Coaching Quick Tips

Feb 27 2019

Top 5 Power Keywords (Video)

Do you like the power and simplicity of keywords in your coaching? So do we! Repeating a keyword can be a very effective way to force yourself to focus on a change that you want to make. It’s therefore a great tool to use as a part of your coaching when you need to remember a new technique.

Top 5 Keywords

Keyword #1; ACCELERATE

Game situation: Baseline game
Keeps your player focussed on: Accelerating through the ball quickly at contact and keeping the body drawing speed and power from the body’s rotation and anchor to the ground.
Use it: As the ball comes towards the player, have them say “ACCELERATE!” as they go through the stroke and hit the ball. Other words like “RIP” could also work

Keyword #2; BREATHE

Game situation: Baseline game
Keeps your player focussed on: continuing to breathe!
Use it: Say a nice, long, “BREATHE…” as the player makes contact and swings through the ball.

Keyword #3; STRINGS TO TARGET

Game situation: Baseline game; approaching the net
Keeps your player focussed on: a straight swing path through the contact point
Use it: Say “STRINGS TO TARGET” as the player makes contact and swings through the ball.

Keyword #4; DRIVE

Game situation: Serve
Keeps your player focussed on: activating their legs during the serve
Use it: As the player tosses the ball, use the word DRIVE to push up, off the ground, and power through the ball.

Keyword #5; EXTEND

Game situation: Serve
Keeps your player focused on: maintaining the shoulder tilt through the tick position on the serve
Use it: Say “EXTEND” so the player keeps the tossing arm high during the tick position.

How to Help Players Keep the Racket on the Ball (Video)

In this tip i2c Director, Richard Marklow shares the quick coaching tip that he estimates he’s used most in his coaching career! It’s about making sure that you keep the racket on the ball for as long as you can.

Richard says,

“When we’re coaching the forehand we talk about having a big back-swing and follow through for the stroke, but fundamentally the thing that all good forehands have in common is the strength of the contact zone as the racket passes the body. That’s the business end of the stoke.

As long as the racket is in a good position and comes through to make a good contact with the ball – and stays on the ball, then we’re going to get a good result down the other end. Too much on the back-swing, too much on the follow through and you’ll lose the quality around the contact zone.

It’s all about holding the racket on the line of the ball for as long as you can. Holding the ball on the racket. Even if you’ve got a bigger swing, the contact zone where you are keeping the racket on the ball, doesn’t change. Keep the racket on target for as long as you can and you’ll have good success with that technique.”

LEVEL 2: Other Drills we Recommend for Level 2 Coaches and Candidates

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LEVEL 3: Other Drills we Recommend for Level 3 Coaches and Candidates

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LEVEL 4: Other Drills we Recommend for Level 4 Coaches and Candidates

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See more of our Quick Coaching Tips:

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Note: Originally published Apr 13, 2016

Aug 29 2017

How to Build Cross Court Control to Improve Doubles Skills

We recommend this Doubles Drill for adult improver lessons to help players build cross court control – a skill that will help them develop confidence in making the first cross-court ball.

Rich demonstrates variations to create different court situations depending on the level of players you are coaching.

LEVEL 2: More Drills for Level 2 Coaches and Candidates

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LEVEL 3: More Drills for Level 3 Coaches and Candidates

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LEVEL 4: More Drills for Level 4 Coaches and Candidates

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See more drills

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Aug 18 2017

i2c Quick Fix: Tips to Build an Understanding of Slice on the Serve (video)

We know that the “go to” slice serve is taught most commonly by coaches to take the your opponent outside the court to create the space for the 2nd shot. However, when we teach a player to understand slice on the serve, there are 6 serves the player can hit:

Wide on both sides
Centre on both sides
Body on both sides

Use this quick fix to work with your players to build an understanding of slice on the serve!

Mar 30 2017

Quick Fix! How to buy time to get back into a strong position (Video)

For a lot of players, the back-hand is their weaker shot and therefore a lot of attacking balls target the back-hand side of the court.

In this short clip, Adam Wharf, the Head of Performance Coaching at i2c, demonstrates how you can help your players learn how to buy time to get back into a strong position.

Simple solutions can make a huge difference to a player’s game!

Note: we originally released this clip on 8th June 2016. It’s being re-released to celebrate the launch of our Quick Fixes CPD course.