Jump in with a couple of thoughts.
I think this stuff is, in certain ways, less complicated than the discussion makes it seem. And in other ways, it is more complicated than it seems.
So, here, a few stories. And then I will see if I can say something meaningful. [emoji2]
There is this guy who coaches at SPiN NYC who really does no actual coaching. At his top level, this guy was somewhere around WR #30. So he is an amazing player even though he is close to 60 years old.
But, unless a player is over 2200 (USATT), it seems to me, there is not much this guy can teach the player.
But what he does is hit with them and make them have fun. It really should not be called coaching. But he has more adults paying him for “coaching” than any of the other coaches. And the reason is, when these guys are hitting with him, with no corrections, no drills, no coaching strategy that I can see whatsoever, they still are having tons of fun. This is, in part, because of how good this guy is at hitting with them and making it so they can make great returns and take big powerful shots successfully. And the ball just keeps coming back.
Now the interesting thing about this is, despite the fact that he is really not teaching them anything, he doesn’t correct stroke technique, footwork; he doesn’t even really cover strategy—even though he will play games and matches with most of the students—THEY STILL GET BETTER.
Part of this is that, if you play with someone who is that good, you WILL get better.
Second story:
I am finishing training with this guy who is a coach. I am doing a trade with him. I do stuff that helps his hip and back, he gives me a certain amount of time with him running me through drills and coaching.
His training me is coming to an end and this guy who is a 2100 Level pips player comes up. He nice talks me and starts hitting with me. He says things like: “you have gotten much better but you need to work on X....etc.”
Now, this guy is pretty darn good at match play and competition, but he really can’t move, his strokes are pretty terrible and if you gave him a double smooth racket instead of his Long Pips, Medium Pips setup, maybe he is 1500-1600. He is only this high a level because of tactics.
Anyway, later that day, this guy sends me a text saying he is a better coach than the guy I was training with and that if I took coaching from him, he guaranteed he could get me over 2000 in 6 months and he would only charge me an amount that was triple the amount that the 2500 level player I was training with would have charged me if I paid for a lesson.
My response to this guy was based on my interests: “Since I don’t care about my level, and all I care about is improving my technique, my strokes and my footwork, and since you don’t know how to do or teach those things, thank you for your generous offer, but I am not interested in what you actually could teach me.”
Story #3:
This other guy, Edmund Suen, who is a pretty great player, when I still was pretty low level, grabbed me, started hitting with me and training me, showed me the technical stuff I really needed to work on to fix the mechanical issues in my strokes, and worked with me an amazing amount to help me improve. Without Edmund, my strokes, particularly my FH stroke would be absolutely terrible. He helped me with all those technical details I was actually interested in with hours of training week after week month after month for a few years and never asked for a thing in return. And man we had so much fun training.
I think, some of why he was so able to help me was, he technically knew what I needed to work on and he was not encumbered by wanting money for service. When I made a shot, and it went on the table, but the stroke was bad, he would stop me and make me do the ”right” technique.
For me, improving the technique was what I was interested in. But that really doesn’t necessarily cause your level to go up. And, starting at 44, I think a lot of what Baal said about technique not looking so smooth for adult learners definitely resonates for me.
The interesting side effect of this is that, if I train with someone who is a coach and in that 2500 level, they will, at first be impressed with my technique and think I am a higher level than I am. And then they will see me play matches with people my actual level and see the things that are holding back my further development and keeping my game skill level kind of low.
And, if I had wanted to get to a higher level without improving my technique, the pips guy probably could have helped me a decent amount.
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So, let’s see if I can turn this into some useful info:
1) What good coaching actually is, would really depend on the goals of the student. This is important and often it is left out in these kinds of discussions.
2) Some people want to improve technique and this may happen without significant increase in level.
3) Some people want to increase level and this can happen without significant increase in technique.
4) You can increase game skill level and technical skill sets. But this is harder than either 2 or 3 alone.
5) So much of what a coach can actually do to help an adult learner to improve has to do with the adult learner’s interests, goals, life situation and ability to spend time in productive training.
Sent from The Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy
