Articles

'What goes on in our heads often interferes with getting the best out of ourselves. The key for me is single appropriate focus.

We need to become responsible for our choices and one of these is where we place our focussed attention. This attention empowers our awareness on that focus and allows the sub-conscious mind to integrate related supportive actions in an awesome way.

It enables flow rather than forcing'

David Hemery MBE CBE

The Inner Game Comes Full Circle by Peter Farthing (December 2003)

Coaching Children by Caroline Harris (November 2004)

Peak Performance Article by Sir John Whitmore (April 2003)

Embracing The Inner Game by Andy Knibbs (January 2007)

Song and Dance by Peter Farthing (April 2007)

Using 'Bounce-Hit' to Maximise Performance by Andy Knibbs and Caroline Harris (June 2007)

The Inner Game Comes Full Circle

BTCA News & Views December 2003

There is a positive side to the fact that twenty-five years have elapsed since the Inner Game approach was suggested to the tennis establishment and was sidelined by the inertia of traditional teaching methods. It has matured like a vintage wine. It has picked up the subtle flavours of experience in other fields of endeavour: golf, skiing, music and business.

Now it seems as if its success in these different areas has built up a momentum so strong that its return is inevitable. Whether we as coaches choose to take on board these observably time proven methods of coaching to empower pupils with higher levels of self esteem, awareness and responsibility is up to each one of us to decide. But at least now after twenty-five years the door is finally open.

The Inner Game Principles

Tim Gallwey’s coaching explorations in the 1970’s resulted in a model of performance that can be summed up by the simple formula ‘Performance equals Potential minus Interference’. Tim noticed that interference is largely brought about by an internal dialogue between what he referred to as ‘Self 1’ and ‘Self 2’. ‘Self 1’ is the internal voice that gives commands and makes judgements which are invariably over-critical and lead to anxiety, tension, frustration, fear, anger and lack of self-belief. ‘Self 2’ is the one being talked to - the one that holds the innate ability to learn, intuitive and subconscious capacity, and the inherent potential with which we were born.

From this understanding came a framework and methodology for reducing interference and improving performance based on:

• Raising awareness in an objective and non-judgemental way
• Increasing trust in our natural learning ability and intuitive capabilities
• Creating choice and thus ownership of learning for the student

Effective coaching questions were found to be an essential tool to focus the player’s attention on the area chosen for change. The resulting increase in awareness was often curative by itself without the need for any technical input from the coach. Tim was amazed at the ease with which these technical changes occurred. In his own words, ‘At first, it seemed like magic. Then I realised it was natural magic – the way learning was supposed to be. As coach, my first responsibility was to maintain a non-judgemental focus, provide appropriate opportunity for natural learning, and stay out of the way. Secondarily, my job was to help the student maintain focus while trusting in Self 2’s capacity to learn directly from experience.’

The Tutor Group

It’s been two years since Sir John Whitmore presented the Inner Game to the BTCA Conference. Since then a tutor group has been formed from two initial three-day courses with Sir John and Caroline Harris and subsequent follow up sessions, including a meeting with Tim Gallwey himself in July 2003.

Some of the tutor group have been involved with the Inner Game for many years. Others were inspired by Sir John’s presentation and wanted to start experimenting with the concepts and get involved at a deeper level. All are on a steep learning curve. For understanding the subtleties of mental process in the learning environment and being able to work effectively with that understanding is a journey that seems to be as limitless as human potential itself.

Experiences

Tutor Course Leader Caroline Harris remembers the period in her coaching career before her first week long introduction course to the Inner Game: ‘I began to question the effectiveness and my enjoyment of standing at the net shouting instructions. Some days it worked. Mostly it left me feeling uncomfortable with being “the expert” because I sensed that I was not; I did not always make a difference.’ For Caroline, having the skills to create a more experiential learning environment changed everything. She went on to coach tennis full time for another fifteen years before taking the Inner Game into business coaching.

The assistant Inner Game Tutors have shared Caroline’s experience of positive change. Ben Jackson says: ‘Coaching has become more exciting and my enthusiasm for my work has increased massively.’ Andy Knibbs admits to coaching that had been bordering on becoming ‘routinely boring’ being transformed to ‘immensely satisfying and exciting.’ Mike Wisner says: ‘I discovered the Inner Game when I was about twenty after I had played out my final years as a full time player. It answered so many questions for me about my game and how I might have approached it differently.’ Mike now enjoys a sense of ‘freedom and adventure’ in his coaching.

Rob Sheath remembers how it felt to be on the receiving end of awareness raising questions: ‘I was learning how to hit a topspin backhand which until it was presented to me in an Inner Game way had felt like I needed to be a contortionist to succeed. Through having my awareness raised of the feelings in my body when I attempted the shot, I went into this magical trance like place and all of a sudden realised that, without knowing it, I had just hit several topspin backhands that felt smooth, relaxed, effortless and went into the court.’

How many of us can think of a player they know who progresses to a certain extent in a lesson, but soon comes back with the same problems again? Ben Jackson’s pupil always wanted more power and more topspin. The pattern was broken when Ben asked her to do some shadow strokes whilst he raised her body awareness. ‘She came up with her own words to describe the actions. Now owning the techniques, she put them into practice and observed their effectiveness.’ Ben recalls how pleased she was with the results and how she said that what he had told her had really helped and that now she really understood. ‘But what did I tell you? Who came up with the answers?’ he asked. ‘I suppose I did,’ she said. Ben heard no more from her about those issues for the rest of the season, but she tells him that now she is enjoying her game more than ever.

