World Class Movement: An Overview

[johnyandell]

Would love to hear what you thought of David Bailey's article "World Class Movement: An Overview".

[bottle]

The article presents too much sheer memory work for the tennis student to absorb in one sitting. How long does it take for an actor to learn 250 lines for a play? A while!

Good information, then, which somehow needs to be broken down. Same as in learning a language. You work on one thing, then another and another.

Is this a criticism? Not necessarily. If the teacher doesn't break it down into small bites, then the student needs to do it (which means that the student is also a teacher-- no real surprise).

But here IS a criticism. Tennis lessons that come up with a list of five do's here and seven there, perhaps with categories that all start with the same letter as a memory aid (alliteration) kind of suck. Could be me but could be the teacher, too.

Is this teacher or author or tennis student or myself-- I hope I'm getting away from THIS author, Mr. David Bailey, to a more general plane-- interested in teaching his subject, i.e., really getting it across or in making lists for compliant kids to memorize?

"Remember this," my sponsoring student teacher said repeatedly to all of her classes, "If you want to remember how to spell the word 'principal,' just remember that the principal is your pal."

The tenth time she made this little speech for purposes of student memorization, she looked past the last row of Tammy's and Zobaleskis and saw me next to the radiator in the rear of the room with a big smirk on my face.

This is the reason-- the only reason-- that I did not become a public school teacher and maybe coach the girls' tennis team.

Note: Okay, sorry, now I see the word "overview" in the article's title.

[teamstrager]

As a professional writer, I think you MIGHT be missing the opportunity for more precise description when you try to get all 5 stages to start with "R." But maybe not. Personally, I would opt for precision over alliteration. As an amateur tennis coach trying to break down complex sequences into comprehensible checklists, I think this is extremely useful. The quality of my son's forehand increased dramatically after I created a literal checklist of components and actually started checking off each one as he consistently and competently added it in to the sequence. Measurement is motivation, and the fact that he could see these checkmarks being placed next to the necessary components as he assimilated them, which is the same as saying he could literally see his own progress, acted as a "rocket booster" for his progress. I suspect the same will happen as I adopt and customize your footwork stages, particularly the recovery move, which is a "dance step" my son hasn't quite mastered. Thanks!

[bottle]

So who's the professional writer-- you or me or both? John Escher is my name.

The quality of all of my strokes or dance steps always improves-- for a few minutes-- when I come up with a new checklist for some modification.

But when I teach, I'm careful not to inflict too much detail or too little. These two sins, unfortunately, are endemic to all instruction in our game and in most other games, too.

The still more important thing for your son is a path that will make him into the fully fledged rascal that a tennis player is.

[teamstrager]

John:

I agree completely.

In fact, I'm going to start my "becoming a rascal" checklist right now!

[bottle]

Excellent. And think how much fun it will be for a change not to tell your son to be a good boy.

I just came home from the lawyer's office where I picked up my last will and testament. As I drove, I had another thought on checklists. It is, that, a certain cast of mind-- maybe me myself in some mood-- will take complex sentences and break them down into checklists.

Another cast of mind will take checklists and assemble them into complex sentences.

My argument at this very moment is that a complex sentence is much closer to the actual content of a serve, forehand or dance step than a checklist.

[klacr]

Excellent. And think how much fun it will be for a change not to tell your son to be a good boy.

I just came home from the lawyer's office where I picked up my last will and testament. As I drove, I had another thought on checklists. It is, that, a certain cast of mind-- maybe me myself in some mood-- will take complex sentences and break them down into checklists.

Another cast of mind will take checklists and assemble them into complex sentences.

My argument at this very moment is that a complex sentence is much closer to the actual content of a serve, forehand or dance step than a checklist.

Deep Stuff Bottle.
I like where you are going with this.

Although you have "several" years on me, and always will, I understand where you are coming from and will understand even more as I get older. Good Work.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[10splayer]

Looking forward to this series, as it could provoke some interesting discussion. I like what he says so far, that is, an emphasis on the contact moves. After all, "footwork", is only as good as it relates to striking. The transfer of energy, balance, redirection of momentum, all revolve around what happens during this critical contact move. It's where the rubber meets the road.