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TennisOne Lessons 
Why do Some Players Continue to Improve? Dave Smith, Senior Editor As a tennis professional for over 35 years, one of the things that has always struck me is the vast division between players who improve quickly, who continue to become more competitive and proficient, and those who play for years and never make it past mediocre levels at best.
If you hang around a tennis court, I'm sure you've seen both these groups. Among the young, we see some individuals rise relatively quickly to a very competitive level of play, but others take up the sport and play for years, even on their high school teams, yet never really come close to the degree of competitiveness that we see in the first group. I’ve worked with hundreds of adult players. Some have been playing for decades yet never move past the 3.0 threshold, while others, who seemingly don’t possess any more significant degree of athletic prowess, move through the sport — and through opponents — without stagnating at low levels. In fact, I’ve worked with some adults who were in their 40’s when they started to learn the game and they were reaching 4.5 and even 5.0 levels of competitive play within 3 or 4 years of playing. The interesting thing here is that I’ve also been a golf coach and I've seen the exact same — juniors and adults who have played for years, only to get passed by newer players who have only been playing for a year or two. The vast majority of adult golfers can’t break a score of ninety, let alone eighty. Yet, there are youngsters, some as young as ten years of age, who can shoot sub-par golf. In both these sports the question must be asked: What allows some to become relatively skilled, even elite players, in a relatively short period of time? But perhaps a more important question would be, what prevented so many players from reaching high levels of play despite playing over a much longer period of time? One thing I can say for certain, it isn't magic or rocket science. The fact is, when I watch some pros or coaches teach tennis or I see individuals trying to “teach” themselves, I see a wide variety of methods and teaching philosophies. Unfortunately, some of these methods can negatively impact players chances of reaching their potential. And, they often look at those players who pass them by on the way up the ranking system as simply, “more athletic” or “perhaps they spent a lot of money on lessons.” Yet, in most cases, neither one of these suppositions are true. The bottom line is that some methodologies simply inhibit a player from reaching his or her potential. In fact, some progressions may actually permanently prevent players from developing their game to a competitive level.
Here are two examples of both of teaching or learning concepts that can prohibit player progression. Serve One of the aspects of tennis that easily can define a player’s skill level is the serve. More specifically, the second serve. I can usually determine a player’s level of play by watching him hit one second serve in competition. Because the serve can be a weapon — or a handicap — the second serve quickly establishes this point of contention, and becomes especially apparent when faced with a second serve in competition. (And even more so when faced with a second serve on an important point!) Grip Problems With nary an exception, the grip used by top players on the serve is the continental grip. Yet, I still see a large number of beginners trying to serve with an eastern forehand grip. Some pros teach this grip — their logic; It is easier for beginners to get the serve in, and to start “playing” tennis quickly than with a continental grip. Unfortunately, this grip becomes one of the most difficult mechanical elements to change later on, especially if the player has been using it for a period of time and is using it in competition. Thus, a player who first learns to serve with an eastern forehand grip with will have a very difficult time making the transition to the continental, and accordingly will not be able to hit serves with the optimal axis of spin, an effective and efficient swing path, nor maximize any athleticism they might indeed possess. One thing that should be understood about the grip and the serve: Some believe that it is “simply a grip change,” as if in order for someone to start serving like the pros, all he has to do is move his hand over one bevel on the grip! Unfortunately, it isn’t simply a grip change. When one learns to serve first with an eastern forehand grip, the swing path is different, the stance is different, the contact point is different, the action of the strings on the ball is different, and the toss is usually different. So, it is no wonder people have such difficulty making “simply a grip change!” All these elements must be changed or the serve simply won’t have much chance of landing in the box! A player who usually makes the advised grip change finds himself not only hitting with an uncomfortable grip, but the ball almost never goes in the intended direction. These two aspects makes it easy to see why players who are trying to make the grip change state, “Hey, this serve doesn’t work!” I’ve always enjoyed watching good junior golfers and tennis players deliver drives on the golf course and serves on the tennis court. I’ve had relatively diminutive female students serve over 110 mph yet men twice as strong struggle to deliver a serves at 80 mph. On top of which, most players using eastern grips, men or women, almost always resort to decelerating or “dinking” their second serves just to get them in. My daughter, a top 16 year old golfer can hit drives 260 yards because her technique is sound. Like that of a good server in tennis, her technique allows her to maximize her abilities…on top of being very accurate. If relatively small girls can achieve such serves in tennis or drives in golf, and strong individuals can’t then something is preventing them from at least matching these skills? Obviously, it is the technique.
