When playing tennis, getting the right equipment is crucial for the beginner and the pro. One of the most important parts of a tennis player’s arsenal is not shoes or sweatbands. It’s his or her tennis racquet. Having the right racquet can mean the different between okay to better play; however, many players are confused as picking the best racquet for their game. While the reply is never simple, here is a guide for finding and buying tennis racquets for 2010.

The Basics

A tennis racquet is more than just a frame and strings. There are hundreds of types of tennis racquets and they vary in head size, grip, balance, and even frame material make-up. When buying a fresh racquet each of these items should be considered.

The Racquet Head

Many tennis novices don’t realize that there are several tennis head sizes. The size of the hrad can impact your play. Larger head racquets offer larger surface area to make contact with the ball. With the smaller head, once you become proficient, you will gawk more controlled play. Racquet heads can range from 88″ to 111″ squared. For beginners, the larger heads are recommended.

The Grip

Simply put, the grip is that part of the frame which covers the handle. There are different sizes of grips. The standards are 4 1/8″ (L1), 4 1/4″ (L2), 4 3/8″ (L3), 4 1/2″ (L4), and 4 5/8″ (L5). To determine the perfect grip for a player, simply consume a ruler and measure your dominant hand. Take the measurement from the middle palm crease to the tip of the ring finger. If you need to adjust a grip you have options for colors, absorbency and thickness.

Balance and Weight

Just as there are a variety of grips, there are also a variety of weights for unstrung racquets. Racquets can arrive as light as 8 ounces to as heavy as 12 ounces. Finding the best racquet weight will help in bettering your game. Heavier racquets can offer more power, but can also be harder to swing. Long play times will take there toll if a person uses a heavy racquet. The lighter weight racquets offer faster swing options. Beginners generally should start with the lighter weight racquets and as their play (control and strength) improve, graduating to heavier racquets will work.

Other racquet basics include the length of the racquet which impacts reach and balance of the racquet which helps with stability and control. Also consider the materials, wood racquets were popular in the past, but now racquets are made of light weight metals with add to power and control.

The Rankings

Just as the tennis players of the world are ranked so are racquets. Some groups like Do It Tennis offer such a ranking. Ranking methodology includes consideration of design, comparisons, industry experience (including professional player use), and analysis of play quality.

The Brands

The names Wilson, Head, Prince, Dunlop, and Babolat are staple brands and are known to make some of the world’s best tennis racquets. Each year new models hit the market. Here are a few of the great options for the 2010 tennis season.

Babolet Aero Pro 2010

The magic of Babolet’s generally rested in strings, but since 1994, when the company entered the racquet making business, all around construction. The Babolet rackets offer estimable control and low stiffness and are a favorite of Rafael Nadals Parera and Andy Roddick. The Babolet Aero Pro is a great racket for intermediate or advanced players. This racquet is engineered for players with a top spin helpful game and a fine sweet spot.

Wilson (K) Factor Series

Wilson has been revolutionizing the tennis racquet industry for more than six decades. Players such as Federer, the Williams sisters, and Djokovic prefer this brand. The (K)Six-One 90 and 95 are great for hard hitters. This series is generally more powerful than most other racquets is designed for better slicing, and its construction makes it more stable as well.

Prince O3 Speedport Black MP or Red

Prince knows racquets and has designed a solid instrument with the Speedport. A favorite of Maria Sharapovas, the Prince O3 Speedport is ample for intermediates and advanced players. It’s good for all court play. The racquet has good maneuverability and is enormous for net play.

Head LiquidMetal Series

Head has several series, including the Flexpoint, but the LiquidMetal series offers something for beginners and pros. Its’ Liquidmetal 8 is light weight and has power adding large head. The LiquidMetal Radical MP is for the more advanced player, who likes powerful, aggressive strokes and high swing speeds.

Dunlop Aerogel Series

If a player is looking for comfort and power, the Dunlop Aerogel series offers many options. While Dunlop generally makes racquets for the more intermediate to advance players (Aerogel 200 and 300), its Aerogel series also gives the beginner some choices in the Aerogel 700. The Aerogels constructions have vibration dampeners and also offer great speed to swings because they are lightweight.

Whether you want to start to play or improve your play, it is important for tennis players to find the right racket. Whether a person has a powerful swing or a advantageous ground game, finding a racket that fits their needs does not have to be complicated. Considering grip, weight, head size and handling will help you construct the best match.

Mt. Pleasant golf course was established in 1933, and was designed by Gus Hook. The course was established to provide recreation for Baltimore’s established golfers and touring professionals. From 1950 to 1963, the course hosted the Eastern Begin Invitational, a professional tour event at the time. Legendary golfer Arnold Palmer earned his second career victory at the venue in 1956.

One of the best stories is when on the first tee, Mr. Palmer hooked his first two drives out of bounds on the adjacent Hillen Rd., and almost conclude the very tournament that he eventually won. If it was not for his playing partner Billy Casper giving him advice to stay in the tournament, then the aura and legacy surrounding Palmer may never came to fruition.

Although it has been several decades since the last professional tour event, Mt. Pleasant have hosted several local and state tournaments including the Publinx and state amateur championship. in 2008, the course was rated by GolfWeek Magazine as the 12th best municipal course in the United States. The golf course is kept in pristine conditions, and simulates the experience of playing at a PGA Tour event. The course measures approximately 6,728 yards, and is a par 71. The course has a slope rating of 119 and the course rating is 71.8.

