Happy New Year! In our first episode of 2024, we tackle leadership: how we define it, what makes it good or bad, and how we can get better at it. Enjoy!

Happy Holidays! We got together, late as always, to discuss how to plan your training blocks, how your coaching philosophy influences your players, and the benefits of structured coaching vs. unstructured play. Enjoy!

00:00 Planning sessions and blocks

11:05 Structured vs. unstructured practice

20:40 The influence of a coach's ideology

29:50 Players who decide they no longer need coaching

Or just our nerdiest. Open vs. closed skill development, non-linear pedagogy, training decision-making, and whether it's more important to be consistent or to have weapons.

0:00 - Non-linear pedagogy & open/closed skill development

29:30 - Developing smart players

39:45 - Consistency vs. power

Season 2 is here! In which we continue to delve off topic, touching on but rarely answering a variety of questions, such as:

• How much of an athlete's training should be 4 to a court, 2 to a court or individual?
• How do you go about welcoming someone new to your program?
• What are the ethics of communicating with parents and coaches?

Enjoy!

The Lost Episode! Season 2 starts soon, but for now, enjoy Season 1 Episode 12:

00:00 - U12 swing paths

18:45 - Developing timing skills for return of serve

22:00 - Should the First 4 really be the First 1?

07:40 - Why does technique evolve?

26:20 - Giving technical feedback in competition

31:10 - Differences between juniors ranked 800 ITF and 50 ITF

38:25 - Players having multiple coaches

Thanks to Magnus, Thomas, and Jordan for sending in questions!

Mental toughness! What does it mean? How do we develop it? Does Al drink coffee or tea? Automaticity, problem-solving, beliefs, mindsets, skills, focus, and more. Timestamps:

0:00 - Start of episode

54:30 - End of episode

Easter Special! Timestamps:

2:37: Genetics and responsiveness to training

• The David Epstein book The Sports Gene
• How does this affect the way we coach?

23:26: The Steve Smith model of technical development

• Is it bad if all your players look the same?
• Is there value in your players feeling that everyone is doing the same thing, that we're all in this together?

35:35: Coaching through feelings

• Is it useful?
• Zack's pet peeve
• Using the athlete's own words

44:29: Kyle Edmund and life after tennis

• How tough the sport is
• Our responsibility to set them up for after tennis
• How do we prepare them?
• The srilankan fisherman

55:40: Bonus: The UBC Masters of High Performance Coaching

• What makes a coach one of the best ever?
• What goes into creating the right environment for players to progress and succeed?
• Why is the Tennis Director at ATC such a good-looking guy?

and more... or less.

0:47 Representative learning design/Constraints-led approach is overhyped

16:26 Don't undervalue mini-tennis

31:32 Creativity is overrated

41:30 Change of rhythm

52:40 Questions from the listeners

In this week's episode: Zack and Al attempt to have a heated debate, only to end up agreeing on most everything. Al questions why some players consistently beat players ranked above them while others don't, Zack doesn't think your dominant eye affects your technique, Al has some questions about the stats in women's tennis, and the boys both discuss extreme western grips.

Zack's appearance on The First Serve: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6ubGLBQUUE3GQa7yiMxp10?si=d353334f82324e1a

0:30 The psychology of upsets

17:30 Dominant eye theory doesn't affect technique

31:30 Stats in the women's game

46:30 Extreme western grips aren't a red flag

00:00 Al's controversial opinion on Ben Shelton

05:45 Coaching the follow-through

10:00 Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, and dealing with pain

13:40 Fighting for every point

16:20 The state of American tennis

19:00 What does it take to be a good coach?

38:10 Idolizing a particular coach or approach

46:15 Maximizing time spend feeding in balls

Do values on a wall mean anything? How do you go about creating a culture of high performance? How do you know when a player needs a kick in the pants? Zack has the questions, and Al has none of the answers.

The use of scientific studies as evidence, why it's called the grey zone, and viewing the coach as a high performance athlete.

In which Al and Zack butcher their introductions and eventually get into some interesting discussions.

I told Al we'd discuss the mindsets of players who make it to the top. From there, we talked about desire, different sources of motivation, successful habits, and more topics that I can no longer remember!