The OTHER perspective
Oct 13, 2016One of the great things about staying on Necker Island, is that almost everything is included. And not just food and drink and things like that, but kite surfing, wake boarding, water skiing, scuba diving, sailing, snorkelling and things like that! And all with fantastic equipment and truly world class one-on-one instructors.
Every morning Steve would come up at breakfast and say ‘What do you fancy doing today?’ And we’d pick what we wanted to do that day. For the first week, both Susan and I dug into kite surfing – great fun but very challenging. Towards the end of the week, I decided I’d try tennis lessons first thing in the morning and then do kite surfing in the afternoon.
The first morning for my first lesson, I turned up keen as can be, not having had a tennis lesson since I was about 10 years old (and even then I only had about three total!)
Jose greeted me with a tennis racquet and said ‘Let’s just knock it back and forth and see what you got.’
So I did my best to hit it back over the net, without it going flying off to the left or right or right out over the fence at the back of the court. It was pretty hit and miss at first to be honest!
After about 5 minutes Jose said ‘Great, let’s have a look at your stroke shall we?’ And he gestured for me to cover over to this machine that looked like an ATM by the umpire’s chair.
He pressed a few buttons and up came a few menu options and then he said ‘Let’s look at all the ones you hit out and see what’s going on.’
We then watched a video of me hitting all the balls that went out, one after another. He paused it, slowed it down, changed camera angles, went backwards, and zeroed in on the exact moment I hit the ball and then analysed my balance, racquet position, feet position, how far the ball was away from my body .. it was incredible. And at times pretty uncomfortable to watch :) I wasn't as good as I thought I was!
‘Oh my goodness!’ I said, ‘this is amazing.’
‘We’ve only just got it.’ Jose said. ‘Richard hasn’t seen it yet, it came in while he was away.’
‘Does he play a lot of tennis then?’ I asked.
‘When he’s on the island, every morning and every evening without fail .. he loves it! Let’s have a look at all the ones that went in now shall we?’ And with a few more clicks on the screen, a list of all the shots I’d played where the ball went in came up, and we went through them one by one.
In the first hour, we covered forehand topspin, backhand topspin and serving! And even if I say so myself, I made incredible progress!
Being able to see yourself on video and analyse what you are actually doing is an invaluable training aid. You think you know what you’re doing, but when you see what you’re actually doing, it makes is SOOOOO much easier to know THAT you need to change and WHAT you need to change. Nothing gets better on its own.
I think I was so taken by Jose’s approach to coaching and his new gadget because it is exactly the same principle I’ve been teaching for many years with speaking. Speaking is a complex skill that takes time to learn and develop. Tennis is also a complex skill that takes time to learn and develop. In fact all complex skills take time to learn and develop!
Carl Jung said:
Every morning Steve would come up at breakfast and say ‘What do you fancy doing today?’ And we’d pick what we wanted to do that day. For the first week, both Susan and I dug into kite surfing – great fun but very challenging. Towards the end of the week, I decided I’d try tennis lessons first thing in the morning and then do kite surfing in the afternoon.
The first morning for my first lesson, I turned up keen as can be, not having had a tennis lesson since I was about 10 years old (and even then I only had about three total!)
Jose greeted me with a tennis racquet and said ‘Let’s just knock it back and forth and see what you got.’
So I did my best to hit it back over the net, without it going flying off to the left or right or right out over the fence at the back of the court. It was pretty hit and miss at first to be honest!
After about 5 minutes Jose said ‘Great, let’s have a look at your stroke shall we?’ And he gestured for me to cover over to this machine that looked like an ATM by the umpire’s chair.
He pressed a few buttons and up came a few menu options and then he said ‘Let’s look at all the ones you hit out and see what’s going on.’
We then watched a video of me hitting all the balls that went out, one after another. He paused it, slowed it down, changed camera angles, went backwards, and zeroed in on the exact moment I hit the ball and then analysed my balance, racquet position, feet position, how far the ball was away from my body .. it was incredible. And at times pretty uncomfortable to watch :) I wasn't as good as I thought I was!
‘Oh my goodness!’ I said, ‘this is amazing.’
‘We’ve only just got it.’ Jose said. ‘Richard hasn’t seen it yet, it came in while he was away.’
‘Does he play a lot of tennis then?’ I asked.
‘When he’s on the island, every morning and every evening without fail .. he loves it! Let’s have a look at all the ones that went in now shall we?’ And with a few more clicks on the screen, a list of all the shots I’d played where the ball went in came up, and we went through them one by one.
In the first hour, we covered forehand topspin, backhand topspin and serving! And even if I say so myself, I made incredible progress!
Being able to see yourself on video and analyse what you are actually doing is an invaluable training aid. You think you know what you’re doing, but when you see what you’re actually doing, it makes is SOOOOO much easier to know THAT you need to change and WHAT you need to change. Nothing gets better on its own.
I think I was so taken by Jose’s approach to coaching and his new gadget because it is exactly the same principle I’ve been teaching for many years with speaking. Speaking is a complex skill that takes time to learn and develop. Tennis is also a complex skill that takes time to learn and develop. In fact all complex skills take time to learn and develop!
Carl Jung said:
Until we make the unconscious conscious, it will rule our lives and we will call it fate.
So much of speaking and so much of tennis and so much of our lives are being run by habit .. being run by our unconscious .. and too often we brush it off as we’re 'not a natural speaker' or a 'natural sportsman or woman' .. or 'we’re unlucky'; but actually it’s the unconscious remaining unconscious and US not being conscious of it!
Video is one way to bring some of those things into conscious awareness. It can be tough to watch yourself when you feel you are not that good, but it's the fastest way to get good!
So much of speaking and so much of tennis and so much of our lives are being run by habit .. being run by our unconscious .. and too often we brush it off as we’re 'not a natural speaker' or a 'natural sportsman or woman' .. or 'we’re unlucky'; but actually it’s the unconscious remaining unconscious and US not being conscious of it!
Video is one way to bring some of those things into conscious awareness. It can be tough to watch yourself when you feel you are not that good, but it's the fastest way to get good!
Trained ears and eyes also make a big difference. Jose was such a great tennis coach, I would have made progress without the video. But when you put the two together, it’s possible to make extraordinarily fast progress.
And with speaking - the wonderful thing is, especially at the beginning - you can make great progress by watching yourself on video, making the unconscious conscious and then asking yourself:
How’s that working for me?
And if you don’t like it, now you know, so now you can change it!
And .. much to Sooze’s amusement, I now realise we NEED a tennis court so I can keep on practising!
And with speaking - the wonderful thing is, especially at the beginning - you can make great progress by watching yourself on video, making the unconscious conscious and then asking yourself:
How’s that working for me?
And if you don’t like it, now you know, so now you can change it!
And .. much to Sooze’s amusement, I now realise we NEED a tennis court so I can keep on practising!
Until next time ..
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