In today's world it is so easy to watch a youtube video or send pictures by social media. We can see the image of a particular way a stroke it done. This is so powerful. The use of slow motion video for before and after is priceless. I want my students to take these tools one step further and FEEL their strokes. Can they describe what it felt like when they hit that ball just right? Can the recognize or are they aware when they are off or the ball continues to sail long? What corrections can their autonomic nervous system make. By getting our players to feel, really love the feel, of that perfect stroke, we are setting them up to be instinctive players. Our methodology focuses on showing a whole concept and then working backwards in chunks. We want the students to be able to experience the end in mind as they feel their way through each concept we teach. This idea of feeling the stroke has been influential in our students over the past five years. The biggest impact is in retention. Where I noticed students have retained is when they take two weeks or more off of tennis if they have a holiday vacation or go on a summer vacation. They usually come back playing better than when they left. I remember how that was the opposite for me when I first was learning tennis, actually, it was the opposite for me in school to. I would come back after summer vacation or time off and I would have to relearn everything as I was a bit rusty. I feel that the time off allows the students to absorb everything even more. Our system focuses on chunking of information and visualization in short increments over a period of time. That consistency is key because it is developing in them a ritual for success. That ritual is the instinctive movement where they can feel and be aware of their strokes and adjust when they need to.
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