Well, the difference is the word EXTRA.

So do you want to be an ordinary pro or an extraordinary pro?

Well, an extra ordinary pro , puts in the extra, like Scott did

Let’s not even go that far, let’s look at you as a student.

What is an ordinary student?

Well, an ordinary student is one who may do EVERYTHING that is required of them, always be on-time and turn in everything required.

And this is EXPECTED.  Even if some others do not do this, you really have not raised the bar yet, they have just lowered it for themselves and trust me it does not help.

Well the great thing about being a student, apprentice or just getting started is that it is OK to make mistakes.  At our school, we had a racquet facility that was owned by the college and this was what we called our “LEARNING LAB”  this is where we could experiment, try new things out and if we made mistakes, or if something didn’t work out, no big deal.

This how you learn and that was what we were doing.

An example in my days as a PTM student , we would have a group of 4 go out on the weekend and each student had to give a 25 minute lesson on a specific topic. I might have done the serve, another might have done volleys, another groundstrokes and another strategy.

It didn’t matter.  What did matter was that we got out there and that meant we had to prepare a bit on what we were going to teach and then hopefully progress through the 25 minutes successfully, but if we didn’t, NO BIG DEAL, and we learned from it and it usually never happened again. 

We would also used constructive criticism to help each other out.

Now, here is the kicker.  Guess who kept getting better?  WE WERE……….. 

Now here is a bigger kicker, guess who will probably get the nod when it comes to a good internship?  WE WILL………

Well, it probably isn’t the person who just goes to class and the workshops.  Sure there are some naturals out there, but as a director, if they do not seem too enthused about getting better, I might give the nod to someone else. 

So bottom Line:  We are going to be talking a lot on this podcast about all of the “EXTRAS” that you can be doing right now and what you will need to prepare yourself for the industry and make yourself MORE attractive to head pros, directors and off court managers.

And you need to be practicing this stuff over and over and over.

REPETITION BUILDS CONFIDENCE and confidence is what directors and head prod are looking for.

Now the first interview was a lot of asking and telling and hopefully they could see what I could do for them.

The typical interview.

In Orlando, I turned my resume into a website based on what they were looking for and it had the same format on every page:

My basic format was to 

1. show them my strengths first 
2. show them examples of pictures, commercials, videos, training manuals, training videos, that I have done.
3. show them what the result would be if they hired me at the national campus, based on my strengths that I outlined

If they did have a question, I would direct them do a specific spot on the website to show them an example instead of having to explain, in case they missed it.

Now I was a director and wore a lot of different hats, but if, you did the same thing, or even similar, here is what you may want to do:

If you were going into teaching, you could:

1. 1. Bullet point your strengths (and hope they line up with what they are looking for)

In some sort of format (Online or even a portfolio)

1. 2. Show an edited video of you teaching groups to kids and adults and maybe break it up into classes (Red Ball, Cardio tennis, High Performance) – They want to see you in action (Leading and assisting, but Directors are looking for entry level pros who can lead)

When I hired pros, I would have them teach a private and a group so I could see them in action and then get feedback from the member or group.  

But just think if I could see that well before they came; it may save the both of us some time 

Also you could:

1. 1. Show a mixer or special event that you ran (images or video)
2. 3. Show example of lesson plans that you made for specific groups
3. 4. Show any flyers or promotional material that you made
4. 5. Any work you did in the schools or any other organizations
5. 6. Show video of a tournament (especially if you work at a big event) and describe the areas you worked and show video of you in action
6. 7. Show tennis tips on video (clubs like this a lot)

If you were going into a more administrative role, you could:

1. Show them a tournament that you ran from start to finish with all of the pre tourney correspondence
2. Show flyers and sign up sheets for special events and images of the event
3. Show any processes that you designed, for example a process for how racquets get strung from turning them in to the front desk to returning it back to the player.
4. Show any promotional material you made for specific events
5. Show a funnel or email sequence that you built (advanced, but younger people are great at this)

Another one: Do a club orientation Video.  This could be for either an on or off court position.  Maybe describing what went on while you were an intern.  

show a video of your club and do a walk through on video explaining all the different parts of the club.  

Directors love this because it shows them that you understand the club business and this is one HUGE thing they are looking for.

An example might be when you talk about the front desk, you talk about how they are the “Front lines” of the club and how important I is that a tennis pro have good communication with them………….

These are two things that director and head pros want you to understand, so the more you can start putting out the stuff they want to see the better.

The bottom line is that the more you keep track of what you have done and you can find a way to present it in an efficient way, this will help you get recognized.

There are some cool sites that will allow you to do this and if you go the the PTM Lab page, I can direct you to some

Even a youtube channel would work for videos.  

You could have links on a resume or create playlists on  a youtube channel like:

• Teaching
• Tournaments
• Tennis tips
• Walkthroughs….etc

Bottom line, is you want to get recognized and get yourself placed at the top of the stack.

See this video Walkthrough of my resume:  https://youtu.be/uXagoRos4i

Good Luck and email me with any questions!

Coach Mick, USPTA

As a matter of fact, this week, I was hitting with my son and he had not been hitting on the ball machine for the last three weekends. 

His volley is one of his best shots, technically, and he loves to come in to the net.

When we were hitting volleys a couple days ago, his technique was off and I was going to have to give him the same volley speech I have given him before, which he really does not like. 

So I decided to stay quiet to see if he would figure it out for himself (not easy for me to do)…… well, he didn’t get it.

He was basically letting his wrist (or tip of the racquet) come through too early.

So not a great day for either of us, because I am big on the fundamentals, and they just were not there.

Coincidentally, I was watching a video on YouTube on how a well know teaching pro, I think his name is Jorge,  teaches the volley, (by putting an empty ball can in the throat of the racquet and then the student had to try to catch the ball in the can).

I am huge on ways to get students to understand what I am trying to get across, as a matter of fact, you need to have back-up when teaching if your student can’t understand the one way you know how to explain something.  You can explain it a different way You need more than one way or cure.

For example, HITTING ZONES.  We know it should be long, but there are many different ways to get this across to your student:  Drive down the line, hit three imaginary balls, toss a ball from behind. Slide along wall, ……..just to name a few

So Getting back to my story, Sorry about the tangent.  Rarely happens with me, haha,

I tried this today with my son and it was like magic.  He got it and his volley was back.  It forced his wrist to be in the perfect position.

I personally have copied many pros right from the start of my career both on and off the court.

I copied that tip today and it made me look like the best pro on the planet to my son, but it wasn’t my tip.

So How can you do this?:

Read, watch, experience what the best pros are doing and take what you can and weave it into your coaching style.

I used to cut out all of the one-page coaching tips from tennis magazine (Up a ladder for better lobs, hold on to a beach ball for better volley ready position, tie a rope between you and your doubles partner……. And have them in my holster when needed.

An example I ran a very successful tournament in Traverse City called the Snowbound Open.  When I played it, the purse was $450 split between the singles and doubles finalists.

When I finished it, the purse was $23,000 dollars, all from local sponsors in the community, some who were not even attached to tennis in any way.

How did I do it?  I copied what my good friend Jim Krimbill did at his club with a major USTA event.

If you gave me $1000, I gave you $3000 WORTH of stuff back (at a cost of $300 to me), using popular amenities of the resort and having participating sponsors give me their service at cost which was usually 2 to 3 times LESS that the cost to the consumer.

Everybody wins.  Nobody was losing money, just basically getting paid to advertise.  

Cool idea, but it wasn’t mine.

As a matter of fact, before I was a PTM student, I was in architecture school at the University of Cincinnati and one thing our professor said is that great architects copy other architects.

Borrow, copy and stealing was OK.

Another example: When I started my first summer program at a local high school, there was already a very successful summer program going on at the high school across town.

How did I pick my days and times?  

I copied theirs and with my Rallyball program as a base of kids to promote to, I had 554 kids my first summer and it ran very smoothly because the perfect system had been tried and tested in our community for the last 20 years across town.

So bottom line, beg borrow and steal from other pros and experts in the industry, but then weave it into your own situation.

For a PTM student, apprentice or a person just starting out, it may just be how to teach the forehand effectively.

That is how it started with me, and you can go from there.

Good Luck and email me with any questions,

Coach Mick, USPTA

The other night I forgot that I left our cars out in the street and I needed to bring them into the garage. 

It was late and dark outside.

So in my car, I opened the door, and in one motion I sat down took my key and swung my arm around the steering wheel with my keys in hand.

Now the cool thing was The key went exactly in the key slot not even a little hesitation front to front and side to side. It was a bullseye.

I mean it went right into the slot without touching anything else and I thought to myself what are the odds of that happening.

When I sat in my wifes car, I had to search around for the ignition.

Then it made sense to me that I have probably gotten into my car and done the same routine thousands of times if not more, so the algorithm was in my brain knowing e xactly where my hand had to go how hi how low whole close to me I’ll far away to go right in that little key slot and what’s funny, is when I think about it it doesn’t always work period.

So I guess that’s why they say let it happen instead of making happen.

After I got into the house I remembered a video that one of my colleagues sent me and I’ll give you the title of the video on YouTube and you can look it up it’s an amazing video and as matter fact if you’re on the PTM live list, I will send you a link.  Ill also put the video or url in the show notes.

Go to The Backwards Brain Bicycle on YouTube. Here is the Link:  https://youtu.be/MFzDaBzBlL0

This guy who is an engineer creates a bicycle that steers the opposite of what a normal bicycle would. Meaning, that when he turned the handlebars to the left there’s gears involved to make the wheel turn to the right and you would think that you could still ride this bike but you’ll see That he challenges a lot of people to do it and they can’t go more than a foot on the bike without falling over.

As a matter of fact, it took him eight months to learn how to ride the bike and the whole idea is that there’s an algorithm in your brain that can’t be overturned very easily because you’ve done it one way so many times. 

At the end of the video, he decides that he’s going to try to ride a regular bike after he learned how to ride this bike and it took him a while to learn how to ride a regular bike again because his brain algorithm was set to the new way.

The bottom line of the video is : KNOWLEDGE IS NOT UNDERSTANDING

It’s a great video because it teaches us how repetition is so crucial for our students when we’re teaching them. The more our students can repeat the same motion over and over the more automatic it becomes.

