How To Help A Coach Help YOU

Darren Cahill is a great analyst. Rarely does he speculate or give his opinion on what a player should be doing at some point in a match or wondering why they aren't. He just discusses what he sees, often with great insight as to the ebbs and flows of a match.

Prior to becoming an analyst, and perhaps still, Darren has coached several highly ranked players including Andre Agassi towards the end of Andre's career.

Being aware of this previous coaching relationship and understanding gained from the experience of coaching a top player, the other commentator, while they were commenting on a Federer match, asked Darren about the new coaching relationship between Federer and Paul Annacone, who was previously Pete Sampras' coach.

Specifically, Darren was asked how long it takes for a new coach to get to know his player so that the new coach can make thoughtful and appropriate suggestions for game improvement.

During his answer he made a comment that I wanted to pass on, because, if a player can do this, it is incredibly helpful to me to know how to address an area of concern or improvement.

Some context: As coaches watch our player, sometimes the problem errors and the respective corrections for those mistakes are self-evident (ie. an obvious technical flaw for example). However more often, especially as a players' game matures, finding the root cause of a shot or strategic problem is far less apparent. Is the reason for a mistake because of a slight technical misunderstanding, or is there perhaps a mental misunderstanding, fear, etc. that is at the heart of the problem?

To that end, Darren commented on how easy it was to help Andre, because Andre was great at being able to articulate what was happening "inside himself" during situations that needed work. The exact things that coaches like myself can't necessarily see from our perspective.

This is a skill that would help me help you the most. Whether you come to me with a problem or it is something we spot while practicing or playing, the more you can tell me about what was happening "inside" the better I can make a suggestion relative to solving the root cause of a game problem.

As always, I encourage you to ask me in your lesson or contact me by email anytime to ask for help on something. I don't always know that something is a problem. Of course the more of this inside help you can give me the better......Thank you all so much!!