The Good, Bad, and the Ugly
For all players, coaches and parents
I like good old Clint Eastwood movies but this title has nothing to do with his movie of the same name except being a catchy way to get your attention. The title really does tell the story of what I am about to share with you. But this is about the process of getting better and what we ought to aim for as players, coaches and even parents. And let it be known that when I write blogs, do interviews or talk on my podcast, speak etc., I am being reminded of these very lessons myself. I will first deal with the players aspect and then make some ties to coaching and parenting. At the risk of going on for a very long time, I could literally write a chapter on this concept with practical applications and stories of players, coaches and parents success and failures (mine include in all three areas) but will try to keep it short (my famous last words to my dissertation committee when they read over my nearly 400 pages, including an overkill 220 studies/monograph reference list)—So here goes.
I must use this concept at least once a month with all levels of players. Beginner kids to collegiate athletes can all understand and relate to this. I was just using it today when I was on court with my son while we were working on rapid fire volley-ground stroke exchanges like you would have if you were at net and someone was pounding balls at you and you needed to sustain a rally—don’t be the one that misses either at the baseline or the net. This is great for your footwork and shortened swings on the baseline and net by the way.
The Process.
Good coaches and mentors emphasize not only great effort and attitude (which should be the number one combo on the list) but the process. That is, it is NOT about the wins-losses column but about getting better. I can safely say I am probably one of the most competitive people you will meet (and defining that is important but I won’t here) so I don’t get me wrong, I want to win more than the next guy. The bottom line, and why the greats are so great, is because they do want to win so badly (and love winning and hate losing—another topic I have written on for later) that they pursue the process of getting better and that is what enables them to win. If one focuses on winning, not only can that not always be controlled (poor saps who play Federer in the first round usually find that out), but winning does not necessarily make you better. We all know of people who can win at a certain level and that is about it. They have found a way to win against a fellow junior or club member or even collegiate player but that is their max ability if they focus only on winning. Here is what it looks like—most players, just think, “Well if I just play enough I will get better. I don’t need to take lessons or have a coach help me out on my shot or patterns. And for sure I do not want to change my serve to make it bigger. No way. That will mess me up and I might lose against Fred this weekend.” They are win oriented and not process oriented. While there is a balance and timing (you don’t change your serve motion the day before a tournament) process oriented players want to be the best they can be. They know that practice is supposed to be harder than a match and sometimes you have to drop a few boulders on your foot to get to the gold. Ever hear of Pete Sampras? He went from a two-hand to one-handed backhand at 13 years old and stunk. All his friends laughed at him. Not for very long. Heard of Dominic Thiem? Same thing. You see the greats change. Nadal was not very good at net and had a weak serve relatively speaking. He got a bigger serve motion and got to net a lot more and improved his volley. Djokovic changed his diet, made his backhand more compact, and now has a new serve motion. So if the greats change, shouldn’t the not-so-greats? Not change for change sake but to get better. To enjoy the process.
Good, Bad, and the Ugly
So here is where the good, bad and ugly come in. By the way, they are nouns, not adjectives for our purposes. And to always give credit where it is due, the “good-bad” concept, though I use it differently, first was mentioned to me by my good friend and Clemson coaching great Chuck Kriese. First the good. Someone who is focused on the process and doing the right thing is doing a good. For example, a good is coming to net when you should, and not staying back because you are afraid of failing. A good is trying to incorporate something you have been practicing on but haven’t had the courage prior to try it out (like serving and volleying on game point when you are up a break and your opponent has been floating the returns because you stay back). A good is calling the ball in because it is (or you can’t tell) and not calling it out because you really need the point—and besides your opponent called a close one out. A good is going after the return and not pushing because you know pushing will lead to more pushing and you won’t develop the discipline and confidence to go after the return if you are pushing. A good is winning the point. A good is being a gentleman or lady on court.
