As my son makes his way through this summer's camps (and can I hear a hooray for summer camps being back in full swing again?!) it's been fun to see him learn, try new things and grow. Besides soccer, basketball, animation, and overnight camps, he most recently went to a tennis camp and - - - caught the bug. (As I type this his is screaming along with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and all the other fans watching the men's Wimbledon final)!
After one week, he made great progress on form, grip, and the basic strokes.
His coach left him with a lot of excitement and some recommendations on how to keep practicing: get friends to play! get on the court whenever you can! practice your forehand, backhand, volley and overhead strokes!
Which brings me to what happened next.
We went out to practice forehands, backhands, volleys and overheads! BUT… as usually happens after that initial excitement of learning a new thing wears off, frustrations sets in.
"Mom! Why am I not able to hit the ball over the next most of the time? Why do some balls go into the next while other sail out of the court?"
The What vs. the How
I had the urge to coach him, but I let the Mom in me encourage him to have fun, and give his newfound skills time to consolidate. It got me thinking: we often know WHAT we should practice, but when it comes to HOW we should practice, things get... trickier.
Are some people just better at getting better? Or are there certain strategies that could optimize learning? When was the last time you looked at how you're practicing, and not simply just checked off the whats?