The root word of repetition is repeat so repetition isn’t me just sitting in my car and putting the key in the slot, It’s me sitting in my car and putting the key in the slot the same way over and over and over again creating that automatic habit. (Just like hitting a FH)

It’s the same way for students. It’s not going out and hitting a bunch of balls on the machine, this is where the machine can be your best friend or worst enemy but it’s hitting a bunch of balls on the machine the same way.

So what does this have to do with us as teachers. Well let me tell you in today’s quick tip

Just as it’s important for students to be hitting a bunch of balls, don’t you want your teaching to be effortless so you can focus on what’s important?  The person across the net from you?

I remember when training my summer staff of definitely greenhorn tennis teachers, I had them do a simple drill and feed one ball to the cone on the left side of the court and one ball to the cone on the right side of the court. This was fairly easy for them, except for using using the proper grip, which took some time. Most of them had to look down know at the ball and could not even look straight ahead.

Then I took the next step after they felt comfortable feeding from left to right I said tell me about your day in detail, like I woke up went to the bathroom took the toothbrush out of the drawer, squeezed toothpaste, brush my teeth from left to right, rinsed out my mouth, then went downstairs and had breakfast. I opened up the box of cereal and pour the cereal into the bowl, then I got the milk out and poured that on top of cereal and then I started to chew up and down with my mouth.

Guess what happened to their feeding skills?

Their ball feeding skills went down the tubes. Like the phone ringing on the video.

They knew what they had to do, but their body could not walk and chew gum at the same time…..YET

And pros make it look easy.

This is why you need to get out on the court and practice, no matter what your level is. Like I said in the very first episode, when I was a student, I would get out on the court with my friends and we would each teach a 30 minute lesson to each other so we felt comfortable teaching.

Another example was when I started teaching in Midland Michigan, where I grew up.

I was 17 and assisting in an adult beginner class.  I remember it vividly because of my serve.  It was called the midland Daily News tennis school and it was aimed at players who had never played before.

The goal was to introduce new players to the game in 6 weeks, have them play in a supervised league for 6-weeks and then I believe the club gave them a big discount to join after completion of the league.

Pretty cool format and you know what, I COPIED that as well in traverse City at my club and had 84 new players in the program.  We talked about how effective copying is in episode 003 but remember to give the credit when you can.

Back to my story, well I had a really good serve and the leader of the class wanted me to demonstrate the serve to the group since it was my best shot.

Here is how it went:

Serve one; Shank 

Serve 2: In the ceiling

Serve 3: Rimmed it and it landed three courts down

Embarrassing right?  And I WAS confident, but not in this pressure situation (If you call serving in front of people who have never served pressure)

So getting out there and practicing is key.

So what I am trying to say is that, You need to get out of court as much as you can and play, to work on your game, and teach, even if it is for free to kids in the community, or your friends, or anyone, just to work on your skills. 

There’s a lot more that goes with teaching, other than knowing how to teach the forehand.

You have to have good personal skills, good verbal and nonverbal communication. You need to feel comfortable out there so you can focus on what’s important, the student.

My son when he was probably six or seven years old used to stand by the court iand listen to me teach at the end of the day after his class was over. 

When he was in class, after he got older, I would ask the class a question and he knew every answer because he heard me say it over and over and over again, But, he could not execute it.

Even though we read all about it or heard all about it, we have to get out on court and repeat whatever we were working on over and over so it became automatic. 

This goes back to that video on the backwards brain bicycle, his main point was……… ”Knowledge IS NOT understanding”

The teaching, eventually, is the easy part, but it is all that surrounds your teaching, your philosophy, your verbal and non-verbal communication, how you speak and manage your class, that keeps bringing players back.I’m 

This takes practice, because it compliments your teaching, it defines your teaching character, but remember, they are still out there to learn, so you need to be able to teach and do it in a way that doesn’t seem like you are reading out of a book, but have your own natural style

Good luck and email with any questions,

Coach Mick, USPTA

If you go on any teaching group page, they compare a player’s strokes, usually a young junior, to Federer’s, Nadal’s or Serena’s. I listen to discussion after discussion about it.  Some really good stuff and some a bit out there, but how good is this really for a Young player?

Well I just watched a video of Roger hitting at a fairly young age, 12 or so I would guess, with some nasty background music playing, and it looked nothing like he does today.  I then watched another one, where he was older, and it started looking a bit more like Roger does today.

Well I remember, with a few teaching pros in my past, we would have disagreements about how to hit the forehand, and it only took a matter of time until they would bring someone in the top 10 in the world, to support their argument. Federer does it that way………

So today’s quick tip is: Learn the fundamentals of all of the strokes so it is easier to teach and break down any players strokes.

Now the title of this episode is Don’t Follow The Pros or “Don’t necessarily try to teach your young player the Greatest player of all time’s forehand, because of what we talked about earlier.

If you think about it, You still read all the time how these great players are still trying to develop their strokes, even at the highest levels. So

When you try to copy what the pros are doing, especially at an early age, , you could be hurting your player more than helping them.

Chances are that that they could get injured, but they will definitely develop some bad habits that are going to be hard to undo when they get older.

If the fundamentals are not there, there is no reason to progress to an advanced level on anything.

Going off on a quick tangent, I remember reading in tennis magazine what poncho segura said about strategy;  It is very simple, he said, keep the ball deep and punish the short ball. 

Pretty cool…… simple and you can build a complex game around that for sure, but start with the simple. 

As a coach, it is your job to make sure your students understand and can execute the fundamentals of all of the strokes.  Don’t let them waiver.  Add to them as long as the fundamentals are still there.

Here is an analogy: you are in charge of teaching the “Cheese Pizza forehand,” the basics, but once students are good at that, then you can add on the pepperoni, sausage, onion, whatever….., but remember underneath all those toppings, the cheese pizza is there.  It is the foundation.

Get good at this.  You could be the Hero because surprisingly enough, from my experience, a lot of pros do not know the first steps in doing this. 

Why?  Well for a number of reasons, but probably one that really hits home is where I interview someone for a Head pro position and they say something like, I don’t teach the beginners or young kids, I paid my dues.  I am a high performance coach……..   

The real reason is that they have a hard time starting from scratch.  I have had pros that interviewed do well with advanced players, but terrible with beginners.  Not bad if that is all they are teaching, but they are usually more “style” oriented than fundamentals oriented.

Well if they WERE good at all of levels, it would be job security.  

Here is a great  example of the supreme pizza with a lot of toppings, but with the cheese so evident:

Go watch Nadal’s forehand in slow motion, even when he does the buggy whip.  

Now when you watch kids try to hit this forehand, they rarely follow through with the racquet on the opposite side of their body.  They usually keep everything on the dominant side.  I have even watched more than one pro teach it this way.

But, if you watch Nadal’s forehand in slow motion, you will see that it actually looks a lot like a “Regular” forehand, for lack of a better word and then he comes around over his head

So what I see is that even though his forehand is definitely unique, the same fundamental points are still there. He added on the extra toppings.

When you watch him at 12 years old, the buggywhip is not there.  It is straight to the elbow on his non dominant side. It looked like the fh most every pro would teach.

So he must have developed it LATER………. And at about age 16, I started seeing it more, but still not as often as you do now.

The point is that he had good fundamentals BEFORE he got all flashy with his FH.

Again, this is where you come in.  If you want to work with any new player, or correct a player that has been in the game a while, you will have success with both knowing what to look for in the new player and what fundamental is lacking in the player that has been hitting longer

For a beginner, you have to get them to understand them and execute.  

For the seasoned player, there is usually a reason that this is not happening, which takes a little more “Undoing,” but if you can visualize key points in the stroke, it is easy.

So the tip for you is to “Learn the Fundamentals First”  Understand them and then the teaching and the analysis of any stroke becomes much easier, and you become a much better coach.

Study this a lot and get good at teaching the basic strokes to anyone.  You do not have to be flashy and teach that cool way that you saw someone else teach that one player that does it well.

The key for any good teacher in my mind is to know the fundamentals and weave them into a players natural style, because what a player does naturally is something you do not want to have to change if you can help it

Maybe that is why there are so many different looking strokes out there, but they have the same fundamentals.

Have you ever watched at how many different ways people hold onto a pencil? Some put it between their index and middle finger,  some just under their index finger, but the penmanship looks the same.  If you tried to change someone’s natural style it would just make things a bit worse for ho knows how long.

Just google “ ANY PLAYERs Name and then Forehand contact point and go to images.  What you will see is a VERY similar racquet face at contact. 

The fundamentals are very similar, so get good at them and know what to look for because as a coach, you need to introduce them to new players, but you need to recognize where they are missing in those that have been in the game a while.

Good Luck With This,

Coach Mick, USPTA

1. This give you experience in all areas.  

Directors want staff that can sell and market the club.  By being familiar with all of the areas, this will allow you to do just this and when you have been working there for a while and a managing (Or director) position opens up, the person that knows that club inside and out will definitely be up there on the list of candidates.

2. Lets your PTM Director/Mentor know that you are serious, which in turn may have it’s benefits when it comes to an internship. 

If i was a PTM Director, I would want to give the nod to the student that seems to be the most serious about the industry, knowing all areas and is the most motivated.

Sure, this may take time, but a good internship means you are at a good club and most GOOD clubs have good contacts, or if you do a good job, want to keep you.

3. Similar to what was said in #2, it may just open up a door that you never knew was there.

The more people that you associate yourself with, the more the people there are to recommend you for positions.

I hope you can listen in and email me if you have any questions.