The green fees during the week are $39, and $45 for the weekends before noon. The course also offers very affordable rates during twilight hours.There is also a resident PGA professional on site, and a pro shop to service all golfing needs. The layout of the course is very straightforward, but provides a strong challenge for all recreational and professional golfers alike in the Baltimore area.

Mt. Satisfactory Golf Club: 6001 Hillen Road Baltimore MD, 21239 (410) 254-5100.

Source: BMGCgolf.com

Enlightenment philosophers and physicists both contribute to the argument about free will. Mediate your beliefs about the existence of God, and your thoughts will stray more to free will despite expert evidence to the contrary. If your thought in divine design is stronger than your opinion about the Charles Darwin theory, creation or evolution, the result is, again, that science and evolution are not in the same league, and no books on evolution will ever change your mind. To develop the insist significantly more confusing, an expert spy to such scientific proof, who also holds strong religious beliefs about science vs God, will be at loggerheads with the concrete results of his own scientific analysis because of inner conflicting opinions. If we take all variables into account, we have to ask the question, is it even possible for free will to exist?

While it is reasonable to believe that physical laws determine the movements and placement of atoms, it is also a commonly held conception that we do things of our acquire free will. For these beliefs both to be lawful, however, one must search for a common denominator.

One the one hand, it is thought that physical laws govern the atom’s movements and placement, and for this to occur, a specific situation must call for the atoms to be rearranged into a particular execute. In contrast, when humans make a decision to do something like swing a tennis racquet, for example, they do so because they choose to; hence, atoms are rearranged in the manner we stipulate (Moore & Bruder, n.d.).

So far, a common denominator between the two beliefs is not immediately definite, unless we speculate about what governs physical law itself. If one made the assumption that thought is the driving force behind this law, then both beliefs are suited because one becomes well-known for the other to occur.

There is no solid argument provided, as to why one belief is preferable to the other; perhaps this is because each scenario appeals only to our capacity for common sense. Unfortunately, when something requires little to no explanation or proof to be thought of as apt, there is nothing to distinguish one belief from the other. In addition, one belief could be considered subjective view and not genuine fact. If plan in free will is to be thought of as subjective opinion, this means it is not true for everyone, which also leads to the conclusion that it is not correct in the first place.

Individually, each belief has its own merit. However, when pitted against one another, both beliefs are incorrect because they are absolutely contradictory. Opposing views cannot both be correct. Only the presence of a common factor, in this case, thought, can make both beliefs true.

With the absence of concrete evidence, there is considerable weakness for both beliefs if one were to exclude the appeal to common sense. While scientific evidence regarding the movement of atoms does exist, it has not been used as support for the belief stated. Likewise, free will and the thoughts we can conjure are said to influence matter through vibration, but no reference was made to this fact. While the support for both arguments rests solely on common sense, sense alone cannot add any weight, prove, or disprove anything.

Reference

Axia College of University of Phoenix. (2009). Metaphysics and Epistemology:
Existence and Knowledge. Retrieved November 20, 2009, from Axia College,
Week One reading, aXcess, PHI105— INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
Web site.

Analyzing your ping pong game and thus realizing both your strengths and weaknesses can really effect a dissimilarity in how competitively you play. Because of this, it is indispensable that you take the time to analyze your playing style and then both train and use equipment that will cater to strengthening your strategies while minimizing your weaknesses.

First of all, a proper analysis of your “attacking style” is needed. The next time you are playing, think carefully and consciously take note of how you respond to each ball hit towards you. Do you loop your paddle upwards during your swing? Do you slice both the air in your device and the ball when you hit it, causing a vast deal of backspin for your opponent to tackle? Do you prefer to play very far away from the ping pong table, allowing yourself a lot of time to carefully analyze the design that the ball is spinning towards you, or do you stand as close at possible to the table, not allowing your opponent any room to breathe before you return his hits? Do you accept yourself dancing all around the ping pong table, no matter how skilled your opponent may be, or do you think of yourself as a more stationary player? Is the way in which you hit the table tennis ball a very aggressive, offensive manner or do you tend to simply try to focus on more defensive “close sign” methods by allowing consistency in returning all shots be your main weapon?

In addition to analyzing your playing style, make sure that you play special attention to both your strengths and weaknesses. There’s a pretty good chance that your strengths are areas that you are naturally getting a lot better at, but improving your weaknesses usually requires more focused attention and training. Every time you miss a point, either by simply not hitting the shot back or by hitting the ball back too far or too short, think about why something happened. If your reflexes were just not fast enough, think about how your opponent positioned himself and hit the ball immediately prior to your failed attempt at returning it. Remember how your opponent approached the ball and better position yourself to receive such a shot the next time. If you are having difficulty in switching between backhands and forehands, ask your opponent to feed balls to both sides, alternating between left and right regularly. During a game, if you find that you are having trouble in remembering to switch your wrist’s position to prepare for either a backhand or forehand, simply take note of every shot that you miss and try to correct it the next time. Impartial by doing this simple “stop and analyze” method during every point you can greatly increase your game as you become your own coach and consciously realize what playing styles can help you win or cause your defeat.

Once you have adequately analyzed your playing strategies, make sure that the paddle that you are using is designed for such a playing style. Most quality ping pong paddles offer descriptions about whether they’re built specifically to enhance spin, looping styles, etc. in game play. Try to find a crawl that you are comfortable with that both enhances the strengths of your playing style and helps compensate for your weaknesses.

