instructional column
CUP
OF JOE
Waking up to the facts and myths of winning tennis.
Coaching & Teaching: ‘Talk Less, Communicate More!’ By joe dinoffer
In “Cup of Joe,” we want to evaluate accepted methods of how tennis should be played and coached in the context of the modern game. Some readers may conclude that many of the accepted ways of thinking are now obsolete; other readers may feel their importance is reinforced. Either way, we want to hear from you—about this current topic and on other topics you’d like us to address. Email me at joe@oncourtoffcourt.com and we will try to publish your comments in future columns.
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©photo courtesy on court off court
usptA and ptr Master professional
ears ago teaching pro certification required the pro to give a five-minute verbal introduction to each class explaining and demonstrating the topic of the day. In tennis camps in the 1970s and ’80s, pros also offered 30-minute “chalk talks” filled with long-winded explanations that probably bored even the most die-hard tennis enthusiast. If you’re a coach or teaching pro, forget about those lengthy introductions and closing reviews if you want your students to keep coming back for more. And if you’re a player, this column will help in your selection of instructors. You are the customer and you owe it to yourself to get the best teacher possible. Over the last few decades there have been multiple studies in different environments with one common thread: People have short attention spans and they are getting shorter. How short? For tennis lessons, 42 words is pushing the limit for most people. Since it takes an average person about 15 seconds to speak 42 words, anytime a tennis coach speaks longer than 15 seconds, he or she is probably losing the attention of his students.
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©photo courtesy joe dinoffer
Q: If coaches should not speak for more than 15 seconds at a time, how can they communicate to teach?
players use their wrist to accelerate the racquet into ball contact without losing control.)
A: The short answer is to increase the amount of teaching through a non-verbal approach. There are three primary ways humans receive communications and learn. It is referred to as VAK learning. VAK stands for Visual (seeing), Auditory (hearing), and Kinesthetic (feeling).
Q: Is learning visually or kinesthetically faster than just through verbal communications? A: Absolutely. Studies in other sports such as golf and skiing show a 200% to 300% increase in the speed of learning through visual and kin-
esthetic guides. Q: Can you really communicate visually on a tennis court? A: Yes. We conducted an on-court study with 48 recreational adult Q: My coach talks a lot. What should I do? players divided into two groups. Points were scored for groundstrokes landing past the service line. Both groups understood the correlation A: There is no question that almost all teachers regularly fall into the between arc and depth. One group had no visual guide and the other had a bright yellow line 3 feet above the net to aim over. The group guided to hit higher over the net with the yellow line scored 67% higher in depth accuracy over the other group. There were no verbal instructions about how increased arc results in more depth; instead the visual guidance system placed above the net got the message across (photo above).
habit of speaking too much. The question is whether your coach is willing to work on improving. In my own tennis classes or workshops, I regularly ask students to use their wristwatch to time 15 seconds and let me know. First century BC philosopher Publilius Syrus is well known to have said, “I have often regretted my speech, but never my silence.”
Q: What about kinesthetic guides? How do they work? A: Here’s just one example (photo 2). I recently designed a simulated
In the 1990s, there was a story of a well-respected Division 1 college coach whose lectures apparently lasted a little longer than the attention spans of his players. The students were too nervous to approach the coach directly. So, one day someone with a felt marker went to the men’s locker room and wrote on the wall next to the hot air hand dryer with an arrow pointing to the start button, “To hear one of coach’s lectures, press here.”
tennis racquet with a hinge in the middle and a ball on the end. It feels and weighs very much like a tennis racquet with one difference. The movement of the hinge replicates what a player’s wrist can do to help increase racquet-head speed on topspin groundstrokes and serves. The idea is to give players the kinesthetic “feel” for the action of the wrist before having them swing a regular racquet and try to duplicate that same feeling while hitting a ball. (Note: I am not advocating a loose wrist that merely slaps at the ball, but rather a simulation of how top
SUMMARY
Joe Dinoffer is a Master Professional in both the PTR and USPTA, a distinction awarded to only a handful in the tennis industry. He has published numerous books and videotapes, and is a frequent speaker at tennis conferences around the world. For more information, visit www.oncourtoffcourt.com.
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