Creating Independent Athletes

David Sammel, Head Coach, TeamBath-MCTA

W. Timothy Gallwey’s, book the “Inner Game of Tennis” questioned the traditional way of coaching and in doing so inspired coaches and players to the idea that the subconscious mind is so powerful that you can allow pupils to find learning for themselves. It is now widely accepted that when people teach themselves and they have ownership of information they improve a lot faster. Most educators and coaches accept this, yet still in my experience there is an enormous amount of telling pupils and players what to do. This is not always because of the coach or the educator, but because it's what pupils tend to expect. In many ways it is less effort to teach and learn this way. Although giving responsibility and forcing pupils to think and come up with answers for themselves is more difficult at the start, long-term it pays dividends. 

Timothy Gallwey's groundbreaking 1974 book, The Inner Game of Tennis, changed the way we thought about the game.

Taking responsibility for your own improvement can be a scary thought especially when you're not confident in the subject or the sport. Most experienced coaches use effective questioning as a major tool for teaching. However, I believe we can go a lot further than this. I believe we can empower pupils to learn by taking an even greater holistic approach. In our Academy we have made the following changes to how we deliver our program. We firmly believe that this is the next step in educating. 

TeamBath–MCTA focuses increasingly on ‘Developing Independent Athletes’ (DIA). We are changing the mind set of the coaches, physical trainers and the support staff to the strapline and belief that "We don't teach we educate".

We have introduced ‘Independent Athlete’ meetings with each player aged 12 and over. Only players aged 12 to 14 deemed sophisticated enough by the coaches will be part of this process. The meetings involve the coaches (we have a lead coach and a secondary coach for each player so that there is continuity when a coach travels with other players), the S&C trainer and the player.

Each player is asked to come to the meeting prepared with the following information:

1. Two goals that they believe will help them progress at this point in time.

**It is important that one goal is about improving a weapon and the other goal a weakness in their game.

2. The player will also outline the drills and practices they think will help them achieve the two goals. No more than six ideas or drills in total.

3. The player will design a tennis specific warm up that involves improving at least one of their goals.

4. The player will design additional features for their physical warm up before they play tennis that prepares them to improve these goals.

5. The player will design some specific exercises for the gym that relate and help improve these two goals.

6. We understand in both tennis and S&C that the basics still need to be worked upon and remain part of the program. However in some way each area of work will be tailored to improving the two goals that they have set.

7. Players are asked to set a personal lifestyle goal which can relate to nutrition, time management or scheduled rests for example.

8. Each player will come with a method to record their plans i.e. with a notebook, on their phone on an iPad. Again we're careful to explain to the players that they record in any way that works for them. We are moving away from dictating any rules into the program.

The above signals intent in everything that the players have a focus on and are areas that they have chosen to improve. Linking a mental connection from the gym to the tennis court is an important part of improving the speed of learning. This will create more ownership of their tennis.

Responsibility of the Coaches

The age, and the sophistication of the level of the player will determine how much ownership and how much help the player will get in designing their program. This is where each coach will show their leadership and their creativity in helping the player with their program and steering them towards greater ownership.

In pioneering this program we aim to achieve the following:

• Better planning for increased individualized work for each player.

• Exchange ideas so that a picture of best practice begins to emerge.

• Adept at helping players define their progress and therefore help them decide when it is time to move on to a new goal. Please be aware that this will be different for each player.

• Themes and match play weeks can remain within the structure because rarely will a whole session revolve around the player’s goals.

• The objective is to increase the confidence and knowledge of the players in a practical way. We no longer want players crippled by indecision and not voice concerns.

• The players will increasingly lead the meetings if we do our job well.

• We need to help parents understand this process and in doing so further enhance the ability of the players to be educated to help themselves.

• Our job as coaches needs to change to one where we are helping players facilitate their thinking by challenging the thought process behind their goals and drills. 

• Our expertise is there to monitor and help them improve. Our knowledge will help them identify quicker and easier ways to achieve their goals.

• *Lastly, Parents of players U18 will be invited in to one of these meetings per year so they can see how players and coaches are interacting and responding to this new element of the program.

The time taken off court to really listen, hear and facilitate the players ideas is incredibly valuable. I am equally convinced that this approach can work at any level of the game. I believe club players and club coaches who take the time to sit and listen and hear exactly what a player wants to improve and then encourages them to think about how they will achieve this is time extremely well spent. I also contend that this will make the whole process of educating and learning a lot more productive and fun for both the pupil and the coach.

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

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