Designing TT Clinic
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Topic: Designing TT Clinic
Posted By: mjamja
Subject: Designing TT Clinic
Date Posted: 12/21/2018 at 4:19pm
I am planning to do some free TT clinics for beginning players (< 1200 USATT mostly adults). My initial idea is to do a series of modules that are 2hrs/day, 2 days/week for 3 weeks. Each module would focus on one particular element like Fh topspin, Bh opening, or Fh flick. Probably doing mostly multiball feeding.
Questions:
1. With only 2 hrs/session how many students do I accept? Initially leaning toward limit of 4.
2. With 6 2hr sessions in a module should I be extremely narrow in focus or be little broader like Fh and Bh topspin so students do not get bored?
3. What would you recommend as topics for the first 4 modules that give beginning players the best improvement?
4. Would you structure the lessons in some entirely different way?
Mark - Who decided to quit pretending to be a coach on the internet and instead try to be a real coach.
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Replies:
Posted By: BRS
Date Posted: 12/22/2018 at 10:07am
My local club has done some of these. I think for one amateur coach four players is a smart max. Some suggestions from our experience --
Break up the two hours so they get to play or do some relatively free drills and try to focus on what you just taught. Attention spans are not what they were, even among adults. Maybe twenty minutes of instruction and drill, then ten minutes of play or more free stuff (no scores needed).
Mostly multiball works great for two players, one hits while the other picks up balls. Not so much for four players. Either feed multiball to two and let the other two drill on another table, or spend at least half the time on them drilling in pairs while you watch and coach.
Under 1200 players, which was our demographic too, do not need bh opens or fh flicks. They first need to hit the ball near the sweet spot. Bring sone new training balls and don't wash them first. Start off feeding easy multiball and have each player do fh and bh hits. Then look at the pattern of the dust circles on their rubber. When we did that by accident, it was shocking how totally random some of the patterns were. If any of yours are the same, they need to watch the ball and move a little to make a consistent contact.
Then I would feed them multiball easy, but varying the speed. They should listen to the rhythm of the ball, and not go at the same timing no matter what the ball is like. Beginning type players, even ones who have been playing twenty years, often are not really paying attention to the ball.
If they are good at that, then I would start with fh-bh transition, and then add one step in four balls, like bh-middle-bh-fh-repeat. And hope they can maintain the sweet spot and good timing.
After that then you could work on introducing backspin by teaching them a backspin serve and a long push on both sides. If after six weeks they practice and get decent at the hits, serve, and pushes, then they will be 1400. At that point they should learn to fh loop vs backspin.
If you have a 1100ish player who can't consistently hit an easy fh feed in the same place on his rubber, but wants to learn a banana flick even though none of his opponents could serve short for a million dollars, that person is always going to suck at TT, and he is wasting your time and attention.
We had a guy who couldn't stand or hold the bat properly, but complained that he just wanted to learn to loop, why are we not teaching him to loop? This was two-plus years ago, he is still not looping.
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Posted By: Tt Gold
Date Posted: 12/22/2018 at 5:22pm
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If you want them to develop a solid technique, then focus on one element for some time. You can start with forehand counterhit and introduce them to the backhand counterhit after some time. Then you can combine them and bring a little footwork into play. Something like 2 forehands and one backhand.
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