The matches are over. The club is quiet but still open. Down on court 8, way in the back is the ole ball coach and one of his athletes. We are putting in an after hours session working on footwork and return of serve. Motivated athlete wants extra work during the tournament and motivated coach is all over it.
I have been in at 6:30am early and midnight late at some of these events. Bottom line: I hate to lose! I hate to lose at anything but if I put in maximum effort and my athlete does also, we will do our best and can sleep at night. I cannot control winning or losing or how hard an athlete works but I can control how hard I work. I work overtime for all my athletes. During big tournaments like the US Open, I often am at the club by 6:30 am with an early practice with my athletes.
Then the coaching of matches begins and when matches are over if I have any gas left in the tank I am back to court 8!Back to practice during tournaments. What you can do is work on things the athlete can use immediately. That would be serve and return mostly. I really avoid getting complicated.
Speaking of complicated–wow–some of these coaches are waay too complicated and wordy.
Heard from an opposing Coach:
“Junior, you need to be in this position when Freddy hits that shot and move to here when the ball is here and raise the level of that z serve and yadda yadda, blah blah.
Me: “Hit the ball and don’t think!”
The athlete has to do the practice part. Then the adjustments come easy. When practice does not happen, neither do adjustments!
Practice! Don’t think! When you think, you stink!