GET A CUE By Steve Kaplan
ffective coaches use words strategically so that their message has the greatest positive impact and throughout my career, I have looked to find a better cue or phrase to coach with clarity. Sometimes the improvements that I have found are subtle yet they can be meaningful. I've developed a better ability to adapt to the unique learning style of each student by focusing on my communication skills and further, I've come to recognize that the most knowledgeable coaches are lifelong students who are always leading by example and reinventing themselves. Below are some common tennis instructional phrases, or cues, that I often hear, and also my recommendation for what I believe to be better cues.
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• Common Cue: "Bend your knees" • Better Cue: "Hinge your hips" or "Get your butt back" • Why: The purpose of bending is to lower your center of gravity so that your first step is quick and balanced. A focus on bending your knees may pitch you forward but an emphasis on pushing your butt back and hinging your hips will automatically lower your center of gravity and put you in an optimal starting position . • Common Cue: "Reach up on your serve" 20
• Better Cue: "Push into the ground on your serve" • Why: You get power from the ground as force is the result of an "equal and opposite action and reaction" Extension is not the goal of the serve but rather it is the result of strong mechanics as well as a great assessment that force has been delivered to the hit. Pushing into the ground will help extension to happen naturally and encourage maximum power delivery into the hit. • Common Cue:"Punch the volley" • Better Cue: "Catch the volley" • Why: The ball and the racket are lively and reliability and stability of your racket rather that power is the most important attribute of a volley. Be like a wall and let the ball mostly reflect off of your strings. Then move to your target to add force. This method takes away the critical timing needed to execute the shot because it keeps the racket face in the path of the ball and promotes a compact, reliable and consistent movement. • Common Cue: "Brush the ball" • Better Cue: "Soften your grip" • Why: When your racket exerts a force on the ball, the ball is also exerting a force on the racket. Brushing the ball takes split second timing and is very difficult to
New York Tennis Magazine • March/April 2022 • NYTennisMag.com
modulate for all but the most expert player. In contrast, allowing the ball to compress on your strings and slightly alter the racket angle to elicit spin is passive, reliable and therefore easier to execute. • Common Cue: "Run as fast as you can to the ball" • Better Cue: “Run as fast as you need to the ball" • Why: Sprinting to the shot requires a lot of energy and slowing abruptly before the shot takes even more energy and usually causes you to lift your body at the worst possible moment. Sure you don't want to be late to the shot, but equally true and almost as disruptive to a good hit, you don't want to be early. The goal is to be on time so move smoothly, efficiently and as fast as needed. • Common Cue: "Recover fast" • Better Cue: “Finish the hit and recover fast" • Why: The most important shot in tennis is the one you are hitting, not the shot that might or might not occur. Finish first before making the common mistake of recovering before finishing the hit. Smoothness and rhythm as said above are vital when executing the shot but less important when recovering from the shot so use the energy you saved running to the hit
