I
was speaking with Steve McGlouchlin, head coach for Leeds High
Performance Tennis Centre, about identifying new players to join the
programme, and we got on to the topic of what do we look for in new
talented players. Steve has worked as a tennis coach for many years and
has developed some strong players.
Current
talent ID models are very much geared towards statistics, data
collection and athletic attributes. When I asked for steve’s thoughts
he said simply that an individuals timing was the key. By this he
referred to timing of the tennis stroke and movement to the ball. To
identify this Steve uses a range of hand-eye and foot-eye co-ordination
drills.
Alongside timing the other factors that both of us agreed on were mental strength and body awareness.
The
importance of the psychological aspects of competition are well
documented. What is the...
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