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Elevate your coaching through effective communication with Adam Blicher
Episode 250 • 13th February 2025 • The Functional Tennis Podcast • Fabio Molle
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Today I chat with coach and author Adam Bilcher, who recently published a book called Winning Words. The book focuses on how good communication can improve tennis coaching, highlighting the importance of respect and understanding between coaches and players. Drawing from his experience with the Danish Tennis Federation and his podcast series, Adam shares insights into the mental and emotional aspects of coaching. The book is a helpful guide for both coaches and parents, showing how better communication can help players reach their full potential. In this conversation, we explore the key ideas from Adam’s book and discuss how communication is crucial for developing young players.

5 Key areas:

šŸ”µ Building trust and respect as a coach to get buy-in from players.

šŸ”µ How external cues (like analogies) work better than internal cues for learning and performance.

šŸ”µ The value of clear roles and expectations between players, coaches, and parents.

šŸ”µ Normalizing nerves and using focal points to refocus during matches.

šŸ”µ The role of post-match evaluations based on focal points rather than just results.

I hope you enjoy

Fabio

This podcast is sponsored by ASICS. ASICS is a Japanese company founded in 1949 to give more people the opportunity to experience how sports and movement can have a positive impact on mental well-being.

To learn more about ASICS visit their website here: https://www.asics.com/nl/en-nl/sports/tennis/

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Transcripts

Fabio Molle:

Welcome to the Functional Tennis Podcast.

I'm your host Fabio Molle and I bring you insights and lessons from players, coaches, parents and experts who are ingrained in the world of high level tennis. Today I'm talking to previous guest coach, podcaster, now author Adam Bilcher. Adam has worked in the Danish Tennis Federation with top players.

Adam more recently took a break from the courts and based on learnings from coaches around the world, both on and off and off the court learns from his podcast, episodes with them and from other sports. He's just released a book called Winning Words, how to unlock potential True Communication as a tennis coach.

It covers respect, buy in, understanding internal, external cues, mental aspects and a lot more. If you're a coach or parent, there's plenty to learn from it.

He's actually offered giving away 10 copies of his book, so if you enjoyed this episode, feel free to share it on social in your stories. Tag Functional Tennis and Adam Belcher and we'll pick 10 winners to be sent a copy of his book. Finally, a shadow to our podcast sponsors. Asics.

I'm not sure if you're like me, but it's great to start a new year with a new pair of shoes.

I know we're into February now, but did you know by being a one ASICS member, which you can join for free at asics.com you can avail a 90 day returns policy which allows you to test or new shoes, even their new resolution X and make sure to shoot for you. If you don't like it, then you have 90 days to test and send back. It's definitely worth giving it a go.

If you have any questions about it, let me know. But okay, here's Adam. Adam, welcome back to the Functional Tennis Podcast. How are you?

Adam Blicher:

Thank you very much for having me, Fabio. I'm doing great. I hope you are the same.

Fabio Molle:

ly days of functional tennis,:

You were a lot more active online back in the day and I know then you went offline for a while for personal reasons and then you came back and then more more recently I did randomly think like, you know, there's people I know from the Instagram world and tell who I got to know and I was like, you know, every now and again you're like wait, what happened to X? Or where is what? Why don't I see them anymore? Because usually I see them all my feed what's going on?

And you were doing the ones I taught and I was like I wonder what Adam is up to. And then a few weeks later you reached out and see then I'd seen it on Social where you'd launched a book. So congratulations.

Adam Blicher:

Thank you very much. That's. That's been one of the things that I, I've been up to and as you said, I think the reality is, is a lot of different things.

One of them being personal reasons. Having been been sick for two years with, with cancer. But also for the first time in my life, just trying something different.

I've been in, in tennis all of my life since I was a small kid. And for the first time I just tried to. To do something a bit different. I' Sports psychology, more general sports psychology.

I've also pivoted a little bit into business psychology.

