Beginning your tennis circuit!
All beginning is difficult. The good news is that using this logic the rest of your tennis life is relatively easy. However, a tennis player might have moments in his life when he needs to make a fresh start - a new coach, a new serve, a new club, a new circuit. Then, once again, this new beginning will be difficult.
Tricky
One of the biggest eye-openers I've experienced was when I did my USPTR tennis teaching exam. We were all obliged to play with our wrong hand. In our group of eight, four paniced completely, two tried hard, but found themselves very maladroit, whereas two found some rapid progress quite easily. We had now learned what it is was like to be beginning again.
In particular, regardless of our competence with our correct hands, we had very different levels, perceptions and aspirations as soon as we were out of our comfort zone. I was interested in my own reaction. I may have been a little bit ambidextrous, but not much. First of all, I really enjoyed the challenge of playing with my wrong hand. I didn't question its pedagogical value. I didn't think it was a waste of time. Half of the group hated being forced to play left-handed. They were embarrassed and irritated. Secondly, I wanted to know how to hit the ball. Or, to be more precise, how to learn to hit the ball. What should I practise, NOW?
Of course our teacher told us what to practise, in what order. It was great. Then we practised teaching each other, developing these basic skills at the right speed with the right drills. We weren't to go too fast, nor fail on our demonstrations. Every pupil was to maintain the right pace. We learned how to teach a beginner in a few minutes. The hard bit was structuring the lesson, and timing the lesson perfectly. I didn't do very good demonstrations, which irks me to this day. To the extent that I am punctilious about my demonstrations now. Look elsewhere on this website for videos on how this basic method is taught. It's so easy.
This wasn't quite reality though, because we all had a bit of tennis culture. We could all move, we could understand tennis terminology. We obeyed instructions. The big public out there doesn't do that.
I went on some pedagogical training for my company a few years back, and they came in one morning and said, you are now going to start a course of arabic. We had had no warning of this. The teacher came into the room and spoke arabic to us. Not a word of English was spoken by the teacher. Of course we all cracked up with laughter at the absurdity of this situation - the incoherence, helplessness, and futility of the exercise. Tennis can be, for some people, just like that - incoherent, causing helplessness and futile.
So how can we aid this beginning? Logically we must be coherent. We must realise that we are here because we want to be here, we know what we are trying to learn. We have no reason to feel helpless, even though we have zero skill now. The teacher will give you one thing after another to learn. When you have learned one easy thing, you'll no longer feel helpless. The exercise is not futile, because you want it. You know that you must be there and learn what the teacher teaches. He can help you go further, and you are capable of going where he wants you to. He wouldn't be standing there otherwise.
Let's put me back in arabic class. The teacher babbled on at me in arabic. I understood nothing. What am I doing here? Then the teacher visualises, points up with one finger, and says the word "Wa-Had!" I understood that the word Wa-had meant 'one', and she kept making me say it until I pronounced it correctly. Already I'm feeling a thousand times better. Thanks teacher!
Repetition
I use the example of languages, because learning languages is very similar to learning tennis. (Learning a musical instrument is also similar).
I belong to a big group of people who are very visual when they are learning. My tennis teacher creates a shape for me, in three easy parts. He says I should produce the first part. I do. I practise it a few more times. "Well done!" says the teacher. I add on part two with no problem. Another drill to test it and I now only have part three to go. We add on part three, another little exercise, and bingo, we've learned the shot. Now the teacher says, you're going to practise those three steps on your own for a week. OK, I can easily remember three things.
So I find a practise partner and I come back to coaching a week later. I demonstrate what I have been practising, and I find that the teacher wants it JUST SO. I've let little bits of non-instruction creep in. Only follow coach's instructions. So here I really must have total confidence in my teacher. He's going to keep chivvying me on until I reach some sort of learning limit, some final goal. I ask the coach whether I'll be able to play like Federer, I'm ambitious you see. He says, if you want to, you can. But let's see you play like my grandmother first! I know he's being funny, but it isn't funny. Tennis technique is so simple, even at the beginning. Why should I need so long to perfect it all?
So that is why beginning is so difficult. You can make so much progress so quickly with the right teacher, but as soon as you see the different competence levels that are out there, you may easily become discouraged. Go as far as you want, you'll cry. It's not as easy as that. What happens if you don't have the partners, equipment or facilities? What if you don't have time, or money, or moral support, or the physical capability? These things can all stop your progress.
To make, not only the beginning, but also the rest, easier, you must pay attention to all these criteria. Every second you spend on a tennis court shoud be focussed on where you want to go, practising, without the slightest hesitation, the thing that the coach wants you to practise.
The coach may change his mind. He may decide to give you a nice Spanish spin forehand, whereas he has spent two years giving you a flat ball. This is a new beginning.
We would rather not have new beginnings because they are traumatic, but they are sometimes necessary. The same principles apply. As soon as it is put on a coherent footing, you can execute the changes comfortably, and you have a real long term reason for making the change, this new beginning will all be over smoothly and quickly. Your game will be transformed, and theoretically, a more dangerous player.
But it doesn't stop there. In my training I always added exercise time to test a new step. In a new beginning it's the same. You learn the steps in five minutes. You learn the practise over many sessions of drills and matchplay.
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