The key to coaching success is to embrace the challenge of conducting inclusive group activities simultaneously among diverse athletes by making each session’s lesson objective/theme adaptive to athlete ability. Successful coaching depends on recognizing Ability (with a capital A!), and applying creativity and progressions to challenge each athlete optimally. For example, we can all be “working on our serves” by working on parts or the whole of the serve stroke as differently and creatively as our abilities demand and allow. However differently each athlete’s journey, by sharing a common lesson/session goal, we can learn together, celebrating thematic accomplishment as a group!
Simultaneous activities means same objective/theme, concurrently spread in level groups across several courts, with each court and each athlete participating creatively/adaptively/progresively acccording to ability.
How do we do this as coaches? By applying these “tools of the trade”, adaptively:
- Demonstrate with variations: Same skill(s)/theme(s) with wide range of variations (all are good!)
- Introduce How Balls & Racquets Work: Throw/catch ball/coordination skills, racquet and ball skills
- Apply Wide Range of Feeding Options: Coach positioning (side-by-side, same side, other side, further away), athlete positioning (net/midcourt/baseline)
- Apply Progressions and Optimal Challenge: slower/faster, lower/higher, less/more spin/pace, shorter/longer range/targets/feeds/rallies, feeds & play to/away from athletes, smaller/larger play area, coach and athlete positioning as per previous dot point
- Vary Equipment size and speed: Range of ball speeds, racquet sizes
- Vary Size Of, Arrangement, and Distance To: Targets, spots, cones, etc.
- Adaptively: Turn skills into games & fun!
- Apply “Other-sport” Creativity and Ingenuity: Apply athleteic and other-sport skills, cross-train
- Celebrate and Reinforce: Individually, in sub-groups, and in group as a whole