But also over the last couple of years I've also realized that there is this basic passion for tennis that I need to be involved with tennis in some way, shape or form. And that was also for me part of trying to get together a book that is now released and called the Winning Words.

Fabio Molle:

Congrats. Congratulations. Before we talk about the book now you what I try and say here.

r started a podcast. And back:

Adam Blicher:

Yeah, about. About 100. Yeah.

Fabio Molle:

So you've been. And do you still podcast or is that one of the things that's fallen.

Adam Blicher:

Off when you say it? I'm, I'm like almost feeling. Feeling guilty and feeling like I should still do that.

The, the reality of me, I wasn't very good at, at the commercial part of, of doing a podcast and was not, was not in the business to make money. When I'm looking back, I would have loved to be a little bit more commercial in the sense of making it at least part time of what I was doing.

The reality was it was, it was my learning journey and it was amazing. It also took up so much time.

You of all people know that from thinking about who to then figuring out what to talk about, then doing the actual recording, then doing the editing, then pushing it on social and all of a sudden then each episode was at least for me it was like 10 hours plus with everything. And when you then multiply that by 100, then you can do the math of what was in it.

But the learning that I got from it, the network that, that I adapted was amazing.

So in that way I would love to do it Again but I would also to be honest and say, well, right now with a small kid, a house that's getting renovated and bills to get paid then it hasn't been a priority of mine the last couple of years. However, there will be some new episodes out, but that will be based on the book.

Fabio Molle:

I can get you in here, you can replace me if you want. But this for Functional Tennis podcast is not a money making exercise for me. I always set up from the day one was functional Tennis.

The Instagram account gave me access to great people like yourself, players, other people working in around tennis and it was just a way for me to get to know you guys better and then share it with other people.

And I've built some great relationships over the years and it's great when I go to tournament and meet all these people I've spoken to and some you speak to more, some don't remember you. I did actually see Van Simoni Vaniozzi in Australia and he was on the podcast before he was the sinner coach. I think he just stopped playing.

He'd little academy and he was one of the ones I thought this guy does not know I am. And I went up to him and I went, hello, you probably don't remember me. He goes, no, I know who you are. We chatted, blah, blah. He's so nice.

So I was like surprised with that because I hadn't actually seen him ever since but so I was surprised. But no, the podcast is not a money making exercise for me there. It's great. We've asics who help like, who help pay the bills.

There's bills to pay and there's time. As you said, it's about, There is about 10 hours an episode between everything and sometimes guests are quite hard to get but.

And then you've loads of guests so you know in between. But yeah, so that's.

The podcast world is exciting, but it's great that we get to share stories from you and learn a bit about your book which is called Winning Words. Well, first of all, what's the book about and how did it come about?

Adam Blicher:

ths going back all the way to:

I am in:

And in:

And as a young coach I was out there and I remember after a couple of weeks I was wondering, I could see that Dan had all of these practices with the same players as I had. And every time he was on court I could see their eyes were lighting up and they were listening in a different way.

I could see them developing much faster than when I was on court. And I really remember how vividly, like it really hurt my ego. Like what, what is it that he's able to do that I can't do?

Or what is the knowledge that he's got that, that I haven't got?

So that led me on a journey of going to mult tennis coaches conferences, starting my podcast where I, as you said, have interviewed more than 100 of the most renowned coaches in the world. So, so I just started to, to fill up my basket of knowledge because I was like, well I, I want to be able to, to do what Dan is doing.

then I think Fast forward in:

But then I realized that well, all of these theoretical teachings from university and then the practical applications of them on court, there's quite the gap in between those. And then I started to get all of the podcast episodes transcribed and then I was like, that's interesting.

That was kind of the foundation for me with this book.

It's kind of what is trying to bridge the gap between the theoretical teachings from university and the practical applications from all of the podcast guests.

