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/or online training courses for prevention of misconduct.
Best Practices in Coaching
In adaptive and 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. In addition to adaptive-specific coaching skills including those covered by this video series, we suggest that all coaches learn about best contemporary coaching practices which apply universally (regardless of audience). Our video series on Athlete-Centered Coaching, here on the Tennis4Learning website, is a good place to continue your education.