# @mytenniscoaching on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DbRhUG-AkvW
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/68484656-mytenniscoaching-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/a410c6e9f3.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-07-26T23:00:05.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Steve Whelan | International Tennis Coach Developer (@mytenniscoaching) — https://gondola.cc/mytenniscoaching

## Caption

Conversation #8 Technique is not skill 

A beautiful forehand does not automatically make someone a skilful tennis player.

We’ve all seen players who look exceptional in practice.

Clean forehand.
Dependable backhand.
Powerful serve.
Technically polished.

Then a score is introduced.

The opponent changes the speed, spin, height and direction of the ball. Time disappears. Pressure increases.

Suddenly, the “perfect” technique appears to break down.

But perhaps the problem isn’t that their technique has disappeared.

Perhaps the player has learned to reproduce a movement without learning how to adapt it to the changing information and demands of tennis.

Technique describes how someone moves.

Skill is the ability to coordinate and adapt movement to achieve an intention and solve the problem in front of them.

This doesn’t make technique irrelevant. It means technique cannot be separated from the situation in which it must function.

A player does not need one perfect forehand.

They need a functional range of forehand solutions for when they are stretched, jammed, moving, defending, attacking and competing under pressure.

So ask yourself:

Is your coaching helping players become more skilful—or simply making their technique look better in practice?

The conversation, as always, continues tomorrow.

## Stats

- **Views:** 1,804
- **Likes:** 22
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