students. Parents of junior players are very demanding. If their kid is not doing as good as another kid, they might jump ship. I personally haven't done that but parents talk to each other and if a kid does well his parents are often asked who is coaching the kid. I've changed my kid's coach because I didn't agree with the coach's method and philosophy. So it's not like the coach can cruise and collect those paychecks. They still need to work hard to retain the students.

 

[socallefty]

I meant that to retain juniors, they actually have to focus on improving the kid‘s game and they don’t have to worry as much about being nice, giving compliments and exchanging chatter. Adult-only coaches can make their adult students happy sometimes and retain them even if their game is not improving as long as the student enjoys the lessons.

 

[dominikk1985]

I meant that to retain juniors, they actually have to focus on improving the kid‘s game and they don’t have to worry as much about being nice, giving compliments and exchanging chatter. Adult-only coaches can make their adult students happy sometimes and retain them even if their game is not improving as long as the student enjoys the lessons.

that is not true anymore. May be it is with Russian parents but the time when you could scream at kids as long you are wining are long gone. That was maybe true in the 80s but nowadays both kids and parents are very sensitive and one wrong word can make the kid quit or the parents fire the coach.

30 years ago that was different, back then high school baseball coaches for example would swear or scream at kids, make them run an hour in the heat for punishment and as long he was winning that was fine (unless they would literally beat up kids) but those times are long gone.

Today the social aspect is very important in youth coaching.

Also youth coaching is not always the same. There are high performance youth coaches but a lot of youth coaching is glorified babysitting with parents just wanting their kids to get exercise once a week and those rec kids will take much less abuse than academy kids.

 

[giantschwinn]

I meant that to retain juniors, they actually have to focus on improving the kid‘s game and they don’t have to worry as much about being nice, giving compliments and exchanging chatter. Adult-only coaches can make their adult students happy sometimes and retain them even if their game is not improving as long as the student enjoys the lessons.

There is a coach like that in my area. Very chatty and social. He has some older adult students but they use him more like a hitting partner. Old people who can't run much and want someone very consistent to rally with them. I would never send my kid to be coached by him. He would spend 15 min just asking about how the day went and the weather.

 

[EddieBrock]

Not sure if it's because of who they coach, but I've noticed that there are coaches who are basically human ball machines and others who actually help their students.

As I posted recently I hit with someone who had been doing lessons and clinics for several months and had no idea what a volley was or the 1st thing about how to hit the ball. He said in 5 minutes I helped his game more than in months of paid instruction and I'm not a coach. Basically the person he worked with would feed balls and yell different slogans, but he had no idea what they meant.

I've gone to adult clinics like that where the pros just feed balls and also done private lessons with pros who will play against you but give very little as far as advice on how to help your game. Fortunately I've found other coaches who actually care and have helped me a great deal. So I think you just have to find them.

 

[Papa Mango]

Different agendas, different timelines, different metrics between adults and juniors.
Easier to correct technical deficiencies in the younger ones where they have the time and stamina to drill the changes in.
For adults the coach is probably judged by the outcome of the weekend USTA match .

I have been taking my kids at the local courts over the summer and around the same time there is another coach at the park. His first lesson is with adults (usually older) and I just see him hitting a lot of balls with them with little talk but more of "good shot", "hit it deeper/crosscourt" etc. His second session is with a couple of kids where he spends a lot of time on the same side as the kids and doing a ton of shadow swings and hand feeds with the kids.
Don't ask me why...

 

[dominikk1985]

Different agendas, different timelines, different metrics between adults and juniors.
Easier to correct technical deficiencies in the younger ones where they have the time and stamina to drill the changes in.
For adults the coach is probably judged by the outcome of the weekend USTA match .

I have been taking my kids at the local courts over the summer and around the same time there is another coach at the park. His first lesson is with adults (usually older) and I just see him hitting a lot of balls with them with little talk but more of "good shot", "hit it deeper/crosscourt" etc. His second session is with a couple of kids where he spends a lot of time on the same side as the kids and doing a ton of shadow swings and hand feeds with the kids.
Don't ask me why...

