My friend and tennis teaching colleague, Ken DeHart, made some great points recently in a comment to one of my blog posts on how to change from plan a to plan b when things aren’t going so well in a match.

I then posted Ken’s comments here.

I just got off the phone with Ken this morning and we discussed why so many club level players don’t want to practice and what are some ways to encourage them to improve.

Here’s my telephone interview with Ken…

So, paint that picture inside your head of the benefits of practice , not the drudgery of it, but what’s the eventual payoff going to look like, what’s it going to feel like, you know, all of the good stuff..

No more excuses. Get out there today, tomorrow, the next few days, but shove 30 minutes into your schedule, and get the first session done and in the books. And then do the same next week…
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Fellow tennis teaching / coaching colleague Ken DeHart from here in the San Francisco Bay Area left a really good comment that I want you to see.   Ken replied to our recent topic on how and when do we change from our standard ”Plan A” strategy to either a modified Plan A or a total 180 Plan B.  Here’s what Ken can had to say…

Brent,

Great topic.

It is difficult to get club players to try a Plan B- they are often afraid of trying an untested style of play for fear their friends will think they cannot play. Even when you can get them to acknowledge the need for growing their game by practicing in the game they play weekly for the past 10 years with the same people they fear letting their partner down.

As a player, it is difficult to think logically in the heat of battle. From the stands, I seldom make mistakes and can judge what to do. On the court the thoughts fly through the mind very quickly and have little sticking time to be evaluated.

Making notes on paper during the change over is probably the best chance to see the match as a coach or spectator from the stands.

It is easy to suggest that players practice with lower level players to work on an alternative style of play – however they are often afraid of playing poorly against a weaker player and having that player think they can almost beat you.

Great topic – good challenge,

Ken DeHart

And my response to Ken’s comments is the following…

For those of you who don’t know Ken DeHart, Ken is one of the USA’s top teaching professionals, having achieved the USPTA’s highest level of certification as a Master Professional.

What I love about teaching and coaching pros who’ve been around for awhile is that they understand what is reality for amateur level players.

So many of us live in this idealistic world as either a player or a coach, and at times it can be tough to hear and face up to what is the truth.

Ken’s last words in his comment are “Great topic – good challenge” and to me the big challenge here is being able to have the guts to carve out the time needed to practice a Plan B.

Look, learning something new always requires a certain amount of pain, not all of the time, but some of the time, and if you can accept the reality that you just might lose to a lesser rated player than yourself as you’re going through the learning curve, then you’ll eventually get to wherever it is you want to go.

If the thought of losing to a lower rated player is something you just can’t stomach (and can’t find a way to justify a potential loss because you’re trying to learn something), then you’ve got zero chance at ever developing a Plan B. Plain and simple. And in fact, you’ve got zero chance at improving any other part of your game if you can’t face up to the reality of the learning curve.

So, I’m hoping this topic of developing a Plan B also takes us to a tightly related topic that Ken mentioned, and that’s how to understand, accept, and not be afraid of our unique learning curve…

Thanks Ken and your comments are of course always welcome.

Brent

If you haven’t already picked up your copy, my lesson on the mental skills required for competitive tennis players spends a lot of time on the “learning curve”.

Get your copy of this detailed lesson here so you can learn how to accept the realities of the learning curve in tennis.

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