Now the bad (we will get to the ugly). A bad is having a lousy attitude. A bad is not giving everything you have on court. A bad is pushing the return just to win the point. Now we all know that sometimes you have to do whatever it takes to win. That is not what I am talking about here. In order to do that you actually have to have a skill set of various things that can be “anything” to win. If you don’t have a chip or slice then you can’t do that to win. If you don’t have a kick serve then you can’t do that to win. Etc. So your version of “doing whatever it takes to win” is pretty limited and you need to get more skills if you want to get better and beat better players. Otherwise, yes you will be known as the guy or gal that can win and does whatever it takes but it will only work at that level. And that brings us back to the beginning. If that is ok, to stay at that level and not work toward getting better which usually means improving aspects of your game, then you really are not that competitive or really do not enjoy the process which is about getting better. Get the idea? To make it clear, I know many teaching pros who teach their students (youth and adults) to compete at the level they are in and don’t train them to the next level. E.g. if you are a 3.5 and want to be a 4.0 then do the things a 4.0 does, not what helps you beat a 3.0 or 3.5 (I call that enabling tennis). If you are a 4.0 and want to be a 4.5 or 5.0 then do those things and this usually means changing aspects of your game and not spending oodles of times in group lessons where not much change occurs. People just practice to the level of competency instead of working past this. This is related to my blogs on transformational vs transactional coaching and grit/deliberate practice. That is why so many club players and youth have improper serve grips or mechanics, or even warm up improperly. Expediency is not always a good thing. So avoid the bads.
So to understand the ugly we have to now connect the dots: good-good, good-bad, bad-good, bad-bad. A good-good is doing the right thing and winning the point, match, etc. Here are some examples. Getting the first serve in when you don’t really ace people anyway so why go for so much on the first serve, and you win the point. Getting to net with a slice approach instead of trying to kill it and positioning yourself in the right place and win the point. Calling a close ball in, you are at 30-40 now and still find a way to dig in and win the point to get back to deuce and eventually win the game. Having grit and draining your tank each and every point, having solid focus and recovery and preparation between points and win the point or the match. A good-bad is all these examples but losing the point. You did the right thing but it just didn’t pan out. Welcome to the world of sports and life. But you must do the right thing, the good, over and over and over. A bad-good is NOT doing the first part of each example and despite that still winning the point. In general it is cutting corners, taking the easy way out or reverting back to old habits just to win the point. For example, hitting a ton of second serves and still wining the points only because your opponents return is not very good. In the long run it will cost you—you should work to get your first serve during the match. Another example would be being up 6-0, 4-0 and not working on something in your game because you are afraid of incorporating something you have been working on. FYI, great players always work on something when they are up substantially (e.g. maybe a serve and volley here, maybe a more aggressive attack off a deeper than usual ball). One of the egregious and most obvious examples is a player being unsportsmanlike or not trying hard (we call it tanking) and still winning the match. And now the ugly. It is the bad-bad. It is doing things like the above “bads” and yet losing. I won’t go into this much as it is pretty obvious and we want to focus on rewarding the good-good, good-bad.
To wrap this up, players, coaches and parents, should strive to pursue goods. The good-goods will come and we can live with the good-bads. And because we are human and make errors the bad-goods will happen too. The goal then is to constantly reward and encourage the goods (whether it is good-good or good-bad) and discourage or minimize the bads in the shot selection and execution area. And certainly we cannot cannot promote, encourage or tolerate bad-bad when either bad is poor behavior. We will all occasionally do the wrong thing and lose. Those lessons will be learned. Many say we learn from our mistakes. True, but I tell my players and have motivated many a players (even my doubles partners) with this thought during a hard time in a match, that it is far more pleasant if you win to get back on court and work on something that is going goofy during the match. So gut it out and work on it later. But do not let the bad-bad happen (this is related to my blog on 1 mistake, not 2).
As coaches and parents we can take this lesson as well. As coaches if our players are doing the right thing (hustling, working hard, being coachable, showing grit, and trying the things you are working on) then the win-loss column is secondary ultimately. If they stay in the process, and the process is correct, it will pan out. It has to. So reward them and praise them for that good and do not let them lose heart or cut corners with “bads” or feeling down about the results. As parents, realize that the effort to do the goods by our kids is the right thing and not worry about the results. This goes for even things around the house. If the kids are are trying to do the right thing yet a bad results (you can pick your “bad”), it happens. The best thing is they tried the good. They will internalize this on and off the court. Focus on the good, hope for the good-good and grow from the good-bad.
Let ‘er Rip,
Steve