And then I'm trying to code together with my own words and experiences, well, what, what do all of these non academic people and coaches, what do they say about all of the softer skills, the things that are not as tangible often, but probably some of the things that is the glue and also elevates everything that we can do as tennis coaches on the technical, the tactical, the mental and the physical aspect. Because I would be the first one to say, well if you don't know all of these parameters then you're going to get called out of it as coach.

But I also believe you can be the most clever coach in the world and have no impact. And that, that became interesting to me.

So that led me to kind of think what, what is then the secret sauce that also kind of opens up the, the minds of the players that we deal with and that's the reasoning why in the book that the first part of the book or the first section of the book is called it's off court and it's about creating relationships. Second part is on relating the information that we've got.

And the third part is at tournaments and it's about creating the framework of how we as coaches help players perform well at tournaments.

Fabio Molle:

Well. And does Dan know this book is based on him?

Adam Blicher:

He. He does.

Fabio Molle:

I'm messing. I messed. He loves that. He, he loves that. But no, that's. That's really interesting. But where. So I'm trying to think. So. Yeah.

Communication is so important and sometimes people have this innate skill. They can just good communicators whatever way they've grown up and learned from their parents and they're just re.

They may not be good tennis coaches but they're great communicators. They're their kids have fun. And then that leads on the kids to love tennis. So it.

ood communicator as maybe you:

Adam Blicher:

I think that the first objective of any coach is to get buy in to get respect from the player. I think just five, 10, maybe 15 years ago you could lead and get buy in as a tennis coach purely on you being the authority.

I think it's different times now.

I think, let's be honest, if you're someone like Ivan Lindell or someone like that, if you're a star coach, you probably get quite a bit of buy in from the start. But if you're like the rest of us, I think at first, I think it's very evident or it's very important to clear roles and expectations.

I think that's something that is a little bit of a so called boring step. But I also think it is the cornerstone stone of a long term relationship.

But at the same time also we as tennis coaches, we like to just jump on court and get going before we actually just have a quick talk about well, what is expected from each side, what are the roles from the player but also the coach. The next step is to also figure out, well who is the human being behind the tennis player.

Not only to be interested in the forehand and the backhand, the skills of the player. So understanding the family history, understanding what do they like to do outside of tennis. And I think that starts outside of the court.

It obviously continues on the court. Then I think the third step that is in creating relation is also adapting to the player.

I think previously, I think it's very important for coaches to have a style, have principles, have a philosophy. This is what I stand for, this is what I do not do. But also I believe you can't as a coach just be my way or the highway.

You also need to adapt to the player in front of you. So set clear expectations and roles.

Figuring out the person behind the player, but also adapting and taking a step towards the player is the foundation of creating relation. I think that's the initial steps.

Then we step onto the court and then I think what most of us, including myself, probably also in Soto and if I'm not aware, then we start to push our information. I got all of this knowledge. I want to impress the parents on the balcony, sipping wine or whatever they're doing. So I start to say a lot.

So the first chapter of section two that is called on the court is called Listen. I think we sometimes just need to, when we go on call to step back a little bit.

Not in a laissez faire manner, but step back, listen positively, reinforce whatever we see that is working. Obviously there will be. There is such a thing as being too positive, but stepping back, not necessarily addressing what we see that is wrong.

Ah, now Fabio, you're too close to the ball. Again, that is what we see, but it's not necessarily the message that we need to convey.

I think we need to convey the message of what is the change that we'd like to see. I think we need to be more coaching rather than directive all the time.

Because tennis players are expected to be problem solvers out there depending on the tournament format in terms of how much help can they get from us.

Tennis is also a little bit of a funny sport in the way that oftentimes coaches are with players in practice, but then at tournaments it's the players parents that are with them.

So then the parent also becomes kind of a coach and will also be the one providing the message just before match supporting during a match, whether verbally or non verbally, and also the one creating the narrative or telling the tale afterwards.

So I think what we do initially on the practice court in terms of, well, to what degree are we pulling from the players in terms of helping them reflect on their game versus how much are we pushing our knowledge is a really important first step. Then obviously sometimes we need to Intervene and say something.

