coaching-question
maurice101 asked 4 years ago
How do you guys change a very ingrained habit of someone you coach.?
One example is when I tried to change the starting point of the backswing of the bat being lower than the ball contact height to get a bit of topspin on a forehand counter-hit
The person only flat hit and just could not start lower.
He could shadow swing the correct swing but as soon as the ball was involved he went back to flat hit.
No matter what I suggested he could not change this habit.
Frustrating both sides.
Any ideals?
Dan Academy Coach answered 4 years ago
Hey Maurice, its not easy for sure and really the answer is that it takes time and practice to rebuild habits and there’s no quick fix. It can be frustrating for sure and as coaches we always try to explain why the change needs to be made and the reasons it will help them which can help motivate them to really make the changes. Also if something doesn’t seem to be working it’s good to try to work on the same area but in a different drill or exercise and really go to the extreme, so in this example with the player hitting the ball flat I would try to get him to really over exaggerate the other way, so to really hit up the back of the ball with the aim to get the ball going over slowly and with a high arc over the net. But of course sometimes players do find certain things hard to change when they have been doing it for a long time. The best way is to just keep working on it and with time it can change, of course feel free to send us in a video of him and we’ll give and tips we think can help. Dan 🙂