In the April 2003 edition of Peak Performance, Sir John Whitmore wrote: ‘When we learn through discovery, we feel totally responsible for our own learning. We feel that we did it ourselves, and that builds our self-belief and self-confidence. If I could give one gift to a practitioner of any sport it would be self-belief which, as the engine of success, is a bigger driver than technical ability and physical fitness combined.’

For my own part, if I had to pick the benefit of Inner Game coaching that has had the greatest impact on me, it would be in this area. A junior player came to me for his first individual lesson over a year ago with extremely low self-esteem. He was excessively self-critical despite being naturally talented. Simply by giving him choice over what to learn, taking criticism out of the equation and letting him know that I trusted in his ability, his confidence and self-belief began to grow. Now he is as positive in match and practice situations as he was despairing. I have witnessed the same effects in adult beginners who more often than not come to tennis with distorted beliefs about their potential and excessively critical internal dialogue. It is a joy to play a part in these life-changing transformations.

Peter Farthing
December 2003

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Coaching Children

What do parents want from coaches and teachers?

In any children’s lesson there are two clients: the child him/herself whose desires and aims are paramount during the lesson and their parents whose expectations and desires influence the overall picture in overt, covert and subconscious ways.

So what do parents want from a coach or teacher? We have spoken to numerous parents and we list their thoughts below. They are in no particular order:

that their child learns something
that their child enjoys the lesson
that they learn a lot
that they improve over time
that the child is safe
that they gain in health and fitness
that they are occupied for an hour/day… giving respite
that they mix and learn social skills
that the coach recognises the child’s potential and encourages it
that the coach/teacher seeks and develops talent even when there is little immediate evidence
that the existence of potential at whatever level is trusted by the coach
that the child is respected for who she/he is
that the child grows in self belief, self confidence because of the coach.

Ultimately as parents, we want the coach to respect our child as a unique human being. And this for every lesson, indeed every minute of every lesson, whether the child is late, irritating, grumpy and tired or enthusiastic, focused and happy; whether they are a quick learner or progress more slowly, whether they have natural ability or emergent ability. The “contract” between coach and parent is to help the child learn tennis. The important and significant aspirations listed above are almost always unexpressed.

It is incumbent upon all coaches to be aware of this key responsibility for the next generation. To reflect upon all aspects of our role and question how our coaching style can allow for the ultimate…… that each child develops to their fullest potential; that each child grows in self belief and develops respect for others through learning alongside others. Oh yes and enjoys learning their chosen sport.

Every child deserves that level of education and care and every parent wishes for it sometimes overtly, mostly covertly.

So what hinders this achievement? Not all coaches consider or are even aware that they have a broad responsibility for the child’s overall well being. Here are some examples of what can occur:

the coach only gives instructions and the pupil retires into absorbing passively
the coach repeats the same instruction every time the child hits the stroke as if he/she is deaf, forgetful or stupid
the coach over corrects, conveying that there is only one right way

When these scenarios occur, though they may learn something, the child leaves with the sense that the coach is an expert and that they are dependent upon that knowledge and therefore are likely feel less able, less confident themselves.

Subtle changes……profound difference.

For self belief to be inspired the child needs to make choices about what they want to learn about tennis (in a particular lesson), about what options are right for their tennis strokes and their body. When given choice we, even as children, begin to take ownership of the learning, feel motivated and, on a subconscious level, feel of value.By asking questions during the learning process the child’s self awareness grows, the coach accesses their innate learning ability and the “aha” moments of significant learning occur. For what actually creates a shift in performance? Some coaches advocate analysis followed by accurate appropriate instruction. But since Socrates there has been recognition that effective learning is about drawing out of the student. The “aha” on the tennis court is possible when the child has a greater awareness (heightened physical feeling) of what they are actually doing and what is the desired stroke. This can occur with instruction but is more likely to be stimulated by open questions. In this way the process of supported self discovery begins, a sense of “I can learn” develops and growing self esteem is an inevitable outcome. A coach touches the child’s life. Parents, as the child’s first and most enduring educators want the coach to be a worthy role model able to support the essential gift to a child of self belief.

Caroline Harris
November 2004

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Peak Performance Editorial - Issue 180 - April 2003

(We decided to devote this Special Issue of PP to the people behind the performers).

It’s entirely coincidental that I currently find myself halfway through a course of beginner’s lessons at a local golf course having decided to see what my son is raving about – but perhaps I should have read Sir John Whitmore’s piece before consigning myself into the hands of the local golf pro! Sign up for one of Sir John’s business coaching courses and you will likely find yourself getting a free golf lesson from a teacher with a difference – the difference being that the coach is one of your fellow course members who until this moment did not realise he had it in him to deliver this lesson. Of course, there’s more to the Inner Game concept than a free golfing lesson from a beginner, but this is typical of the challenge which Whitmore’s radical approach to coaching delivers to the sporting establishment. It’s his contention that businesses have embraced the power of what he calls the ‘new coaching’ far more than sport; that is why he finds warmer welcome in the board rooms of blue chip companies than in the sporting arena. A champion racing car driver in the 1960s, Sir John studied psychology before going into business and meeting Timothy Gallwey, creator of the Inner Game. Sir John’s acclaimed book, Coaching for Performance, is a general introduction to his techniques, newly into its third edition.

