There are hundreds of thousands of tennis players who practice and are taught how to play by two basic forms of coaching systems. For more insight into how they work, we will be referring to them as Results Oriented (RO) and Process Oriented (PO). They both place a great emphasis on learning and developing the results or the system’s process of development.
The most widely used system in America is the Results Oriented (RO) system of development. This system places great emphasis on the end results. Wins and losses are the measuring tools for success. Coaches look to fill their college rosters from a national and international ranking database by selecting players within the realm of the financial resources that are available to them.Within a (RO) system, If a coach produces local winners, state championships, or ranked players, he or she is considered to be a good coach and the talent within the program are considered to be “high performers.”
Both the Results-Oriented (RO) and the Process Oriented (PO) systems have achieved success. The RO style of teaching and coaching places a greater focus on the other side of the net while PO systems of coaching place most, if not all, influence and focus on their player’s side of the net. Here are examples illustrating the difference between the two: When shots go in, a RO system coach would say, “Good shot,” whereas a coach using the PO system may say, “Good shot,” even if the ball goes out because the process, during the times of developing consistent habits, was correct. With RO, the results come quicker, but the rush to achieve them leaves too many players underdeveloped as the window of time for development closes. The close of the window of time is usually by the 11 grade in high school. This is the time when recruiting for college comes into play. The PO system moves at a much slower pace, but the end results have been built to last. The window of time is the same so each lesson and practice must be purposeful.
One-Shot Tennis will introduce a new form of process-oriented (PO) tennis development, which will place a great deal of emphasis on measuring the ability to execute the process with consistency, accuracy, and control during a long period of time without error. This process is called Non-linear Development where teaching and coaching are performed on several lines of cognitive and motor skill development levels simultainously. A non-linear approach allows the teacher or the coach to subconsciously instruct on a related subject while the student or player is consciously focused on something totally different. RO development formats are more conscious, placing the coach, player and the parent on the same linear line looking for immediate outcome based results. Player forms habits that interferes with the development process if they feel they are not achieve the goals that are placed before them. Non-linear development is focus on the short term achievable goal of just simply repeating the objective set before them. The focus is on the process of the fundamentals, which are broken into small obtaining chunks as the player is guided into the entire concept from beginning to end. As a OST Coaching Professional, the demands and emphasis in the following development order: consistency, control, then accuracy. Through repetition muscle memory and premeditation formulates in an attempt to prepare each player for the competition to come. In short, OST is a system of development that breaks down the game of tennis development literally from the ground up. Players from beginners to advanced are taught within “The System” to develop solid shot-making with a default high tennis IQ, well beyond their personal experience.
You could say that results-oriented (RO) style coaches develop players from the outside in, and process-oriented (PO) coaches develop players from the inside out. As a former educator, mentor, curriculum developer, father of three (now adults), coach, and student of the game, I have witnessed firsthand over the years how systems with techniques and styles that create pressure to rush to results into anything leave developmental holes along the way. In contrast, the One-Shot Tennis system, which is based on the process of learning, has a more natural progression from one level to the next when participants commit to the system. The OST system enables players to grow from various levels of the field, from beginners to college scholarship players. The tennis professional can use it to fill in the mental gaps in his or her game. Non-linear is developing on two different tracks. We have the Mindset Track of the coach pouring years of knowledge and experience into the Skillset Track of the student/athlete. The goal is for the skillset to catch up with the mindset at some point in time and when that happens... a tennis champion will emerge. Hopefully, this book will become another resource tool that will aid you in your quest to know the game, play the game, and change the game for the better.
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