Coach Mick, USPTA

Here are a few reasons why:

1. You will Educate yourself and once you understand, you can take it to the next level
2. Ask you supervisor, but also ask those in charge of any area of your club, like the 10 and under leader or the network or ask questions during presentations
3. Watch webinars and ask questions live
4. Go to popular social media sites (but be prepared for a lot of different answers here)
5. Email me at ptmpodcast@usta.com and ask away.   I will answer of find and expert who can.
6. Talk to other pros at tournaments of special events 

There are endless ways, but by doing it the way David did (In the story at the beginning of the episode), the club knew who was ready to take over the directors position, 

Bottom Line: Ask questions.  Most directors, head pros, supervisors should be happy to give you answers……… unless they have told you a few hundred times already……… and please do it with proper etiquette and  ……..Don’t be annoying

Good Luck and email me with any questions,

Coach Mick, USPTA

1. As a student, you will have a better chance of landing a good internship

2. As a pro, you will have a better chance of advancing your career

3. You will make more $$ for the obvious reason of you putting in more hours

Also you could use your hunger as a negotiating tool (jog description…..go above and beyond.. incentives or %’s) – MY EMPLOYEES

4. Doors may open (Like for my head pro in episode 7)

5. You get more experience

6. You may think you know it all, Like I did, but nothing can trump experience

Examples:

1. Run a mixer

2. Entry level event

3. Start a new program

4. Offer to string if there is overflow

5. Umpire at club events

6. Watch players at tournament (Adult lgs and juniors)

Bottom Line: Get Hungry as an entry level pro and stay hungry as a seasoned pro.  This is how you got to where you are in the first place, so keep doing what you are doing to be successful.

Good luck and email me with any questions,

Coach Mick, USPTA

1. You are all confident and want to get all that you know out. Good, but it has to align with the clubs teaching philosophy (If they have one)

Philosophy – A teaching system, pathway or method used to keep instruction consistent from level to level or even class to class.

Even though you interned with the Coach of the Year for 27 years in a row, who has 172 national championships under their belt, you are working for someone else now

This is probably a question that you should ask in the interview.  I was in same situation when I interviewed in front of a board…………….

Something like, how much freedom do I have to teach with the philosophy that I am comfortable with……………….  As an intern, this should NOT be an issue. 

2. Remember, as an intern, you are there to learn and as an assistant pro eventually, battling it out with the head pro is not going to get you very far up the ladder.

1. It can embarrass the lead pro in front of the membership (I have seen it happen)

2. You get a lot of “Coach Renee doesn’t teach it that way”

3. When members get conflicting instructional ideas, it hampers their progress.

Here is an example:

 As a teaching pro at a resort, I would get a lot of Hotel guests, which made my job a bit tricky.

If I only had them for One hour, then the fundamentals were the key and trying to get them to conquer them within their own “Funky “ style.  I used a lot of quick fixes or what I call band-aid solutions.

If they served with a semi western grip and I told them to switch to continental for their serve, how do you think the lesson went?  Do you think that they felt like they got their $70 worth?

So the key was to work with what they had, even though I knew that there was a better way.

What I would do is end up having them ask their pro something like, Coach Mick suggested that I eventually change to a continental grip, what do you think?

Key was to ask them questions and find out how the pro at their club taught specific shots and then go from there.

4. Once you gain trust and respect from the pro staff, the rest will come easy. Just be careful about that first impression that you leave with the staff.

Bottom Line: Don’t go too overboard with your philosophy at first, especially if it differs from the rest of the staff.  You should know this before you even walk in the door if you ask the right questions at the interview anyway…………

Good luck with this and please email me with any questions,

Coach Mick, USPTA

 Just remember this phrase, it goes for parents too:  Parents don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care

1. The more info you can send a parents way, the less questions they will have

1. Policies
2. Classes
3. Special events
4. Progress

2. The one thing that parents DO care about, is what class their child is in, so you need to have clear guidlines for how players get placed in classes and what he criteria are for moving up.

They may try to manipulate with : Days that work, times that work, friends, carpools  ……

One tip I try to stick to for new players, even my own kids ( I just told a pro this regarding my 5 and 8 yrar old this week) is that it is, if you are debating between 2 classes, level wise,  beter to put  the child in the lower class than in the upper class.  (more comfy for them, but then if you need to change classes, it is because they are TOO GOOD instead of telling the child they are not good enough) Much more positive.

3. The solution could be anything from from:

1. The pros decide
2. Age and ability
3. Ranking or UTR
4. Skills test have to be able to:…….)

The point is that it is clearly spelled out so there is no debate about it.

One ting I had to do was that in the first week, I played evry version of champs and challengers that included every possible situation, groundstrokes, serving, volleys……  and had a points system (and the pros were counting 4 of the kids to make sure the points lined up)

Then a ladder was established (pyramid)……………

It is tricky though.  Its was always hard for me to tell a parent how they need to act as a PARENT.

I feel that there is a line when you start telling a parent how to parent.

I think you can draw a line and say I am the coach and if you have any concerns, please come to me.

I also think it is OK for a parent, especially a tennis playing parent to say whatever they want.  There just has to be open communication so the player does not suffer. (This now relates to platers who are a bit more committed).

4. Remember if you break the rules for one kid, a parent will expect you to break it for them, even if you have a good reason.

It is better to tell one kid sorry than to get tanglred up in a web of excuses and reasons that you WILL have to remember one day

It usually will boil down to 1 or 2 that ruin your day, but clear rules, sticking to them, and communication and will alevite a lot of headaches.

I have a ton of stories which I will drip out to you over time, so please stay tuned……….

Bottom Line: Hold your ground and stick your policies.  You can always change your policies, and this is easier than trying to make everyone happy all the time.

Good luck and email me with any questions you may have,

Coach Mick, USPTA

Some examples include:

1. In the Interview 

- Better to be over dressed than under dressed.  

- Want to be prepared.  ex. Resume's for everyone 

- have good communication skills

- Knowledge of the Club and Position

- WOW them somehow.  Do something different

2. With the Staff

- Not just he pro staff, but the desk staff and the rest of the staff

- Ask about them, get to know them.  Show that you are truly interested in them

- Offer your help, especially in a bind

3. With the Members

- Hang out in the lobby and talk to them

- Get involved in as many socials as you can

- Go to a board meeting

- Get a write up in the newsletter or online staff page

4. With Your Private Lessons

- Good intro of yourself

- Let them know that you care in a classy way

- Have a private lesson plan for each student.  Come up with an annual plan

- Put in the extra time between privates

4. With Your Group Lessons

- Hi to everyone in warm-up

- Email and return phone calls.

Good Luck and email me with any questions or comment below.

Coach Mick, USPTA

The members are the headliners and you are there to set it all up so that you can ensure a successful event and allow them to have a great performance.

1. Private Lessons

- Know who you have

- Know what you worked on last week

- Ask them if they had a chance to do their homework

2. Group lessons

- Have to be on the same page with other pros

- Make sure court is prepared

- Talk to the members BEFORE you get started

This also gives you a chance to talk to the members BEFORE the lesson starts, strengthening your relationship and not wasting their time during the lesson with a bunch of small talk.

3. Socials

- Ordering food and beverage

- Get prizes ready

- New balls out (and warm-up balls)

- Get a list to the front desk (The easier you make it n them the better).  They are Your best ambassadors

- Be ready to adjust the numbers

4. Tournaments

- Make sure the club is prepared.  Balls up, nets measured, t-shirts....

- Info sheets out

- Officials are set

- There early for players who want to check in and warm up.

5. Rain Days

- Check the forecast

- Get there early to prepare courts

Bottom Line: Getting there early and helping prepare for the lessons or other events will only have a positive impact on you as an intern or teaching professional and create goodwill with the rest of the staff.  When they have to cover you, too many times, it may make for some long recovery time.

Coach Mick, USPTA

I am only skimming the surface here:

When I took the sports science exam, we covered 3 coaching objectives:

1. To Have Fun
2. To Develop Players
3. To Win

More defined:

• To have Fun Kids—Games/activities. Adults—social and maybe a good workout
• To help develop players
  1. physically (Skills and health),
  2. psychologically (emotionally and self-worth)
  3. socially (handling competition and teamwork)
• Winning (out of class objectives—matches, tournaments, practice, private lessons, conditioning, periodization…..)

And this came from the book “Successful Coaching” which is was more for team coaches if I remember right when it talked about coaching philosophy, but it is a number one seller in the US

 The key for you is to decide what your coaching objectives are (Fun, developing, or winning)

So…… One of the most important steps in determining this is how significant winning is to you as a coach.

This may all depend on who you are working with at the time for sure, because your students may be at different levels of their tennis development and have their own objectives.

The development route sounds like the hardest, but it should be included in ALL of the objectives if you want to be a successful coach.

Most any coach will tell you that the development of the athlete is the most important, but have you ever gone out and watched one of those coaches during a match or a game?

Remember the story at the beginning of todays episode.  Very easy to SAY one thing and DO another, especially in a competitive environment.

If it is a combination of fun and development, then working with the High performance programs may not be for you, but working with HS players, middle School players and the younger players may be a perfect fit.

If you want to go the high performance route, and you are just getting started, find a good mentor.  There is a lot more to it than you think and may require a number of different coaching specialists, depending on the degree of winning you are interested in.

As for adults, they usually have an easier time doing most of the dirty work for you.

For example, we had a number of 3.5 levels teams at our club and if you wanted to be a district champion, you wanted to get on one specific team for sure, but if you just wanted to have fun and compete followed by a few jello treats, the there was a team for that too. 

Usually the captains of the “Winning” team made it clear that that was the objective and that the line-up would be decided that way.  The other teams made sure everybody had equal playing time.

Wanting your players to win can be an inspiration or a buzz kill.  Depends on the make-up of the team or class

BOTTOM LINE: Try to start developing your coaching objective first o at least understand how you may have to make adjustments based on the class you are working with.

Coach Mick, USPTA

This is a bit more specific than your coaching objective because your students will see this in you everyday.

 The three coaching styles that coaches usually lean toward are:

1. The Command Style
2. The Submissive Style
3. The Cooperative Style

More defined:

The Command Style: 

The coach is the boss and the players role is to do what the boss says.  The assumption is that the coach has all of the experience and knowledge, so the coach gets to tell the athlete what to do because they know best and the athlete has to listen and do what he/she is told.  You find this a lot in coaches of the past and definitely in episode 013 regarding my sons baseball coach.

Here is a classic example:

My son was in a class where he and and his buddy were playing a couple of older kids and were up a break in the set.  The coach told the older two if they lost the set, they had 50 pushups.

On matchpoint, in the add court my 12 year old son was receiving serve and the server’s partned poached.  My son had time to run around his BH and hit a winner down the line, winning the smatch.  The comment from the coach was “That was a dumb shot” (he told me because it was low percentage).

That is a prime example and it took some smooth talking on my part to lift up his spirits on the ride home.

Personally, I liked this style somewhat because it gave me a way to prove to my coach that I COULD do it even if he kept saying that I couldn’t.  Only when I was confident in what I was doing though.