Andrew Etchells
Editor

VIEWPOINT - J’accuse! A noted coaching guru launches a broadside at outmoded thinking and models

Sports coaching has for too long been based on the dominance of a reductionist approach – the insistence on analysing everything down to its basic components – and lines of authority between coaches ‘in the know’ and those supposedly without knowledge. This approach goes hand in hand with the denial of the innate, the instinctual and the intuitive, and it has held back sports coaching in UK and elsewhere by 25 years. That is a large claim and a strong accusation to level at the sports establishment, but I will lay out the charge in this article and invite you in the process to question long-held beliefs, think for yourself, engage your emotions and make your own decision. In so doing, you will be putting into practice the very elements of good coaching that I contend are so undervalued and underused.The beliefs and assumptions that coaches grow up with are the very ones that undermine learning, performance and enjoyment. They can be illustrated by the following statements:

A person cannot learn a new skill without being told and/or shown by an expert.
If you try to learn something without expert help, you will develop bad habits.
Errors and bad habits can only be recognized and corrected by an expert.
There is a right technique for most activities, one that has to be taught.
Intellectual understanding is a pre-requisite of learning good technique.
Coaches must be experts in the particular sport or activity that they coach.

Of course, these are unlikely to be stated as absolutes in a debate, but it is in this absolute form that they underpin the position that the vast majority of coaches adopt, consciously or unconsciously. Though tempted by my emotions to scream that they are all wrong, to do so would be to fall into the authoritarian trap that I am challenging, so I will express it differently. It is my view that retaining such beliefs severely restricts our ability to be effective coaches. It follows, therefore, that most coaches – and that includes many who are renowned for their expertise and achievements – are not nearly as effective as they could be. Nor are they as effective as they think they are, for they only have for comparison the results of other coaches practicing along similar lines. Alternative approaches are not on their radar screens.

Coach education programmes need radical review

I believe that the fundamental psycho-physical basis of coaching as practiced in sport is flawed and needs to be challenged. I have no doubt that most coaches do the very best they can with the training they have: it is the governing bodies of individual sports and their coach education programmes that need radical review. The role and influence of the National Coaching Foundation, for example, has been disappointing because of its lack of understanding of the bigger picture. Change is made more difficult because academics, analysts and reductionists still dominate our broader educational culture. They will only evaluate interventions within the limits of their own outdated model.

‘Discovering that you can learn a new skill
without being dependent on an expert is thrilling’

If a picture is worth a thousand words, it could be said that an experience is worth two thousand! But let’s start with the picture. I deliver programmes lasting 2-5 days for business managers on the topic of ‘coaching for performance in business’. I make the theoretical case for what I call ‘new coaching’, but at a certain point I show a seven-minute video (spontaneous and unscripted) of two beginners learning to hit a golf ball for the first time. One is being taught conventionally by means of technical instruction, and I am coaching the other without giving any instructions or even telling her how to hold the club!

Socrates: possibly the world’s first ‘new coach’

Comparing the two processes and their results always has a great impact on the course participants. They invariably ridicule the conventional instructor’s efforts, but often someone adds: ‘I had one lesson just like that. I hated it and gave up golf on my very first day’. Needless to say, the beginner with whom I used ‘new coaching’, was delighted and astounded by the results of her self-learning progress. A picture is worth more than a thousand words! If weather, time and facilities permit, I then take the group outside and set them up in pairs with an inexperienced ‘new coach’ coaching a beginner player. The progress often astounds again, but more importantly it shatters the conventional assumptions and beliefs listed earlier. The still inexperienced coach, who knows nothing about golf, is thrilled at the ability discovered by the player and the implication that it is perfectly possible to coach someone in a skill that he himself does not possess. For the player, discovering that she can learn a new skill without being dependent on an expert is also thrilling. An experience like this is worth more than two thousand words. If this ‘new coaching’ really were new, one might have expected sports educators to be anxious to take it on, even though the British sports establishment is renowned for being unadventurous and resistant to fresh ideas. But in fact there is nothing new about ‘new coaching’. Socrates, who died in 399 BC, was probably the first ‘new coach’. More recently, some 30 years ago, the Californian tennis coach Tim Gallwey resurrected the ancient philosopher to help with tennis. Tim wrote a book, The Inner Game of Tennis, that became a best seller not just among recreational players but people from other sports. Many coaches were more sceptical, though, perhaps because the book’s message seemed to threaten their livelihood. Here I paraphrase Gallwey to summarise the Inner Game principles. You start to play the Inner Game when you realise that the opponent within your own head is more daunting than the one on the other side of the net. The outer game is played with a racket and a ball against another player; the Inner Game is played against anxiety, self-criticism, tension, frustration, a lack of self-belief, fear and anger. Your performance is your potential minus your internal obstacles. The Inner Game process aims to eliminate these internal obstacles to performance, learning and enjoyment and thereby liberate your potential. All sports people are familiar with such internal obstacles and keen to overcome them, but far fewer share Gallwey’s confidence that, as these obstacles recede, a natural, technically proficient player somehow emerges from within, without expert input. How does this happen? The best illustrations of this process come, in my experience, from skiing, because skiers of all standards are beset by fears. There is fear of falling, fear of getting hurt, fear of looking foolish, fear of losing control, even fear of getting left behind or lost. These fears generate huge amounts of muscular tension and inappropriate defensive body postures. Remove the fear and the posture becomes natural – in other words, it self-corrects.

