Reflection of Coaching
In the tennis centre, I delivered a coaching session one to one with a plan that I had previously put together. The aim of the session was to focus on the element of the tennis serve and break the action down into layers, learning each layer in turn which is known as part-learning. Breaking skills down into their simplest forms and learning them bit by bit is mainly to encourage the perfection of each layer of the skill before putting the skill together.
I found that breaking the skill down into layers and learning them individually helped the learners with the overall learning of the layers. The first layer is probably the most important, which is the original toss of the ball. To begin this the learner practised tossing the ball in the air with the correct technique, doing this over and over enabled the learner to first of all grasp the general technique, before then moving on to perfect the throw.
Then moving the learner on, the learner then began to toss the ball up in the air, but this time landing the ball on the racket on the floor whilst using the same technique as before. Completing the two layers then enabled the learner to gather the technique of the original throw and now combine it with accuracy to enable a throw worthy of serving. Only when the learner was able to land the ball on the racket around 7 times out of 10, would we then move on to the movement of the racket serving arm.
The next layer of the part-learning process of the tennis serve is the arm movement. Incorporating the arm movement into the throw is the main component of the serve. Ensuring the arm movement and the throw are simultaneous and accurate, the serve can’t pretty much go wrong. Ensuring the learner is able to complete the arm movement of the serve correctly is important. Slowing the serve down and learning the layers enables them to concentrate on the arm movement specifically.
In terms of a coaching point of view I feel from a communication stand point it was very easy to communicate with participants in regards to the skills needed and the task at hand. This is because all participants were required to do the same simple tasks in different stages in order to complete the technique fully. The coaching points and task were the same for each participant all at the same time as they all progressed together throughout the session.
All in all I feel the part-learning process is successful in the overall learning of the steps and enables the learner to focus on them individually. However I feel the slow learning process of the steps can also be tedious and if people are already aware of how to serve or aren't interested in the sport of tennis may become bored and not interact properly.
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