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TennisOne Lessons 
Creating a Proven Training Program (For those who sincerely wish to reach their potential) David W. Smith, Senior Editor TennisOne January first marks, of course, a new year. Dated milestones often translate into goal-orientated ambitions by many, to make significant changes in their lives. Tennis players are no different. The start of a new year often motivates players to evaluate their games and take stock in reality: Have they really improved in the past year? Two years? Ten years? In my 35 years of teaching, coaching, and playing experience, I’ve seen that the vast majority of players seldom make significant strides in reaching higher levels of skilled play…even though they truly wish they could. This article, and the subsequent articles I’ll be writing over the next six months, will be directed to those players who are sincerely motivated to get better. I’m not going to provide a short-term bandage here or a “quick fix” to a flawed stroke, I will be providing the core principles that have made the difference in players who progressively improve versus those who seem to fail over and over in making such strides.
Like a person wanting to lose weight, a successful program not only identifies the core of the problem, but provides a realistic, relevant, and conscious approach to making “lifestyle” changes. Similar to the overeater, tennis players can easily fall back to old habits and comfortable, familiar patterns of play that will significantly impede any real and sustainable progress toward reaching one’s true potential. Introduction Like politics, we often see differences in the approach to various goals. In tennis, the standard fare usually consists of fitness improvements, increasing practice opportunities, taking more lessons, or joining clubs, leagues, or clinics. However, there is often a big difference in the ways teaching pros and students approach the and utilize these lessons, clinics, and practice sessions.
Unfortunately, the perception of limited improvement can mislead players who sincerely seek to lift their games to higher levels. Among the thousands of players I’ve worked with and thousands more whom I’ve watched play, practice, learn, and try to develop skilled levels of play, there is a clear difference between those who improve and those who seem to stagnate at levels far below their potential. The fact is, many players limit their ability to climb the tennis ladder simply because their strokes and methods of play are based on a faulty foundation. These players usually attribute their limited abilities to a lack of athletic prowess; they simply begin believing that they just don’t have what it takes to be a solid player. While I’ve indeed seen a few players who truly lacked the necessary athleticism to reach high levels of play (be it a lack of true coordination, limited strength or endurance, handicaps or simply limited experience and comprehension of certain aspects of hitting tennis balls well), the vast majority of players failed to reach skilled levels because of one thing: Technical Methodology. It is important to understand how certain methods and techniques prohibit players from progressing and continuing to improve. Before anyone can start on an authentic, proven, and successful teaching program (and create sincere dedication to such), one must completely understand why such limiting patterns fail, and how to recognize these flawed patterns. False Beliefs There is a system ( although not as prevalent as it once was) where players are taught rudimentary methods of stroke production (presumably to make tennis initially less ‘challenging’), and then asked to make changes to their technique in order to achieve higher skill levels. Not only is this philosophy completely flawed, it actually inhibits players from moving on to more skilled play. While on the surface, it would seem only a step away to make a grip change on some strokes, change a swing path on others, or use different footwork patterns. However, what is often completely misunderstood is that it is never just a grip, stroke pattern, or a footwork change. Each component of a tennis stroke or shot is interrelated, that is, intimately associated with all the components of that stroke. Thus a change in one component will ultimately have ramifications in virtually all the other components.
If we change the grip, the resulting change in the racquet face predicates a change in the swing path, body position, contact point, and the relative relationship of the body to the contact point. And if all these conditions are not adjusted to accommodate the change in the grip, the ultimate outcome of any attempt will almost certainly result in an unsuccessful outcome. Discomfort of Change Players who have competed with flawed strokes and techniques face the greatest restriction in improvement when trying to make significant changes: Discomfort. The feeling of a foreign grip, the conscious effort to change the other components of the stroke associated with the new grip, and the usual failure that nearly always accompanies initial attempts (not to mention, the ultimate loss of points, games, sets, and matches in their usage), make players respond with the typical, “Hey, this isn’t working.” When something new doesn’t work well, the usually human reaction will almost always revert back to what feels comfortable, and ultimately back to old (yet flawed) patterns of hitting a ball. It should come as no surprise then why pros have such difficulty trying to help students change established yet pre-learned mediocre methods.
