# @mytenniscoaching on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DcXCx5VgiJm
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/69678454-mytenniscoaching-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/06adc128bb.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-08-22T23:00:04.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Steve Whelan | International Tennis Coach Developer (@mytenniscoaching) — https://gondola.cc/mytenniscoaching

## Caption

Conversation 35/43 

Two tennis coaches can watch the same player—and see two completely different problems.

That is because observation is never neutral.

Every coach watches through a lens shaped by their knowledge, experience, beliefs and assumptions about how players learn.

A traditionally oriented coach may be drawn immediately towards technique:

What does the stroke look like?

How does it differ from the preferred model?

What movement needs correcting?

As an ecological coach, I am drawn towards behaviour:

What is the player trying to achieve?

What information are they using?

How are they interacting with the opponent?

Can they produce the behaviours in practice that they need during competition?

That does not mean ecological coaches are free from bias. We are not.

The important question is whether we recognise our bias—and understand how it shapes what we notice, what we label as a problem and what we attempt to change.

It also changes the direction of practice design.

Traditional coaching often begins on the practice court. The coach develops a movement in controlled conditions and hopes it eventually transfers into a match.

I reverse that process.

I begin with match play.

I identify the problems the player must solve, the information regulating their actions and the behaviours that need to become more functional. I then bring those demands back into the practice environment.

I don’t work from the drill towards the match. I work backwards from the match towards practice.

So which direction shapes your coaching?

Do you make players look successful in practice and hope it transfers?

Or do you begin with what competition demands and design practice from there?

Let me know in the comments.

The conversation continues tomorrow.

Follow mytenniscoaching for more evidence-based tennis coaching.

#TennisCoaching #CoachEducation #EcologicalDynamics #SkillAcquisition #ConstraintsLedApproach

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 26
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 1

## Tags

constraintsledapproach, skillacquisition, ecologicaldynamics, coacheducation, tenniscoaching

---
Copyright (c) Gondola