Now that we have covered each of the nine keys in detail, let's run through a quick summary with a handful of additional comments to finish this volume.
Key number one was name games. Remember that psychologist state, that one of the most pleasing things for each of us to hear is our own name.
In key number two we discussed retention issues, specifically how the students will best retain what we teach them, but if you want to know if you are going to retain your students, here is a simple test.
What is the litmus test to find out if your students are excited about being on the court with you? One good answer is, when their parents; if they are juniors, when their parents drop them off, do they run to the courts, and not because they are late? Literally, are they getting out of the car and running to the courts because they are that enthusiastic.
Number three, four, and five covered the three student dislikes and what to do about them. Namely lines versus student pairing, the role of shadow swinging, and are you shouting across the net. Remember that the environment we create in our group lessons will either encourage or discourage our students. It is up to us. Here are a couple of other related tips.
Catch players doing things right. Again, this is a paradox, for years of teaching we are under the impression that we are being paid for one thing, and that is to seek out errors, mistakes that people are making, and to fix them.
Look, our job as teachers, we have people for an hour, not five minutes, is that they leave feeling better than when they came about themselves and what they are doing.
Key number six, bull's eye target and success to failure ratios. This key is all about helping students feel successful and gain self-esteem. Along this same point here is a question, goal setting is a standard for most competitive players, however should this practice be limited to advanced players only?
How many of you do goal setting with your beginners? See, you have got a few of you raising your hand. How many of you do regular goal setting with rank beginners? This is a big issue, you keep it simple, but you set goals so that they feel that they have accomplished those goals. It may be they hit five balls in a row over the net.
Lenny Floss is in -- used to be, he moved to I think South Carolina, but he used to be in Baltimore, at the Hilton, and he had a concept I like, he would put on the bulletin board at his club, tennis balls. So if a child hit 25, or an adult, 25 balls in a row, he would take that tennis ball that they hit 25 in a row width, cut it in half, write the child or the adult's name on it, and stick it on this board, and it would be the 25 ball club or the 50 ball club or the 100 ball club. If it were juniors and the parents came, and you are just putting up their child's ball for joining the 50 ball club for the first time at seven years old, are those parents going to be pleased? Of course they are. See.
Key number seven was keeping tennis visually and kinesthetically interesting. In addition to what we covered in this section, here is another huge reason to frequently use visual and kinesthetic aids.
There was a national study conducted that concluded that the average adult in the United States has an attention span of only 42 words. Speaking 42 words only takes around 15 seconds.
As teachers how many of us have found ourselves talking too much at times? I know I have. You remember that 42 word rule; you will remember that when you call people in and you have got something to say, literally you should keep it to 15 seconds.
Key number eight covered game-based teaching, another critical component of successful group instruction. I would like to add one more tip to what we already covered at this point. It's called face watching. At regular intervals step back for a few seconds and observe your students' faces, not their strokes but their faces. This will be an accurate indicator of whether your teaching is too rigid or has a good balance based on the game-based philosophy of coaching, and whether or not they are having a good time?
Face watching is very important. Whey you get players out here and they are having fun, and I mean real fun, you will be able to see it on their faces. If they are not having fun, you will see it on their faces as well. Face watching is critical.
When we were doing the large drills earlier and the Simon says games and having fun, all of your faces were lit up, it was exciting to be with you. Make sure your students have happy faces. Do what it takes.
Finally, in key number nine we discussed the important role of integrating recess into group lessons. Remember that students, both children and adults, should feel refreshed and energized from our classes. They should leave the court looking forward to the next class, and they should leave smiling.
Thank you for joining us for this volume of our creative tennis series, have fun.
