Ehrm...uhm...well...Odd Things Coaches Have Said To You

[TheOneHander]

Such as during clinics, lessons, practice matches, etc. I just need to gripe

At a clinic quite a bit back we were doing volley drills (approach-volley-overhead). I asked the coach if we were going to work on half volleys.

He paused, looked me in the eye, and said:

"What are half volleys?"

Ah well. We're all human

 

[bodieq]

Interaction observed between a Coach giving lessons to this 10-year old junior/kid (on the court next to me, that I overheard):

Coach: when you run to hit that running forehand, you gotta hit it like the way Nadal does (*gestures motion*)

Junior: Oh, the reverse forehand

Coach: Huh?

Junior: The reverse forehand.

Coach: What?

Junior: That's what the shot is called.

Coach: Huh?

Junior: Nevermind (*slightly embarrased*)

(I was tempted to tell this kid that his coach was a complete idiot).

 

[tennis tom]

A pro once told me to put my left hand into my pocket while trying to teach me the backhand.

A nationally ranked senior player saw me practicing my forehand and told me to hold a ball in my armpit.

My coach, teaching me to hit a topspin second serve, told me to hit the ball with the edge of the racket, and not the strings, into the street while on the roof-top courts of the tennis club.

While teaching me the serve, he turned the lights off at night, and told me to hit a serve in the pitch dark. I did connect happy to say, who says blind people can't play tennis?

 

[Steady Eddy]

Such as during clinics, lessons, practice matches, etc. I just need to gripe

At a clinic quite a bit back we were doing volley drills (approach-volley-overhead). I asked the coach if we were going to work on half volleys.

He paused, looked me in the eye, and said:

"What are half volleys?"

Ah well. We're all human

So he doesn't even know as much about tennis as a person who scans an Intro to Tennis book?! How'd he get to be coach?

 

[LuckyR]

High School Tennis Coach: "Get a haircut..."

 

[West Coast Ace]

A pro once told me...

At least none of them said 'take up bowling'...

Sounds like the USTPA is as bad as the DMV - Department of Motor Vehicles - if you have a pulse and can pay (key!) you get certificate (or license).

My friends in Asia complain that they have bad instructors. Wonder if they'd like us to ship some of these guys over?

 

[r2473]

While teaching me the serve, he turned the lights off at night, and told me to hit a serve in the pitch dark. I did connect happy to say, who says blind people can't play tennis?

Did he tell you to "Be the ball"?

 

[Cindysphinx]

My coach has had me hit volleys and FHs with a ball under the armpit. Seems legit to me, for someone who tends to reach for the ball too much.

I did have one pro who was trying to teach me topspin. He held his own racket at my thigh height. The he drop-fed a ball. I was supposed to swoop my racket under his and hit the ball.

Um, no. Not a great drill. It is hard to hit a ball when there is something in your way and you are also worried you will strike the instructor and hurt him. Too contrived to help much.

 

[ProgressoR]

I wonder if this is the same coach on his travels. Could make a movie, or at least a series like Kung Fu.

 

[West Coast Ace]

I did have one pro who was trying to teach me topspin. He held his own racket at my thigh height. The he drop-fed a ball. I was supposed to swoop my racket under his and hit the ball.

Um, no. Not a great drill. It is hard to hit a ball when there is something in your way and you are also worried you will strike the instructor and hurt him. Too contrived to help much.

I wonder if he wears a cup...

 

[stapletonj]

Actually, I enjoy coaches who think outside the box.

best coach/teacher I ever had did all kinds of weird stuff.

serve w/a baseball bat...serve on your knees...stand w/your back foot on a racket cover to get the feel of the weight transfer.....tie your wrists together w/a bungee cord on volleys...

 

[ibeeskeef]

it wasn't from a coach, but it was from a good friend of mine who played college tennis:

Him: "You need to go to Plan B."

Me: "What is Plan B?"

Him: "Stop sucking!!"

 

[polski]

Not in tennis, but in volleyball:

Player: I can do the proper serving technique, but I don't control the ball very well that way

Coach: Well, try it the correct way & with repetition you'll get better

Shank, shank, shank, shank.....shank...shank...hit a player on an opposite court, hit the coach standing next to her

Coach: Maybe repetition just isn't your thing

 

[stapletonj]

actually it was a she. this was back in the 80s. she brought a bag of colored chalk to every session. she was on the pro tour for awhile back in the 60s, etc. believe it or not, the baseball bat thing was a godsend.

it got me dropping my racquet head down behind my back (the classic back scratching position) got me using the right muscles to snap up and into the ball.

another thing she did was having me stand as though to serve and take some of her old racquets and literally throw them into the service box I was serving to a few times. again, it helped tremendously.

when I wasn't gettign my toss high enough or consistently enough, she had me totally leave the court and go stand by the fence facing it. She had figured out my ideal toss was just an inch or two above the back fence (I'm a legit 6'6") and she had me do about 500,000 (or thereabouts) tosses that just barely went as high as the fence.

She was really something. BTW - Thanks, Jane!

 

[NLBwell]

Actually, I enjoy coaches who think outside the box.

best coach/teacher I ever had did all kinds of weird stuff.

serve w/a baseball bat...serve on your knees...stand w/your back foot on a racket cover to get the feel of the weight transfer.....tie your wrists together w/a bungee cord on volleys...

I've taught all those (as well as the ball under the armpit and throwing the racket over the net) except the racket cover . Also, holding a glass of water, using a rope on the serve, and holding your necklace in your mouth. Whatever it takes to get you to do or not do a certain movement.

 

[Rock Strongo]

Coach: What was that shot?

Me: A backhand overhead

Coach: There is no such thing as a backhand overhead. Stop fooling around now.

Me:

 

[dizzlmcwizzl]

My current tennis pro knew my father before he died. We (pro and I) have a great relationship ... I am constantly teling him he is an awfull instructor, and he tells me I am his worst student. Alll in good fun and frequently laced with course language.

Well one day in the middle of a lesson on net play he says ... "damn it John". Now that was my father's name and I asked him why he is cursing my father to which he says .... "If your dad had been an athlete you could have inherited the ability to hit these volleys"