New Dimensions of Learning & Performance
I am often asked "what is the Inner Game"? Clearly the most effective way to discover the principles is on court so, if you can, stop reading this page, telephone one of the coaches listed on this site and experience the Inner Game with a trained Inner Game tutor.
Another good option would be to read the books written by the Inner Game’s originator, Tim Gallwey. However if you are still with me, I will try to summarise the underlying principles. This, I hope, will encourage you to explore further this “new” way of coaching.
It is hardly “new”. Tim Gallwey wrote his first book, “The Inner Game” some thirty years ago. A few years before that, Socrates (he died in 399 BC) taught his students that the essence of education was to draw out. Yet still today we are debating the issues around effective education and the importance of inspiring self confidence without the extremes of creating a false reality. In the tennis world in this country, there continue to be long debates about how to produce a world class player who is technically able but also has the self belief necessary to win a Grand Slam. So what does the underlying philosophy of the Inner Game add to this search for evolved coaching?
Tim Gallwey highlighted that in any game or human endeavour there are two parts – an outer game played against an external opponent to achieve an external goal and an ".....inner game which takes place in the mind of the player and it is played against such obstacles as lapses in concentration, nervousness, self doubt and self condemnation”. It is this inner game which can either inhibit or allow the player’s potential. Clearly this “model” of “performance equals potential minus interference” has implications for coaches.
The implications are significant, for the practical application of these principles can profoundly effect what is perhaps the fundamental aim of coaching - that the student is enabled to learn to their individual potential and increase their self belief.
Tim Gallwey discovered, mostly through observation of his students, that a substantial element of learning was their mental state. To facilitate the student's innate ability to learn, the coach needs skills that encourage focused attention and raise awareness. To inspire self belief, the learning process needs to demonstrate trust in and respect for the student’s emergent ability. It must also allow and encourage choice. For when the student chooses the direction of the lesson and is an equal partner in discovering the best technique for themselves, they naturally take responsibility for the learning. Motivation and enjoyment increase dramatically and, on a subconscious level, they feel of value. It becomes about them not us. Rather than try to bolt on self confidence to a technically sound performance player, the Inner Game approach inherently inspires this in every lesson. It is an approach that is of value to all students.
For more on the Inner Game principles see The Inner Game Comes Full Circle
The Evolution of Inner Game Coaching in the UK
Sir John Whitmore, a champion professional racing driver in the 60’s, could be seen as both the catalyst and pioneer of the Inner Game in the UK. In the mid 70’s Whitmore had a chance conversation with a BBC producer of the Everyman religious programme about altered states of consciousness and sport. The interest shown by the television producer led Whitmore to suggest contacting Tim Gallwey, the originator of the Inner Game. The result was a 40 min programme within the Everyman series, called the Inner Game. It featured Gallwey speaking about the philosophy of the Inner Game and coaching the series presenter to a rapid improvement in his tennis game. The programme was shown 3 times on television and received a huge mailbag, which the BBC duly dropped on Whitmore’s doorstep.
Seeing the interest, Whitmore flew out to California to meet and train with Gallwey. He came back with an agreement to represent the Inner Game in Europe. In April 1979, in Buckinghamshire, he joined a small group of British coaches who took part in the first Inner Game coach training to be held in the UK, led by one of Gallwey’s trainers. Participants included Graham Alexander, Alan Fine, Sarah Ferguson, Tony Morgan and Caroline Harris.
The group subsequently set up The Inner Game Limited and ran workshops for the general public in tennis and skiing. Enquiries from other sports followed. In the early 80’s there began to be noticeably more interest from the business world keen to learn about the principles of Inner Game coaching and sensing the value and potential of their application in the work environment. The original trainees were welcomed into the new field of business coaching.
This work went from strength to strength. Whitmore teamed up with David Hemery and David Whitaker to form Performance Consultants and is now an internationally respected coaching guru and best-selling author on the subject. The class of ’79 were joined in the early eighties by Ben Cannon and Myles Downey. Together with Graham Alexander, Caroline Harris and Alan Fine they are all now highly respected within the field. See our links page for more information on the fruits of their labour.
The UK tennis hierarchy appeared hesitant to explore the unfamiliar Inner Game approach to learning and performance any further (despite Buster Mottram’s significant rise up the world rankings whilst coached by Alan Fine) and it was to be a long wait before interest was rekindled. Whitmore returned more than twenty years later at the request of the British Tennis Coaches Association to speak at their annual conference in November 2001. Inner Works Coaching team members Robert Appleson and Ben Jackson were instrumental in taking the enthusiasm that was generated during the conference and suggesting that the BTCA set up further training opportunities. Thus, in August 2002, Whitmore and Caroline Harris began training a group of eight short-listed coaches to become BTCA Inner Tennis tutors (See ‘The Inner Game Comes Full Circle’ for their experiences up to the first BTCA Inner Tennis workshop in February 2004).
The BTCA trainee tutors subsequently assisted Caroline Harris to run seven one-day BTCA workshops for coaches on an Introduction to the Inner Game. During this time, on-going training involved more workshops and team meetings run by Caroline Harris, coaching one another, constantly experimenting with individual coaching and swapping stories, presenting to coaches and junior leaders at their clubs, and to sixth form students from a Leading Edge school, collating feedback and keeping in touch with course participants, raising awareness of the Inner Game at the BTCA Annual Conference trade display and writing articles and case studies. Members of the team also observed professional business coaching sessions, acted as consultants to interested coaches and facilitated learning in golf, snowboarding, music and driving.
It became obvious that a strong team was evolving into an organisation that needed an identity of its own and Inner Works Coaching was born. The reintroduction of Inner Game Player Days and presenting at the Scottish National Conference 2005 alongside the likes of Judy Murray and Ben Vanhoudt (former coach to Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne), have marked the beginning of an intriguing time ahead for the team and for the Inner Game in the UK.
By Andy Knibbs, Caroline Harris and Peter Farthing
Pete, Caroline & Andy at the BTCA Conference 2005
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