I didn’t like this style when I was trying to learn something new or I did not have the skill set yet.  This is where you hear kids say after you make a suggestion……. “I’m trying”….

Players tend to play to make the coach happy instead of playing because they are motivated.

This style fits in with the winning objective more than the other two
(definitely not fun, for most) 

The Submissive Style:

When I think of this style, can NBA Basketball coach comes to mind.  Very effective for them.  They already have amazing players on the court and it is important to just "Let Them Play"

The submissive style is the babysitter style.  Let’s all have a good time and don’t make me have to make any serious decisions about your tennis.  Very little instruction and direction and may let a lot go when is comes to discipline.  The “Other Parents” nightmare.  I say this because as a parent when you see your child being “Wronged” you want something to be done about it.  

I have seen some high performance coaches, who are great players, use this style for one main reason.  They know how to play, but don’t know how to coach, so they tend to run a class by just barking drills at them…… “OK 4 laps around the 3 courts…… OK now crosscourt groundstroke for 10 minutes and switch sides after that and do it again…..Ok now take some serves and play some tiebreakers.  Good job today!

All with NO instruction, huddles or  interaction at all during the 2 hours.  As goes the phrase “Great players, don’t always make great coaches.”

A submissive coach would not be allowed to lead a class at my club.  They may be able to assist under the guidance of a good lead coach.

Just so I am not totally dogging them, this coach would be good at social events and fun nights and maybe even a class where there are expectations instead if instruction.

This style may put a coach in one of three categories:

1. Incompetent or not confident
2. Lazy or Lazy
3. Truly believe that this is the best style

As a parent I want to see a coach engaging with my child and as an adult, I want the same engagement, otherwise what am I spending my money on?  I can get more engagement online

The Cooperative Style:

This style is a back and fourth between player and coach.  The coach is there to help the player makes smart decisions.

An example might be, when the point is over, you see something you want them to be aware of, but you have to let them make the discovery.  A submissive coach would say nothing, the command style coach might say nice job if you won and if you lost, bark at you about the passing shot you hit into the net, but a cooperative coach would say, Het Rene, Why do you think you lost that point?

Now this is something you have to get good at managing your students see, because the answer will most likely be, because I did not hit the passing shot high enough, but usually, the point is won or lost 2-4 shots before the last shot and then a pattern is run by either player.

 or example, I might say, well when your opponent came to the net, that put more pressure on you, how could you have overcome that?

And hopefully the answer, “By not hitting that short ball 3 shots ago”  will come out. This is the cooperative style.  Si I would say, what should you be focused on more the next time, not missing the passing shot, NO, hopefully they would say, keeping my neutral balls deep so they cant come up.

In working with a big group I think a good way to accomplish this is when you see a consistent area you want to cover with the group (ex.  Where to hit the ball when you poach), you bring them in a huddle, talk about the possibilities and advantages and disadvantages of each and ten send them out.  The key now is to talk to players individually like we said in the last example.

This way, you engage with them, but not too much, allowing them to think for themselves.

I think this is the style we would all answer as the one we would like to use, like the develop players objective, but I think you really have to stay aware that this is what you want to do, because it is easy to veer off to one of the other two styles, based on what is happening out there.

The challenge for coaches is to know how much to direct your player vs letting them direct themselves. 

This will take time to master as well.  It take practice just like hitting a FH.

BOTTOM LINE: Remember, this is just the surface, If you don’t have a coaching style, start practicing now, because it will take a while, like it did for me.  Then you will start getting more confident.

Coach Mick, USPTA

In this episodeWe talk about how to handle different levels of players in the same class.

Before coming to Central Florida, Marc was a Tennis Director for over 30 years and has a lot to offer pros who are just getting started and those who have been on the business a long time.

The talented players may "Revolt" if you do not have a creative practice plan.

You have to add in challenges.

The middle group needs to be incentivized by the better players.

The top players need to know that they have to dominate the Middle group.

For me, it is always a good time to work on weaker skills that need to be developed when playing against players that are weaker.

As a pro, you are going to have to work with ALL the levels.  

Don't get caught just hanging out with one of the three levels.

The lesson p,an is the key.

For more on The UCF PTM Program go to: https://hospitality.ucf.edu/tennis/

Coach Mick, USPTA

Today’s quick tip is:  Remember the Milkshake Moment, but look to make a lot of Milkshakes, even when they don’t ask.

First of all , one thing I was taught at an early age is that the number one gift you can give anyone, is your time.  Like money, we only have so much of it to give and we need to use it and invest wisely. This is where the milkshake comes in.

Ok, so here are some typical “Asks” from members at a club”

1. “Can you be our 4^th?  Susie didn’t show today.
2. Can you stick around and get this racquet strung so the member can take it home tonight (He lives 20 miles away)
3. Can you do a 6:00 AM for tis hotel guest who is in meetings all day? Remember what Scott Did in episode 1? Scott gave the customer a “Milkshake Moment” and it landed him a job as manager and head men’s and Women’s coach at Ferris.
4. There is No Water I the cooler and we are out of cups
5. Can you apply what Stevie missed in his group lesson, due to being sick to a private lesson?  Tricky because if he makes up in a group, it won’t cost you anything, but if you do the private, that is an hour of your time.
6. Are there any 4.5,s you could set me up with?
7. When someone is coming in late for their lesson as you are leaving for home

There are internal guests too (The people you work with)

1. Can you fill in for Doug, he did not show today
2. Or, “there were only 6 signed up for red ball today but 12 showed, can you help me out

Also, look to Make a Milkshake, even when they don’t ask.

1. Hit with someone while they are waiting for their opponent to show up
2. If you see someone struggling with their serve (While practicing) go give them some advice, if you know they will accept it.
3. Bring the sunscreen & extra towels out on a hot day
4.  Go over if you can (I remember an hour lesson lasting over two sometimes at the end of the day) 

BOTTOM LINE: Remember, when you can make something happen, even when it is not convenient, look to do it for your members and look even to make those milkshakes even when they are not expecting one ………. unless they are lactose intolerant 

Jorge discusses the way he judges the value of his pros by using what he call his "Scale of Worth."

The episode will have more detail, but basically this is how he determines what to pay his pros.

One thing to remember is that when we talk about income, it is very geographic, meaning that you will probably make more in New York City than you will in Jorge's home town of Holland, MI., but the costs to live in both places is very different as well.

The whole idea of Jorge's Scale of Worth is that the more valuable you are to the club, the more you will get paid.

So being ambitious is a plus and continuing to learn will benefit you in the long run.

Let's take a look at how Jorge does it:

Level 1 - Can only assist in a class.  High school helper or college player, basically a ball bumper - $12/hr

Level 2 - Can lead some of the classes - $15/hr

Level 3 - Can lead ALL of the classes - $18/hr

Level 4 - Can MAINTAIN a private lesson clientele - $22/hr

Level 5 - Can recruit private lessons - $27/hr

Level 6 - Can run a USTA adult team practice - $30/hr

Level 7 - Can run an entire team (lineups, recruiting..) - $33/hr

Level 8 - Able to start NEW programs - 40% Incentive

Level 9 - Grow an existing program ( 6 to 12 players) - % Incentive

Level 10 - ALL above PLUS always available to work - $35+/hr

It is not where you think you are, but there YOUR BOSS thinks you are on this scale.

If you are interviewing for a position, these are good questions to ask, so you understand the system of a particular program

Bottom line: Your with is a direct reflection on what you can deliver for your club or facility 

Good luck with this and please email me at ptmpodcast@usta.com with any questions you may have.

Coach Mick, USPTA

When I started teaching, on my own, I had to write up policies for my staff.  I came out of college as a Director at a resort in Northern Michigan.

Not because I was an amazing pro, but I think I had a lot of help from my PTM Director and they really didn’t have any programs yet, it was just an amenity, so I couldn’t screw it up that badly, Right?

I still had to come up with a whole set of programs, policies and processes on how things needed to be done.

What did I do?, well if you listen to episode 003, I copied a bunch of things from my PTM program, camps and  internships I worked, called other pros and had some of my own.

To be honest, I was not great initially at developing a “Teaching Philosophy” for the program, and my focus was on just creating one. 

Now I was still a Greenhorn Director and Pro, but I did want the staff to be professional and I would worry about the other stuff later.  This was all pretty new to me and a bit intimidating because I wanted to do a great job

So I took our Do’s and Don’ts for the tennis professional that we had  in our PTM program and applied this to our program, and I want to go over these with you today.  They will be in the show notes as well

Remember that these are basic and a bit old, but I think still stand true to this day.  If you were taking this in a certification course, it would definitely be more complex, but this should be a great start.

Do’s and Don’ts of the Teaching Professional

• Arrive 15 minutes early. 
• Exaggerate alertness and expression.
• LOOK PROFESSIONAL.
• Follow the clubs dress code (collared shirt)
• Make sure that courts and equipment are prepared in advance.
• Listen to Head Pro’s instruction and objectives.
• Stay on court during the whole lesson.
• Help pick up balls.

DON’TS:

• Show up late.
• Yawn (or hug your racquet)
• Lean against the net post, curtain, etc…
• Talk or bounce balls while the Head Pro is talking.
• Talk about work related problems with students.
• Leave court during ball pick-up.

BASIC DRILL ADMINISTRATION TIPS

       Get Their Attention

• Be loud and enthusiastic
• Exaggerate expression
• DEMAND ATTENTION
  
  Keep Them Moving

• Students should not be standing in one spot too long
• Most important to a parent watching the lesson
• More fun for students
• More fun for Director to watch
  
  Setting Up The Drill

• Explain the drill and objective
• Demonstrate drill
• Split students up by ability if needed
  
  Tips For Good On Court Drill Administration

• Pay attention to safety
• Pay attention to drill speed
• Exaggerate loudness and expression

VOLUNTARY ACTIVITIES FOR TENNIS PROFESSIONALS

There are many voluntary activities done by staff members that will enhance the program.  These activities are the catalysts that will move the program from an average one, to one that excels.  These “freebies” reflect your interest in the programs and will help your students feel a bit more special.  These are “Extras” like we talked about in episode 001 These might include:

Hitting with students during free time, even 5 to 10 minutes will have an impact on the student and their parent.