The façade of the Tribune Building reaches into the sky off its dismal on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, one of the richest streets in the world. On this boulevard dotted with expensive boutiques and dreamy-eyed bourgeoisie peeking in their windows, the gothic spires of the Tribune Building tower of all – a modern cathedral preaching testament to the power of journalism and the sheer empire it has built.

Any visitor to the Tribune’s editorial offices must enter the building’s stone lobby, etched with quotes of the Tribune’s preachers of the past like Joseph Medill, one of the publication’s first managing editors. The visitor then has to venture to the fourth floor in an ornate art-deco style elevator, where they will wait sit a small lobby – unremarkable in every way except for the rows of Pulitzer Prizes lining the wall.

As soon as they enter the newsroom, the atmosphere changes. The religious aura and mystique is gone, replaced with twenty-somethings watching videos on YouTube at their cubicle desks and television news programs straining to be heard above the chatter. Graphic designers wear T-shirts advertising video game conferences, and editors wear Sketchers to work. The mystique so carefully cultivated for the outside world vanishes.

The editorial meeting is held in a conference room objective like one anywhere else in America.

The entire process is decidedly low tech. There are no massive video displays or any computers at all. Photos are pinned to the wall and a stack of paper sits on the table so a designer can sketch out the next day’s front page by hand.

Fifteen editors attended the front page conference February 20, with a few more connected through a conference call – the only outpost of technology in the void. George de Lama, the managing editor for news, ran the meeting by turning to an editor from each section, allowing them a chance to pitch a few stories for the front page. International, national, metro, sports and feature sections all had a seat at the table and a chance to make their pitch.

The entire atmosphere remains professional, but accessible. At one point, the editors stopped to laugh at the assume in the Anna Nicole Smith case, who cried when he delivered his verdict, before quickly transitioning into choosing which photo should accompany a picture of a double-amputee weak and his wife.

After each editor is heard, de Lama invites several people to vote on which four or five stories to place on the front page. He considers their views, but makes the final decision. February 20, the stories chosen were one on Iran, one an online journal by the wife of the double amputee, a profile of candidates running for election in the Seventh Ward of Chicago, and an analysis of what the impact would be of a speech by Louis Farrakhan being given during the coming weekend in Detroit. The lead sage was about a report on the Regional Transportation Authority. de Lama wanted art on the front promoting a story about Islamic art deeper in the paper.

After the decision is made, the section editors file out. Front page editor Stephan Benzkofer remains gradual with Ryan Smith, who is the front page designer. The two, in consultation with de Lama, began to sketch modules on a page – entirely by hand.

Throughout the whole meeting, editors would swing their feet under the table. A few were wearing tennis and one was wearing suede throwback sneakers. Most were wearing ties, but no suit coats were to be seen. Even de Lama opted for a sweater.

Northwestern University journalism students in attendance at the meeting seemed surprised by the atmosphere.

“It was a lot different than I thought it would be,” said 18-year-old Deandra Corinthios, a student from Geneva, Switzerland. “It was faster. The tone was a lot more casual – people were joking around and everyone seemed nice.”

As the front page landed on doorsteps around the Chicago area the next morning, it was difficult for some of the mystique not to be gone. It was exactly how it was planned in that puny conference room with the small group of editors. The austere complexity of Tribune Tower reaching into the sky stands in sharp inequity to the simplicity of the process it contains. The Tribune may be an empire, but the people inside set aside on few airs.

So here we are in the second month of the PGA Tour of 2010. After battling in the island venues of Kapalua and Honolulu in Hawaii up to the desert gem city of La Quinta in California, golfers once again will come face-to-face for five tournaments this coming February.

The Northern Trust Begin will start the tension on February 4-7 in the 84-year-old golf course in Riviera Country Club at Pacific Palisades, California, with a total purse of $6,400,000. Defending champion is the sweet short-gamer, Phil Mickelson.

From RCC, the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am will be held after the NT Open, from February 11-14 in the 2010 U.S. Originate venue, Pebble Beach, California. Purse money is $6,200,000. The 25-year-old professional golfer Dustin Johnson is holding the title.

On February 17-21, the World Gold Championship-Accenture Match Play Championship in the first time host Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Marana, Arizona, with the largest purse for the month amounting to $8,500,000.The Australian 2006 U.S. Open Champion Geoff Ogilvy is the defending champion in this week’s play.

Mayakoba Gold Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun will start February 18-21 at El Camaleon, Riviera Maya, Mexico, with a total purse money of $3,600,000. This is where the first official PGA Tour event was ever held outside the United States and Canada. Defending the title is the 35-year-old 2007 Honda Classic champion Mark Wilson.

The last game of of the month, February 25-28, will be spent on the home of the PGA Tour’s FBR Start, TPC Scottsdale, Arizona, by the Waste Management Phoenix Commence. Purse money here is $6,000,000. The 49-year-old Kenny Perry will be defending the title.

In the 1960s the PGA Tour was in the limelight thanks to guys like Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer. The gallery that followed Jack was fiercely loyal to him, and they wanted nothing to do with the vagabonds that threw their lot in with a guy like Palmer. Gary Player was a golfer’s golfer. He won tournaments with a flawless swing and the patience of a saint.

Back then the Tour had personality. Arnold Palmer’s gallery was dubbed “Arnie’s Army,” and Jack Nicklaus was given the nickname “The Golden Bear.” There were jabs at each other in the media, pressure situations every week and a public clamoring for more and more golf every week.

