Following the principles of differential learning and the constraints led approach, we can change the constraints without repeating them the next practice. Regular variation without repetition and the trust in new studies about motor learning gives the coaches and the players more than a handful of various drills. This one is about changing constraints by starting from unusual points in the tennis field. This requires adaptation to all players and opens doors to new solutions of game situations.
Playing the game with rules outside the rules brings players in a situation where they have to solve problems outside the manifested behaviour. We can manipulate court size, rules, time, counting, context of the game and other settings surrounding the game. This improves tactics and skills. In this double drill players have to adapt the direction of the service, the return in a double, the netplay and particularly in the teamwork collusion between server and netplayer.
On my blog about „new ways of coaching“, I’m talking about non-direct or non-linear pedagogy. But what would be life and science without doubt? This is the link to a text, where Paul Kirschner asks what happened to direct and explicit instructions. He pleads for a wider range in teaching methods and an end to demonization of direct instruction.
Das Ziel war es, auf die Spitze eines hohen Turms zu gelangen. Es versammelten sich viele andere Frösche, um zuzusehen und ihre Artgenossen anzufeuern. Der Wettlauf begann.
In Wirklichkeit glaubte keiner von den Zuschauern daran, dass auch nur ein Frosch auf die Spitze des Turmes gelangen könnte, und alles was man hörte, waren Sätze wie: „Die Armen! Sie werden es nie schaffen!“
Many pros tend to confuse … by assuming that when the player cannot make solid contact with the ball, it is because of lack of proper stroke technique. They give instructions related to the movement of the racquet and where the motion should end. As a result, they sacrifice player’s coordination and ability to make contact with the ball. I have seen many students who know all the “proper strokes technique” but the percentage in which they make a solid contact is very low. Read more