- Helping a student select a tennis camp

- Taking students to tournaments

- Organizing a tournament or fun day

- Watching students play out of class 

This is big when you want to make that good first impression like we discussed in episode 011

Bottom Line: Looking professional and acting professional will definitely set you apart from even those pros who think they are better than you.  You are in the people business.

Good Luck, 

Coach Mick, USPTA

What intrigued me were the “Windows” of development and how we had to get this important stuff in before it became much more of a challenge to develop particular skills.

The first was the window for agility, balance and coordination.  The second was puberty.

What I didn’t know that with A,B and C, the window started to shut somewhere around age 10-12.  Which meant it was important to have these skills developed as much as possible by then.

Now when I was a kid, it was easy, we climbed trees, played army and had P.E, every day in school., not anymore………

P.E. in a lot of schools is twice/week where I was and kids are on their devices all day, so the best way to develop these skills was to play multiple sports.

I will talk about this in more detail in a future episode, but I got 8 leaders of different sports in town and turned my 10 and under tennis camp into a tennis and sports academy, which was basically tennis every day plus and alternate sport, led by the leader of that sport in the community.

It was extremely successful, plus I got to introduce tennis to a bunch of kids who I probably would not have, because they were coming to play all the sports.

Parents loved it because they did not have to sign up their child for 12 weeks of a sport only to find out the child hated it.  They could try a sport for one day and report back with no risk.

The point is, through my drive to want to learn as much as I could, this concept developed into an amazing summer experience and I retained a lot of these kids in the fall, winter and spring.

It was an easy sell to the leaders of the other sports, because they understood the science behind it, plus we promoted their programs to all of the kids at the same time.  Win-win for all.

This basic concept of sport science leads us into my interview, with Dr. Mark Kovacs who will simplify “Tennis Science” as he calls it and tells you where you can get started.

Sport Science is basically all of the scientific areas that allow you to teach tennis better.

In it’s complex form, it is a combination of:

1. The physiology of the body

2. The biomechanics of the body

3, The anatomy of how our muscles and movements work

4. Sports Psychology

5. Nutrition

6. Motor Learning

7. How the brain functions

8. How we develop skillets

9. How we teach the

10. How this all integrate with how to hit a ball under stressful situations

But this IS NOT for just the top players

The goal is how we can make teaching and learning more efficient and more fun.

Skill develop is VERY IMPORTANT at all levels of play and makes you a better coach and makes you more versatile.

Where you can start:

1. USTA Sport Science Course

2. Get involved in the international tennis performance association. helps educate you on how to understand sport science and how it relates to make you a better coach and teacher.

1st Step:

The Tennis Performance Training Program

- Not heavy on the science

- Not a lot of big words

- Tries to get coaches to understand the basics in video and written form

- Lots of resources provided if you want to dig deeper in a particular area

You can get there by going to:  http://itpa-tennis.org

Bottom Line: Skill development is very important at all levels, especially when players are young, so coming up with a basic plan will not only help you develop these kids but your parents will know that you get it, which makes you MORE attractive to them.

Getting both you and your platers started as early as posit;e will be an advantage for the both of you.

Links

http://itpa-tennis.org

To get a hold of Dr. Kovacs go to:

1. mkovacsphd (Twitter. Facebook, Instagram)

2. http://kovacsinstitute.com and send an email

Good Luck, 

Coach Mick, USPTA

It sure would have kept the member and me, from feeling uncomfortable and having to explain to the member that it could wait and she was what is important now.

Believe it or not, When you criticize in private, that shows respect and when you show respect, it may give you that edge that you need. 

I have even got called out in meetings before, and found out later, and it did not feel that good. 

When you do it in public it only only Embarrasses the person you’re criticizing and. , Even though you may think differently, does not make you look all that good in front of everybody. 

So if you have an issue with anyone, even your supervisor, try to find out a smooth way to do it privately and if you can give accolades in public, go for it.

We have a Service of Excellence program here where you can do it on a card and they all get posted for all to see.

Now while teaching, you still want to try to follow this rule.  But remember, some people are more accepting of compliments, good and bad, than others.

In a group setting, it’s easy just to pull the group in and talk to them as a group if you see some common issues between, even only a few players. Or, you can pull someone aside during ball pick up and explain to them what want to see different.

Even when discipline players, pull them aside and do it privately.

I remember I had a group of cocky high school kids when I first started and they were not into conditioning in class at all and one time one of the players said, we didn’t pay to be conditioned, we paid for tennis.  My response was, you just paid to sit in my office and call your mom and tell her why you are in there, if you can beat me to it.

Now I said that in front of the group and probably shouldn’t have, but you can gauge that.  The rest of the class conditioned without any complaints.

When it comes to praising someone, say it out loud in class, that only will motivate others to want to try to do the same. 

But be careful that you just don’t do it to one person the whole time because then that can cause some issues for sure, because now it looks like you are favoring players and that is not a good thing either.

The key for me, and this was a bit harder, was to know where everyone was in their development.

We used to do a variety of exercises when it came to conditioning

Now there was on kid that could only do ONE pushup but after  10 weeks he improved by 1000% (he could do 10) so there was a lot of room for praise in public and he won the Ironman award for most improved, even though he still did fewer than anyone.

Now, in a private, it’s fairly easy because It’s only you and them, but I found out to get someone to be more receptive to criticism, praise them first and then tell them what they need to do differently and why.

Now this might seem a bit like the command coach, so how would a cooperative coach do it?

Well a cooperative coach might ask open ended questions to get the player to come to the conclusion, like…… Why do you think most of your shots are going long? Now if they have a definite answer,  right or wrong, go back and actually test it out on court.  Let them use the process of elimination until they get it and if they do not choose your correction, find a way to get them to bring it out.

Just get to know your players to make the learning more efficient.

Bottom Line: be sensitive to those around you that you work with and who you coach.  If you treat them as you want to be treated, then it should make for a great environment.

The PTM Podcast Welcomes Marc Gelina, Associate PTM Director, University of Central Florida Rosen Campus.

The salt story is an analogy on how power of the mind and taking action can change your habits.

Salt is made of up two elements: Sodium and Chloride.

Take each one alone and it is poison.

Combine the two and you have the spice that used to rule the world.

The same goes for how we approach tennis.

Power of the Mind - Think and believe.  What the mind can conceive, the body can achieve.

Taking action -  changing your habits

Similar to your signature.  If you signed your name 100 times, it would pretty much look the same from #1 to #100, but if someone showed you how to do it properly (Or differently),  maybe it could improve.

When you are changing habits, remember: “A yard is hard and an inch is a sinch”

Little tiny habits can change your results on tennis.

Similar to termites (small little things) do more damage very year than hurricanes and tornados combined.

When you combine power of the mind and taking action, this is where you are going to see the most improvement and how we have to coach our students.

W.I.N. - What’s Important Now

Thinking this all the time can help keep your mind in the right place and combining this with actions.

Today’s Quick Tip: Applying the salt story to teaching

We need to teach our students to combine both.

As a teaching pro:

You can have a good plan and taking the right action.

A great plan with no action is worthless, pretty obvious.

Great drills, with no plan can be detrimental as well

For example if you just go out and have your student hit a bunch of balls, improvement will be limited, but if you have a good long term (and daily plans), this will keep you on track as a coach, because you can design good lesson plans around these goals to make sure you are achieving these, inch by inch.

A  good plan and taking the right action will help your students reach their goals and you as a coach as well.

To get a hold of Marc you can go to: marc.gekina@ucf.edu

Good luck, 

Coach Mick, USPTA

Let me just say that teaching and coaching work together.  The main ingredient here is the LEARNING.

Let’s start with teaching.  What is teaching?

Teaching is about the teacher, 

can they explain something clear enough for you to understand?

Teaching is basically a one way interaction between the teacher and the student.

If I were to create a video on how to hit a slice serve, I would basically be teaching you and the rest is up to you.

I sent you the video, you received it, so I taught you something.

I would show you all of the steps, but then you have to go out and hit serves by yourself.

Think about school.  There is a teacher/or professor up in the front taking you through how a certain event took place or how a certain process works, sometimes in from of 100’s of students at one time.

It is then up to you to take great notes and try to understand what was said so that you will pass the test on whatever it was he/she was trying to teach you.

Now think about who your favorite teachers were in school.  They were most likely the ones who interacted with you, watched you and gave you some feedback.

It made you feel good that they paid attention to you and took an interest in who you were.

Which leads us into coaching.

Look at those teachers I just described in my last example.  They were bridging the gap somewhat by not just teaching.  

They were focused on you

So, Coaching is about the student.  

Yes, It requires teaching, but then a coach takes the next steps of watching how you perform and then provides feedback on how you can perform even better, analyzes that and it continues on and on through this cycle.

A coach will help you set goals, come up with an annual plan on where they feel you should be and provide the steps on how you can get there.  There may need to be some adjustment along the way, but coaches definitely understand this.

A teacher is not as concerned about your progress, they teach and then report on how you did.

In the olden days, what was a coach?

It was a vehicle that got you from one place to another.

As a coach, you are a vehicle to get a student from point to another.

Great coaches usually do not come standard, like in the old days.

They have a lot of options included, like knowledge of technique, strategy, nutrition, fitness, the mental game and all of those the dr. Kovacs included in episode 020.

All of these things will help a player get to where they want to go, which is usually being the best player or competitor they can be

As a coach you need to come up with a plan and monitor where your players are by observing them, providing feedback to keep them on track while providing the next steps of the journey.

Your general knowledge of sport science should get you by, will also tell you if you need to bring in an expert, like a nutritionist, or fitness expert, depending on your level of coaching.

And as a coach, like John wooden said, you need to be able to treat all payers differently.

This is because a great coach knows that students learn and are inspired in different ways.  

Coaches know that some students, myself included, like the command style, while some like the cooperative and even the submissive.

Any coach that says one way is the only way has slid back to the teacher role.

So what now?

Should you start with teaching or coaching

Well, if you are new to teaching tennis, you may have some great coaching advice, but you just need to brush upon your tennis knowledge.

Add on as many “Extras” to the vehicle……, you, so that you can become a knowledgeable coach and at least have a basic understanding of the science behind the sport.

