Are too many potentially top players slipping through the net (if you pardon the pun)? Too often we hear excuses in tennis which have a massive impact on participation, such as the weather, or, we don’t have as many people playing as the countries that have lots of top players! Or finally, it’s just too expensive to keep playing.
Are these valid excuses or is there more to it than that?
This is something I have been challenged by recently and have found that I’m guilty of, but I think it may impact how effective I am as a coach even in a small local setup.
I will attempt to put my views across on the above points and referencing my faults and my observations from seeing coaching at different venues nationwide without offending but apologies if I do offend, this is purely my own views and thoughts.
Let’s start with the weather. Now I have, in the past, cancelled a lesson because rain was forecast and it looked like it was due to rain, but at what point can I see into the future or am I a fully qualified expert on the weather? It’s better for me to start the lesson and see what happens, I might get a full lesson in before it even starts spitting, surely the player would benefit and enjoy that rather than be put off by my seeming lack of enthusiasm to coach, leading to them starting to lose interest in tennis.
I have also coached in the rain, sleet and even snow in sub zero temperatures, and to be honest, I’ve enjoyed them just as much and more than some lessons in the middle of Summer, and the players reacted to the fact that I seemed to enjoy it which brought them back the next week when it was very similar conditions.
Because of the amount of indoor courts across the UK, we are soft to the weather, and I’ve seen it at numerous centres and clubs where if it’s forecast rain then they cancel 8 hours before the session is even due to run. Is that down to the coach not wanting to risk working in the rain? Usually yes! Sometimes, if you are coaching on grass then fair enough but on hard court then you can run sessions in the rain, just adapt it or change it if you think the surface is too slippery, move onto serve technique or something that doesn’t require players to run flat out.
If we as coaches cancel a session that the players think they can play in, how long before they think that we aren’t bothered and soon start to get less enthusiastic and more negative, these players might love tennis and want to keep playing but get put off because the coach ‘can’t be bothered’???
I’ve seen sessions cancelled because of the weather and the players have turned up to play outside with friends while the coach is in the clubhouse watching! How pathetic!
Let’s look at another reason for potential top players not reaching their potential in a sport they want to play.
What about the excuse that the countries with more top players have a bigger pool of players to develop?
How many coaches want that one player that’s going to carry them through a coaching career, ‘I’ve got this player so far’ blah blah blah… Now, I’m not saying that’s wrong BUT why look for that one player? Realistically, how many coaches out there could actually train a Grand Slam winner? Yeah, you can get them so far but are you willing to pass your player onto a more suitable coach to get them to the next level, or are you wanting to keep hold of them, potentially holding them back from reaching their full potential? I haven’t found my one player so I don’t know how I would act with them, I would like to think that I would advise them to go with another coach to reach their potential but I can’t say for sure I would. Surely as a country we should be looking to bring in a larger pool of players which means starting from the bottom and working up. It’s no secret that as players get older they drop off, so from a pool of 50 red players, maybe 30 players are there at Orange level, then 15-20 at green and maybe 10-12 at full ball, that’s a drop off of around 35-40 kids out of every 50.
Now it could be seen as the coach not doing their job properly if players are leaving but it is known that players drop off from every programme so is it every coach? Of course not.
So the question begs, what can we do to increase the number of junior players? Well…if you look at the drop off rate then the most obvious solution is to increase the number of red players.
Now I know a lot of coaches that love what they do however I am finding a worrying amount of coaches that think they are too high a playing standard to work with non hitting 3 year olds, they put these session on to level 1/2 coaches and expect them to get the players hitting so the more qualified coaches/better players can work with the better players.
I do agree with this to a point, however in my experiences and observations, level 1/2 coaches are younger people, some of which aren’t tennis ‘players’ and yet they are given the responsibility to both retain players and improve them. In my opinion, more experienced coaches and higher qualified should lead by example, ‘get their hands dirty’, and work with the new and less able players, after all they might have more enthusiasm and be better at retaining players and letting the level 1/2’s learn from them.
This set up has been implemented in places I have worked in the past and is proven to have been successful with sessions growing and a high retention of players of all levels and ages with a smaller drop off rate than national stats suggest.
Due to the relationship these coaches build with players at such a young age, as they keep playing and improving the more likely they are to stay with a particular coach.
How many coaches can tell if a player is going to be an academy or high performance player from the age 3-4? Very few I expect seeing as the development of children indicates that the average age to be confident in which hand is dominant to be five years old!
Finally, let’s look at my third argument that I hear majority of the time from parents, adults and those in charge of finance in a household…that tennis is just too expensive!
Now, while this idea isn’t wrong as tennis can be quite pricey, tennis can be as cheap or as expensive as people want to make it.
To play tennis as a child it can cost as little as £20 for a racquet and I’ve known some group lessons to be as cheap as £3 per hour, now £3 per week to develop these life skills (co-ordination, agility, balance, catching, throwing), is pretty cheap and most places even supply the racquet.
Now if you compare that to one of the most popular sports, football, where boots, shin pads, gloves, which are all essential, are extras to pay for, and training/ matches each week. As someone who plays football I know which is more expensive to train and the startup costs are very similar as you get older but as a youngster playing for a local team…
Boots-£30
Shin pads-£10
Gloves-£10
Equipment-£50
Training/matches…
Match day -£4.50
Training-£4 per session (usually 2 per week)
Total £12.50 per week
With tennis you could get 2 racquets with money left over to start up, and 4 hours coaching a week with money left over too.
So as a hobby to keep active as a child and junior player tennis would be a cheaper alternative which also teaches a sense of independence and helps develop a mental toughness as well as teamwork as tennis players play doubles and play in team tennis events.
As players get older, they can decide whether they would like to continue and if they want to keep going as a hobby then it can work out at roughly the same price as football but if a player wants to take things further and the coach thinks they are capable then it will cost more with travelling, entry fees for competitions, more equipment and further coaching.
If a player/parent want to have a faster rate of improvement then they can make tennis as expensive as they want with private tuition which can cost much more starting from around £8+ per hour depending on the coach. For players to improve technique and develop their skills faster then I would encourage private tuition however there is no point in just having private lessons if you are not playing in group sessions or tournaments to put what you learn into practice as there is only so much you can learn in a lesson before you peak. A coach can only push so much, matches will also develop players faster as they put into practice what they learn in lessons.
Now obviously it is up to the player/parents how much they want to spend or invest in their tennis but it doesn’t have to be as expensive as people assume.
Now as a coach how can I help battle this issue?
My personal solution is to provide more opportunities at ground level by making tennis affordable and enjoyable.
My aim is to provide tennis on mass utilising level 1&2 coaches to lead sessions of 8-10 players each paying £3 so a full session brings in £30 perfect to pay a level 2 coach £15 and the level 1 would earn £10 and £5 going into the business to create a fall back fund for equipment or to make up any sessions that aren’t full.
I’m already looking into the possibility of running school sessions not affiliated to any specific tennis club as I mentioned in previous blogs about the stereotypes of clubs which can put some people off. Get a class of 30 children and run a session once a week but they each have to bring in £1 per session and you can suddenly make tennis both accessible and affordable for all! If players enjoy then they can come to other sessions.
It’s not always about finding the talent and riding on their collar, but it is about making such a great sport accessible for all, no matter what!
When your job as a tennis coach becomes more about money and less about job satisfaction, in seeing players improve and more importantly enjoying tennis, then it’s time to reconsider your career choice in my opinion!
samcoaching 