The PGA seemed smarter attend then as well. Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus became media darlings. They were signed to endorsement deals, and the PGA had them and other tour professionals making contact with the fans. The public felt enthusiastic in the PGA tour, and the game took off. The last thing any PGA tour professional wanted to do was alienate their audience.

Over the last 40 or 50 years, the PGA has had a chance to learn how to market their product from some of the best sports marketing organizations in the world. The National Football League went from an organization that played second fiddle to college football in the 1960’s, to an international powerhouse capable of filling stadiums all over the world. NASCAR has done a vivid job of marketing their drivers to the point where some drivers get recognized for their commercials rather than their exploits on the track.

The PGA has learned nothing in the decades since the classic battles between the General of Arnie’s Army and the Golden Fill. When Tiger Woods had his reputation rearranged by a jealous wife with a 9-iron in November of 2009, there was a sinking feeling at PGA headquarters. Phil Mickelson was out tending to his sick family, and there was no one else to look to when the advertisers came calling.

By now professional golfers such as Anthony Kim, Sergio Garcia and Bubba Watson should be household names. Not because of their winnings on the tour, but because of their connection with their fans. These are dynamic athletes that could sell any product or inspire any golf fan to buy a label to a PGA event. But the PGA has done such an abominable job of marketing itself that it is now painted into a corner it may not be able to get out of for a very long time.

The PGA’s marketing plan is Tiger Woods, and they are going to regret that approach for a very long time. When Tiger was losing endorsement deals in early 2010, advertisers were also pulling out of sponsoring PGA events. The PGA had no back-up plan, and when the 2010 season started the lack of planning showed.

Now the Tour is scrambling to place Phil Mickelson on a pedestal and push Lefty to be the unusual number one ranked golfer in the world. A real golf fan knows that the only reason Mickelson has a shot at being ranked number one is because Tiger has not played much in 2010. Phil is a good golfer, but when it comes to being ranked number one he would be a paper champion.

The PGA should be trying to market their future stars and put together a marketing plan that capitalizes on the Tour’s lustrous future. The discussion should be about the rise of a stout young player such as 21-year-old Rory McIlroy who should be one of the young and talented players that could take the PGA back where Arnie and Jack had it years ago. But as long as the Tour has its Tiger glasses on, it will never gape the opportunities it is leaving behind.

The 2010 Masters Golf Championship is set to take place in unprejudiced a few weeks, and with the biggest tournament in Golf comes all of the excitement and drama that has been surrounding the golf world over the past year. This years Masters Tournament will see Tiger Woods making his return to professional sports since the scandal of his car accident and affairs became public the day after Thanksgiving 2009. But this years Masters isn’t about Tiger, or his marital problems with wife Elin, this is about golf and the incredible individual performances from the top golfers in the world. Here are the top five players to watch in the 2010 Masters Golf Tournament.

Steve Stricker -

Although Tiger Woods remains No. 1 in the official world rankings, Steve Stricker is No. 2, with a victory, a third and a top-10 finish and that was honest in his first four 2010 tournaments. Depending on whether Woods has been practicing his skills before the Masters or not Stricker has a chance to take over the top spot in this years tournament. Stricker seems to know his place in golf standings and has been taking Tiger’s problems as a chance to work on his golfing. Stricker is also the favorite to win the 2010 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Camilo Villegas -

This Columbian born golfer is another to watch for at the Masters. He has fleet proven himself and his golfing skills in past Masters championships and at the Ford Championship at Doral. This is another player in the PGA that might take the top spot when it comes to the Masters and being ranked 3rd in the official rankings has helped him establish himself among fans and people who enjoy golf. He has already torn up the Blue Monster, finishing second in 2006 and fifth last year after a flat final round.

Jim Furyk -

Jim Furyk made his debut at the Masters in 2001 and is currently ranked 7th in the official rankings. He is another pro golfer who is quickly proving himself to the fans and PGA officials. Furyk currently has a victory, two seconds and has taken third at Doral since 2000. This is another player who has taken the time to work on his skills in light of Tiger Woods’ very public problems. Furyk could move himself up in the rankings at this years Masters tournament.

Tiger Woods -

This will be the first golf tournament Woods has participated in since he crashed his car the day after Thanksgiving 2009 which led to his admission to numerous affairs and a trip to sex-rehab. But putting all of that aside Woods has proven time after time that he is the best golfer in the world and is currently ranked No. 1 in official rankings.

Since turning Pro in 1996 Woods has become a Masters Champion, a US Open Champion, a British Commence Champion, a PGA Champion, and is one of the top 30 money earners in the sport of golf. The Masters is Woods’ chance to prove himself to the public again as he seeks forgiveness for his actions. If he can shake off the scandals for the Masters he has a good chance of winning.

Geoff Ogilvy -

Ogilvy is a player to watch at this years Masters. He has been consistent with his wins in tournaments and is one the pro-golfers who is determined to give Woods a speed for his money. He won Doral in 2008, and he put a stop to two of Woods’ winning streaks, and he has also been using the time Woods hasn’t been golfing to work on his plays to try and beat Woods at this years Masters Tournament. He has three Doral tournaments and five PGA Tour events currently and has also won this year’s SBS Championship.

This upcoming weekend will be a weekend to remember for sure. For golfing fans it marks the final chapter in 2010 Major Championship tourneys. The PGA Championship and the coveted Wannamaker Trophy are up for grabs again, but who will approach out on top this year and who will be a titanic flop?

