Your tennis pro is just as stuck as you are… but it’s not their fault
...and the gap of awareness prevents you from getting to the next level in your game
Your local tennis pro is on the court day in, day out, doing the same thing…

Feeding recreational players balls from 78 feet away, making slight tweaks and improvements, and serving only surface-level habits.

They’re great at making small, incremental changes to your existing stroke mechanics. It’s what they do every day.

But that’s why players all hit a ceiling in traditional tennis instruction… it’s because it focuses on incremental changes and tips.

And when you only experience incremental changes, you never break through to the next level.
Because incremental changes to what you’re already doing compound your existing habits… and lead to mere incremental changes.
It’s not that your pro doesn’t know how to improve your game… it’s that they’ve fallen into the same rut that you have. They’ve hit what we in the business call…

The gap of awareness.
Ask your tennis pro how to hit a correct forehand, or backhand, or serve, or volley, and they can easily show you.

And… you can comprehend it.

But introduce a ball, and all form goes out the window. 

(It happens to all of us)

And even worse, something gets lost in interpretation between you seeing your pro’s demonstration and you doing it for yourself.
Because incremental changes to what you’re already doing compound your existing habits… and lead to mere incremental changes.
Here’s an example of a typical recreational player’s forehand:
You probably see a lot of things going on in that clip.

Some good, some bad. 

The “quick fix” for this player would be to improve his follow-through so he catches the racket in his other hand after contact.

Would it help him improve his forehand? For sure. Would it help him go from a 3.5 to a 4.0? Not even close.

And even more importantly, showing him the correct forehand technique won’t fundamentally improve his shot… and it’s not his fault.

There’s a lot that goes into just that two second clip. His feet, his unit turn, his racket path, his arm extension, his racket face at contact, his grip, his follow-through… there are a million moving pieces to each and every stroke in tennis.

(That’s what makes Roger Federer so much fun to watch… he’s like a Swiss watch where all the individual pieces work in perfect harmony to create a masterpiece.)

In most cases, small tweaks and tips are the enemy to long-term improvement. Small tweaks and tips keep you in the perpetual cycle of old habits.

Want to know why it’s not your fault that fundamental changes to your game are hard?

It’s those three words again… the gap of awareness.

It’s impossible for you to know what every part of your body is doing during the few hundredths of a second when your stroke happens.

You have blind spots… because you can’t see exactly what your body is doing.

And your coach has blind spots because they are 78 feet away and can’t possibly examine what each part of your body is doing during a few hundreds of a second.

It all happens in a flash. 

Which explains why you probably have no clue what needs to change with your forehand, or your backhand, or your serve… because you aren’t even aware of what you’re already doing.

And that’s why it takes a more scientific, objective process to fundamentally change your game.

Remember… we’re not talking about incremental improvements… we’re talking about using a process to blast through the barrier and ceiling that your game has hit.

Luckily for you, you’re going down the rabbit hole of total tennis improvement… so keep going if you want to uncover the process that creates the best players at rec courts all across the country (and the world 🌎).

PS. If this stuff sounds “hard,” it’s because it is. That’s why I said that traditional tennis instruction works for most players… it’s because most players just want to feel good. If you want to become the best player at your local courts, you’re not like most players, and starting to use a real process for improvement can do for you in just a few months what years of traditional tennis lessons will never accomplish. Click here to keep going...
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