The Perfect Ratio; players hitting to players waiting

Going to various programs I always get the question, "what makes a program successful?". Of course this is a loaded question but my first response is always," what's your ratio?". Right away the directors of these programs start telling me about their coach to player ration but that's not the ratio I'm talking about. It's all about the player participating to the one that's not.

Ask yourself one simple question, "what makes YOU bored?". Most people would say it's not being engaged. It's such a simple answer, so why don't we apply it to our players? Get them involved, make them participants of the practices not bystanders or even worse spectators. So how do you engage players the correct way? You have them bit balls!!! I couldn't be more emphatic on this. Players that come to play tennis want to do that; this is why they sign up for your programs. Sure, we can engage our players in other ways such as doing calisthenics or various activities but this shouldn't be the entrée but rather the side dish. Make your main course one with a longer table, invite more friends over, have a larger party and you will see players engaged having way more fun.

No matter if a player is recreational or high performance, they are all looking to improve in the sport they love. The more exposure these players have to hitting balls the better they become and in return the more their skills will improve. Having a player disengaged will do the complete opposite. They will become disjointed not allowing them to get into some sort of rhythm that will just make them go to the back of the line to wait their turn again. This then becomes a vicious cycle where the player becomes frustrated. Their annoyance will spread to other and before you know it, the class that begun with 16 players is down to a handful.

To avoid this problem have a ratio of players to waiting, at a minimum, being the same. 1:1 is doable but a 2:1, 3:1 or above will always be a winning recipe. Player are engaged as they are on the court and that player or small number of players can now do those calisthenics or extra activity that the coach provides. Get your players involved and your program will be a success!