The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Soft Science of Tennis.
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Nonverbal Communication
Leading into our off-court, mental session Zoe asked “Please Coach Frank … I just wanna hit! Can’t Chloe and I just skip the mental stuff?” Most tennis parents would agree with their athletes. “Yeah, Frank…can’t the girls get more grooving time in?” Not Mr. Potter. He’s an ex-college standout and knows all too well the benefits of training the software components.
I asked the gals, “How is exclusively grooving those groundies working for ya?” “What do you mean?” asked Chloe? “Well, what’s your UTR rating? I heard you both had trouble playing a pusher-retriever last week and profiling your opponents. Are you getting the results you’re capable of achieving?” Suddenly the gals went silent. Mr. Potter added, “Zoe, the mental side of tennis is really important. We can stay longer and groove after Coach Frank addresses mental tennis. Would that be okay Frank?”
“Sure, I want to focus for 20 minutes on the importance of nonverbal communication in competition.” The gals rolled their eyes as they dropped their racket bags and sat down in the club’s classroom. I announced the day’s topic as the girls looked to their phones… “Today’s topic is the critical function of opponent profiling. Let’s give this topic 20 minutes of focused attention and interaction and then we’ll be done for the day. Anyone that wants to groove more groundstrokes can stay longer. Deal? I’ll start with a few open-ended questions.”
- Why is it important to identify the opponent’s style of play?
- What are the benefits of spotting stroke & movement strengths & weaknesses?
- Would it be meaningful to decipher the opponent’s most proficient patterns of play?
- How would knowing their shot tolerance help you strategize?
- Would knowing what frustrates them help in match play?
The gals initially were stumped, but after a brief discussion, hit the bull’s eye with their answers. I asked them one last question, “Why does opponent profiling fall into the category of nonverbal communication?”
“Girls… I got this one!” Mr. Potter added from the back of the room. “The opponent isn’t going to tell you their weaknesses. In matches, you’ve got to develop the skill of reading the opponent. Am I right or am I right!”
At first, profiling athletes through their nonverbal communication seems like reading the invisible but trust me, after a bit of training it becomes as reliable as feeding another basket of tennis balls. Our conscious minds pay attention to the verbal message, the message within the dialog. Our subconscious minds pay attention to nonverbal clues such as tone of voice and body language.
Over the years of focusing on the most effective coaching methods, the importance of nonverbal communication became very clear. I found that an athlete’s words were often only part of their story. Communication research has found that a subject’s actual words to be the least revealing of their true feelings or comfort level, giving more importance to a subject’s tone of voice, facial expression, and body language. It is critical that the coach be able to recognize the athlete’s nonverbal cues because it enhances the learning experience and enables the coach to better understand how the athlete is wired. It is also important to note the athlete’s parent’s nonverbal cues because the parents play a vital role in their child’s success.
In our next post, we will dive into a handful of these critical non-verbal clues to help you begin to profile your athletes.