How internal obstacles compromise performance

Confidence causes us to adopt a forward posture, which is essential for skiing. By contrast, fear encourages us to lean back, causing skis to accelerate and become unstable, so compounding the fear, and so on, leading to the inevitable result. This is a fairly simple example of how internal obstacles compromise performance. Now let’s consider a more complex illustration. When traversing a slope on skis, the correct technique for retaining ski-edge grip is to turn the shoulders outwards and face down towards the valley. At first this seems an unnatural position. Beginner skiers find it daunting and want to turn inwards to get closer to the mountain for safety, which causes them to lose ski control. Is this a technical issue, or an internal obstacle? When we help skiers to remove the fear, they naturally adopt the position that gives them the best grip, something they discover from the feedback they get from the skis. That feedback, or ‘sensory awareness’, is inaccessible when one is overwhelmed by anxiety. Conversely, asking a person what he or she is feeling at the edge of the ski – the point of contact with the snow – forces them to focus their attention to find the answer. This, in turn, leaves no space for other thoughts and emotions, such as fear and the tension that accompanies it. Non-critical focused attention on experiencing (awareness) thereby dissolves internal interferences. The increased quantity and quality of feedback and the absence of fear delivers the technically correct position for that person. There is no one correct position for everyone because we all differ in terms of size, weight distribution, strength and flexibility. There is an optimum personal style for each of us, which we only find through self-awareness. Any observer, however expert, sees only the surface, the symptom, and can offer only general advice. The problem is, though, that a learner will often interpret a generality as a specific and strive to apply the advice rigidly, overriding his or her own self-awareness, leading to a counterproductive increase in tension.

‘Feedback or sensory awareness is inaccessible
when one is overwhelmed by anxiety’

Let’s consider one more example from skiing. A skier’s legs are his suspension, and flexible knees with sufficient free movement up or down would seem advisable. The most frequent technical instruction ski instructors give is ‘bend zee knees’, in response to which skiers tend to adopt a fixed bent position, which gives rise to stiff suspension and poor ski grip. The instruction was technically correct, but the effect of giving it was counterproductive. This paradox is often unrecognised by conventional sports coaches, who repeat their commands ever more fervently. The most effective way to achieve the desired soft suspension effect is to ask awareness-raising coaching questions, such as: how much do your knees bend; when do they bend most in a turn; what happens when they are most bent, etc? I am often asked how long this learning lasts if the technique is not explained. Learning or performing better through awareness and discovery is massively different from being told what to do. What you are told enters the mind, but it is the body, not the mind, that plays tennis or skis. Awareness results in body-learning and, as we all know from riding a bicycle, the body forgets far less easily than the mind. Tactics are largely intellectual, but technique is physical.

Does your coaching build inner self-belief?

There are a multitude of other important distinctions between new and old coaching, but I will restrict myself to one, which I think is probably the most important of all. When we learn through discovery, we feel totally responsible for our own learning. We feel that we did it ourselves, and that builds our self-belief and self-confidence. If I could give one gift to a practitioner of any sport it would be self-belief which, as the engine of success, is a bigger driver than technical ability and physical fitness combined. So how well does conventional instructional coaching serve as a method of building self-belief? Not well! And if you add to that the frustration that emanates from some coaches and the criticism they deal out to their students, especially children, we have an excellent formula for reducing self-belief. Of course, many coaches are moving away from old methods, but that is on their own initiative rather than because coach training is leading the change. In some circles, they are still regarded as mavericks. Change is coming and it will come, but it will be a case of too little, too late. Some 25 years ago I went with Tim Gallwey to meet a leading figure in British tennis, and we were speedily shown the door; 25 years ago we ran ‘inner skiing’ courses in Zermatt, until we were run out of town by traditional ski instructors who considered our methods bizarre. Two years ago, the British Tennis Coaches Association asked me to set up Inner Tennis training for coaches; also two years ago, a ‘new coaching’ ski school started up in Zermatt and the old ski school is now struggling to survive as customers desert it for something better. Twenty-three years is a long time, but much of sports coaching still sleeps on.

Awareness is the key principle of the ‘new coaching’

While struggling to penetrate the establishment in tennis and skiing, I was happy to find an open door in an unexpected area: business. Coaching was not a term that had been used before in business, so it had not accumulated the baggage of long-held beliefs and assumptions. Consequently, some 20 years ago we were able to apply ‘new coaching’ to business performance and learning with trainers, managers and executives. I wrote a book entitled Coaching for Performance, to define coaching practice in business. It soon became a bestseller, published in 12 languages, and is now in its third edition in which I refer to the next frontier for coaching. It will be nice when sport catches up with the last one!

‘People from every sport pay lip service to the idea that it is all in the mind’

Changes in coaching should keep pace with evolution in psychological understanding, but coach education is slow to respond. Old coaching was based upon long-standing behavioural and cognitive principles, which were discovered to be incomplete and were enhanced by humanistic principles as far back as the 1960s. Tim Gallwey grew up in that era, and the Inner Game parallels humanistic principles of which awareness was the key. But Tim and others were already looking ahead to the next evolution of psychology that was waiting in the wings; known as ‘transpersonal psychology’, this embraces the will, choice and personal responsibility and takes an even more holistic view of people and their development. It is fast finding its way into business practice. In my view, psychological evolution must lead coaching methodology. People from every sport pay lip service to the idea that ‘it is all in the mind’, but for some coaches technical knowledge remains the be-all and the end-all.

by Sir John Whitmore

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Embracing the Inner Game

Using the Principles of the Inner Game with a Non-Directive Approach

For 20 years I used a predominantly command and control style of coaching. A typical lesson consisted of a warm up of 5 minutes or so, followed by some analysis of what I had seen and how we might work on this. From there we would go backwards and forwards trying to fix something with the result that nothing seemed to get much better. In 2002, I attended a series of workshops to learn about the principles of the inner game. Since that time I have used this skill set in my coaching.

