HS Tennis Coach with Full Time Job

[nyta2]

My sons' season is over:
The JV coach I disparaged earlier (above) can actually play. Apparently, he joined in some live ball w/ the kids and is a solid player. Not sure why he can't feed.

He also messed up the lineup and thought he could get some points by "stacking doubles" w/ the singles players vs. a good team. After the first round, my son's team got 1 game out of 3 lines of doubles.

I'll amend my previous post to being able to do 2 things:
1) feed balls for drills (like live ball); and
2) don't mess w/ the line up, thinking you can out-strategize the other coach.

thx for sharing..
1. i fully intend to have the kids self feed... been trialing with my daughter... basically have her do a normal topspin groundstroke... fh/bh... even if it doesn't go where it's supposed to, it's a practice rep for the kid feeding... conti grip feeds are a skill that even some high 4.5's i play with, can't do (they end up doing a side slice... i personally had to practice it, mainly because i was annoyed i couldn't do what i perceived a "simple skill")
2. stacking imo is a disservice to the kids on your team (eg. the #1s earned the rite to play the opposing #1s - presumable the most challenging player on their team)..... i intend to do ladder matches, and just play straight up against other schools (or even use utr as the initial seeding),... improving individual skills is far more important than team wins, in an individual sport like tennis

took these ideas from dave smith's book

 

[ey039524]

thx for sharing..
1. i fully intend to have the kids self feed...

Why? That's your job!

 

[nyta2]

Why? That's your job!

i mean, i'll feed too when needed, but according to daveSmith's book (coaching high school tennis), it's much more efficient, especially with many kids, to have the kids learn how to feed themselves... they will get more reps than just me feeding alone...
and to use a teaching philosophy i learned from martial arts, there's alot to be learned in each of the roles of {feeder, receiver, observer}
dSmith has a no cut policy, so often had 20-30+ kids on a team... so he had to devise a system that did not make him the bottleneck (eg. central feeder).

 

[chic]

i mean, i'll feed too when needed, but according to daveSmith's book (coaching high school tennis), it's much more efficient, especially with many kids, to have the kids learn how to feed themselves... they will get more reps than just me feeding alone...
and to use a teaching philosophy i learned from martial arts, there's alot to be learned in each of the roles of {feeder, receiver, observer}
dSmith has a no cut policy, so often had 20-30+ kids on a team... so he had to devise a system that did not make him the bottleneck (eg. central feeder).

I will say the ability to do this is heavily dependent on the players you're starting with.

At the beginning of the season my players could not self feed for the most part (they would feed in with pancake serve overheads) and rallies would be max 4 shots if cooperative.

Ideally the top level can feed in but as a new coach you might need to do some team wide fundies first

 

[ey039524]

i mean, i'll feed too when needed, but according to daveSmith's book (coaching high school tennis), it's much more efficient, especially with many kids, to have the kids learn how to feed themselves... they will get more reps than just me feeding alone...
and to use a teaching philosophy i learned from martial arts, there's alot to be learned in each of the roles of {feeder, receiver, observer}
dSmith has a no cut policy, so often had 20-30+ kids on a team... so he had to devise a system that did not make him the bottleneck (eg. central feeder).

It's a good point. Kids shouldn't be standing around, waiting too long. They need to be able to self feed to start rallies.

I personally like the no cut philosophy, but you have to do your research to make sure they're all engaged.

For drills, though, the coach should feed. Don't worry about a little side spin. It's normal.

 

[TennisDawg]

Why? That's your job!

If you have 15 to 20 kids on the court you will have to rely on self-feeding. The majority of your time will be spent with the varsity but you have to keep the JV busy. You’re one coach with 15 to 20 kids to manage. I had challenge matches for the JV or practice matches or fun drills they could do on their own.

 

[ballmachineguy]

I help with my daughter's high school tennis team, and am not an amazing tennis player by any means. My wife is the coach of that team, and she's not even as "good" as I am. But the fact is, for high school sports, the coach's primary jobs are: get the kids safely on and off the bus, handle administrative requirements, run well-organized practices, and know the rules well-enough to deal with other coaches and athletic directors. If you know more than that and can even play the game well-enough to hold your own against the kids, that's really awesome, and obviously something to strive for, but it's bonus. Between my wife and I, with this being her first year in the job, she's taking the team to the state championship tournament for the first time in seven years, and they swept their opponents through the entire regional tournament.

As the previous posters said, your best players have private lesson coaches, and the ones that don't are going to learn a lot from playing against those that do. Bottom line: schools need coaches, and they're struggling to get them. Even if you're not a great player, you're better than them disbanding the team, and you'll probably be able to do a better job than you think. The single biggest qualification for a coach isn't personal skill: it's just plain caring about being there for the kids. Schools can't keep teachers (I'm a high school teacher, I know this for a fact), so keeping coaches is even harder. At my daughter's school, the swim coach is just whoever they found and told to do it: this guy is the art teacher and they picked him because someone saw a photo on his Facebook page of him surfing years ago.

Just my 2 cents.

My wife’s brother, whom I never knew to be a swimmer, became the swim coach at a high school near Houston Tx. When she told me, I was a tad incredulous. Of course, he coached them to the state title.

 

[J011yroger]

My wife’s brother, whom I never knew to be a swimmer, became the swim coach at a high school near Houston Tx. When she told me, I was a tad incredulous. Of course, he coached them to the state title.

Rudy! Rudy!

J

 

[nyta2]

I will say the ability to do this is heavily dependent on the players you're starting with.

At the beginning of the season my players could not self feed for the most part (they would feed in with pancake serve overheads) and rallies would be max 4 shots if cooperative.

Ideally the top level can feed in but as a new coach you might need to do some team wide fundies first

the feed doesn't need to be a conti grip no spin on the fly drop feed...
i taught my daughter to just do a self drop feed, bounce hit, and take a normal topspin forehand or backhand stroke.... (the 2hbh needs more work)
1. it's good practice for her - an extra gs rep every time she does it, and has a better understanding of where she should be making contact relative to her body
2. it's a decently consistent feed
i would argue that if she couldn't figure out how to hit a dead ball self-drop feed, with good topspin technique, she/we should be working on that as a top priority (over hitting a moving ball, or moving to hit a moving ball).

 

[nyta2]

@chic so how was your first season coaching? main takeaways? things you'd do differently? things you did particularly well?