In years past the obvious favorite has been none other than the world’s number one golfer, Tiger Woods. However, this past year has brought Woods back to reality and he, for the first time ever in his storied golfing career, is experiencing difficulties he has never faced. With his personal life in disorder, many believed that his golf game would be the area where he could still continue to excel and escape the harsh realities that he faces from critics on a daily basis. This past weekend however may have put an raze to those beliefs with his uncharacteristically poor performance at the Bridgestone Invitational, a tournament and golf course where Woods has experienced tremendous success in the past.

Phil Mickelson needed only to make a tie for fourth this past weekend at the Bridgestone Invitational to nab the world’s number one title from Woods, but experienced a poor closing round and was unable to do so. However, according to the Betting Directory he is still the favorite to win the Wannamaker Trophy this upcoming weekend.

Or how about Ernie Els? He was in contention during the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach earlier this summer and his game this year has picked up from years past. Throughout his career Els has consistently been in and around the leader board, especially on the weekend of a major championship so why wouldn’t he naturally be a favorite to bag the PGA Championship this year?

Or how about another “no-name” pro that have been winning the major championships as of gradual. Do we really want some alleged “up and coming golfing phenomenon” to win a major championship, only to descend into oblivion in the world of professional golf never to be the same again? Sergio Garcia and David Duvall come to mind along with a host of other one-hit wonders of the golfing world.

Or why not Tiger Woods for the Wannamaker Trophy yet again? I believe more people are pulling for Woods to win this championship than ever before for one reason, we all now explore he is human. Woods’ reign at the top is finally in jeopardy and many people have been happy to see him blunder, but secretly the whole golfing world is pulling for the old Woods to make a roaring comeback re-affirming is title as King of Golf. If Woods is able to score another PGA Championship victory, especially in light of his poor performances on and off the golf course in 2009 and 2010, that would be a tremendous feat indeed. But shouldn’t we all be accustomed to Tiger Woods defying all logic, defying the odds and playing the game of golf in a larger than life ability? The first two rounds of play this week will paint a better picture for the events to come.

Source: Betting Directory (http://www.betting-directory.com/golf/09082010/tiger-woods-us-pga-championship-odds-ryder-cup-hopes-look-bleak.php)

How do humans learn? What can one do to facilitate learning? These questions flummox researchers and puzzle great coaches and teachers. Average coaches worry little about players’ learning, simply coaching in the manner they were coached as players. But, the great coaches pay attention to learning strategies and the differences inherent in each player to maximize their instruction and aid their players’ development. 

In our society, we believe people “get an education.” However, an education is not something we get, but is an individual pursuit from within. We do not receive an education, we make our own education. “The word educate comes from the Greek meaning ‘to lead forth.’ Its original connotation was helping to bring out that which was inside-working from the inside out. It does not man to fill up,” (Shoemaker). Educating, then, is not lecturing, but guiding to an answer or the skill development and acquisition. The learning process, however, is a self-discovery more than the attainment of outside knowledge. 

Traditional coaching ignores learning strategies and the classical definition of educate, and instead focuses on filling up the player with information, whether it is technical information on the proper form of a jump shot, or a set play that tells a player exactly when and where to move. Coaching in this manner fails to provide a platform for the athlete to reach her full potential, as she instead must think about all the information given to her, as opposed to acting upon knowledge which is inside of her. Players’ freedom is restricted and they are forced to conform to someone else’s (the coach) philosophy and approach. Worse, when players switch teams or disappear to a recent level, they must learn a new system and approach. But, they are still told what to do and how to do it. 

Players constantly inundated with instruction and verbal cues never fully obtain their sport or motor skills because they are not given the freedom to explore and discover on their gain. Understanding the words describing an action is not the same as understanding the action. As Timothy Gallwey wrote in The Inner Game of Tennis, “Words can only represent actions, ideas and experiences. Language is not the action, and at best can only hint at the subtlety and complexity contained in the stroke. Although the instruction thus conceived can now be stored in the part of the mind that remembers language, it must be acknowledged that remembering the instruction is not the same as remembering the stroke itself,” (Gallwey). And, yet, coaching today revolves around the common misconception that more instruction is better. 

There is no absolute in coaching; everyone has his own style and his possess diagram. Some coaches are very technical and crash down everything into small pieces and build to the whole, while others instruct less and allow players to learn by doing. Either shameful is probably ineffective, as coaches who talk too much loose the attention of their teams and players, and those who do not instruct at all are commonly criticized for just rolling the ball out and offering slight correction when an athlete makes a mistake, which may lead to permanent errors. 

Gallwey, in The Inner Game of Golf, describes these two distinct styles as rivers: “Throughout the ages there have always been two streams of advice for people who wanted to improve a skill. I call one of the river of ‘formulas’ and the other the river of ‘feel’…The river of formulas produces a formidable flow of technical instructions arising from the detailed analysis of any skill…The second river of advice has been about mastering the human dimension of existence-the domain of thinking and feeling,” (Gallwey). 

A coach who only paddles in one river misses the experience of the other river, while one who paddles in both rivers can section the best experiences of each and use the best methods from each river to help his athletes. A close-minded coach starts in one river and enjoys it enough and begins to feel comfortable, so he stays with what he knows, horrified to venture into the other river, the unknown. But, an open-minded coach tries each river before deciding where he will return and how much he will take from each. 