The Inner Game Approach focuses on how we learn, which can have a dramatic effect on how we teach. This is achieved, as demonstrated in the dialogue below, by remaining player centred and using a process of effective questioning and attentive empathic listening.

Effective questions are often open questions that are crucial for finding out what is going on in a players mind. Using questions that create choice and thus ownership of learning for a player also increases their buy-in and commitment to the task being worked on. And when I added in questions that helped a player to narrow their focus, and raise their awareness in a non-judgmental way, I experienced an increased level in their learning and performance.

Below is a typical coaching dialogue. Look out for the subtleties in the questioning process!

C = Coach
P = Player
( ) = Explanation of the intervention used

C: What would you like to work on today?

P: I would like to try and improve my forehand. I would like to be able to hit it with more power, topspin and control.
(Sometimes when asked, players give a number of qualities that they would like to improve or work on. However, it is more beneficial for the player to choose one quality at a time to focus on)

C: What is most important to you at this moment, power, topspin or control?
(Following the player’s agenda and giving them choice)

P: I think topspin is.

C: Ok, what level of topspin would you say you currently hit on your forehand out of 10, with 10 being the most and 1 being the least.
(This is checking current reality)

P: Probably about 4-5.

C: What level would you like to achieve?

P: I would be happy with about 7or 8.

C: Is this realistic given the time we have?
(In alignment with the SMART goal setting model)

P: Yes, I think so.

C: Ok, would you like to hit a few topspin forehands and using a scale of 1-10, call out after you hit the ball, the level of topspin you are achieving on each shot.
(Player then hits a number of shots without any intervention from the coach and rates the level of topspin on their scale, i.e. 4, 6, 4, 5, 8….)

C: So what made that last shot an 8?
(The player has rated one of his shots at the desired level they were after and it is always useful to stop at this point and to ask the question above to help raise their awareness of what happened to achieve this result).

P: I think I used my wrist a lot more.

C: How did you use your wrist a lot more?
(Using open questions that directly relate to what the player has just said helps them to further increase their awareness. Open questions typically begin with what, when, where, and how much).

P: I noticed that when my wrist finished here after the shot, that I created a lot more topspin.

C: Where did it finish?
(Again, I am following the player’s agenda and helping them to raise their awareness further)

P: When it finished here, I got a lot more topspin from the shot?
(The Player is demonstrating physically where his wrist finishes. Important information can be discovered by staying open to non verbal, as well as verbal feedback)

C: Ok. Would you like to look at where your racquet is finishing on this shot?

P: OK.

C: So how about we call this position you are showing me zero. Anything short of this position you could call -1, -2 -3 and anything past this position you could call +1, +2, +3?

P: Ok let me hit a few.
(It is very important at this stage that the player, having discovered this desired position doesn’t try to achieve it on every successive shot, but allows himself to swing freely and simply observes after each shot where he finishes. Eventually, what will happen providing he remains focussed and aware, is that he will find his optimal finish position effortlessly. He may even discover that the optimal position is actually slightly different from the one he identified first)

C: So, how is this going for you? Would you like to continue looking at your finish position?
(After a few shots the coach might check in with the player to find out where his attention is. This allows him the choice to either stay with what he is working on or to place his awareness on some other aspect of the shot, or his game. Shifts in attention can also be observed by watching the player’s body language)

P: Yes, it’s very interesting! Actually, I am beginning to notice that my legs are helping me to develop a bit of power in the shot now.

C: What specifically about your legs is giving you more power? (Here the coach is following the player’s new focus of attention, and raising their awareness of a possible change in direction to the session)

P: Well, when I bend them and then push up during the swing I get more power.

C: Which one are you noticing the most, the bending down or pushing up
(Helping the player to become aware of where most of his attention is, can often lead to discovering a key factor in their technical improvement)

P: I think it is more on the pushing up.

C: Now, would you like to refocus on the spin or change focus to the power?

P: I’m happy with the spin at the moment - can we move on to looking at the power?

C: Yes of course we can!
(In the last few interactions, the player has changed his goal from wanting more topspin to wanting more power and by following his agenda and asking awareness raising questions, he is taking ownership for his learning – not the coach! When someone feels responsible for their own learning there is a corresponding increase in self belief – so crucial to increased performance and tournament wins!)

C: How far away is the ball when you start to push up?
(Helping the player to raise his awareness by asking him to observe something specific within the general focus)

P: I am not sure

C: Would you like to hit a few and find out? You could start by noticing how far away each ball is in metres when you start to push up.
(Encouraging non-judgemental, objective feedback to increase the chances of a discovery)

P: Yes, ok.
(Other awareness raising questions might be; ‘How much bend feels right for you?’ – or to find the limits of the range of possibility within which it would be possible to experiment; ‘What is the most/least you could bend your legs?’)

This process continues with the coach following the player’s agenda and discoveries, maintaining focus, raising awareness and periodically checking the direction and outcome goals of the session.

