adminThe Adaptive Mindset for Productive Coaching and Learning
Any preconceptions you may have about what it means to learn to play tennis can go out the window in favor of two principles. First, all activities and skills are valued equally. And second, lesson plans should be inclusively-designed so that each athlete can participate in each lesson’s theme and goals in their own way and using their own ability.
That’s it! Any engaging activity is success! Inclusive participation in today’s themes and goals, however adaptive, is success! For example, if serving is broadly defined as “no-bounce contact with the ball and lands in the service box,” everyone can enjoy learning to serve together. As another example, if cooperative rallying is today’s theme, and rallying is broadly defined, we can all learn to keep a ball in play, whether it’s a throw and catch or a handoff or a racquet-to-racquet exchange or a rally using racquets and balls.
Structured Lesson Plans
Consistently-structured, inclusively-defined lesson plans are productive for both coaches and athletes. Lesson plans allow coaches to prepare and keep the group focused. Lesson plans create a healthy routine for coaches and athletes. All lessons should include 5 sections: a preview of learning objectives, a warmup, a skills & activities section including a demonstration, a reinforcing game (or two) to make it fun, and a concluding review and cheer.
Providing a Safe, Positively-Charged Experience
Simple things first — smile, be engaging, show some personality, use coach and athlete names frequently — if you’re having fun, your coaching team will have fun, and most importantly your athletes will have fun!
Medical safety is your top priority — be mindful of weather conditions, court conditions, hydration, and pacing — particularly on a hot day. Make sure you are made aware of noteworthy athlete health issues. And keep scanning your athlete group to make sure everyone looks okay — if anyone looks unhealthy in any way, be sure to involve caregivers, parents, teachers, aides or anyone else who knows the athletes better than we do as coaches.
Physical safety depends on coaches to remind athletes frequently to look out for others and use adequate spacing for running and swinging racquets.
Note that for the protection of the athletes, many programs (and all that include children and youth) require coach registration, background checks, and online training courses for prevention of misconduct.
Great Coaching is “Athlete-Inspired“
In school, in adaptive coaching, and in non-adaptive coaching, the best teachers and coaches vary the learning environment in ways which invite self-discovery, creativity and problem-solving so that each student/athlete is “met where they are” and, in the process, learns how they (uniquely) learn. The key to successful group coaching is setting goals inclusively while engaging each athlete in activities which challenge them optimally.
What is Athlete-Inspired Coaching(AiC)?
Modern coaching varies the learning environment in ways which invite self-discovery, creativity and problem-solving so that each athlete is “met where they are” (optimally challenged) and “learns how they (uniquely) learn”.
AiC is a Modern Coaching Mindset which is “productively instructive”. AiC embraces individuality and is inclusive of all abilities and personalities.
- AiC is goal- and game-driven, purposeful with its aim set squarely on playing (better and more fun).
- Technique is not an end in itself!
- Engagement rules!
- AiC views the court as a learning, discovering, creative, dynamic and athlete-driven environment
- Coaches vary the learning environment so that athletes not only learn, but also “learn-how-to-learn”
- AiC is not overly technical or prescriptive, not substantially repetition-based, and does not over-teach
- AiC encourages each player/athlete to explore (within reasonable bounds) and discover
- AiC encourages athletes to use their individuality and ingenuity to “problem-solve” and find their game
- Meets athletes where they are rather than anticipating universal “right answers”
Moreover, tennis technique and fundamentals are learned in a dynamic, adaptive learning environment where they are subservient to solving the ‘problem’ of playing the game. (It’s a nice problem to have!)
So what can we vary in order to be “productively instructive” and to challenge optimally? Size and configuration of playing area, speed and bounce height of play (balls), weight and size of racquet, playing area length/size, net height, rules of play, and number/position of players, to name a few of the obvious variables. Variations and progressions change the level and the nature of the challenge and force our players to adapt, and by adapting to changing conditions, they learn!
Studies show that the number one reason children quit tennis is because it is “not fun”. This is not their problem, it’s ours as coaches — in many cases, traditional coaching methods are not consistent with productive fun and the priorities and developmental needs of children. We need to change that and coach in favor of engagement and skills mastery not as a goal in itself but rather driven by desire to play the game well and have fun.