Progressions Another aspect is in how players, especially youngsters, are taught tennis from the perspective of progressions. Many parents, coaches, and pros start kids off with groundstrokes, tossing balls to these kids under the assumption that most will develop the optimal swing for groundstrokes. This is flawed in so many ways. I’ve always started tennis progressions with the volley, using the continental grip and I never start with feeding balls, (ROG balls or yellow balls). I start with tossing bean bags which the student first learns to catch on their strings rather than attempting to “hit” an object such as a tennis ball. This introduction (which can be done for all ages up to senior adults!) teaches several advanced skills:
Catching the bean bag allows the instructor to emphasize the form as well as function. From there It is actually very quick way to progress to tossing tennis balls. This step occurs as soon as the player has demonstrated the desired volley technique using the bean bags. Since the volley also uses the continental grip (and that we always move from the volley to the serve in progressions), it makes so much more sense to the student in gaining familiarity and comfort with this grip on both the volley and the serve. Problems Starting Players with Groundstrokes If I start a beginner with full swinging groundstrokes, it makes it difficult to then learn the continental grip and transition to the volley. This progression also increases the chances the student will want to swing at the volleys. In my opinion, it is the volley and the serve that define a player’s ability. Just take a look around your local club and you'll see that most players have developed groundstrokes to a level that is somewhat competitive after a period of time. On the other hand, you will see some of the strangest looking service motions and volleys you could imagine. Hence, the inability to volley well and hit effective serves opens the door to stagnation for virtually all students. Groundstroke Progressions Tossing balls to students can actually impede their progress. Some people believe that tossing enough balls to students will, at some point, instill in them a consistent and effective groundstroke! And it might, but in most cases, the student will simply get good at being bad. That is, they of course will discover how hard and how high to aim to get the ball to travel over the net and into the court. However, much like the serve, the right kind of spin hit with what I call a “repeatable, reliable swing path” is the key to both effect and consistency. The problem for some is they put the cart before the horse, so to speak. Here is what I mean: people often use targets, such as cones or other visible object, to gauge the aim and so-called effectiveness of any given shot. A player may in fact hit the cone and receive complements from the instructor. However, in most cases, if the student isn’t applying optimal swing patterns, footwork patterns, maintaining balance and making contact in the optimal hitting window, hitting a target is simply pure luck! Thus, by rewarding this shot, no matter how poorly the technique employed may have been, the student’s poor stroke is being rewarded. This makes changing the flawed stroke that much more difficult. Instead, learning to create the desired stroke first and then work in a logical progression of: a) Shadow swinging, b) drop-hit, c) tossed balls, d) fed balls, and e) rally balls. I often have had a student initially, after teaching and shadowing the desired swing, actually completely miss a ball when it comes time to hitting drop-fed or tossed balls. Yet, if the student used the proper swing mechanics I reward this attempt. Why? Because I know that all people will change their timing to accommodate their swing. Most players who have learned improper form will change their swing to accommodate their sense of timing, effectively prohibiting them from ever develop a truly reliable and repeatable swing.
Aiming is the same: once the swing mechanics are mastered, then like timing, the player can make subtle adjustments in their timing, position, or aim to fine-tune their ability to pinpoint targets — again, adjusting the timing to accommodate a proper swing. These progressions are how most players who wish to excel in a sport approach their learning. They don’t use inferior methods just because they might be “easier” for the student to grasp. It would be like training a piano player to play a piano with just two fingers since trying to learn to use all the fingers is hard. But, no, we don’t train piano players that way, nor do we train golfers to swing with what ever feels comfortable since we know that swing will never allow them to reach their potential. Conclusion There are some sports where a beginner can achieve mediocrity (and that is not a pejorative) in a matter of weeks, unfortunately tennis is not one of them. There are no short cuts.But, by following these simple progressions and techniques will help you either improve your own game (especially those who are really wanting to get out of a low level NTRP!) or help you work with students of all ages.
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He is the author of two top-selling tennis books, TENNIS MASTERY & COACHING MASTERY. (http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/Tennis_Mastery_-_Beyond_35_Level_Revised/descpageSGTA-MASTERY2.html) Dave is a Dunlop Sports Master Professional and a USPTA P-1 and has been a featured speaker at numerous divisional and world conventions. In addition, Dave created and authored the popular Disney Mysteries, "Hidden Mickey", adventures about Walt Disney and Disneyland. For over twenty-five years, Dave has published over 400 articles on tennis in magazines, web sites, and for international tennis publications. Today, he owns Synergy Books Publishing and helps authors realize their publishing dreams. For his information, go to www.synergy-books.com. You may also reach Dave at david@synergy-books.com. |
David W. Smith has been a coach, tennis teaching professional, Director, Head Professional and General Manager of clubs and tennis facilities in California, Arizona and Utah. As a coach, Dave had one of the finest high school team tennis records in the U.S. winning over 800 team matches against fewer than 20 losses in 28 seasons of coaching boys and girls tennis teams.