Since incorporating these principles into my coaching, I have noticed a number of significant changes in both learning and performance across all ages and genders of player.

Firstly, I have noticed an increase in motivation to learn, especially with children, which has resulted in faster learning. Secondly, I have noticed an increase in the confidence of players, who previously suffered from self-doubt, fear and anxiety whilst learning and performing. Thirdly, as a coach I have never enjoyed my coaching as much as I do now. I look forward to and relish the challenge of each lesson. Each lesson is different and each individual is unique. In addition, I feel less stressed than I used to do, because I realise it is not necessary for me to have all the answers in order for my students to learn effectively. But instead, I feel privileged to be able to facilitate another’s learning in what often feels like a more natural, fun, compassionate and at times magical process.

Andy Knibbs
January 2007

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Song and Dance

How to Ensure Coach and Student are Singing from the Same Song Sheet with The Inner Game

I can remember clearly the feelings of anger, frustration and lack of self-worth as my art teacher leaned over my shoulder with an air of infallibility and began to paint over John McEnroe's shorts in the mistaken belief that they were too short. 'This is the way they need to look', he said as he took the brush from my hand. 'Watch how I use a touch of darker grey to make the shadows better.' I had devoted a very focussed portion of the lesson to crafting the details of Mr McEnroe's clothing and although I realised he would never know of the dubious honour he was being given on top of his Wimbledon trophies, it was somehow very important to me to do justice to his achievements. But now it was no longer my picture.

Later, I showed the painting to my mum hoping for the approval that had been withheld earlier. She did everything she could to praise my efforts, but it didn't quite redress the balance and even when I made a proper song and dance about the incident to get it off my chest, the resentment lived on. Perhaps that's one of the things that attracted me to the Inner Game years later.

Another time when I was struggling to work my way up my college team rankings in America, I remember feeling a little too isolated, in need of some expert insight from my coach. His care for the team was never in doubt, but beyond the set piece drills we were encouraged to work and improve on our own. This compounded my frustration at not winning the matches that would improve my ranking. It was only when I began coaching for a living after my college days were over that I discovered some of my technical and tactical limitations.

In both cases, for whatever reasons, I wasn't assertive enough at the time to be able to articulate what I needed from my teachers. One was very much on the command and control side of teaching, the other expected me to do so much on my own, I felt lost at sea.

So if we could go back in time and improve the teaching aspects of these scenarios, what changes could we make? From an Inner Game perspective the following points seem to be crucial.

1. Give Ownership.
Make sure the student owns their learning.

'Coaching is a dance in which the learner,
not the coach, is the leader.'
Tim Gallwey - The Inner Game of Work

A simple shift in ownership is obtained by awareness of the student's agenda and giving them primary choice over the direction of learning. Perhaps this is easier said than done as it is still so ingrained in our thinking that the teacher should be in charge and, like a doctor, will provide the expert assessment, the diagnosis and then prescribe the remedy. Interesting that the assumption behind this archetype is that we're already broken and need outside help to get fixed. Compare this to one of the basic assumptions behind Inner Game coaching - that the student already has enormous potential and can improve their performance and learning from the inside.

The benefits of making sure the student owns their learning in terms of responsibility, self-esteem, motivation and subsequent engagement in the learning process are worth thinking about. If the coach takes complete control of the coaching relationship there is a price to pay. The student invariably feels less empowered and can lose motivation to problem-solve, becoming dependent on the coach. When they find themselves out there on their own in a tennis match, they will pay that price.

2. Have Flexibility.
Be able to blend coach input with student input in a way that minimises interference with the student's learning. Use a mix of telling and effective questioning appropriate for each individual.

Let's extend the metaphor of coaching being a dance a little further. David Hemery, Olympic gold medallist and author of 'How to Help Children Find the Champion within Themselves' discovered a way of illustrating the coaching process whilst mind-mapping feedback from delegates on a coach training course.

Starting with 'To improve performance' in the centre, he asked the group, 'What does a coach actually DO to achieve performance improvement?' Their answers fell into two sides of the page - one side forming the traditional teaching role of giving advice, sharing best practice, challenging and encouraging - all useful but all coach centred. The other side balanced the model comprising qualities of coaching that made the performer more self-aware and self-responsible - largely initiated by asking effective, mostly open, questions.

'The dance refers to the fact that both sides are needed and therefore we need to dance from one side to the other.

It provides:
traditional sharing of expertise and adds the
'how to' of empowerment, thereby generating
Personal Development as well as Performance Improvement'
David Hemery

There are many ways to move from one side of the model to the other. One effective solution might look like this in a group situation;
*Demonstrate the split step and explain how it can enhance performance (coach-centred).
*Then define the parameters (in this case with a demo) - show where the ball is in its flight when the split step is very late and where it is when the split step is much too early (coach-centred or performer centred).
*Then send the group out to discover where the ball is when they split (performer-centred).

To explore this way of using the Coaching Dance further, the process described is to:
1. Present a technical, tactical, physical or mental focus point (coach-centred).
2. Define the parameters of the exploration (coach-centred suggestion or performer-centred discussion).
3. Ask the student to find out whilst performing where they are within these parameters (performer-centred non-judgemental observation).

3. Ask.
Never assume what's going on inside the student's mind before a coaching intervention.

The key importance of asking effective questions was discussed in our last Inner Works Coaching article 'Embracing the Inner Game' by Andy Knibbs. Funnelling questions to increase awareness is one aspect of asking. A second use of asking is to discover the student's agenda and to ensure the direction of the session is in harmony with their goals and interests as it progresses.

