Tennis must become easier to learn (part 2)

Dr Robert Soloway reveals how part one of his feature explained why the present form of learning, stroke instruction, is slow and discourages new players from taking up tennis, when games like Pickleball can be played on day 1.

Continuing on with his analysis in part 2… (Read part 1 here if you missed it)

The proper way to learn stresses AIMING, and aiming is not thinking about a spot on the other side of the court.

So you have to learn to aim correctly. That should be the job of the coach; that and slight stroke corrections when necessary.

Here's how I begin. I teach a basic grip and let the player adjust it if they feel uncomfortable. I put my hopper on the ground, by the center strap, about 6 inches off the net. My student stands behind the service line, slightly on their forehand side. I stand straight in front of them at the net and toss the ball to them, on a bounce, as nicely as I can. Their instruction: Get the ball in the basket. If I have two or more students I create a scoring system; One point for bouncing the ball within a foot of the basket, two points for hitting the basket, five points for getting it in the basket. Next I move the basket to the other side of the net, near the service line, and we play the same game. In minutes they are hitting balls over the net near the basket. Are they crushing the ball? No. I'm setting up the proper channels of communication; the conscious mind thinks the intention, in this case aiming, and the body figures out how it is done. Proper communication between the mind and the body, speeds learning.

Playing aiming games, not only helps with focusing, it reduces the usual stress involved with learning strokes. Stress slows progress. Relaxation speeds progress.

I do a drill where I put out a couple of targets and call out. “target 1”, or,

target 2, as I toss the ball. I don't have to provide reward by saying “good”, or “bad”. They know when it's good because they have a target, and more importantly, their body (nonconscious) knows when it's good. The body will reward itself with a feeling of satisfaction, or success. Any behavior that results in a reward of any kind, is more likely to be repeated. That's learning; like a treat for your pup when it sits. Internal reward speeds progress.

So now for the aiming technique itself. I can't give you the entire process here, but I can get you started. As the ball is traveling to you, create in your mind's eye, a line showing the trajectory you want your return shot to travel. Start the line at your approximate point of impact, and take it at least to the bounce on the other side of the court. As you and the ball get closer, this line will automatically make slight adjustments as your impact point becomes fixed. Your intention is to put the ball on the line. The line is your target, not a spot on the other side of the court.

Here's what the line does for you:

1. It tells your body exactly what you want it to do. If the line is loopy and dips at the end, that's topspin. Real loopy means lob. Flat line means blast. A spot on the other side can't do that.

2. It occupies your conscious mind the entire time the ball is in flight towards you. A spot on the other side takes just a moment to plant in your imagination, and then your mind is free to wander, and it does.

3. The best targets are the ones that fall within the same view as the projectile, like the target and bullet are in the same view, or the pitcher throwing a baseball and the catcher's mitt are in the same view. A spot on the other side of the court can't be that. The line that starts at your impact point is in your view as you hit the ball. You just start the ball on it's path.

Once you grow familiar with your shots, you won't need to envision the entire flight trajectory. The first few feet will do. You set the ball on its way and the rest of the flight is predictable. This is very much like the arrows that are on a bowling alley. They are there as targets because the pins, like your target on the other side of a tennis court, can't be in your view when you release the bowling ball. The arrows are placed just for that reason. Once your roll is predictable, you need only set the ball on its way toward the arrows, and the rest follows. This is what the trajectory provides for tennis players, a target in their view as they strike the ball. This too speeds learning.

Let me say a few words about stroke corrections. First, coaches should model a basic stroke. Make the student watch the key points of the swing. Modeling is an acceptable learning technique, underutilized. Animals use it. The body understands it.

Inform the student that everyone's stroke will be different, just like everyone's handwriting, even though we all used the same chart of perfect letters to copy. Although we all might make our letters different, there are certain aspects they have to have. For example, a lot of people leave the top of their cursive “A's” open. That's not a problem until the opening gets too big, then the “A” becomes a “U”. That's how I see my role as coach. Fix only what's broken. Let the stroke develop on its own as much as possible. Just as with the example of the dart thrower (in part 1), if you aim properly, your body will self-correct. All the professionals have developed different strokes. You will too. If its allowed to develop naturally, it will match your physiology and your personality. You aren't a robot learning a movement. You're a human with human variations, physical and mental. It is part of the coaches job to see and allow acceptable differences. Federer doesn't swing like Nadal.

Understanding physiology and physics is part of the coaches job. Knowledge of the various ways wrists flex, or what part the center-of-gravity plays in a swing, are just examples of how I diagnose a stroke in need of correction. I watch the spin of a ball to learn how it was impacted. A good topspin shot spins vertical, bottom to top. Diagonal spins or horizontal spins indicate a stroke problem. The coach needs to understand the direction the racket was traveling at impact, in order to create the particular spin. Then, don't correct the stroke. Challenge the player to see if they can change the spin. Their body will correct the stroke.

Nothing slows progress like when a beginner hits a “good” shot with a bad swing. Today's large rackets make that more probable. A feeling of reward for an accidental good shot makes the body want to reproduce the stroke that produced the accident. But it was an accident and will not ever be anything reliable. This actually makes the bad swing into a habit rapidly. Psychology knows that behaviors that are intermittently and unpredictably rewarded, are most addictive, like gambling, or that person you dated who was great sometimes and moody sometimes. These become habits. If a coach has a beginner hit a hundred forehands and they hit 10 good ones with a bad swing, they've already got a habit to deal with. You have to make corrections before this sets in, or you'll be fighting to break a habit. I often see this coaching behavior; many strokes but without any corrections. It slows progress and leads to the forming of bad habits, rapidly.

The coach must understand the relationship between impact point, and swing. In truth, the impact point determines the swing, maybe more than the inverse. If you choose an impact point within about 16 inches to the side of your closest leg, you can't possibly get your racket horizontal at impact (correct position) because the racket is more than two feet long. You become a “scooper”. At impact the top of your racket is facing the ground, at least some. The closer to your leg that your contact point is, the worse you scoop. Scooping slows progress greatly. It has to be stopped immediately. It makes the mind think that the face of the racket must be open (facing the sky a little, or a lot) in order for the ball to go over the net. The scooped racket swing is always somewhat circular, low to high, like a pendulum, making the margin of error tiny. Impact an inch forward of the perfect impact point, and the ball is hit 20+ feet in the air because the racket face is skyward. Hit an inch back and the racket face is now aiming towards the net. This means a tiny margin of error. This is why scooping slows progress. The same swing can result in a good shot or a very bad one with only minor differences. That's exactly an unpredictable reward pattern and rapidly bad habit forming.

A good swing has at least a foot of margin because it isn't circular around the impact point. A little late or early and the stroke still happens; maybe not perfect, but still a good shot. A good swing, aimed properly, produces consistency, which speeds progress.

There's one more advantage you gain from aiming. Aiming properly is “Zone” inducing. The Zone, a high state of focus, is now known to science as an example of The Flow State. They exist in every sport (actually every activity). Science discovered that to get into a Zone you must be focused on one thought, in the present moment, that is creative and/or productive. From the time your opponent hits the ball, until you hit the ball, that one thought is your target (trajectory). It fulfills all the requirements to enter a Flow State. This will send your focus through the roof and speed improvement no matter what level you play.

I believe these techniques speed learning, and will make more people want to play. We have to compete with the ease of learning of other racket sports. If beginners can't find fun fast, we'll find them on the Pickleball court.