I was recently asked about my preferred teaching style: do I strive for the “perfect” technique or do I let my students learn tennis through games (lately there have been more and more tennis coaches who embrace the games-based approach).

The answer is simple: tennis should be fun regardless of the level of performance.

I do like to stress the proper technique at the beginning of the lesson just to start with the right fundamentals, but I want to make sure that at least 60% of my lessons are actually exciting for my students by introducing games and drills that have them work on placement, friendly competition, and strategies. 

In my teaching career, I’ve often paid attention to the faces of my students: when they are put through the repetitive drills of learning the “perfect” technique and when they are presented with the opportunity to play tennis games. 

The difference between the two is enormous; and here is why: 

1. When a coach stresses the technique most of the time, the students might end up “looking great” on the court, but deep down in the back of their minds they will consider tennis boring and repetitive. 

2. The games-based approach gets players thrilled to be on the court and, even though their technique will not be as good in the beginning, the fact that they enjoy playing tennis will make them do this longer and not only that… they’ll encourage their friends to get involved into it because people want to share things they love.

I’m not advocating that technique should be eliminated from the tennis practice – just not over-emphasized.

My suggestion would be that a player/student should practice their technical elements at the beginning of the lesson (let’s say for about 15 – 20 minutes) but then they should be exposed to applying the learned fundamentals into a fun-related tennis activity.

Keep tennis practice fun and exciting. You’ll play tennis longer and live healthier.