The PTM Podcast Chris Michalowski, USPTA

 
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 voice, volume, and pitch are all ways to effectively communicate verbally and will make a big difference in the lesson.
In a lesson it might be:  
1. Saying students names 
2. Inflection
3. Talking the right amount
Saying students names, especially on the first day can be the most important.  Nobody likes,  “Hey you in the red shirt” 
When I was a USPTA tester, it was important to use the students name 6 times and tim, tim, tim, tim, tim, tim didn’t work.
This may be tough, but come up with a good system that will help.
Inflection was also on the test and this Is wheee your voice goes up and down
There are lots of opportunities to work on this, so with a little practice, you should be good to go.
How we speak is important, and you can even break it down to the group you are teaching.
If you are teaching some 8 year olds, the adult  comments will mean absolutely nothing.
You have to speak their language for sure, whatever that me be.
How about when or how often to talk to your students, well this might tie in with your coaching style like we talked about in episode 014
If you are a Command Style Coach, it probably means you will be doing a lot of talking while you have the group all together and while they are hitting on court.
If you are a submissive style coach, you might be a bit less talkative and let the group run the practice more on their own terms
As a cooperative style coach, there might be a little of both.  More talking during the “Huddle” but then less during the hitting, except for things like “Why do you think you won/lost that point” because this lets them give the input.
When I look up effective Verbal Communication Skills online These popped up and I tried to connect them to teaching.
1. Be friendly. 
2. Don’t talk too much.  
3. Be your authentic self. 
4. Practice humility. 
5. Speak with confidence. 
6. Learn the art of listening. 
BOTTOM LINE: Having good verbal Communication Skills is important and can make up for some of the areas you are lacking for sure. Just keep practicing in those other areas…….
 

 
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 handle adversity for themselves.
Oscar used this method with Bjorn Borg and Gustavo Kuerten.
To learn more about Oscar go to tennisiseasy.com
Well that was an important interview with Oscar, to get his principles off the ground for his future episodes, so be on the lookout for those. 
But according to Oscar:  Finding ways for your students to learn for themselves, or guided self-discovery will allow your students to learn and have a longer lasting result.
I have seen it first hand.
Good Luck, 
Coach Mick, USPTA

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.
You want to develop a skillset in any area that may make you known in: Your Local Area Your District Your Section Or eventually even nationally Some examples may include:
The way you design drills How you teach Club management High performance 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:
Online Workshops Volunteer at a different club If you  are not currently working where you are passionate about.
Take a program that is successful and water it down to fit the level you are working with.
Tennis is tennis and similar at every level.  What changes is:
Intensity  Volume How you provide feedback at the different levels  
If you are fired up in a certain area that you are NOT involved in, became an understudy and even volunteer your time.  You will not get turned down if they see that you are passionate about it.  They will most likely profit off it anyway.
Email Dr. Kovacs on his site at Kovacsinstitute.com
Mark is always such a wealth of information and one thing I really admire about him is how he projects himself when he is around someone who does not have the knowledge he has.
Even with me, I feel like he is truly passionate about teaching me and helping me understand things at my level.  Very easy to talk to and not intimidating at all.
One suggestion: If you are just starting out, look at the ten and under players or program at your club. 
This group sometimes gets overlooked and it’s crucial that you’re developing skills with these players at an early age anyway.
 
Bottom Line: Find an area of tennis, on or off court, that you are passionate about, come up with a plan on how you can educate yourself in that area at your club, locally, or even through online courses or workshops.
Good luck and please email with any questions.
Coach Mick, USPTA

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:
Start by removing yourself (or don’t teach the way you necessarily play) Be observant of the student Ask questions 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 you can diagnose.
Like a doctor when you take your sick child in and tell him that she has had a fever.
He/She will ask questions in order to get to a diagnosis based on the answers you give him/her.
For someone just starting out in their teaching: 
Watch your student start hitting the ball to try to come up with some conclusions and ask questions in regards to what they are looking to do.  (Ex. Keeping it low)
Bottom Line: Be observant, ask questions and remove yourself and how you learned from the equation.
Sid made a great point about asking questions because sometimes your cure isn’t the cure they’re looking for. By asking the right question it’s going to be easier to pinpoint out what to start looking for because you know the issues that your students are having.
And hopefully, most of your students will be worried about the match and not the warm-up.
To learn more about Sid go to: www.Uspta.com
Good Luck,
Coach Mick, USPTA