We as coaches have got a part in it & I’m guilty of having done exactly the opposite of what I’m suggesting here.

I believe that a big part of Motivation = ownership + responsibility

I also believe that we as tennis coaches sometimes take away the ownership & the responsibility to such an extend that there is next to no motivation left in the tennis players.

Instead of preparing the journey for the child, let’s rather prepare the child for the Journey. Let’s strive to create the reflective tennis player that needs us less & less as they are ultimately the ones who need to take ownership & responsibility.

3 ways to give back some of the ownership & responsibility:

1. Schedule less organized practices than the players need & make sure that they have got the opportunity to go play with fellow teammates if they have got the desire to.

2. Make the players plan & organize a trip to a tournament themselves. Start out small i.g. making the budget & figuring out how to get to a local tournament.

3. Before you start working on i.g. movement in defense on the practice court, ask the players to search Youtube for videos of their favorite player executing the skill. Then before working on the skill turn the coach-player relation upside down & ask the player what he/she knows about what you are about to work on & go from there.

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