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The Role of a Coach
by David Sammel
The ego of the coach must not interfere with
the decision-making process. I believe
intensely in passion for the job and that
the will to put in the detailed work is the
difference between good and excellent.
Preparation is the key to sustained success
because preparation allows a coach to apply
his or her knowledge in useful chunks.
Knowledge is useless if not delivered and
applied in the right way. Often it is not
what you say, but how you say it. The more
you know, the less you say and timing
becomes everything.
Both player and coach must become
comfortable with being 'uncomfortable',
because staying on the edge of performance
means pushing constantly for improvement.
The most important person for the athlete is
the coach, who must be an expert in the
technical and tactical areas of coaching and
also be very knowledgeable in all the other
departments, so that the right team of
people are in place.
The coach also needs to be able to make
decisions based on pooled knowledge and can
only do this effectively if he/she has the
experience and expertise.
The modern-day professional tennis coach is
a manager of young people's professional
lives and aspirations and therefore must
keep abreast, or even pioneer cutting-edge
research.
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