One of the biggest problems that hinders the progress of players is that their coaches very rarely get to watch them play real live matches. There are many reasons for this, but mainly it is that coaches have to earn a living – so it’s difficult for them to give up time to travel to watch a match.
Whatever the reason that’s how it is and it gives coaches a real problem which is that they have to make decisions about a player’s game with very little information – not an ideal situation. It’s a bit like a doctor making a diagnosis over the phone.
As a parent there is a lot that you can do to help – even if you have little tennis knowledge. This is because as the person watching the matches you can very easily collect some data on your child’s tennis that will really help the coach make the right decisions and concentrate on the correct areas.
Many parents would worry about getting involved like this and feel that they will be seen as pushy parents. If you talk it through with the coach first and make it clear that you are keen to help then it will nearly always be positively received. The other thing to be clear about is that you’re not going to get involved with opinions – you are just going to gather data on the facts and then leave it to the coach to interpret.
The following are the best and most simple ways to collect information:
1. Scatter graph
A scatter graph is when you record where shots hit by your child/player land on the opponent’s side of the court.
Draw the lines of a tennis court on a sheet of A4. Then decide which shot or shots you are going to record – you can’t record every shot your child hits as all you will get then just get a mass of dots all over the page! It might be that your child has been particularly struggling with their backhand or perhaps their approach shots.
Once you’ve decided this you’re ready to go. Every time your child hits the shot you’re concentrating on then mark on the court diagram where that ball lands. It’s really important to record all the shots that the player hits, not just the ones that land in the court, as the shots that go out will be just as important to the coach. Shots that go in the net are recorded by making a mark in the net on your diagram.
Once you get the hang of this you can develop it a little to make it more specific and helpful to the coach:
- You can record 2 shots at the same time, marking one with a dot and the other with a cross
- Rather than recording every ball hit of a certain shot you can choose to record the shot only in certain situations. For example, if backhands under pressure is the area your child is working on then including their attacking backhands will only confuse the picture. Instead only make a mark the shots when your child has been put under pressure on the backhand
- You might record all backhands hit but code them depending on the situation they were hit from. You might mark attacking backhands with a cross and defensive ones with a dot.
2. Record match stats
The following are the most commonly recorded match stats:
- 1st serve percentage and 2nd serve percentage
- % points won on 1st serve and % won on 2nd serve
- % points won when returning 1st serve and % points won
- Total number winners and total number unforced errors
You can also start to record more specific stats especially if there are certain areas you want to focus on:
- % points won from a dominant situation in the rally
- % points won from a situation when moving forwards
There are paper charts and even iphone apps that will help you record this data. However, it is actually just as easy to use a pen and paper and devise your own marking system.
The above two methods will provide valuable data that the player might find useful and the coach certainly will. It will also give you something to do while watching matches, it doesn’t have to be done every match or for the whole of a match, so it could be a welcome diversion for a set or two!
Article by Dan Thorp