Another problem is that at lower levels, many mediocre methods work just fine. Opposing players of equally limited ability usually can’t hit with advanced spin, pace, directional control, consistency, or affect either. So, at low levels of play, or what I call, “Gravity Reliant Tennis,” (GRT: hitting balls hard enough to clear the net, but soft enough that gravity can bring the ball into the court) creates many long rallies simply because no one on the court is capable of hitting an effective enough shot to cause an error or hit an outright winner. I’ve often heard parents exclaim, “Wow, did you see that? My child just rallied 15 shots in a row!” Within any method of teaching, kids and adults alike can figure out how to use GRT to the point where they can “rally” for a seemingly high number of shots, creating a very false assumption that the players are “improving” when in most cases, these players are just “getting good at being bad.” That is not to take away the importance of learning how to be consistent. However, if I play the piano and can play chop sticks with two fingers without making a mistake, would I consider “proficient” at playing the piano? Of course not and neither would anyone who watched me play think I was. So, success at lower levels does not transfer vertically. Mediocre tennis methods can’t defend against more effective shots. Thus, when players do play up, and face a more advanced team or player, in most cases, they get blown out. (Yes there are cases of a “pusher” driving a more advanced player crazy by simply getting the ball in play enough…however, this really doesn’t happen that often. What it really signifies is that, in most cases, the more advanced player has not yet mastered the advanced strokes to a competitive consistency. Give them time and they won’t lose very often.) So What is the Answer? A few teaching entities discourage players from copying professional level strokes. This philosophy is strange to me on many levels: One, pros use essentially the most efficient means to hit a ball. They generate the most power, spin, and control through generally very efficient stroke patterns, with but few exceptions.
Two, pros play far more hours of tennis per day, more days per week, more weeks per month, and more months per year than do any club players (after all, it is their jobs). Yet, considering this constant stress to the body, not to mention the level of play they face, the number of injuries is far less compared to the average recreational player. Just go out to your local court and count the number of players using some kind of elbow strap to protect their tennis elbow, an injury that is almost unseen on the pro level. Another factor with mimicking the pros is that for the most part, players will seldom ever hit exactly as the pros hit. In fact, even among the pros, no two players play exactly alike. Sure, there are some who have similarities. Yet, the fact is, if you teach a thousand players exactly the same methodology, using the same teaching tools, approaches, and progressions, no two players will ever play exactly alike. There are too many extrinsic factors that control a player’s ultimate playing style: perception of strengths and weaknesses, personality, perception of instructional input, desire, and dedication to name a few. However, there are fundamental learning patterns that help all players reach highly skilled levels of play. You don’t have to have the desire to become a top pro, college player, junior or even club player to want to—and succeed at—playing tennis at skilled levels. And, you don’t have to dedicate your entire life to tennis to master and enjoy the tenets of skilled play. You will, however, need to follow a strict protocol of instruction in which to learn, practice, master, and then employ these skills. Order of Progression First, find pros that you like and you feel you would like to emulate. While there are similarities among all skilled players, there are a few ways that they clearly differ: One and two-handed backhands and forehands, attacking styles versus counter-punching styles; playing patient, consistent tennis versus pressing to manufacture put-away shots. Within the framework of this series of articles, you will learn from four proven methodologies:
But what if you already working with a pro or studying books or TennisOne Resources? Many players are “self-taught.” The key to using a teaching pro, a book, a video, or an on-line program is to make sure that each one teaches methods that allow for efficient stroke techniques and don’t have to be changed later on for more prolific play to be developed. Also, a good teaching pro will usually be able to evaluate your propensity for a particular style of play, one that fits you but still falls within what I call an “Advanced Foundation.” (This is the idea of developing strokes and technique that don’t need to change for advanced play to evolve.) This program is designed to teach you how to work towards developing strokes that fall within the framework of this Advanced Foundation. While some patterns may be initially foreign or difficult, as long as you are dedicated to mastering the skill, you will. It's no different than any other sport or skill, like playing a musical instrument. All skilled activities require overcoming elements that are initially challenging. Conclusion On TennisOne.com, there are many additional lessons by myself and by my esteemed colleagues where you can discover the many ways to learn tennis that will ensure progressive improvement until you ultimately reach your potential. Study these lessons. Use the common technology we now have at our fingertips: the Internet, a video recorder, stroke analysis software, and computers. Use “old school” resources such as pros, ball machines, hitting walls, and other means to practice and perfect what you are working towards. Remember, simply hitting a thousand balls on a ball machine or hitting wall using poor technique will only help you get good at being bad! Imagine having a crystal ball: It showed you that you would lose perhaps a few matches over the next six months that you might not have otherwise lost; however, over the rest of your life you would not only start winning many more matches, but you win and compete at far higher levels of tennis than you have ever played. Would that make it worthwhile for you? For most players, that answer is a resounding yes! Stay tuned for the next in this series: Retooling flawed basics into advanced basics.
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