Most believe three things about tennis. (All sport, really)
1. It’s all about technique.
2. Technique must be taught.
3. Technique is best taught by a certified instructor.
Accordingly, they retain certified instructors for the purposes of implanting approved technique into them. (The time required for this procedure varies from months to years) If the implanted technique takes hold… they’ll be “good”.
An outside-in instructional system.
Outside-in has some serious problems.
First, if better play was as simple as better technique… sports psychology wouldn’t exist.
Yes, better players tend to have good form, but all those with good form, don’t play better.
Second, technique doesn’t need to be taught.
Learning to walk is the biggest physical transformation of life. Who taught you how to do it? You.
Riding a bike is a more complex neurological task than hitting a tennis ball. You taught yourself to do that too.
Yes, I know, your parents were there.
And I’m sure they filled you with all sorts of good bike riding instruction.
But balance is a sensation. You can’t feel it… and figure out how to keep it, until you’re up on 2 wheels.
Third, your “certified” teacher is beholden to the organization that grants them their professional status. This is NOT an arrangement that promotes the pursuit of Truth. It’s a setup for a conflict of interest.
And fourth, the long term result of the outside-in approach is collective mimicry. Everyone doing the same thing in the same way.
A question for those of you who play competitively… what’s the competitive advantage of doing a thing the same way as everyone else?
A question for those of you who appreciate art… what’s the value of a copy?
There are other problems, but by now you have grasped my central theme.
As usual, I’m offering a different lens: Inside-Out
What’s the objective of tennis? (If you’ve taken lessons, and you can’t state the objective of the game in one simple sentence… you should demand a refund.) It is to put more balls in the rectangle than the player(s) on the other side of the net.
You might be thinking that it can’t be so simple. That tennis is about hitting winners… working points… pitting strengths against weakness… grinding out matches… or some other blather.
Look, tennis can be about those things… if you want it to be. Just understand that the point of those things is putting more balls in play than the player(s) on the other side of the net.
The same is true of technique. The underlying motive behind every tennis tip you have ever been given, is to help you put more balls play.
And that is because the winner of every tennis match ever completed… in the history of our game… has been the player who put the most balls in the box. Period. End of line.
(By the way, every sport has a similarly simple objective.)
Working inside-out is starting with the objective of the game – the why – and freeing players to discover the how… their how.
What emerges isn’t A way… or… alternatively, it is the way of every way. It flows like water. It’s formless… yet capable of every form.
”Be a shapeless, formless opponent.” Sun Tzu advised.
A writer faces a blank page. The challenge: create something original out of the same words available to everyone. A tennis player is similarly challenged.
Original expression is exceptionally rare in todays game. It holds a biiiig competitive advantage over mimicry.
The problem is… we’ve gotten used to buying what we want. You can’t buy originality. You’ve gotta suffer at least a little for that… and we don’t like suffering. (I guess that’s two problems.)
Bruce Lee said that the foundation for his art was “unfolding the bare human soul.”
I think about that a lot. I also wonder if calling something an “art” encourages that kind of thinking.
We’d do well to think of our sport… every sport, as an art…
Life too.
Ps. 1 If you liked this… you’ll love my book “The Art of Holding Serve” so much… your heart might explode. Ok… that’s probably an exaggeration… but you’ll like it.
Ps. 2 I’m accepting 2… maybe 3 new clients. (It depends on the scope of the project.) If you made it this far… and you want to get good, contact me.