A true story I was told by a coach who had just read an article about visual teaching by demonstration only. He has a new 6 year old pupil for a half-hour lesson and decides to put this into practice. The coach says �Do exactly what I do.� He drops the ball and hits a forehand. The pupil drops the ball and misses completely. It goes on like this for twenty minutes, the coach hitting a perfect forehand, then the pupil completely missing the ball.
The lesson is now near the end, and the coach says (totally exasperated) �Do what you want.� The relieved pupil then puts his racquet in his left hand, drops ball with right and hits a perfect forehand.

One of my favourite coaching stories was told by Dudley Georgeson, the Tutor on my Part One Coaching course and co-tutor on my Part Three.
Dudley was teaching at a rough school, the sort of place where dinner money is something you give the fifth formers to let you live. But there was one teacher who never had any trouble with the kids, even with Class 5g which was made up of the dregs of what was already the dreggiest school in the area.
�How do you do it?� asked Dudley. �Class 5g are the noisiest, most violent group of Neanderthals I�ve ever come across.�
�Ah, yes,� said the teacher. �They�re nice kids though, aren�t they!�
The moral is pretty obvious but it bears repeating. If you like your pupils (or can find something in them to like) then they are much more likely to respond well in return.

A 9 year old pupil phoned to tell me about his day in the tournament.
�I won my first match 6-0, 6-0. I played really well and my opponent was a very nice boy. In my next match I lost 6-3, 6-1. My opponent kept putting me off and he wasn�t very nice. I didn�t like him at all.�
�Why didn�t you like him?�
�He kept getting the ball back!!�

Repetition is a great tool for the coach. Never say anything once that you can say twice. Saying it twice is much more professional. Therefore �Great shot, great shot,� and �Get there, get there,� and �If you can, if you can,� is twice as good as �Great shot�, �get there�, or �if you can.� Lingering over a word is also recommended. �Good, goo-ood.� Or even �Very goo-ood.�
I suppose you could even use the Monica Seles grunt principle - that if it�s good to grunt when hitting a shot then the louder you grunt the better it is. So the more you linger on a word the better. �Very goo-ooooo-oooood!�

Incredibly wise one-liners are always essential. Here�s a few for the self-important coach (like me!)

When a pupil complains about their racquet. �It�s not what�s in your hands, it�s what�s in your head.�

On a windy day: �The wind is your friend.� In other words, use the wind yourself, and let it put off your opponent. Although when you are playing a pupil, an important thing to remember when saying this after missing a shot due to the wind is not to swear and blame the wind!

Question: How important is tennis?
Answer: As important as life itself.

Question: What sort of feet should you have?
Answer: Fast feet.

Question: What shot do you improve if you work on your forehand?
Answer: Your forehand.
Q: What shot do you improve if you work on your backhand?
A: Your backhand.
Q: What shot do you improve if you work on your footwork?
A: All of them.

Agassi said: "The most important thing is consistency and depth." A story to illustrate this. Many years ago, an American student was knocking up with Jack Kramer. (All the kids say: "Jack who?" when I tell them this story. A Wimbledon champion - what else do they need to know?) The student was playing at the top of his form - hitting the ball crisply and to a good length within a few feet of the baseline. He came off the court feeling good. Expecting praise he went up to the great man and asked for his comments.
And Jack Kramer just said: "Hit the ball deeper."

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