Bearish Bull Observation

My name is Bearish Bull and I will be acting as a coach and role model in teaching

the initial experience of the tennis serve, an overhead striking movement, to an 8 year old boy

named Joey in a safe, fun and developmentally appropriate manner. Because Joey has no

previous experience with this movement exercise and because he is 8, there are special

considerations that must be attended to in order to set him up with a good first experience.

Factors that I will be paying particular attention to in the design and practice of this one on one

exercise are things such as his individual and environmental constraints, the constraints of the

task itself to include equipment choice, the provision of action prompting verbal …show more content…
Because we are working 1-on1, a loss of attention should be

a small concern however should it become an issue I will refocus him by instructing him to say

“ball” as an emphatic reply any time I say “tennis”. To keep Joey motivated with a positive

attitude I have been sure to provide a setting that finds him comfortable and free from

distractions. Also, I will only provide positive, and no negative, feedback throughout the course

of our interactions. Undoubtedly, the teaching of a skill does require some critiquing so that

good adjustments can be made. The delivery of such critiques is an area where a coach has to

be particularly sensitive so as to not to dispirit the learner. People, children included, do not

take particularly well to criticism, especially when it is hostile. Making us of a technique known

as the Compliment Sandwich is an effective means of providing critical feedback in the interest

of greater skill acquisition. By opening up the critique with a genuine and applicably relevant

compliment, the top bread slice in the sandwich, I will set the stage for assertive

communication with a listener that actually hears me. The meat portion of the …show more content…
We typically concentrate our

focus on one aspect of the movement at the expense of less focus on others and this makes

perfectly good sense in initial learning as efficiency is not the goal. As teachers of a new skill

we can pick the goals of a game in order to enhance the bringing about of a desired movement

pattern. The goals of our task and the equipment we use to reach them make up the

movement task constraints. Our main goal in the initial learning experience of the tennis serve

is not accuracy in ball trajectory or maximizing efficiency of movement but is instead simply

making contact with the ball for maximum force production. There is a greater chance of

missing the overall movement pattern and becoming timid and restricted in range of motion

when focusing on the finer refinements of a new skill. By focusing simply on making contact

and maximizing force production in initial experiences the learner will be better served in

getting in touch with the full range of the movement