In our training days with Inner Works Coaching, it is quite common for coaches to find that they are stuck on one side of the Coaching Dance. Some are so used to taking the lead that it feels very strange to make a seamless transition to following the student's direction of interest. My art teacher was stuck in the same way. A more flexible approach could have made all the difference to my developing whatever potential I had as an artist.

An example of this happened recently on an Inner Tennis training day and our participant coach was surprised at how easy it was to get unstuck. He had come to the net to talk to the student and was so busy internalising and thinking what to prescribe next that the weight of responsibility was visibly beginning to affect him. And with his attention diverted he missed the non-verbal communication that was coming from the student. Although the coach was practising being on the non-directive side, he was using his directive mode to try to get there.

He felt stuck and asked for a suggestion. 'Look at your student and tell me what you see,' I said. 'Does he look motivated, interested, involved, bored, angry or frustrated?' Clearly now that he looked, the student appeared bored and frustrated. 'What do I do now?' asked the coach, concerned at the revelation. 'Let's see what happens if you just ask him. Get some feedback on what he'd like to explore or practise next and how he'd like to go about it. Then just go with it.'

In two steps, he jumped easily from being coach-centred to performer-centred and rekindled the session. Now the student was engaged and enthusiastic again. Step one was to stop and look for non-verbal signals. Step two was to ask (confirming his interpretation of the observed body language) and follow the student's agenda to get back on track to high level focus.

A few years ago during one of our Inner Tennis tutor training days with Sir John Whitmore and Caroline Harris, we found that we were equally blind to the needs of the student guinea pigs but stuck on the other side of the Coaching Dance. Some of them were so frustrated at not being coached in the way they expected that it became quite embarrassing. They wanted to be told. But the trainee tutor team had become 'effective questioning warriors'. We were asking them to dance to a song that they couldn't dance to. Learning for the guinea pigs was at a premium that day. The tutors learned heaps.

4. Care.
Make sure the student really knows that you have their best interests at heart.

'Coaching is an art that must be learned mostly from experience. In the Inner Game approach, coaching can be defined as the facilitation of mobility. It is the art of creating an environment, through conversation and a way of being, that facilitates the process by which a person can move toward desired goals in a fulfilling manner. It requires one essential ingredient that cannot be taught: caring not only for external results but for the person being coached.'
Tim Gallwey - The Inner Game of Work

I'm sure most of us would agree that caring for the person being coached is a prerequisite to effective coaching. If communication is limited to the tennis-specific part of the student, rapport can suffer and this may well create tension and disrupt the student's focus. The whole person needs to be brought into the coaching process for best results.

The initial greeting can make or break rapport. If a brief acknowledgement of what's going on in the student's life is included, the sense of a safety net of care for the whole person puts the lesson outcome in perspective. This can encourage the student to take on challenges with less fear of being judged. A degree of care can easily be achieved by simply asking if they have had to rush to get to the lesson, if it was a good day at school or work, how they are feeling and checking their energy level on a scale of 1-10 before proceeding with this in mind.

Performer-centred empathic listening skills will send a clear message to most students that you care. And once the student feels that you care, it becomes safer to step into a more authoritative role if needed - to challenge a behaviour and not the person. Tim Gallwey was once asked in an interview where the Inner Game stood on the spectrum of 'hard' and 'soft' coaching styles. He replied;

'Style is one thing and substance is another. The important thing is that the care be there. The coach has to care about the person being coached and the person needs to know it. Then there can be a time for both hard and soft styles. I have been on the receiving end of the mince-no-words approach when it really helped me because I knew I was not being personally attacked. There have also been times when I needed a more receptive and encouraging approach. So much depends on the situation and the relationship between coach and student. I don't believe that a good coaching relationship is ever characterised by fear. Fear will generally cause self-interference and lessen one's maximum performance. The relationship should, I believe, be one of mutual respect and trust, one in which the coach has the best interests of the client in mind.'

The Song of Learning

Strange as it may seem, non-directive coaching skills are sometimes equated with non-involvement and the abdication of responsibility as a coach - even lack of care. And if unskilfully applied, these can be the consequences, as was the case in my college experience. But if my coach had been more aware of striking an effective balance between coach and player responsibility perhaps I would have learned what I needed to help me improve my ranking. I wasn't quite ready to sing on my own.

And if my art teacher had just asked me how he could have helped, without diving in and taking the brush out of my hand, I may even have asked him how to make the shadows look better. Teacher and student would have been in harmony, maximising learning. I never put the same amount of effort into my art lessons after the McEnroe portrait incident. The song just didn't feel the same.

So perhaps we can begin to listen more closely to the Song of Learning that accompanies the Coaching Dance. As I continue to practise these skills in my own coaching, I am ever more acutely aware of the importance of creating harmonious coaching environments without the discord of mental interference, where the student has achieved a high level of focussed attention so crucial to effective learning, performance and enjoyment.

And yes, Mr McEnroe does have a lot to answer for. Maybe I'll have another go at that painting one day.

Peter Farthing
April 2007

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Using 'Bounce-Hit'to Maximise Performance

A Closer Look at the flagship Inner Game drill

Today, “Bounce Hit” is an exercise used by coaches to achieve a number of different outcomes. Many coaches know of the almost magical effect it can have upon making contact with the ball for beginners and the quality of contact for more competent players but perhaps do not know of its origins and the extent to which it can be used to improve technique. Many coaches use it to help students with relaxation, and are aware of course of its primary purpose - increasing concentration.