And in there, I think there's multiple different ways we can have future questions in terms of, hey, next time, Fabio, when you're deep, deep in the court, on the forehand, just like that, what would you try to do instead? Could also be in a situation where you're not that experienced or your level is not that high. And I need to push a little bit in terms of a cue.

I think oftentimes we end up as coaches to push internal cues because we will learn about the body and biomechanics and so on with internal language. So Fabio, do a little bit more like this with, with your wrist.

And something that is really interesting, whether that is from the theoretical teachings at University across sports or actually on the podcast with a lot of the coaches that I've interviewed, is that when we present cues in terms of recognition of the cue and being able to do it next Tuesday, in terms of reproduction of the movement, in terms of it sticking, in terms of reproducing it under pressure, then we know that external cues are more effective than internal ones.

Fabio Molle:

Maybe just give our listeners a quick example of internal versus external cues if they don't know.

Adam Blicher:

So internal cues is referring to something in the body. So that could be. Move your wrist a little bit more like that, open your hip.

An external cue is referring to something outside of the body that could be. Try to hit half a meter above the net, a certain box, but it could also be in the form of analogies. It could be the rhythm of the serve. Could be.

If you want the rhythm of the serve to go from slow to fast, well, then it might be. Imagine that your service rhythm should be a little bit like a train leaving the train station. So it is slow and then goes faster. Faster.

Could also be in the. In the terms of words. So say, try to imagine that when you're serving, you need to explode off the ground.

Fabio Molle:

Yeah, that's a good way.

Adam Blicher:

Louis Kaya from Great Britain has this whole language about volleys. He would say, tap the volley, push the volley, catch the volley.

And even when we say these kind of things, we can, ah, we, we kind of, we can assimilate something that we know from past experience to the desired movement outcome. So in there, I think cues is also something to co create with a player. Depending on the level of experience, their worldview and who they are.

And these cues, we know they stick. It's easier to remember for them. And especially under pressure, we know that they work better.

It's a small adjustment and it might sound a Little bit silly, but I would urge anyone to really try it out.

Fabio Molle:

You say it's a small judgment, it's quite big. It's a complete change of language and thought process. I'm sure it takes a lot of work. Like you've changed.

How long does it take you to change to understand this and change like when you coach. If you were to coach me tomorrow and work on my volleys, are you more external queued now like as. How long did that approach for you take the change?

Adam Blicher:

Yeah, I think it's still something that is ongoing. As you say, it's not easy to do out there.

I also think that's the reasoning for us as tennis coaches to be more directive rather than coaching in our. In the way that we come across on court. Because it takes more time to to prioritize the time to reflect and evaluate on drills or entire sessions.

The same in terms of co creating a queue for a specific situation. Well, that might take 30 seconds or two minutes to co create, but it sticks.

Instead of us just replicating the same internal cue over and over again and then me being annoyed at you and just like saying it louder if you do not understand or it doesn't work.

I think the change for me was very much in the shift from thinking I needed to provide the perfect cue for you and instead turning into I need to co create a meaningful cue together with you. So let's figure out what is important on your forehand and then we can agree on what is the biomechanics of it, what is the movement.

And then I would ask you, I would say in a different way. The last time I was on court, I was working on on the return with the player and it's a relatively aggressive baseliner.

And what we figured out was, well, there's something about leaning into the return, so stepping into the split step and then leaning in. So every time this player was just standing still and returning from that position, it became more difficult to handle the return.

Every time the player was aggressive on the return, stepping into the split step, doing the split step and then almost falling forwards, well, then there was a big opportunity of doing a good return. So then my question to the player became, well, it seems like you are better when you are aggressive on the return.

Who or what to you is very aggressive. That might be the picture you should have in your mind. And I don't know, for whatever reason, this player said, well, I'm thinking about a tiger.

And then the story became, well, on returns, remember to be aggressive like a tiger. And it makes absolutely no sense to anyone besides this player.