Adults simply have less ability to learn new motor patterns and their time is limited too because they are working (and often having kids too).

So there are definitely good junior coaches who will approach adults differently.

Good adult coaches will make some technical corrections if technique is very bad and maybe more if they sense the adult is an adult willing to learn but a 40 yo non athlete is simply not learning new motor pattern by taking one lesson per week and in that cases it often makes more sense to work with the movement patterns you have, try to enhance them and make some changes.

Recognizing the motor learning ability of students and adjusting the coaching to that is absolutely part of being a good coach because in the end only changes that stick count and you get no bonus points for showing them an advanced movement pattern that they will never use in a match.

I'm not saying adults can improve but that only happens if they are willing to practice at least 5-7 hours a week and have some base level athleticism.

For the guys only practicing 1-2 hours a week you need to pick your battles and make a choice on what to improve and what to leave alone.

I had a great coach when I started who unfortunately died a couple years ago. He was like 60+ years old and very social.

He wasn't the coach who did most technical work but he showed kids good basics with very simplified cues that still would work. Still was a very good player at 60+ too, he played with a huge ti6 but could hit crazy spins and great trick shots. I learned my deadly lefty serve from him. I still remember it, he wasn't even giving a lesson but just standing around at the courts and casually saw me play and he told me to just use an extreme BH grip and turn the wrist inward like on a normal serve. Used to carve around for slice but once I did that it had crazy action right away.

 

[sovertennis]

I meant that to retain juniors, they actually have to focus on improving the kid‘s game and they don’t have to worry as much about being nice, giving compliments and exchanging chatter. Adult-only coaches can make their adult students happy sometimes and retain them even if their game is not improving as long as the student enjoys the lessons.

I've coached both juniors (incl college players) and adults for many years. Your comments are both overly general and reflective of lack of basic knowledge.

 

[badmice2]

I've coached both juniors (incl college players) and adults for many years. Your comments are both overly general and reflective of lack of basic knowledge.

Agree to this.

If you're talking group lessons (5+), most classes regardless of age IMO will be gear towards their group working on hitting lots of balls to improve consistency and maintaining some level of match play. The good coaches will always have an agenda no matter how big or small. They will make small but settle tweaks over time rather than overhauling your entire game. More personal sessions (4 or less) will allow them to hone into refining specifics as it allows time and engagement at a micro level. Ultimately no coach will sit through and change someone's game completely unless the circumstances are extreme. They will (for most part) work to your strength.

 

[FiReFTW]

Its kind of hard to have the same approach isn't it?

On one side u got juniors who's parents most likely full of money pay him to train almost daily for 4 hours or more who also does ton of off court work and fitness and everything revolves around tennis.

On the other hand u have an average adult who has a training session once a week for an hour (and that's most than probably the majority of adults) plus tennis is not their whole life they have a job and family and other obligations plus they don't feel the need to kill themself to be in the best shape possible like juniors.

So how can you take the same approach it's not possible

 

[heninfan99]

I don't think those are good categories for coaches.
You have the Prima donna, the tennis hustler, and coaches that actually love tennis & helping people.

1. Prima donna - former Div 1 player who thinks coaching is beneath them, will tolerate it until they get their real estate license or give up and focus on juniors whilst ripping off adults.

...other descriptions to follow

 

[giantschwinn]

I don't think OP's opinions are overly general and reflective of lack of basic knowledge. In my local club, there is a coach who only run adult live ball clinic, one that handles U10 and one that handles older juniors. The division is something they agreed on among themselves and they try not to step on each other's toes. The arrangement although makes sense, overtime they get niche in in the type of students they get. The junior coach gets all the glory of having developed so and so ranked player. The adult coach gets the reputation of having accomplished nothing.