The best coaches in terms of skill development and acquisition (not necessarily wins and losses) are those who have the technical wherewithal, but also the plan of the manner in which their athletes learn and develop. Without one or the other, the coach will never develop his players to the fullest, and his lack of conception (and success) will oftentimes lead to frustration and burnout. 

The following section introduces technical information regarding the manner in which we design and win motor and sport skills, new strategies for changing dreadful habits and a totally different approach based more on individual growth and player awareness. Each has its value for coaches who want to understand better teaching methods and provide a better learning environment for athletes, and possibly a better platform for their athletes to develop fully and reach their potential.

Literature Review 

Initially, humans learn to hotfoot and then meander, developing their first motor skills with small or no instruction. The methods toddlers use to form walking skills-trial and error, finding the most efficient manner to get from A to B, watching others-make sense when developing other motor skills, yet we typically ignore our earliest instincts to find the most efficient way, and instead learn by being told what is the best way. In this way, learning becomes following directions, imitation and memorization and not true education, discovery and understanding. 

Basic laws govern the acquisition of motor skills and abilities. To understand this development, one must have an view of the difference between a motor skill, a sport skill and a motor ability. 

“Any Athletic skill is actually a motor skill, which can be defined as an act or task that has a goal to achieve and requires voluntary body or limb movement to be properly performed. Many times-and wrongly so-the terms skills and ability are customary interchangeably. Motor abilities (e.g., static and dynamic balance, visual acuity, response time, speed of limb movement, eye hand/foot coordination, etc.) can be viewed as the foundational components of motor skill development, but are not skills be definition,” (Mannie).

For the purpose of this paper, we are concerned with developing athletic skills, those motor skills passe in game performance, whether the skill is shooting a basketball, hitting a tennis ball or pitching a baseball. However, in order to develop sport skills, one must have basic motor abilities. There is a learning progression with motor skill development, impartial as with learning math. In mathematics, one learns the values of numbers, first learning to put the language-the spoken number four-together with a picture of four objects. Once one learns the value of the abstract symbols used to represent things and language, the student learns addition and subtraction and works to the multiplication tables, division, etc. There is a rational order, and one cannot skip addition and subtraction and go straight to long division. 

Similarly, in motor skill development, there is an order of skill acquisition. “The basic motor skills-nonlocomotor (stationary, like bending and stretching), locomotor (traveling, like walking or hopping) and manipulative (object control, like bouncing and catching a ball) – have been called the ABC’s of movement,” (Pica). A person masters nonlocomotor skills, most importantly balance, before moving to locomotor skills and finally manipulative skills. 

Before learning sport skills, one masters fundamental motor skills, which form the basis of sport skills. These motor skills combine nonlocomotor, locomotor and manipulative skills and allow a person to move to specific sport skills. “Fundamental motor skills such as hopping, jumping, skipping, kicking, throwing, catching and striking are prerequisites to the learning of sport specific skills such as those of basketball, football gymnastics, tennis, badminton, etc. Sport specific skills are comprised of fundamental skills and variations of them. It is very difficult to obtain proficiency in sport skills unless the prerequisite fundamental skills are present,” (Smith). 

Unfortunately, in today’s overly structured world, young children do not fully manufacture some of these basic fundamental skills, which hamper their ability to perform sport skills at a high level. For instance, numerous high school athletes cannot skip; they can make a motion that approximates skipping, but they really lack the coordination or the experience trying to skip. Other young people have difficulty catching balls because they cannot track the ball; their motor abilities-namely hand/eye coordination and visual acuity-are poorly developed. Part of the problem is the lack of free play for young people today; with two parents working, everything is seemingly structured in a class or a play date and fewer children play in their front yards or at the park, learning games and general movements on their own. 

Instead of developing a faculty for skipping because they play hop scotch in the school yard, or learning to chase and track a ball playing stickball, children are exposed to motion and skills only in classes where they are told what to do, rather than learning on their own. Again, as said above, language can only approximate the skill; it is not the skill itself and if the child is not given sufficient time to translate the language and learn the skill, it may not develop fully at a young or appropriate age. And, due to embarrassment, some kids will never pick up a skill later in life if they did not gain proficiency at the appropriate age. 

As we learn different movements, we progress through different stages or movement patterns, each with its own emphasis and performance cues. 

“Movement patterns is the term given to ten basic types of movements [sending, receiving, accompanying, evading, locomotions, landings, statics, swings, rotations, springs] the body engages in when participating in physical activity…these movement patterns are broken down into ‘performance cues’ at the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels…The beginner’s performance cues are all related to body and space…the intermediate’s focus is still on ‘space’ but more on ‘force’…this means that the focus is on the application of power in order to move the body (starting and stopping) or applying power to a game object (badminton smash versus tumble shot)…the [advanced] student’s focus is somewhat on force but more on relationships…the adjustment made among body, space and force to change or further refine skill performance and strategies,” (Saskatchewan Education).

Understanding the different levels will construct a coach more aware of his players’ development and better assist the coach with practice planning according to the players’ needs. Too often, especially in youth sports, the emphasis is misguided, as coaches play to win rather than focusing on skill development and insuring proper motor skill development. Many times, coaches introduce a skill which to them is fairly simple, like shooting a lay-up, and combine one skill with another. So, instead of learning to shoot a lay-up, the athlete must dribble a ball while running, seize up the ball and shoot. The coach combines manipulative and locomotor skills, oftentimes before the athlete is ready for such a challenge. This leads to frustration by the coach, as he cannot understand why the players cannot do it, and frustration by the players at their inability to perform. 

