TennisOne Lessons

It's About Time: Learning Tennis as an Open Skill

part 5

Wayne Elderton

In previous articles, we have explored the concept that tennis uses ‘Open Skills’.  In other words, technique must adapt to the situation one finds themselves in.  Of course that doesn’t mean there isn’t some general swing pattern elements everyone must have.  It simply means that learning a swing pattern without the understanding it must be adaptable just sets a player up for frustration and possibly failure (“I swing the way the coach tells me, why isn’t it working?”)

One of the reasons for the frustration is the omission of decision-making from most practice & training.  In the last article we identified that decision-making can be tactical or technical.  It also has two stages:

1. Intention (having a clear goal with what to do with the ball)
2. Differentiation (choosing the best option from 2 or more possibilities)

Our focus today will be on training differentiation.

One of the most basic and important aspects of technical differentiation that give players trouble is grips.  A grip is not difficult just because it feels different, the challenge is switching grips at the right time.  The video shows some keys to make grip switching easy.

Regarding tactical differentiation, we can use the Phases of Play introduced in the last article to set-up decision-making training.  The video shows examples of deciding between rally and forcing ground strokes and neutralizing and finishing volleys.

Adding decision-making to your training will dramatically improve your performance.

Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Wayne Elderton's article by emailing us here at TennisOne.

Wayne Elderton

Wayne Elderton is Head Course of Tennis Canada Coaching Development & Certification in British Columbia. He is a certified Canadian national level 4 coach and certified by both the PTR and USPTA.For two consecutive years he was runner-up for Canadian national development coach-of-the-year out of nominated coaches from every sport.He has also been named the Tennis Professionals Association Coaching Educator of the year and Tennis Professional of the year.

Wayne is currently Tennis Director at the Grant Connell Tennis Center in North Vancouver. He has written coaching articles and materials for Tennis Canada, the PTR, Tennis Australia, and the ITF. He is a national expert on the Game-based Approach.

For more information visit Wayne Elderton's website at www.acecoach.com