003 - Stop Copying Me

Today’s Quick Tip is :  Copy, Copy, Copy anything you can from other pros that will help you become a better teaching pro on or off the court, but give them the credit when appropriate. As a matter of fact, this week, I was hitting with my son and he had not been hitting on the ball machine for the last three weekends.  His volley is one of his best shots, technically, and he loves to come in to the net. When we were hitting volleys a couple days ago, his technique was off and I was going to have to give him the same volley speech I have given him before, which he really does not like.  So I decided to stay quiet to see if he would figure it out for himself (not easy for me to do)…… well, he didn’t get it. He was basically letting his wrist (or tip of the racquet) come through too early. So not a great day for either of us, because I am big on the fundamentals, and they just were not there. Coincidentally, I was watching a video on YouTube on how a well know teaching pro, I think his name is Jorge,  teaches the volley, (by putting an empty ball can in the throat of the racquet and then the student had to try to catch the ball in the can). I am huge on ways to get students to understand what I am trying to get across, as a matter of fact, you need to have back-up when teaching if your student can’t understand the one way you know how to explain something.  You can explain it a different way You need more than one way or cure. For example, HITTING ZONES.  We know it should be long, but there are many different ways to get this across to your student:  Drive down the line, hit three imaginary balls, toss a ball from behind. Slide along wall, ……..just to name a few So Getting back to my story, Sorry about the tangent.  Rarely happens with me, haha, I tried this today with my son and it was like magic.  He got it and his volley was back.  It forced his wrist to be in the perfect position. I personally have copied many pros right from the start of my career both on and off the court. I copied that tip today and it made me look like the best pro on the planet to my son, but it wasn’t my tip. So How can you do this?: Read, watch, experience what the best pros are doing and take what you can and weave it into your coaching style. I used to cut out all of the one-page coaching tips from tennis magazine (Up a ladder for better lobs, hold on to a beach ball for better volley ready position, tie a rope between you and your doubles partner……. And have them in my holster when needed. An example I ran a very successful tournament in Traverse City called the Snowbound Open.  When I played it, the purse was $450 split between the singles and doubles finalists. When I finished it, the purse was $23,000 dollars, all from local sponsors in the community, some who were not even attached to tennis in any way. How did I do it?  I copied what my good friend Jim Krimbill did at his club with a major USTA event. If you gave me $1000, I gave you $3000 WORTH of stuff back (at a cost of $300 to me), using popular amenities of the resort and having participating sponsors give me their service at cost which was usually 2 to 3 times LESS that the cost to the consumer. Everybody wins.  Nobody was losing money, just basically getting paid to advertise.   Cool idea, but it wasn’t mine. As a matter of fact, before I was a PTM student, I was in architecture school at the University of Cincinnati and one thing our professor said is that great architects copy other architects. Borrow, copy and stealing was OK. Another example: When I started my first summer program at a local high school, there was already a very successful summer program going on at the high school across town. How did I pick my days and times?   I copied theirs and with my Rallyball program as a base of kids to promote to, I had 554 kids my first summer and it ran very smoothly because the perfect system had been tried and tested in our community for the last 20 years across town. So bottom line, beg borrow and steal from other pros and experts in the industry, but then weave it into your own situation. For a PTM student, apprentice or a person just starting out, it may just be how to teach the forehand effectively. That is how it started with me, and you can go from there. Good Luck and email me with any questions, Coach Mick, USPTA