Should I momentarily stop with my coach?

[blitzmage_89]

I've been learning tennis for 4months already (2-3 hours a week) through a coach and I already know the basics of the game like forehand , backhand , footwork and serve. These past months I've been paying for my own lessons for $10 an hour and I'm already losing much money because of the lessons. I'm thinking if I'm ready to stop attending coaching lessons already and go on playing the real game. What do you guys think? Will I also improve if I stop the tennis lessons and play a real match already?

 

[LanEvo]

i think you will improve faster if u play a real match especially against someone who is alot better than you

 

[shindemac]

Yea, u should stop. Join leagues, and play matches. Find friends to hit with and do drills. Enter in tournaments. U can still take lessons, but maybe once a month and work on your weak points.

 

[Supernatural_Serve]

$10/lesson. That sounds very below market value. Is the coach any good?

You need to play matches to become a tennis player and not a guy that simply hits tennis balls.

Ideally, you would be taking lessons and playing matches.

 

[shindemac]

Yea, 10 buckeroos is pretty cheap considering that u can get paid $9 at mc donalds or wal mart.

 

[blitzmage_89]

the problem is i'll rarely be able to play real matches since no one barely plays tennis in my area. There are even times when I'd just hit serves for 2 hours because there's no one to play with.

 

[blitzmage_89]

10 US buckaroos is for taiwanese standard of living and the coach is a friend of my dad , i think in the US the avergae price of a coach is $20 right?

 

[wihamilton]

$10? i wouldn't burn that bridge... that is ridiculously cheap for a lesson. can you take lessons AND play matches?

 

[Vision84]

i think in the US the avergae price of a coach is $20 right?

I would guess more like $40 or $50 from my experience though I know more about the UK. The UK is probably about 25-30pounds for a good coach.

$10 an hour for private lessons seems extremely cheap. Or is it a group lesson?

 

[Steady Eddy]

Your only practice shouldn't be just lessons. If you pay every time you practice, even at $10 an hour, it will get expensive. A coach should show you what to practice. Then you come back in one or two weeks to learn something new to practice. That's how coaching should work. A good coach, like any good tutor, wants you to become independent eventually.

A coach shouldn't be a security blanket.

 

[burosky]

It depends on what you want to get out of the coaching. If you feel like you've learned everything you need to know, sure, stop. One example I can think of is driving your car. If all you want is to be able to get a license to drive a car, once your driving instructor shows you how to do it and you get your license, you certainly wouldn't go back to the driving instructor for further lessons. However, if you want to progress to driving a race car, you will need to continue with the driving lessons. It may not be with the same driving instructor but you will still need further lessons nonetheless.

If your coach is any good, I think most people here will agree that you have an excellent deal paying $10/hr. You really don't have to have a regular session with your coach. You can arrange it so you only go to him when you need to learn specific things. You will know what to learn as you play against other people. If having people to play with is a problem you might want to ask your coach if he has students who might be interested in playing with you.

 

[kevhen]

I never took lessons and am 4.0-4.5 now but my strokes look rather unorthodox. Match play is always good to see if your hitting practice holds up and see what you need to work on more.

 

[tears_of_awesom]

10 bucks!!!! my coach charges 70$ an hour but I guess the tradeoff is that hes a damn good one