The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most on-line retailers! Click Here to Order
MATCH CHARTING AND TYPES OF CHARTS
Charting matches will allow you, the parents to systematically evaluate your athlete’s performance. Maximizing potential at the quickest rate comes from actually providing your entourage of coach’s quantifiable data. Without regular tournament performance assessments, your child’s coaches are simply “winging” the lesson…and that isn’t very efficient, is it?
Unless you’re paying a high IQ coach to observe and chart your child’s matches, it falls into your match day job description. So why is charting valuable in raising athletic royalty?
Charting discovers your child’s efficiencies and deficiencies. Not only will they assist the coaches in correcting the actual cause of your athlete’s losses, it is also a great stress buster for you as you sit and watch the matches. Charting also provides facts versus opinions. Charting will help you spot what I call “Reoccurring Nightmares.” These issues tend to show up week after week. The below true story illustrates facts versus opinions.
A few years ago I was hired to assist a fourteen year old, #1 player in Florida. We pre-set three performance goals before the match versus the older, bigger, stronger opponent. One was to isolate his backhand and serve about 75-80% to that weaker backhand side to control the court.
As I charted the boys 16’s tournament match, an interesting observation kept reoccurring. My student had a decent service motion, nice speed and spin but kept getting broken. As I charted his serve, I tracked his percentage of serves to the opponent’s terrific forehand versus pitiful backhand. Ironically, this top Floridian kept “feeding the opponents forehand.” In the 3-6, 3-6 semi-final loss, he served 81% to the opponent’s forehand!
After the match, we went for a smoothly to relax a bit. When he was ready to discuss the match, I asked “How did you do with isolating his backhand?” “Good” was his reply. Then I asked. “What do you estimate your serving percentages were serving to his backhand versus his forehand?” “Um…I think I served about 80% to his backhand” was his reply. Case and point- athletes often have a very different view of their performance.
Nine Different Types of Charts
There are very different types of charts used to identify different issues. You can get as detailed or as basic as you like depending on maturity and ability level…. (And I’m talking about the parent’s…maturity and ability level…haha.) Below are nine different charts that I have designed to spot strengths and weakness.
1) Unforced Error versus Winner Chart
Focus: Is your athlete committing about 6 unforced errors to making 10 winners every set like the current National Champions?
2) Serving Percentage Charts
Focus: Is your athletes first serve percentage around 65%? How often are they serving to the opponent’s strengths or weaknesses?
3) Type of Error Chart
Focus: Where do their errors come from: offensive, neutral or defensive? Does your child choose offense when they should be hitting a neutral shot?
4) Cause of Error Charts
Focus: Knowing the cause of the error is the first step in error correction. What was the cause of the error? (Stroke mechanics, shot selection, movement, emotional, or focus)
5) Court Positioning Chart
Focus: Where were they standing when their points were won and lost? (Player positioned behind the court versus playing inside the court.)
6) Mega Point Chart
Focus: Spotting the critical game points and then executing the proper pattern is a key to winning those close matches. Does your child spot and control the tipping points?
7) Length of Point Chart
Focus: What’s your child’s frustration tolerance level? How many points last 3 balls or less versus points lasting 4 balls or more? Do they win more long or short points?
8) Depth of Groundstroke Chart
Focus: What percentage of your athlete’s ground strokes land inside the service boxes versus the back court? Do they know why “Heavy and high…makes em cry?”
9) Between Point Ritual Chart
Focus: Most of the time spent in a match is in-between points. How often does your athlete apply critical between point internal and external rituals?
SPECIAL NOTE: Many parents get stuck in a rut of utilizing the exact same chart (paper or app.) I highly recommend utilizing all 9 charts to quantify data.
For those new to charting matches, many parents have found it successful to utilize one chart a month and focus on their athlete’s ability to simply improve a singular performance goal. Be aware that charts will be slightly different depending on the style of opponent your child is facing.
If charting data during your child’s matches isn’t something you are comfortable doing, I suggest hiring an experienced coach to act as your athlete’s tournament traveling coach.
To purchase a PDF copy of the eBook: The Match Chart Collection visit: www.maximizingtennispotential.com (A PDF copy makes it easier to print copies of each chart.)
