# @mytenniscoaching on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DcR5PDmgfM6
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/69372492-mytenniscoaching-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/6b92efbc87.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-08-20T23:00:06.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Steve Whelan | International Tennis Coach Developer (@mytenniscoaching) — https://gondola.cc/mytenniscoaching

## Caption

Conversation 33/43 

Tennis coaches, we need to stop judging shots in isolation.

For years, I watched every shot as though it were a separate event.

Good shot.

Poor shot.

Correct technique.

Technical error.

Then I would jump in with feedback based almost entirely on what that individual movement looked like.

But tennis does not work one shot at a time.

A player can strike the ball beautifully and the opponent may return it comfortably.

They can mishit the ball and still create enormous difficulty for the opponent.

So was the clean-looking shot automatically better?

The function of a shot cannot be understood from its appearance alone. We must also consider the effect it has on the opponent and what it creates next.

Did it move the opponent?

Did it reduce their time?

Did it force a weaker response?

Did it open space?

Did it create an opportunity to attack the next ball?

This is connected to the idea of nested affordances.

One action changes the environment and creates—or removes—possibilities for the actions that follow. The value of a shot therefore lies partly in the opportunities it creates within the unfolding rally.

That becomes difficult to observe when basket feeding removes the opponent.

The player can produce a technically attractive stroke, but we cannot see how the ball affects an opponent, what response it invites or whether it creates a functional opportunity for the next action.

This is why we should keep an opponent in as many practices as possible.

Stop asking only:

“How did that shot look?”

Start asking:

“What did that shot do to the opponent—and what did it make possible next?”

Tennis is not a collection of isolated strokes.

It is a continuous interaction in which every action reshapes what can happen next.

Join me tomorrow for Conversation 34.

#TennisCoaching #CoachEducation #EcologicalDynamics #EcologicalPsychology #SkillAcquisition

## Stats

- **Views:** 1,357
- **Likes:** 18
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## Tags

skillacquisition, ecologicaldynamics, coacheducation, ecologicalpsychology, tenniscoaching

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