But it was a conversation that was just elicited from, okay, you need to step into your split step. Do your split step, lean in. What does that look like? Who or what is aggressive? A tiger. Okay, well then be like a tiger.

So ever since it's just reminding the player of, oh, now you're not being aggressive as a Tiger. And it puts a smile on the player's face, it's a different atmosphere than saying, ah, now you're not stepping in again.

Ah, now you stay the same place. So it's also something about atmosphere of all.

And it's something that will stick both now, but also if we replicate the cue in a tournament or half a year from now.

Fabio Molle:

It reminds me of my wife's father. Taught all the kids that he was a good golfer, taught me how to play golf from an early age.

And he used to use, I'm not sure, a Mozart, Mozart song for the timing. And it's something they still remember now for their golf swing timing, like slow back. And it just works really well.

So that's maybe my example, which I didn't know was an external cue, but that would be an external cue. And as you say, it's something that you remember for a long, you know, you remember for a long time, then it's a positive take on a situation.

Adam Blicher:

We know fundamentally that oftentimes if you focus on a narrow technical aspect, then it will create paralysis by analysis in players.

So even going back to someone like Timothy Galway that had bounce hit, just getting your focus away from a narrow technical focus will likely make your whole body from all of the memory of doing it over and over, it will elicit the muscle fibers to do it.

You could then go the step further and say, well, can we create a focal point that is an external cue that will directly link back to that muscle memory? But he was onto something in the 70s.

Fabio Molle:

It's funny, we've got the cues. We're talking about communication and when cues, how important that is, what other areas are really important.

I see the cues as being really important. Like, let's say you come off court. What. What's the communication angle there?

Adam Blicher:

The third and final section of the book is called At Tournaments. I think whether it's us as tennis coaches or its parents being at tournaments, I think that is a very interesting place to be.

I think the first part is setting up the player for the match. I think oftentimes what we tend to fall in the trap off is to rationally Counter argue the emotional state of the player.

We say, oh, Fabio, you shouldn't be nervous. There's no need to be nervous. Just. Just believe in yourself, Fabio, you can do it. You. You've done it before.

And, and I think that's sometimes a little bit counterintuitive because we're also indirectly saying when one emotional state is better than another. The problem being, well, as long as we're on the practice court, everything is fine and you won't get that nervous.

But once you are on the competitive court, then obviously you'll get all sorts of different feelings and thoughts. You might be thinking about, oh, what, what will I tell my coach when I come back on next Monday?

Or what will I tell my parents we traveled hundreds of kilometers and they're spending the whole weekend? Or, well, how will this affect my ranking? And all of these thoughts and emotions are completely fine. It would be the same.

Let's say that the two of us are playing and you are much better than me, but all of a sudden you find yourself break down. Well, obviously you will get nervous. That that's just the nature of our reptile brain.

But if you use all of your energy to try to be positive instead of actively trying to refocus to what is important on your second serve, then there is a great likelihood of you missing that second serve.

Therefore, I believe that oftentimes we associate nerves with something bad, not because nerves are bad, but because we fail to refocus to what can help us. And in reality, I think lot of players that are accused of being mentally bad, in reality, they are just not tactically being very clear on their.

Their game plan, so they don't know what to refocus to.

Fabio Molle:

So maybe give me example of that. A player being mentally bad.

Adam Blicher:

Yeah. So let's say the two of us are playing. It's 30, 40. I just missed my first serve. There is this thought in my head going, we all get it.

Yeah, that'll be completely natural. And then, then it might spiral into, oh, if I miss my second serve, I'm gonna get broken. If I get broken, then I might lose the set.

If I lose the set, I might.

So we have these thought spirals, and if I don't consciously intervene and redirect my focus to, for instance, the cue that we used early on to explode off the ground, then I'm minimizing my own chances of actually putting in that second serve. If I know what to refocus and redirect my focus to, that's not a guar.

