014 - Developing Your Coaching Style

Today’s quick tip is:  Start developing your coaching style. 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: The Command Style The Submissive Style 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: Incompetent or not confident Lazy or Lazy 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