October-November 2009 -- We are fortunate to live and teach in an exciting tennis era where teaching styles encompass many conventional techniques and tactics from both the linear methods of teaching as well as the modern angular styles we see in so many of today's competitive players. As should be expected, when angular tennis (which some refer to as modern tennis) began taking hold, the theoretical battle lines quickly formed between conventional and modern logicians. Many from the linear "turn, step and hit" genre could not concur with changing years of successful teaching technique into the "load, explode and land" modern methodology. They thought that what was being suggested was a complete change from one style to the other, rather than simply adding modern methods to their lesson repertoires. In fact, all that was being suggested was that we maintain all that is good from the "conventional game," add all that is good about the "modern game" and, in doing so, we all become adept in the "current game."
There is a misconception that when USPTA teachers associated with high-performance training give lectures, the Association is offering only high-performance training instruction. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is tennis teaching is scalable. This means that either a high-performance teacher or an instructor of older intermediate players can take any drill or activity and easily scale it to the level and ability of all players.
The thing that makes this possible should not really be a mystery to any of us since it is the most important thing we do when walking onto the teaching court - expert feeding.
When it comes to teaching, scalability is defined as the ability to present something in its simplest form and present that same material at higher levels, altering a few key variables to make the material more challenging as a student advances. For example, the high-performance drills you see demonstrated at a USPTA World Conference can also be done with beginner players. The only difference is the degree of difficulty and manner in which the drill is performed and the ability of the teacher to scale feeds to the level of the students.
In order to scale a drill up or down to a particular player's level, there are six feeding variables that can be changed according to that player's skill level: speed, height, depth, direction, frequency and spin. These six variables can make the same drill different for various levels of players, from beginner to advanced. With beginner players, the speed, height and depth will be the main variables, and as the player's skills increase, direction, frequency and spin can be introduced to add a more challenging factor.
In one demonstration, Rick Macci had an accomplished young junior player demonstrating the points he was making during his presentation. This young player was probably a 3.5 or 4.0 adult player equivalent. Rick was hand-feeding balls side to side, alternating some feeds to make the student move in or back to work on movement as well as the forehand and backhand movement skill.
This same drill might also be done with beginner players by hand-feeding closer to the player with more of an arc for a softer feed. The frequency will also be less taxing on the student because the emphasis is on the technical component more than the physical component. With a beginner, the professional wants the student to get a feel for the upper body movements in the trunk, shoulders and arms, and lower body movements in the hips, knees and feet.
A professional scaling this drill for a player at the intermediate level would use a progression with the feeds. Using the same drill, the feeds would change slightly to challenge the more accomplished player, but still allow for the same success. The ball characteristics must be such that the student has the time to execute the desired shot and achieve the success level needed to build confidence and self-esteem before moving to the next progression. Again, the feeds would differ with various ball characteristics, with possibly another variance being the target area.
The only time skill level becomes an overriding factor in a drill is when a specific, advanced skill comes into play, such as hitting a forehand crosscourt deep into the corner or an angled dropshot short into the service box. Asking a beginner student to hit a particular shot to a certain area of the court to achieve a desired effect may actually lower that student's success level. In this case, the professional should remove some specifics of the drill to allow the player to be more successful, and use the more advanced version of the drill when the player's skills have improved.
Scalability may sound complicated, but it is something USPTA Professionals do on a daily basis. Don't let drills performed by accomplished players with nearly flawless technique distract you from the realization that your club members and beginner players can perform the very same drills. It's all about how you feed the balls.
For an excellent example of scalability, go to your world-class resource center at www.tennisresources.com and type the word scalability into the "Quick Search" box. A drill by Emilio Sanchez Vicario will appear in the YouTube-style search engine. Click on it to see how he feeds balls to players of differing skill levels and how they perform the same drill.
