100 mph Forehand

Huh.  The crappy pro from Case 2, Miikka Keronen, hit a 100 mph forehand today.  My 91 mph forehand from Wednesday looks wimpy.  No data on the revolutions per minute.  That will have to come later.

Does this mean we're qualified to teach high speed forehands?  To a moron, it means exactly that.

Good Player to Good Coach Paradox

In order to perform motor skills well, especially under stress, the skill needs to be automated.  Conscious control of the process destroys performance.  Implicit learning, learning a player cannot articulate, appears to produce the most stability under stress.  So even conscious awareness of mechanics early in the process may not be the best way to learn.

So, a good player is an "unconscious" player.  How does John teach Tom how to do something that John does unconsciously?  One way is to simply demonstrate the skill and say "Do it like this."  If John goes beyond that demonstration and simple instruction, he's flying blind.

What's  most likely is that John will simply say things he's heard his coaches or other coaches say about how to perform a stroke.  Those things may or may not be correct and have nothing to do with John's skill as a player.

The only way for a good player to become a good coach, at least for automatic processes, is for the good player to learn all about mechanics and how people learn.

What advantage does the good player's skill offer in that process?  I'd say it's at least as likely to be a disadvantage as an advantage.

UPDATE:  Here's a nice little article from Psychology Today on unconscious competence and what conscious thought can do to performance.  It's based upon an anecdote, but an interesting one.

B.E.S.T System

I am highly skeptical of the role of coaching, particularly when it comes to telling tennis players how to hit the ball.  I don't think we coaches know much about mechanics and I think we know less about helping players learn proper mechanics, if proper mechanics even exist.

There is one notable exception.  Brian Gordon has done extensive, quantitative, precise work on tennis mechanics.  He has the science education and more importantly the science experience to back up what he says.  Brian and Rick Macci have worked to put together a method for teaching highly advanced stroking techniques.  I haven't seen or evaluated their teaching progression, yet, but based upon what I know of Brian, I'm betting it's many steps ahead of what most of us coaches are doing.

I highly recommend you visit his site 3D Tennis Technologies and have a look around.  The best information on the B.E.S.T System is a bit hard to find.  Click the Enter Here button under the Information Zone.  See below.

91 mph Contact Point

I don't hit the ball particularly hard.  I generally hit a rally ball in the mid-50s mph.  If I want to be crazy steady, I'll drop that below 50 mph.  Part of that is because I live and play at 5300 ft above sea level.  Controlling the ball in this thin air isn't so easy.   If I want to push the issue a bit I'll up it to the mid-60s.  My big shots tend to be maybe 75 mph.  Nothing special about those ball speeds.  Many kids and all really good college and professional players can do better than that.  I've been clocked hitting over 80 mph in rallies on occasion, but that's pretty unusual for me.  Over 90 mph?  I'd never done that.  Until yesterday.

I hit a forehand yesterday that was measured with a RADAR gun at 91 mph.  That's very fast for me. For several minutes before cracking 90 mph I was hitting only in the low 80s mph due to a contact point not quite far enough in front of me.  Maximum racquet speed doesn't occur alongside the body.  It occurs at a point somewhat closer to the net.  Moving my contact point roughly foot forward gave me roughly 10 mph more.

So if you're having trouble hitting as hard as you think you should, check to see if moving your contact farther in front, toward the net, gives you a little more pop.

Careful, Teaching Pros

Check out this forehand and tell me if you think the technique is sound based upon traditional forehand templates:



Looks downright crappy to me and everyone I've showed it to.  It elicits chuckles.  Nobody chuckles when it comes at them from the other side of the net!

If your concept of a technically sound forehand doesn't include what you see in that video, you'd better rethink your concept of sound technique.

Oh, and I'm not sure how you'd have to define "still" to say his head is still on any of the shots.

Practice with Lesser Players

I just stumbled across a good post by Jeff Salzenstein.  It shows Colorado junior Max Roder hitting with ATP pro James McGee.  Both players are getting a good practice session.  Jeff's message is that you don't always have to hit with better players to get good practice.  That's obvious, but parents and kids way too often forget it.  They say they have to practice with better players to get better.  Not true.  If it were true, Roger Federer could not have practiced and improved over the last decade, since until recently there were no better players for him to practice with.  Even now, he doesn't practice with Djokovic and Nadal very often, if at all.  I guess none of those guys can improve.  Ha.

To amplify Jeff's message I thought I'd post a video of Dominic Inglot, former Virginia Cavalier and current ATP pro who was also in Colorado recently.  Dominic joined Miikka for a hit at The Ranch Country Club in Westminster.  Here's a few seconds of Dominic warming up (Sorry, no audio so don't adjust your speakers!).

Obviously Dominic is a way better player than Miikka, but Dominic didn't complain for a second.  He got a great workout and excellent practice.  He was grateful for the opportunity to come and practice while he was in town.

Don't be a snob and think you're too good to practice with someone.  Don't fool yourself into thinking that you can only get better by playing with better players.  The only way to get better is to practice.  So practice.

Rules or Exceptions?

"Watch the ball into your strings."

"Keep your head still."

"Stay sideways." (usually said about a one-handed backhand)

"Stay down."

If these are rules, then I sure see more exceptions to them than I see great players following them.  Maybe these are rules to be broken.