When coaching tennis players who are eager to learn, it is essential to create a progression of success that will produce sound skills and proper technique. It is also important to set goals that will be realistic, yet challenging. Creating situations that allow your students to be successful can build their confidence as well as your own.

Confidence is the result of success, and success can be defined as the progressive realization of meaningful goals. One of the keys to being a successful coach is the ability to set appropriate goals for each student. You must also be willing and ready to adjust depending on the success or failure of each student. If your student is having a difficult and frustrating time developing the proper technique on a particular stroke while playing against a certain style of player, it’s necessary to take the appropriate progressive steps that would allow your student to be successful. In other words, it’s sometimes necessary to take one step backward before you are able to go two steps forward.

Ladder of Success (7 steps)

These progressions are analogous to climbing a ladder – the ladder of success. The way to reach the highest rung on the ladder is to progress upward one step at a time. However, when climbing this ladder, the student can sometimes move upward too rapidly and become apprehensive or fearful. In order to regain his/her confidence and reduce or eliminate the (imaginary) fears produced by the initial exposure to new challenges, the student must move back down the ladder, one rung at a time until he/she reaches a comfortable, yet confident level.

A successful coach needs to be a sensitive monitor of the student who is climbing this ladder. The sensitive coach is aware of the increasing apprehension and loss of confidence as the student is challenged by higher goals. The coach must also know when and how to systematically take the student back down the ladder to a more suitable level. They must then rebuild that confidence and then carefully and positively encourage the student to move upward toward a more difficult task. Only stop when he/she becomes comfortable and confident at the higher level. Success breeds success and it is difficult, if not impossible, to build a student’s confidence on a foundation of failure.

Step 1- Demonstrating the Stroke

This is the first rung on the ladder of success. The professional demonstrates and explains the stroke in part and as a whole. It can also be effective to set up a video to demonstrate other examples of the stroke. Once the student has a picture of the proper stroke in mind, he/she is more likely to be successful when attempting to mimic the stroke. Certain parts of the stroke might be emphasized verbally during the demonstration.

Step 2- Shadowing the Stroke

During the shadowing stage, the professional should emphasize the necessary biomechanical elements with which the student must become familiar and confident. These include the ready position, grip, back swing, point of impact, follow-through, and footwork patterns. By shadowing the stroke, without having to worry about hitting a ball over the net and inside the lines, the student is able to be successful almost immediately.

The student should repeat the stroke and footwork in front of a mirror or be seen on a video. That way, he/she can also gain a positive image of himself/herself stroking properly. This provides a very confident feeling of the stroke to go along with the picture. The professional might then ask the student to repeat the stroke, imagining that he/she is hitting it at various heights. Once the student has become familiar and comfortable with the stroke by shadowing repeatedly, it is time to raise the challenge. Moving up the next rung of the success ladder.

Step 3- Making Contact with the Ball While Utilizing the Proper Techniques

It is usually best for the student to drop the ball and hit it by himself/herself. However, the student may, at first, have difficulty with this dual activity and become flustered. The coach should then either drop the ball or use a small battery operated ball machine which tosses the ball easily. The objective is to make solid contact with the ball and maintain the proper techniques emphasized during the preceding progression. When the ball is introduced, the student may initially suffer a loss or deterioration of technique: i.e. grips may change, follow-throughs become inconsistent, etc.

The job of the coach is then to give immediate and constructive feedback. Doing this helps the student recognize that he/she is compromising the proper technique. It may even be necessary to return to the second rung and have the student shadow several times prior to actually hitting the ball. At this stage, the student should be concerned with making solid contact and maintaining correct technique. Hence, the professional will actually have him/her hitting balls into the back fence or wind screen, rather than in the court area. Only when the student demonstrates proficiency with the technique and makes solid contact repeatedly will he/she be given a specific target at which to aim, which will be a target over the net.

Step 4- Hitting Balls That Are Fed

The student is now proficient and comfortable hitting the ball when dropped. It is now time to move quickly to the next level and feed the ball to the student. This will either be done by the professional, another student or perhaps a ball machine. Balls should be fed softly, perhaps by hand initially, and should bounce within the vicinity of a comfortable hitting zone.

The distance the ball is fed from the student and velocity of the ball should be determined by the hand-eye coordination of the student. Closer and softer for the student who has difficulty making contact. Once again, the primary objective of the coach is to offer immediate and appropriate feedback in a positive manner. Subsequently, readjusting the progression upward or downward depending on the student’s success or failure. The student must not compromise proper technique in order to accomplish hitting the ball. If so, it would be necessary to return to the shadowing stage.

The addition of targets over the net and inside the lines will be added as the student’s proficiency increases. Positive reinforcement must be constantly made for both technique and accuracy of shots. At this stage, the student should have a sound knowledge of what proper technique includes. The player must also have a feeling of confidence that he/she is able to perform the stroke successfully. The student should be able to recognize mistakes and analyze the shortcomings in the technique.

Step 5- Learning How to Drill

In the next phase of development, the student is taught how to drill a specific stroke with other players or another coach. If the coach is working on the backhand groundstroke, then he/she will create a backhand drill. The objective of the drill will be hitting the ball consistently, five times in a row. Prior to this level, the coach has concentrated primarily on proper technique. Now that the student has developed the knowledge, feeling, and habit of the proper technique, he/she is ready to make a very important transition. The coach now moves from techniques to tactics.

In earlier progressions, concentrating on proper technique was an end in itself. Now the student and coach have a greater goal, consistency. Now the technique is a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. However, it’s imperative that the student still maintain proper technique while striving for consistency. At this level of development, it’s tempting for the student to do what is expedient to accomplish consistency and accuracy.

Reinforcement of proper technique with positive feedback and close attention to detail by the coach is prominent at this stage. Consistency should relate to a specific number of consecutive shots: i.e. 5 consecutive forehands, 10 consecutive forehands, etc. Accuracy should also be clearly defined. If the student is trying to hit 10 consecutive forehands, make sure it’s to a specific target time and again. Make sure the target is clear to the student.

Drills can be created for every zone on the court and are usually the most efficient method of practicing a shot. Drilling provides the greatest degree of repetition for a specific shot in a minimum amount of time. Goal-oriented drills also create a situation that forces the student to develop concentration in a very real sense.

Step 6- Creating Point Play Situation

Moving up the ladder shifts the emphasis progressively and emphatically from the technique concept to more sophisticated tactics. The next rung consists of creating point play situations based on some of the drills the student has been practicing. The objective of drill play is to solidify mechanical habit patterns and improve the consistency and accuracy of specific shots.

The primary objective of point play is to win the point utilizing those specific techniques the student was drilling. With some players, basic techniques will deteriorate significantly when put under the pressure of point or match play situations. They will also begin to replace the concept of consistency and accuracy with an irresistible (and frequently uncontrollable) desire to overpower their opponent. Subsequently, the player will compound the problem by hitting too close to the lines. Therefore, the ultimate objective in the point play situation is to win the point with consistency and accuracy of a particular stroke pattern and maintain sound techniques while doing so.

Step 7- Actual Match Play

The student has now progressed to the level where he/she is able to demonstrate consistency and control of his/her shots. They have advanced up the ladder of success one rung at a time and are finally ready for the ultimate challenge. Actual match play!

The Ladder of Success has been proven to work in Coach Tym’s 50+ years experience in the sport. For more of Coach’s tips, such as the Ultimate Second Serve, click here. Be sure to leave a comment below or tweet us @tennis_takes with any questions!