While on court, you may just be following a lesson plan that the head pro made up and expects you to stay in line with what he wants to focus on, but there will be a lot of opportunities to start practicing your coaching skills.

Any moment you take to invest personally with a student, you have crossed the bridge into coaching.

It might be something very simple, like after seeing someone struggling in class, you pull them aside at the end and show them a few things they can start doing at home to overcome whatever it was they were struggling with.

Most likely it is something you can relate to.

Even a quick phone call during the week (or email) to see how it is going, puts you in more of a coaching role and that may lead to something more permanent in the future.

But please be genuine about it.

What do you think?

Bottom Line: It’s OK to start in the teaching role.  Absorb all you can from the pros you work with and the pros you admire in the industry.   Take what you like and throw away what you don’t, but if you are a bit uncomfortable, look for those small  “Coaching windows” that will help you become more than just a teacher.

Remember, it is the LEARNING that is important  And this varies. 

All some need is to be told once (or taught) and some may need a little extra (or coached).

In the next few episodes, we will discuss the different types of vehicles, or coaches that may get students from one place to another.

Which one are you? well I hope you will keep listening every Tuesday and Thursday to find out.

Good Luck, 

Coach Mick, USPTA

Remember the definition of a coach, getting a player from one place to another. 

So the first is the Amtrak Train. 

This coach wants to take you to your destiny on one track, one way, no exceptions, no veering off track.

First let’s look at this coach in a negative way   My Way Is THE BEST WAY

This is the person who hangs around the tournaments and matches waiting to take advantage of a vulnerable player and parent.

He is trying to sell the ticket through marketing of him/her self

As the player is playing, this person is telling the parent how his/her way can change their child’s game around and what they are doing now does not make sense.

They usually promise they can take the player to a specific destination in a very short amount of time.

Another example: 

On court, this pro has specific patterns that MUST be followed to a “T” and the students are not allowed to veer off track at all and in matches, the tactics MUST be followed based on the ball the player is receiving.

This coach has specific “Patterns” of play that, usually based on percentage tennis, so if allowed, you better have a good reason for breaking the pattern when the point is over.

And saying , “well I won the point didn’t I?” usually is not going to be the answer……..

This coach will usually back-up their style with all of the players that they have coached who were successful, forgetting about all of the other ones who were not.

Is this really bad though?

But what good can come out of coaching this way? 

Well, it forces the students to focus on one thing.  And focusing on one thing clears out all of the surrounding static that can prevent a player from improving.

In sport we call this deliberate practice or practicing with a purpose.

In a ball machine example I give a lot, I let players know that repetition is important, but the root word of repetition is “REPEAT” which doesn’t mean hitting a ton of balls, but hitting a ton of balls the SAME WAY.

This may help produce what they used to say in the past, but they don’t anymore, “Muscle memory”

Daniel Coyle, in his book the Talent Code says that there is a direct relation to the amount of deliberate practice and the MYELIN that is created though repeating things over and over the same way.

A train might travel slower than a car, but it cuts thought the forest, mountains, even under bodies of water, to get to the destination quicker.

But, If you are a cookie-cutter coach and only have one way, that will help only specific players. For example, when my son was young, I thought he was going to be real slow. 

So I made sure he stood in close and played inside the baseline so he would learn how to hit everything off the rise so he would not have to run so far.

The other advantage was that he liked to volley, so doing this would get him to where he liked to play from anyway, the net, and it took time away from his opponent which is a major way to create unforced errors out of them, but we will get into this in a later episode or video.

Lucky for me, he had Fast twitch muscle but do you see how the make up of the player may cause you to use different swing patterns. 

For example if he had to stay close to the baseline, his stroke pattern may have to change.

He has less time to prepare to hit the ball, so a cookie-cutter longer and bigger backswing, like Del Potro  may not be very helpful because he will have less time.

Sure, it may get bigger after time because he is more comfortable, but you’ve got to think in terms of success based on player styles and what they do and were born with naturally.

Think about it, if you could work with what a player does naturally and sneak in all of those common denominators within their style, how that might make the LEARNING easier

This gets tricky, because as a coach, you have to decide what works and what may not.

In the last episode, John Wooden even said to his players, I am going to treat each one of you differently. 

He said this because he knew they all learned differently and the focus to bring out the best in each player would probably have to be different.

But couldn’t this be said for the technical/tactical aspects of tennis too, based on the players natural style?

So going back to the Amtrak Train

this coach may have a list of players who were successful, but could it have been bigger if he/she coached based on the players abilities and the style that fits them best?

Sounds like a lot of work, but what do you think?

Bottom Line: Having a solid teaching philosophy is a sign of a good coach and a lot of positives come out of sticking to the plan, but don’t be afraid to make a few adjustments along the way.

Good Luck,

Coach Mick, USPTA

Don’t try to correct each shot.  There are NO REDOS anyway, just opportunities.

Instead, Try to look for the primary issue and go from there, BEFORE THE FACT. Now you have presented an opportunity to the student.

As a tester, the student was supposed to match the primary problem we saw, but the key for me was even if the primary problem didn’t match mine, that was OK as long as long as he progressed properly and the student LEARNED and improved. 

Let’s start with the positive:

Now, depending on where you work, this might be somewhat appropriate because you WILL NOT be able to develop someone’s stroke over time.  The two positions I can think of off hand are:

1. 1. The Resort Pro
2. 2. The Academy/Camp Pro

As a resort pro for 30 years, to be honest, I did not give a lot of lessons to hotel guests, my staff did, but when I first started, it was all me.

The one thing I learned was that, it was like the private lesson during the USPTA test.

I had one hour with them, so I did not want to make any major grip changes, or anything else that would:

1. 1. Take until the end of the lesson for them to accomplish
2. 2. Not allow me to see them the next week and how the development was going.

If it was a grip change, I would say something like, “when you get back home, mention to your pro about using the continental grip on the serve and ask what he/she thinks about it”

That still might put the pro in a bad position, because it may have been something they have been overlooking.

If I could come up with something where they could see immediate success (Usually a band-aid solution),  They were happy, I was happy and they felt like it was $70 well spent.

So even if they had the wrong grip on their serve, I could still improve the serve they had and have them mention the grip to their pro back home.

Now as an academy/camp pro, you have more time, maybe a week or more to observe and develop a bit, so it is a bit easier to bring up a longer term solution.

At the end of camp, you would probably write out an evaluation that they can take home and show their pro, if they have one, but the key is that you have time (OR EVEN EXTRA TIME) 

Now the Negative:

When you teach this way, you might be confusing the student.  

They will have little to go on, when they want to go out and practice to improve because there was so much said.

Sometimes, a slick pro will use this method, until they see something stick and stay with that correction, but you need to be able to break the stroke down (in your mind), find the primary issue and work on that.

If you are just starting out, here is a good way to try to diagnose the issue.

1. Remember The ball goes exactly where the RACQUET tells it to go, so contact point is the key.

Spin, Speed, Height, Depth and Direction all affect how we make contact. You are most likely trying to give them the same ball most every time, especially off a feed.

2: During the warm-up, asses what is happening to MOST of their shots.

For example: 80% of their Forehands are going into the net.  What does this mean?  Closed racquet face at contact.

Now figure out why it is closing and focus on that.

It could be the grip, but it

If you know your progressions, this will help diagnose.

If it is a regular student, there may not be a primary issue, you are just working with them and developing their stroke or game, but I am saving this for the next episode………. So please Stay tuned.

So KNOW YOUR PROGRESSIONS 

This will help you visualize where the problems may be occurring.

As a coach, you need to be able to see the stroke being hit in slow motion side by side with the visual of the perfect progression IN YOUR HEAD.

Bottom Line: Don’t get caught in the ambulance mode, especially if you are working on regular basis with a player.  If you are seeing someone only once, picking the ONE THING may just make that once into a regular gig.

Good Luck, 

Coach Mick, USPTA

I have been on one cruise.  I thought I would never like them, but I really do.  

The cool part, other than the free drinks and ice cream, it that even though there is a final destination, we make a lot of successful stops along the way.

For example: My in-laws come to Florida every year to hang out with us for a few months.  Now when I make the drive, it takes me about 21 hours to get here from Michigan.

When they drive it takes about 4 days, because they like to stop at some really cool places and soak in different parts of the country, 

Kind of like the movie Vacation, when Chevy Chase, I forget his character’s name, would make all of those different stops on the way to Wally World, like biggest ball of yarn, mall of America, biggest hunk of cheese, something to that effect.

Where this applies to coaching is that, even though you may have a destination, there should be a lot of successes along the way not only to keep the LEARNING in check, but your players motivation going, because they are seeing success after success along the way.

This may be called “Chunking” which refers to breaking down a process into pieces that are more manageable and will help keep the student inspired along the way.

For example: It is hard to work on the serve and volley for the first time and then go use it in a tournament for the first time 2 days later.

You have to break it down into parts and maybe even those parts into smaller pats.

So let’s go back to my player who I said NO too.

She was surprised and her dad was too when I said that I would not give her another lesson , but what they didn’t realize was that when she hit with me in a controlled environment, she was a steady hitter.

But in a match, her opponents were not trying to work with her, they were trying to make her life miserable, which was accomplished that day.

What I told her dad was that she needed to go out and hit with someone.  A steady hitter.  

A bunch of crosscourt rallies, no pressure.

See if the two of them can get 20 in a row, counting down.  Cooperative hitting. (Counting down adds a small  element of pressure).

SUCCESS

Now if she can’t handle it when someone is trying to work with her and be nice, how is she going to handle it when someone is trying to be mean, right.

Now start counting up and lets say whatever number either player misses on, that is how many jumps they have over their racquet ( I would say crunches, but I do not want to get emails saying that I punish with conditioning).

Still got past 20 70% of the time.

SUCCESS

Now the point element

Now let’s play a groundstroke game to 100.  The rule is that you play one point on the deuce side and then the next on the add side.  No serving.

Count the number of times the ball goes over the net on the rally.  Whoever wins the point, get the same number of points as the ball was rallied over the net. ( 15, 3, 42) until someone gets to 100 points

More pressure each time a ball is hit back to you.

NOT SUCCESSFUL

OK we just pinpointed out the stop that needs to be made and focused on until success can be achieved.

Playing out pressure points crosscourt with someone other than me.

I mean she knows where the ball is going, so the recovery element isn’t even an issue.

