Just let them play
Download file (right-click and "save as...")
Michael Thompson, Ph.D. is a consultant, author and psychologist specializing in children and families. He is the clinical consultant to The Belmont Hill School and has worked in more than five hundred schools across the United States, as well as in international schools in Central America, Europe and Asia.
He and his co-author, Dan Kindlon, wrote the New York Times best-selling book, Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys (Ballantine Books, 1999). He is the author of Speaking of Boys: Answers to the Most-Asked Questions About Raising Sons Ballantine, 2000), and co-author (with Catherine O'Neill Grace and Larry Cohen, Ph.D.) of Best Friends/Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Worlds of Children (Ballantine, 2001) and Mom, They're Teasing Me: Helping Your Child Solve Social Problems (Ballantine, 2002.) About Best Friends, Worst Enemies the Publishers Weekly review declared, "Not since Dr. Spock and Penelope Leach has there been such a sensitive and practical guide to raising healthy children." The Pressured Child: Helping Your Child Achieve Success in School and in Life (with Teresa Barker, Ballantine, 2004) was written to help parents understand the complex journey of children through school, from Kindergarten through senior year. His latest book, It's a Boy!, is a comprehensive guide for the parents of boys.
A dedicated speaker and traveler, Michael Thompson has appeared on The Today Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, ABC 20/20, CBS 60 Minutes, The Early Show and Good Morning America. He has been quoted in the New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Time and U.S. News and World Report and has been a guest on NPR's "Morning Edition" with Susan Stamberg, "Talk of the Nation" with Ray Suarez and the Diane Rhem Show. He has written, narrated and hosts a two-hour PBS documentary entitled "Raising Cain" to be broadcast in January of 2006. Dr. Thompson is married to Dr. Theresa McNally, a psychotherapist specializing in adoption, and is the father of Joanna, 23, and Will, 18.
Comments
Anyway, what did I learn from this guy?
The first thing I learned was that for beginners - self-diagnosis is not the way to improve your game. I have bought and read countless tennis magazines, and I can honestly say that "free play" is much better for first time learners.
So, major lesson number one - to get better I need to get out and move and hit a lot of balls. Don't overdue it on the lessons. Wait until something doesn't feel right before you correct anything.
Next thing - after passing on four or five suggestions to me, my friend stopped offering advice. He said he did not want to give me any more to think about. Of course when we are keen on the game we are often information sponges, but too many forehand and backhand suggestions prevent progress. Even Arthur Ashe said one swing thought was more than enough, and then only if that was your one thought for the whole match.
So lesson number two - one thing at a time.
Finally, and this is sort of contradicting myself - he isolated my basic fault as being a balance issue. I had actually started to come to the conclusion that my balance was poor, but had no real idea what to do about it. He prescribed a drill for me - anyone care to guess which one it was?
Once you have guessed I will start a thread on this drill.
But for me, the big enlightenment was that I need to get more match play and not worry about what my strokes looks like. Just Play More!! My friend said I could take a couple of lessons here and there, but I am going to stop trying to fix my game paying for lessons all the time, and looking for magic fixes.
Thanks,
Dylan
Posted by: Dylan | July 14, 2010 3:30 AM
Nice tips and advice here, especially this vid. The one thing you also much expect is that you'll have good and bad days.
Kids can't worry too much if you have a brilliant game one day and a rubbish game the next day, tennis is full of ups and downs.
Jim,
Santa Babara
Posted by: Jim | July 2, 2010 11:42 PM