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Sunday's Tennis Column: The myths of teaching technique

15 Aug 2021

      [caption id="attachment_155492" align="alignleft" width="356"] “I was trying to get more power and accuracy into my serves. And I decided to try out this way for fun. To my amazement, I found out that this was working for me,” said Andy Roddick, former (2003) world No. 1[/caption]

Any sport in the world can be divided into four main aspects. They are technical, tactical, physical, and mental. Out of these, most coaches spend most of their time teaching technique.

Technique is defined as “a way of carrying out a particular task, especially the execution or performance of an artistic work or a scientific procedure, a skill, or an ability in a particular field, a skilful or efficient way of doing or achieving something in any field”.

Explained simply, technique is the method or procedure of doing something. Different sports will have different techniques.

This article will not try to discuss the “rights and wrongs” of certain techniques. Yet this will discuss whether there is any “acceptable” way of doing all techniques. Simply put, this tries to discuss whether there is only ONE way a single technique can be taught.

One size fits all

This is a mistake that most Sri Lankan coaches tend to make in most instances. For example, the coaches will watch or get the players to watch a famous international player playing a certain shot and try to get him/her to play it exactly the same way. This is partly because most of the coaches themselves have been taught a shot in a certain way.

In the earlier times, coaching in all sports was done according to ‘the technique-based method’. But in recent times, coaching in most sports has turned towards ‘the game-based method’.

The difference between these two is quite subtle in application. In the technique-based method, the players were first asked to master the “correct” technique of the shots before they played matches.

Not ‘one-size-fits-all’

In the game-based method, the players are first given the opportunity to play the game, and the technique is corrected according to the player’s characteristics as he/she plays the game.

Whilst both methods have its plusses and minuses, the difference in the latter is that the player will have a lot of fun in learning the technique. What this also does is, it stops the coaches from adopting the “one-size-fits-all” attitude. In other words, the coaches cannot teach all players only one technique.

Range of acceptability

There is a principle called the “range of acceptability”. This means that even when teaching technique, the coaches are allowed to accept the subtle changes in the technique, as long as it is biomechanically correct.

Range of acceptability has been defined as “the limits that determine the quality of our analytical results. Figures falling within that range are accepted and figures falling outside the range will cause a run to be rejected”.

Therefore, the coaches need to be open to the idea that there can be more than one way to perform any single technique. There are ample examples of such performance from various sports.

Correct biomechanics

In tennis, the service techniques and foot positions of John McEnroe and Andy Roddick were certainly unique in their times. The champion Sri Lankan cricketers, Muttiah Muralitharan’s and Lasith Malinga’s bowling actions were certainly not in any coaching book. The free-kick technique of Cristiano Ronaldo in football would not have pleased the traditional coaches. Such examples are endless in elite sports.

But what all these illustrious champions had was that, though their technique was unique, it was ‘biomechanically correct’.

It is not proposed to discuss what the correct biomechanics are in this article as that would make this too long and too technical. But it is suffice to say that all coaches should have a fair knowledge of the biomechanics of their sport if they hope to produce champions.

Players’ choice

The choice of what works for the player should certainly be decided by the player him/herself.

In an interview discussing his foot position in the serve, Roddick had said, “I was trying to get more power and accuracy into my serves. And I decided to try out this way for fun. To my amazement, I found out that this was working for me and I just continued with it. There was no great thinking behind it”.

Coach supporting player’s choice

This is a great example of the player deciding what works for him/her and the coach supporting the player in his decision. One has to wonder if that would have happened in the rigid coaching environment that prevails in Sri Lanka.

Therefore, it is important that the coach supports the player’s choice as long as the stroke is within the range of acceptability and it works for the player the best. Perhaps one other aspect both the player and the coach can consider here is the fact of injury preventability.

To make a mark in international arena

The player and the coach together can decide whether it has to be done through either “the technique correction” method or whether the player’s training methods need to be tailored to suit the technique.

What is important for the coaches to remember here is that the player and his or her needs do come first. And the coach has to be innovative and adoptable enough to make the best decision in the interest of the player, pushing aside the preferences of the coach.

If Sri Lanka is to make a mark in the international arena, this could be an absolute necessity.

 

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