That I will always make my second serve, but I need to have something to refocus to.

And I think the mistake that we sometimes do and I think something that I haven't been good enough at as a coach as well, is also helping in practices, players be conscious of. Okay, in a serve, there's so many different things that are important.

That could be the way that you're pushing off the ground, it could be your toss, it could be where you're hitting ball, it could be how you use your breathing. If you try to focus on all of those things, it's impossible.

You need to figure out what is the lead domino, what is the thing that if I focus on that, the rest of them falls into place. And if you end up taking that decision on the match code, that is where you will hear players saying, well, I was overthinking.

Well, that was just a matter of you not deciding on what is the focal point that you consciously choose in the situations that are troublesome for you. And that is a conversation between player and coach on the practice court.

If that conversation hasn't happened on the practice court and the player is forced to take it in competition, then you see players overthinking, being mentally bad, and you see players freezing because there is not the time to take that decision in the midst of match time.

Fabio Molle:

The strategy really gives you a clear mind. That's what you need. It's a crazy world out there. And we're talking about tennis here.

And like you mentioned other sports, you mentioned business, but do the same rules apply to other sports and business?

Adam Blicher:

I think the good part for me about being away from tennis a couple of years have been that I've been working with athletes from various different sports. I've done two Olympic cycles, so I was with the Danish athletes in Tokyo, and I was in Paris last summer.

So I worked on all of these techniques with athletes from various different sports where I don't have the knowledge of tennis. So I know it works in other sports.

And when I then came a little bit more back to tennis, I was like, I really feel at home here because I know the culture, I know how it is to be a tennis coach. I can speak the language of tennis coaches as well.

I think what I have done, besides me officially being the national coach of the Faroe Islands, which is most of all, it's just a fun gig and for fun, but, but, but they are taking it very seriously, despite not being amazing, amazing tennis players.

But I think I have also figured out where I'm the best in terms of being a tennis coach, despite me being on court later today and being just a tennis coach, I also think I realized out of all of the things that a tennis coach is required to do, I am especially interested in and also especially good to the mental part. So. So I also have some of the. The players on the WTA Tour in the top 100, where I'm solely being the mental coach.

I think that's where I feel the most comfortable. I think even though this book, I'm saying it's a pedagogical book, it's about communication.

I think a little bit of a secret intention is that in reality it's a mental book. But it's a mental book in the way that I think all of our inner voices are in reality outer voices that has been internalized.

Hence the communication from coaches and parents is fundamental in shaping the player's mentality. So I can as a mental coach work with a player, but if it's a younger player, the coach and the parents have an enormous impact on those players.

So another way to indirectly work with players on the mental aspect, especially junior players, I actually find that in terms of working with coaches and with parents.

Fabio Molle:

Well, and so this book is not only for coaches, it's for parents. It's important parents read as well because they're with the kids so much, especially at tournaments, plus they're with the coaches.

So there's like a triangle. Junior tennis is normally a triangle of communication there, which can be.

And sometimes there's more than one coach, sometimes there's the local coach and then there's the federation coach involved.

And the federation coach wants them to work on one thing, the local coach wants to work on something else, and the parents and the parents want something else as well. Parents want the results. It can get pretty messy then, can't it?

Adam Blicher:

I think I really found myself for six years in Danish Tennis federation in between that trying to be almost a coordinator in between the player, the club coach, the federation and traveling with players while not necessarily working with them full time, day to day, but organizing that.

And that communication, clearing roles and expectations is so essential and also so difficult because everyone would, would like to be involved, but not stepping on each other's toes or in some beaming in a wrong way. That's so difficult.

So I think that very first chapter of the book, clearing roles and expectations, I can just say from old experience, if you are not doing that down the road, it might get really messy.

Fabio Molle:

So we've plenty of parent listeners so they can make sure to check it out. Question. This is a bit off topic, but do you remember Holgaroon as a young kid?

Adam Blicher:

Yeah, yeah.