Instead, if the coach understands the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels, he may chose to teach dribbling and shooting a lay-up separately, so the player masters a lay-up with no dribble first, then with one dribble from close to the basket and finally a full speed lay-up while dribbling the ball. This near separates the different skills and allows the player to work on them one at a time, hopefully moving the player along from the Beginner level to the Intermediate level in each skill quicker than if one tried to learn every thing at one time. 

Like the three levels of performance cues, there are three learning stages one goes through when acquiring a skill, and they are closely related to the Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced levels. “There are three stages an individual progresses through when learning psycho-motor skills; they are the cognitive, the associative and the autonomic,” (PageWise).
The Cognitive Stage roughly parallels the Beginner level; the Associative parallels the Intermediate and the Autonomic parallels the Advanced. Each is marked by different characteristics and different appropriate teaching techniques. 

The Cognitive Stage “is marked by numerous errors, variability in performance and a great deal of needed quality repetition,” (Mannie). In this stage, the athlete struggles to make sense of the language instruction and translate it into action. Thus, this stage “is marked by awkward, tiresome movements that the learner is consciously trying to control,” (PageWise). The athlete thinks before doing, rather than reacting naturally as an Advanced, Autonomous athlete does. 

In this stage, it is easy to overwhelm the athlete with too much information, or by doing too many fresh things at one time. Therefore, only one new skill should be practiced at a time. When learning to hit a baseball, it is easier to consume a tee, as it limits the motor abilities needed. If a new baseball player is pushed into a batter’s box against a live pitcher, he not only must learn the compose of the swing and to keep his eye on the ball, but he must track the ball from the pitcher’s hand and resolve whether the pitch is a strike. For a new batter, especially a young athlete, this is sensory overload, and the athlete is almost positive to fail and become frustrated. However, on a tee, the athlete is in control of his learning, as he can place the ball where he wants it and swing when he is ready. He is not learning to hit a thrown ball, but he is learning to swing the bat, which is the first allotment of hitting a thrown ball. When his comfort level increases and he understands how to swing the bat, then he can move to the next level and concentrate on putting more power into the swing to hit the ball further, and work toward facing a live pitcher. 

It is critical that the player is not rushed through the stages and he is given time to learn properly. Each athlete learns at a different rate and some will acquire the skill earlier than others. One of the greatest challenges facing coaches is designing drills, instruction and practices for players of varying ability and in different learning stages. 

The athlete also must understand his learning process in order to prevent himself from judging his actions. When a young player is learning a new skill, he is cognizant of his peers and their development. If his peers learn quicker, he judges himself poorly and his negative thoughts further hinder his development and growth through the learning process. Gallwey suggests in The Inner Game of Tennis that “the first skill to learn is the art of letting go the human inclination to judge ourselves and our performance as either gracious or bad…Be clear about this: letting go of judgments does not mean ignoring errors. It simply means seeing events as they are and not adding anything to them,” (Gallwey). The athlete learning to hit on a tee must not see missing the target as failure, but instead recognize what he did wrong (and this is where coaching enters into play, as while still in the Cognitive Stage, the athlete will need great befriend figuring out what he did incorrectly that resulted in the error) and learn from the attempt. If he focuses on the negative result, he is likely to make the same mistake, as he fails to learn from the prior attempt and is not aware of his error. 

The second stage, the Associative Stage, is marked by more fluidity and understanding. “As the athlete enters this stage, many of the basic fundamentals and mechanics of the skill have been learned. The mistakes are fewer, less serious and, more importantly, the athlete is superior of recognizing many of his errors and is aware of how to win the proper steps to correct them. The goal now is to refine the skill,” (Mannie). The coach’s role shifts to assist the player’s needs; now, as opposed to constant critiques to insure proper mechanics, the coach is less vocal, but more specific with his instructions. “It is paramount that the coach continues to provide the athlete with useful, specific information and constructive feedback throughout this [associative] stage,” (Mannie). 

When working with players in this stage on their shooting, my feedback is minimal as I allow the player to shoot a number of shots while I remain silent. I want the player concentrating on the shot and the feel of the shot in order to self-correct, and not to focus on plan my corrections. After several shots, I’ll stop the player and narrow the focus in certain areas to aid the player and offer my thought on what may help them improve. At this point, it is refining a basic shot; I do not try to alter the natural motion, but tweak it to gain it more effective. However, if the player is more comfortable, confident or consistent in his mechanics, and he is successful, I let him go. The tweaking at this point is primarily focusing the player on feeling his shot and insuring his motion is the same every time. Other fundamental feedback is typically centered on the leg drive powering the ball to the basket and hand placement on the ball. At this point, it is the little things that will accomplish improvement, assuming the player exited the Cognitive Stage with acceptable mechanics. 

The Autonomic Stage is the final stage, though with some skills, complete mastery will take years, if it is ever reached. “The autonomous stage is reached when learning is almost complete, although an individual can continue to refine the skill through practice. The stage is called autonomous because the learner no longer needs to depend on the instructor for feedback about performance,” (PageWise). The athlete understands his errors almost immediately and can take action to correct his own mistakes. “The final stage of learning is realized only after much practice, quality repetition and experience with the specific task. The skill is habitual or automatic…The athlete is able to recognize his errors and is cognizant of the process needed to true them,” (Mannie). 