Tim Gallwey, the originator of The Inner Game, developed the concept of “Bounce Hit”. The exercise was designed to work on two aspects: to help students quieten their minds from distracting thoughts about their performance/learning by focusing upon the ball in a very specific way. Tim Gallwey explained that these distracting thoughts could be driven by fear, anxiety, doubt, frustration, or even anger about the process of learning or the competitive situation. When focusing upon saying bounce and hit, the mind is focused away from distracting thoughts, and there is a corresponding increase in the concentration available which allows natural learning to take place. But of course by calling “bounce hit” a “more technical” aspect is also addressed – the pupil cannot say the words accurately without watching the ball well. A coach may say, “watch the ball” (many coaches told me that as a child but I discovered I had not really been watching the ball enough on my first Inner Game programme when I was 22.) Here the coach is certain that it is being done and to what degree.

Below is a typical coaching dialogue to introduce bounce hit to a player that demonstrates how “ bounce hit” can be used for maximum effect –

Co – Coach.
P – Player.
() Explanation of the action and/or theory behind the use of Bounce - Hit.

Co 1 – I would like you to do an exercise that will help in many ways, it is a little different. Is that Ok?

(If the student asks for an explanation I usually encourage them to have a go first then we can discuss what happened).

P – Yes, Ok.
Co 2 – I want you to simply call bounce when the ball lands on your side of the court and hit when you strike it with your racket?
P – Yes
(I will feed 15 – 20 balls either from the net or from the back depending on the students level.)
Co 3 – So, tell me, how much of your attention would you say was on the exercise of calling Bounce - Hit out of 10
P –Oh, about 7.
Co 4. – So, where was the other 3 out of 10?
(Helping the student raise their awareness of where their attention is)
P – Umm I was thinking about how I was hitting the ball.

(Other typical responses might be:” I thought I might miss the ball” “I was thinking about the last stroke that was awful”, “I was thinking about where to hit the next shot”, “I was thinking about what I have been told about how to hit the ball”: “ I was worried what the person over there might be thinking”)

Co – Would it be possible for you now, to put all of your attention on Bounce – Hit and lets see what happens
P – I think so
Co – Ok, lets have a go!
(What I experience here is that as the student’s focus on the exercise of Bounce - Hit increases their strokes become more fluid, natural and less inhibited).

An alternative coaching response at Co 3 (if you observe that the student is not calling on time) might be -
Co 3a - Which one out of bounce and hit would you say you are most accurate at calling?
(Again raising awareness of the student’s accuracy at calling Bounce - Hit)
P – I think I am more accurate at calling bounce.
Co – Ok. Are you late or early on the hit?

(I would feed a few more to allow the pupil to discover for themselves)

Co - How about seeing if you can call both bounce and hit with the same degree of accuracy?

(This has the effect of increasing the accuracy of the calling and therefore the timing and effectiveness of the shot).

The progression to “Bounce – Hit – bounce” helps students who are overly concerned/focused upon the result –i.e. having to get the ball in and thus over controlling their shots etc.

Co – Would you like to have a go at Bounce – Hit – Bounce?
P – Ok then.
Co – So for this exercise, you call bounce when the ball lands on your side of the court, hit when you strike it and then bounce when the ball lands on my side of the court
P – Ok.
(I will feed 15 – 20 balls and then check in with them how much of their attention is on the exercise)
Co – So, how much of your attention, out of 10, would you say is on this exercise?
P – Oh about 6.
Co – Where is the rest of your attention?
P – I was thinking about where the ball was landing.
Co – Ok, would it be possible to call the ball wherever it lands, even if it hits the back fence, the net or is out? The exercise is to call B-H-B accurately to give your body accurate feedback. It is matter if the ball lands in or out.
(Creating a safe environment for the student to ‘Have a go’. Quite often students who fear judgement will try to control their shots!)
P – yes, Ok then.

(The most common result of this stage is that as the body gains accurate feedback it makes subtle adjustments to the stroke and the ball is returned with much greater consistency)

The final progression to rallying, involves calling Bounce – Hit both ends. Significantly longer rallies are achieved providing attention is high on the exercise and the calls are non-judgmental observation. Focus deepens and total absorption is possible where learning/performance is maximised.

Sometimes when the student begins to rally it is noticeable that their voice sounds strained or tense on the hit – a different tone from the annunciation of the other words. This can be a sign of unnecessary physical tension. Ask the pupil to say the word hit the same way as the rest of the words. This can “calm down” the stroke and of course becomes a focus in itself. Equally it is fun to ask the pupil to play with the way “hit” is said, to try saying it louder or more aggressively and to notice the effect that it has on playing.

In our one-day introductory sessions we ask coaches when they might use “ bounce hit”. Below are their thoughts:

When people are thinking too much
To help counter outside interference
To help people watch the ball, to focus
For receiving and perceiving skills
In the warm-up
To aid timing
To help see variety of spin
To help see what the opponent is doing
For match play
With a beginner
For building the confidence of an inexperienced player

As coach, if you can help your students focus their attention and raise their awareness of the ball within a safe and non-judgemental environment, you will see some encouraging developments in their learning and performance! “Bounce hit” is perhaps more well known than the many other focus exercises that all can have a dramatic effect on learning.

Andy Knibbs and Caroline Harris
June 2007

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