Fabio Molle:

Did you do Winter cup with him? Did you travel with him?

Adam Blicher:

He was on a lot of the same trips that I were on. I were mainly dealing with the girls. In the years of where Clara Thorson was also playing, Holger has had Lars Christensen, who is also with him now.

Again, he's been absent for a little while and Last is very clear on what he wants. I also think that this. This might age well. It might not, but I. I think it's going to be a very good year for. For Holger this year.

I think it's going to be better than the last year.

It wasn't a bad, bad year last year, but I think he's had a year and a half where it's been a little bit back and forth with coaches and the whole setup. He's been with Last very consistently from the age of, I would say seven to 19 team. They are now back together.

I already see just from the Davis cup tie against Serbia, he talking about the mental side. I think that that was a little bit of a difficult one day one for him. But I see discipline in his footwork.

I see discipline and stringentness in his play identity. Again, I. I think it's very good for him to have Last back on board.

Fabio Molle:

You have to say that he's your fellow countryman. Yeah. But also, no, he is good. Maybe he's had a bad year because his expectations are so high. Like he sees Alcaraz, his age and why is Alcaraz.

Why am I not doing this? And yeah, I know the change in the coaches hasn't been good for him at all. But I'm sure he's open, he's learned along the way and he can his results.

He'll always be dangerous.

Adam Blicher:

Yeah, for sure.

Fabio Molle:

Yeah. It's really interesting. Congrats on putting that book together. I'm not sure if there's anything we left out here you'd like to add.

Anything important that you feel needs to get out there, feel free to share it.

Adam Blicher:

Maybe the last thing you just mentioned that a lot of player parents will also listen in. I think one thing at tournaments, if there's not a coach, I think a part of setting up the player for a match.

Besides, I think it's a good idea to normalize whatever is going on emotionally. So it's okay that you're feeling nervous. When you're feeling nervous, you can still refocus to your game plan.

But that also means that there needs to be clear focal points.

If you are an aggressive baseliner, well then the focal points before a match could be along the lines of COVID 2/3 of the court with your forehand, step in on your opponent's second serves within the baseline. Something along those lines having one, two or three focal points.

Even for younger players that might forget in the midst of the battle, just writing them down on a piece of paper so they can look at them and changeovers is super important not only for the quality of the match, whenever they are getting disturbed or just their focus is off elsewhere to get back to them, but also post matches. When you're doing some kind of an evaluation, which I think you should always do, probably not always right after because emotions will be high.

So there needs to be some kind of an agreement about when and also how we do it. But if you haven't set some preferences match focal points, then after a match you can only be evaluating on the result.

Oh, it was good I won or it was bad that I lost.

So I think setting pre match focal points, evaluating on them as the starting point and then going to the result, whether we lived up to our expectations or not, I think that's very essential also in terms of keeping the development loop going because it never stops. It's not like Novak Djokovic is not evaluating his matches anymore.

He's still trying to develop, otherwise he wouldn't be able to be at the level that he are.

Fabio Molle:

Yeah, no, definitely. We only had. Well, I didn't have Darren Kale on the podcast. I was at a Q A with him which we stuck open.

He was saying like with Yannick's are always trying new stuff, always, you know, moving the ball forward. Some stuff doesn't work, they go backwards, they try again and maybe that works.

And then so yeah, I think maybe the better the athlete or the, the more they want to try and get better.

They know what works them but they're always trying to looking for those percentages which ultimately add up at the end of a year, at the end of a career, those percentages are going to win them slams. But Adam, thank you very much for jumping on board. Yeah, best of luck with the book and hopefully it's not as long next time.

Adam Blicher:

Thank you very much for having me. It was a pleasure to reconnect.

Fabio Molle:

Hope you enjoyed that episode. Finally, remember to share this episode if you enjoyed it. Tag. Functional tennis. Tag Adam Bilcher.

We're going to be picking 10 winners to be sent a copy of Adam's book. Thank you.

Adam Blicher:

It.

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