Now you might think that as a pro, you can fill the shoes of the other player and make $30 bucks, but it is tough.

You want to see them successful and if you start crushing them, your instinct will be to lay off a bit so they can achieve something.

So stay in that arena, until you start seeing some success.

You just defined where the TRAINING focus should be

Kind of like when I am teaching a 3.0 player how to hit a slice for the first time.

1. Hand feed up close

2. Racquet feed from the other side of the net 

And now they think they are ready for prime time.

And that’s Very unlikely.

So remember what Marc Gelina said in episode 022, an inch is a cinch and a yard is hard

OK, so the final destination (The yard) is to hit these in match play successfully.

Where might the stops (inches) be:

1. Lesson with me: SUCCESS – Perfect feed and me teaching them 
2. Try it on the ball machine - SUCCESS, still the perfect feed, no help from the coach and start thinking on their own
3. Rally with a partner (20 in row, cooperative) – Varied balls (High, low, short deep…) , thinking on own –  NOT SUCCESSFUL

OK, spend some time there on that island training. Then move to:

1. Play out points with defined areas
2. Play out pattern points that include that shot
3. Play out normal points.

At least they will be able to connect the dots a lot easier now.

Wherever the breakdown is, that is where they should be training.

I think you get the point now, but here is my challenge to you:

Email me a suggested journey to learning how to serve and volley and what the stops along the way might be. (ptmpodcast@usta.com)

I will walk through one of the pathways in a future episode.

Whichever one I use, I will send you a PTM promo package in the mail.

Bottom Line: No matter if it is a stroke, a strategy, try to start piecing the pathway that you would teach to reach the final destination, including all of the steps in between.  

When students experience small successes, that keeps them motivated to reach the long-term goal. 

As a coach, it’s our job to put the (steps) or inches in order. Each lesson (or more) is an inch. 

Each lesson is a success where they’ve learned something which keeps them interested and wanting  to stay on board. 

Even though you have a destination, there are many mini stops ( successes along the way) 

It will be different for every player, that is why I love teaching (AND COACHING) tennis.

Good Luck,

Coach Mick, USPTA

So today’s quick tip is:  Start with contact and progress backwards when working with a NEW player, 

So why do people say that tennis is HARD?

I’m going to tell you how I achieved 100%, yes I said 100% success, with getting every new player I have ever worked with to hit a 20 ball rally over the net on their 1^st day with me.

There are two secrets here and one of them is you

So come on, make it easy for them.

This way you can increase the chances of them being successful and coming back for more! 

Now you need to know your progressions, which are the step you might take from start to finish to hit the ball over the net.

Here is a little trick I like and if you remember anything, remember this if you are working with a NEW Player especially and they will be successful each week and can back off to stay successful if need be.

If you read the progressions of any stroke they will go something like this: 

1. GRIP

2. READY POSITION

3. STANCE

4. FOOTWORK

5. BACKSWING 

6, FORWARD SWING 

7. CONTACT

8. FOLLOW-THROUGH 

9. FINISH

If you look at this list, there are 6 things to do BEFORE the student makes contact.

Good luck with that.

What does the student really care about, hitting the little  ball over the net into the HUGE court, that is it

How easy should this be?  Think about it if this were an attraction at the fair

I was at Cherry Festival in Traverse City Michigan and was walking by the booths where everyone tries to call you over to shoot the balloons, knock over the bowling pins or sink the basketball in a hoop that is probably only ½ wider than the ball itself,

What if there was a booth like this………………………………..

OK Step right up. Step right up and hit this 2.7 inch diameter ball into this HUGE 1404 square foot hole and win a prize.

Just hold it and hit it.

Who has the guts to try……….. 

I bet if this was a booth, it would have a huge line right?

Well, this is exactly what tennis is 

And when you say it this way, does it sound like tennis should be hard?

My first house (2 bedroom 1 bath) was only 863 square feet.

So come on,  make it easy for them.

If they are successful, they will want to do it again and if they are not, they might have 2^nd thoughts.

With Scott, I had lunch as a backup, but not so easy on the tennis court.

How about trying it in this order:  GRIP, CONTACT, FINISH (maybe)

I bet if you explained where they need to hit the ball (Contact), have them start exactly there and then lift up to the finish.

If you think about it, as tennis coaches we find ourselves telling our students how to SEND the ball over the net all the time yet, the key to being successful starts with how we receive the ball.

Think about my carnival example. If you have the ball in your hand you’re in total control of how to start, but when you’re playing tennis you have an opponent sending the ball over the net to you, so you want to make sure you are receiving the ball as similarly as you were when you were holding it just to drop it over the net.

So, Try to visualize this.

What I mean by this is that when I talk to students about this,  the first thing I have them do is turn somewhat sideways and just catch a ball in their hands that I feed over the net to them.

You will see that when we do this, they do not take their hand back first, They will usually just put their hand behind where they think the ball is going to be when they catch it.

This means if I feed them a high ball they put their hand up high to catch it. If I feed them a lowball, they put their hand down load to catch it. If I feed them and medium ball they put their hand at a medium level to catch it. 

The closer they’re hand is to the ball, the more successful they are going to have to catching it. The more they have to move their hand to go catch it, it will be more difficult to catch because of the timing.

The next step I take is to have the student to hold the racquet, with the proper grip and have them just stop the ball on their strings, just like they did with their hand.

I usually say if they hit the ball over the net successfully in the court, they have 100 push-ups, ha ha!, 

This works on The proper grip and how to track a ball as it’s approaching them.

The next step is to do the same exact thing but instead of letting the ball drop off the racquet, just  lift the ball up over the net and finish period

If you want to get technical on the finish you can, but there’s no need to here. 

What you will find, is that the player does not take the racket back but just waits for the ball to come to them which is important when it comes to balance. 

The racquet in the ball stay close and there’s limited distance between the racket and the tennis ball prior to contact.

Think about a player that takes the racket way back, They have to move their racket forward, commit to their swing, and hopefully that swing is going to run in direct line to wear the balls going to be at that precise point they want to make contact. 

Now I said earlier that one of the secrets is you. And it is. To make that 20 balls you are going to have to make sure you hit that orange ball or green ball or even a foam ball back to them in a manner to which they can receive it as easily as possible.

If you put a heavy topspin on the ball is going to be more difficult for them.

They don’t have to do a whole lot to hit the ball over the net, I promise you. 

Go stand in front of any wall and hit a ball at the wall. The wall does nothing. But I bet the balls going to come back at you because the wall is making perfect contact every time with your shot, In a way anyway.

Too many players think they have to take a huge stroke to make the ball go over the net. They do not have to do this at all.

Now once they understand this concept you can start adding in the other progressions but the great thing about it here is if they are having issues they can always regress back to where they know they can be confident. 

Even more so on the serve.  Start with contact, add in some wrist, hen some forearm, then some shoulder, then some trunk, then some legs  and so on.

The great part is that, like we talked about in episode 26, they can go until they find it difficult.  That is where they need to train or back off one more step, to just ensure success.

And they will probably be coming back for more!

Bottom Line: With NEW Payers start your progressions with contact and work your way to a complete stroke.  OR you may be losing a lot of potential players.

Good Luck,

Coach Mick, USPTA

Jorge is a highly regarded tennis professional all around the world and has arguably the best tennis drills site on the internet.

So Jorge , through his own experience has put people/coaches into one of 5 different levels

1. 1. The Encourager - They look for the good in others and take the extra steps to tell them
2. 2. They look for the good, but don’t tell them
3. 3. Generally wired to look for the bad in others
4. 4. Look for the bad in others and then DO tell THEM.  These people are kind of mean.
5. 5. The Gossiper - Look for the bad in others but tell OTHER PEOPLE 

If you see a flaw, it is OK, but make sure your spirit is looking for the good stuff as well.  This will make the negative things easier to accept.

Big Question: Where do you think you fit?

The people that succeed in general tend to be more like the Level 1 and Level 2 people.

Even Bigger Question: Where would your co-workers place you on this scale

What a great conversation with Jorge.

Now I can honestly say that I have been in each of those situations in my life at one point, even in my career.

It is easy to get caught up in a conversation and find yourself going down the wrong path, just not to rock the boat with a person who you may look up to.

But as most wise people will tell you, ……..

Surround yourself with the people you want to be the most like, and hopefully is the level 1 or level 2 type of person hat Jorge was discussing.

As a coach, it can sometimes be easier to look for the flaws in a stroke and focus on what is wrong (like the ambulance coach in episode 025), but look for the good as well and make sure your students hear what you like about their game.

Do the same with even your co-workers.  I am sure some extra lessons will probably be going to the pro that the desk staff respects and admires, more than the pro who is a glass half-empty person all the time.

And even better, do the same when nobody is looking – This defines your character.

Bottom Line: If I had to summarize this I would say, Nurture and pay close attention to your character more than your reputation and you will most likely achieve more success plus have a lot of great relationships on and off the court.

Good Luck,

Coach Mick, USPTA

And using my online marketing method, may just get those stubborn players eager to learn.

A Quick story:

I had a group of students recently come to the campus for a week and it was an amazing experience for me s well as for them (I hope anyway) 

And by the way, if you are interested in bringing a group here, talk to me and I will set you up with an experience that you will not forget.

Each day this group worked with an expert on campus:

Monday: On-Court With Player Development and working with High Level Players

Tuesday: TDM With Our TDM and Tournament Expert 

Wednesday: On Court With our 10 and Under Expert and working with Red Ball Kids

Thursday: Progression/Regression With our Director of Coaching Education

Friday: Group Lesson Evaluations (Live steamed on PlaySight) with me,   

Like I said, You can set this up with me anytime as well if you want to bring a group down here.

Now during the group lesson with me, I made it similar to how it worked when I was a tester for the USPTA.

I gave them an area to work on, gave the coaches time to come up with a plan and then they executed that plan.

We did about 6 round of lessons.

Overall they did a great job (and yes Nate, you did this initially, just to get that out), but after each round, my first comment was, “You did not tell them what they were going to do BEFORE you started teaching the lesson.

Then it continued to happen until the very last group lesson.

My point was that students do not want to go out there and not have a clue what they are going to learn or do.

They have nothing to look forward to (or dread)

Imagine in school walking into every class having NO CLUE what you were going to learn that day.

