The PTM Podcast

Oscar’s Success As a Coach When the coach can communicate through easy words and willing to permit the student to experiment and fail, learning will create a independent and lasting result. People learn when they experiment what does and does not have the correct result. We need to get creative when working with players to get them to understand concepts. They need to practice using a self-discovery model because this is what hey will do during a match. They need to figure out how to...

In today’s episode, I had another chance to interview Dr. Mark Kovacs, one of the nations leaders in sport science. In this episode, Mark talks about the importance of trying to specialize in one of your passionate areas. Some examples may include: All payers can be trained with a HP mindset, be at different levels. You may adjust the drills, the language…..etc You may need ore seasoning than just on-court at your club: If you are not currently working where you are passionate...

Today we welcome Sid Newcomb, USPTA National Tester to the PTM Podcast. Sid is going to discuss the importance of the diagnosis in a lesson. Diagnosis is such an important part of what we do as teaching pros. A lot of inexperienced pros tend to diagnose based on the last ball they just fed. Way to much info instead of one thing they can work on. In a private: These are all super important in the diagnosis. A good pro has the confidence to ask questions to find out what is going on so...

Today’s Quick Tip Is: Tell Your Students What They Are Going To Learn – Teach Them – Tell Them What They Learned And using my online marketing method, may just get those stubborn players eager to learn. A Quick story: I had a group of students recently come to the campus for a week and it was an amazing experience for me s well as for them (I hope anyway) And by the way, if you are interested in bringing a group here, talk to me and I will set you up with an experience that you will not...

Today I interview USPTA/PTR Master Professional Jorge Capestany. Jorge is a highly regarded tennis professional all around the world and has arguably the best tennis drills site on the internet. So Jorge , through his own experience has put people/coaches into one of 5 different levels 1. The Encourager - They look for the good in others and take the extra steps to tell them2. They look for the good, but don’t tell them3. Generally wired to look for the bad in others4. Look for the bad in...

027 – Successful Progressions – My Foolproof Plan for Beginners So today’s quick tip is: Start with contact and progress backwards when working with a NEW player, So why do people say that tennis is HARD? I’m going to tell you how I achieved 100%, yes I said 100% success, with getting every new player I have ever worked with to hit a 20 ball rally over the net on their 1 day with me. There are two secrets here and one of them is you So come on, make it easy for them. This way you can...

Today’s Quick Tip Is: Become the Ocean Liner Coach if you are in the business in taking a player from one point to another. I have been on one cruise. I thought I would never like them, but I really do. The cool part, other than the free drinks and ice cream, it that even though there is a final destination, we make a lot of successful stops along the way. For example: My in-laws come to Florida every year to hang out with us for a few months. Now when I make the drive, it takes me about...

Today’s Quick Tip Is: Stop commenting on every shot and PICK ONE THING. Don’t try to correct each shot. There are NO REDOS anyway, just opportunities. Instead, Try to look for the primary issue and go from there, BEFORE THE FACT. Now you have presented an opportunity to the student. As a tester, the student was supposed to match the primary problem we saw, but the key for me was even if the primary problem didn’t match mine, that was OK as long as long as he progressed properly and the...

Today’s quick tip is: Having Your own coaching style and philosophy is definitely good, but don’t be afraid to veer off tack a bit if need be. Remember the definition of a coach, getting a player from one place to another. So the first is the Amtrak Train. This coach wants to take you to your destiny on one track, one way, no exceptions, no veering off track. First let’s look at this coach in a negative way My Way Is THE BEST WAY This is the person who hangs around the tournaments and...

Today’s Quick Tip Is: Become a good teacher so that you can become a good coach. Let me just say that teaching and coaching work together. The main ingredient here is the LEARNING. Let’s start with teaching. What is teaching? Teaching is about the teacher, can they explain something clear enough for you to understand? Teaching is basically a one way interaction between the teacher and the student. If I were to create a video on how to hit a slice serve, I would basically be teaching...

022 - The Salt Story - Marc Gelina, USPTA The PTM Podcast Welcomes Marc Gelina, Associate PTM Director, University of Central Florida Rosen Campus. The salt story is an analogy on how power of the mind and taking action can change your habits. Salt is made of up two elements: Sodium and Chloride. Take each one alone and it is poison. Combine the two and you have the spice that used to rule the world. The same goes for how we approach tennis. Power of the Mind - Think and believe. What...

Today’s Quick Tip Is: Praise in Public and Criticize in Private It sure would have kept the member and me, from feeling uncomfortable and having to explain to the member that it could wait and she was what is important now. Believe it or not, When you criticize in private, that shows respect and when you show respect, it may give you that edge that you need. I have even got called out in meetings before, and found out later, and it did not feel that good. When you do it in public it only...

Back when I was doing basic research after I would finish teaching on court, I started reading about LTAD. What intrigued me were the “Windows” of development and how we had to get this important stuff in before it became much more of a challenge to develop particular skills. The first was the window for agility, balance and coordination. The second was puberty. What I didn’t know that with A,B and C, the window started to shut somewhere around age 10-12. Which meant it was important to...

So today’s quick tip is: Following some basic Do’s and Don’ts will help you and the staff be more consistent and look more professional When I started teaching, on my own, I had to write up policies for my staff. I came out of college as a Director at a resort in Northern Michigan. Not because I was an amazing pro, but I think I had a lot of help from my PTM Director and they really didn’t have any programs yet, it was just an amenity, so I couldn’t screw it up that badly, Right? I still...

In episode 018, I interview Jorge Capestany, USPTA/PTR Master Professional. Jorge discusses the way he judges the value of his pros by using what he call his "Scale of Worth." The episode will have more detail, but basically this is how he determines what to pay his pros. One thing to remember is that when we talk about income, it is very geographic, meaning that you will probably make more in New York City than you will in Jorge's home town of Holland, MI., but the costs to live in both...

017 – Verbal Communication Today’s Quick Tip Is: Learn some basic verbal communication skills. These skills will attract players as much as your teaching skills sometimes. I have witnessed it over and over with pros on my staff. There are two types of communication: non-verbal and verbal Nonverbal communication is all about gestures, facial expressions, body movement, touch, and anything else done without actually speaking. Verbal communication includes sounds, words, tone of...

016 – The Milkshake Moment Today’s quick tip is: Remember the Milkshake Moment, but look to make a lot of Milkshakes, even when they don’t ask. First of all , one thing I was taught at an early age is that the number one gift you can give anyone, is your time. Like money, we only have so much of it to give and we need to use it and invest wisely. This is where the milkshake comes in. Ok, so here are some typical “Asks” from members at a club” There are internal guests too (The people...

Today, I interview Marc Gelina, the Associate PTM Director at The University Of Central Florida, Rosen Campus. In this episodeWe talk about how to handle different levels of players in the same class. Before coming to Central Florida, Marc was a Tennis Director for over 30 years and has a lot to offer pros who are just getting started and those who have been on the business a long time. The talented players may "Revolt" if you do not have a creative practice plan. You have to add in...