You just sit down and the teacher says, “ the quadratic equation is used when you can’t factor out an equation easily”  

The the next day, SAME CLASS the Boston Tea Party was protest by the Sons of liberty……….

You would kind of like to have a heads up, right instead of being hit with some arbitrary topic.

Well the same goes for a tennis lesson and I am going to show you how you might do it, based on my experience in the online marketing world.

The more in advance you can let someone know what they are going to do, the more time they have to prepare, or ask a question that they want answered during their time with you.

Even on court if you say something like (and this is NOT the best way)

“ Welcome to class everyone. Today we are going to warm-up, work on some forehands and backhands, do some cool drills and finish with some fun points.”

At least you gave me an idea what we are going to do.

Now when writing out a sales page there is a formula that I am accustomed to with the acronym, P.A.S.T.O.R.

This stands for:

P- Identify a problem

A – Amplify

S – Story/Solution

T – Testimony

O - Offer

R – Response (Decision Time)

Now I now you might be saying, whatever Coach Mick, this is a tennis lesson.

Well try telling my 3.5/4.0 group that they are going to work on something NEW (Without telling them why) and they will probably fail initially most of the time.

Trust me, it takes a very experienced SALES PERSON to get them to make any major change, ha!

So here is how I would approach it.

P- The Problem

A – Agitate the problem

S – The Solution

Let’s define the problem as ……. The Lobber

Now let’s get to the lesson:

Problem – Pain: You might start off by saying – “ Good Morning Ladies, today we are going to work on how to handle the dreaded lobber”

Agitate The Problem – The person who drives us crazy. You think you hit the most amazing serve or approach shot, follow-it in to the net, only to get lobbed and then you and your partner are sitting there starring at each other, not knowing who should have taken it

and to finish it off you see the other team high-fiving like they did something spectacular when you know that they can’t it a decent pass to save their lives……

And of course it is YOUR fault, even though your partner gave then the dream ball to lob in the first place.

(oh yeah……Phyllis does that to me every time………..)

Solution – So today, we are going get them where they can’t lob you from, the net.

This is VERY effective.  But it can be tricky, because the ball we get them up there with needs to be short and kept fairly low, but if you can execute this, even with some success, you will have the upper hand.

We will start with working on the shot to bring them up, put it into some controlled points and then let you go for it on your own.

Done.

Now this is one of many ways to counter a lobber, but now you have their attention because you told them what they are going to learn AND you hopefully inspired them to want to learn it by AGITATING the problem.

It is like when you are online reading some sales page, or watching an infomercial and in your head you are saying, yeah…….that’s me!

You got them to relate, then you got them to feel those stressful feelings  again, in this case, on the court with the lobber and now you will most likely have their attention. 

Step 2 is to teach them how to execute the shot, in this scenario, the short low ball.

You will have to progress through it by most likely working on under-spin and working on ways to adjust if it is not staying low or short enough.

Then you will put them in a situation to where they start each point by executing the shot.

So, what I would do here is to do it champs and challenger style, and let me stop here and give you a tip, because I have seen this many times, even in a testing situation.

DO NOT have the champs hitting the shot that you have just worked on.  If they stay champs for a while the other 4 players (or 2 teams) on your court will never get a chance to work on it.

I like to almost always have the challengers hit the shot that we just worked on so EVERYONE gets many opportunities

Here is an example: 1 champ/4 challengers and you have just worked on app. Shots all day, and you are feeding the champ the approach shot (the other 4 are NOT working on it, so get at least the 80% hitting the shot you just worked on all day (If he/she stays champ the WHOLE TIME)

OK, so now that the champs know that the challengers will be hitting a short ball to them (not fair), move them back to a cone, or the back curtain or whatever, but don’t let them move forward until contact is made by the other team. (or they lose the point )

This will probably be pretty close to the proper timing when the opposing team is NOT expecting it, plus it gives the players a bit more success and will be more willing to keep trying, once they see the benefits.

Then finish with some regular points and have each team try to throw that shot in at least once a game or something to that effect.

And Finally bring them in and TELL THEM what they just learned and why they want to continue to work on it.

What I would do is keep track and especially if it worked in my favor would say, after the points. Every time you brought the team up to the net, you won the point XX% of the time, and you are just starting out.

You might even explain ow this shot is good for other situations, like giving your opponent’s overheads (usually weaker than you think(, to keep them fired up to learn the shot.

Give them some incentive, or homework, to try it out away from the class and don’t just drop it.

Continue to ask how it is going, during the week and during class.

Bottom Line: Let your students know what to expect BEFORE the lesson starts.  It may be something simple or you may have to go the sales page route with those stubborn players.

Good Luck, 

Coach Mick, USPTA

Sid is going to discuss the importance of the diagnosis in a lesson.

Diagnosis is such an important part of what we do as teaching pros.

A lot of inexperienced pros tend to diagnose based on the last ball they just fed.  Way to much info instead of one thing they can work on.

In a private:

1. Start by removing yourself (or don’t teach the way you necessarily play)
2. Be observant of the student
3. Ask questions

These are all super important in the diagnosis.

A good pro has the confidence to ask questions to find out what is going on so you can diagnose.

Like a doctor when you take your sick child in and tell him that she has had a fever.

He/She will ask questions in order to get to a diagnosis based on the answers you give him/her.

For someone just starting out in their teaching: 

Watch your student start hitting the ball to try to come up with some conclusions and ask questions in regards to what they are looking to do.  (Ex. Keeping it low)

Bottom Line: Be observant, ask questions and remove yourself and how you learned from the equation.

Sid made a great point about asking questions because sometimes your cure isn’t the cure they’re looking for. By asking the right question it’s going to be easier to pinpoint out what to start looking for because you know the issues that your students are having.

And hopefully, most of your students will be worried about the match and not the warm-up.

To learn more about Sid go to: www.Uspta.com

Good Luck,

Coach Mick, USPTA

In this episode, Mark talks about the importance of trying to specialize in one of your passionate areas.

1. You want to develop a skillset in any area that may make you known in:
2. Your Local Area
3. Your District
4. Your Section
5. Or eventually even nationally

Some examples may include:

• The way you design drills
• How you teach
• Club management
• High performance

All payers can be trained with a HP mindset, be at different levels.  

You may adjust the drills, the language…..etc

You may need ore seasoning than just on-court at your club:

• Online
• Workshops
• Volunteer at a different club

If you  are not currently working where you are passionate about.

Take a program that is successful and water it down to fit the level you are working with.

Tennis is tennis and similar at every level.  What changes is:

• Intensity 
• Volume
• How you provide feedback at the different levels

If you are fired up in a certain area that you are NOT involved in, became an understudy and even volunteer your time.  You will not get turned down if they see that you are passionate about it.  They will most likely profit off it anyway.

Email Dr. Kovacs on his site at Kovacsinstitute.com

Mark is always such a wealth of information and one thing I really admire about him is how he projects himself when he is around someone who does not have the knowledge he has.

Even with me, I feel like he is truly passionate about teaching me and helping me understand things at my level.  Very easy to talk to and not intimidating at all.

One suggestion: If you are just starting out, look at the ten and under players or program at your club. 

This group sometimes gets overlooked and it’s crucial that you’re developing skills with these players at an early age anyway.

Bottom Line: Find an area of tennis, on or off court, that you are passionate about, come up with a plan on how you can educate yourself in that area at your club, locally, or even through online courses or workshops.

Good luck and please email with any questions.

Coach Mick, USPTA

Oscar’s Success As a Coach

When the coach can communicate through easy words and willing to permit the student to experiment and fail, learning will create a independent and lasting result.

People learn when they experiment what does and does not have the correct result.

We need to get creative when working with players to get them to understand concepts.

They need to practice using a self-discovery model because this is what hey will do during a match.

They need to figure out how to handle adversity for themselves.

Oscar used this method with Bjorn Borg and Gustavo Kuerten.

To learn more about Oscar go to tennisiseasy.com

Well that was an important interview with Oscar, to get his principles off the ground for his future episodes, so be on the lookout for those. 

But according to Oscar:  Finding ways for your students to learn for themselves, or guided self-discovery will allow your students to learn and have a longer lasting result.

I have seen it first hand.

Good Luck, 

Coach Mick, USPTA

017 – Verbal Communication

Today’s Quick Tip Is:  Learn some basic verbal communication skills.  

These skills will attract players as much as your teaching skills sometimes.

I have witnessed it over and over with pros on my staff.

There are two types of communication: non-verbal and verbal

Nonverbal communication is all about gestures, facial expressions, body movement,  touch, and anything else done without actually speaking.

Verbal communication includes sounds, words, tone of voice, volume, and pitch are all ways to effectively communicate verbally and will make a big difference in the lesson.

In a lesson it might be:  

1. Saying students names 

2. Inflection

3. Talking the right amount

Saying students names, especially on the first day can be the most important.  Nobody likes,  “Hey you in the red shirt” 

When I was a USPTA tester, it was important to use the students name 6 times and tim, tim, tim, tim, tim, tim didn’t work.

This may be tough, but come up with a good system that will help.

Inflection was also on the test and this Is wheee your voice goes up and down

There are lots of opportunities to work on this, so with a little practice, you should be good to go.

How we speak is important, and you can even break it down to the group you are teaching.

If you are teaching some 8 year olds, the adult  comments will mean absolutely nothing.

You have to speak their language for sure, whatever that me be.

How about when or how often to talk to your students, well this might tie in with your coaching style like we talked about in episode 014

If you are a Command Style Coach, it probably means you will be doing a lot of talking while you have the group all together and while they are hitting on court.

If you are a submissive style coach, you might be a bit less talkative and let the group run the practice more on their own terms

As a cooperative style coach, there might be a little of both.  More talking during the “Huddle” but then less during the hitting, except for things like “Why do you think you won/lost that point” because this lets them give the input.

When I look up effective Verbal Communication Skills online These popped up and I tried to connect them to teaching.

1. Be friendly. 

2. Don’t talk too much.  

3. Be your authentic self. 

4. Practice humility. 

5. Speak with confidence. 

6. Learn the art of listening. 

BOTTOM LINE: Having good verbal Communication Skills is important and can make up for some of the areas you are lacking for sure. Just keep practicing in those other areas…….