In this stage, the coach asks more questions as opposed to answering questions. Rather than tell the athlete what he did wrong, or trying to fill the athlete with information, the coach tries to guide the athlete’s learning and pull the answers from within, through the athlete’s heightened awareness. “The only contrivance to truly know if the athlete has accrued this higher level of learning [autonomous stage] is to quiz him rather than lecture him,” (Mannie). 

Developing correct fundamentals is essential because “practice makes permanent.” The more a player practices, the more he ingrains his habits and the more natural these feel. If the player learns an incorrect habit or flawed mechanics, it gets tougher to change the bad habit as the player progresses and ages. Therefore, learning proper fundamentals the first time is vastly underrated in importance for youth coaches who must deal with hundreds of things, but often comprise proper skill acquisition. The need to win and succeed often dictate practices, and the best way to win at youth levels is not necessarily the best map to develop skills properly. 

As a result terrible habits arise and continue to worsen until they are corrected. Simply playing more does not solve he problem. “Moreover, bad habits acquired early in life are likely to persist throughout an entire lifetime. For example, the young pitcher who hasn’t yet acquired a mature level of throwing isn’t likely to lose his bad habits simply because he’s required to pitch one to two games a week. Rather, the odds are these bad habits will simply become more and more ingrained as time goes on,” (Pica). 

Correcting a mistake or changing a bad habit requires a different learning process than learning a new action. If drawing a picture, one would approach the drawing differently if it was a blank canvas, as opposed to drawing over an unfinished work. When drawing over another work, the first step would be to erase the previous work as thoroughly as possible, trying to create a blank canvas from which to move forward. 

In sport skill development, a similar process is necessary. If an athlete has formed a bad habit, he will be unable to change the habit without the ability to eye the old habit. He is not a blank canvas, but one with markings, and he has to watch the markings in order to erase and replace them. “The essence of physical learning is developing distinctions, becoming aware of the differences between two actions and recognizing the consequences of each,” (Shoemaker). Changing a bad habit requires the athlete to be able to differentiate between the bad habit and the desired action; the body should naturally determine the more efficient means, once it understands the difference. 

Because each represents a different learning process, the coach must be aware of his mission. “The first step is to do an error analysis. If we find the player’s skills and techniques show no consistent pattern and that the errors are fairly random, then we can go ahead and simply ‘re-teach’ the skill sequence. However, if we find that the error does show a pattern or consistency, i.e. it is a ‘learned, ingrained, resistant error,’ then we know we are dealing with an ‘unlearning’ task and not a ‘re-teaching’ task,” (Baxter). 

When unlearning, the athlete must gain an awareness of his previous habit before he can unlearn the habit and move forward. In this manner, the second “river of feel” is important to the technical process. “When people become more aware of key areas of their swing, their shots become more consistent…increased awareness allows the body’s natural instincts to come into play, and these instincts accomplish the swing more great and efficient,” (Shoemaker). 

Dr. Paul Baxter, an Australian sports psychologist, has developed a method for unlearning wrong form/mechanics and teaching the edifying arrangement. His method is called the Old Way/New Way Arrangement, and its basic steps are detailed below:

The Old Way/New Draw Method
1. Point out the error.
2. Interpret why it is rotten.
3. Ask player to show how he or she normally holds the ball.
4. Improve the player’s awareness of what he or she normally does that is defective. This step is crucial for the rest of the device to work.
5. Show the player the correct position for holding the ball.
6. Show and clarify the differences between their device and the correct way.
7. Systematically and repeatedly rehearse these differences, having the player do it their way first, then do it the just way, comparing these two and then describing the difference.
8. When the player seems to have the two ways sorted out in his mind, then and only then recede with systematic practice of the correct way.
9. Instruct the player in the fair device for follow-up and self-correction for this specific skill jam.
(Baxter)

Again, the technical aspects of Baxter’s method require the “feeling” aspects Shoemaker and Gallwey champion. In the crucial step (#4), Baxter emphasizes the athlete’s awareness as instrumental for the success of the diagram. As Shoemaker says, “The key to learning is to be aware of differences.” 

To unlearn a player’s jump shot, I watch the player shoot and formulate in my mind his major flaws. After watching several shots, I tell the player where his biggest mistakes occur. In most cases, with young players, the problem is with where they derive their force. As they started to play, they were likely too weak to shoot correctly, so they developed a pushing motion, more like a shot set aside than a basketball shot. This results in awful leg drive, mistaken hand placement and the elbow being out. So, in my initial instruction, I make the player aware of his personal jam and then explain that to shoot more accurately, he must accept ways to eliminate misses. An easy way to eliminate misses is to eliminate any shots that miss to either side. In order to do so, the player must construct a consistent shot that leads to a straight shot every time. This means the player should have his hand under the ball and his wrist pointed toward the hoop; his off-hand should be on the side of the ball and assist with balance until the release of the ball. The power is derived from the legs, as they drive the ball (and the body) up and toward the basket. There is nothing sideways in he shot, so it should go straight every time. 

Once I have showed them the new way, which involves the corrections, I again show them their old design and explain the differences. I have the player seize up the ball and mimic his old shot and then mimic the unusual method, and ask for him to explain and demonstrate the difference between the two shots. Once he understands the difference and can illustrate the difference, then he has the awareness needed to erase the old method and build the fresh way. From this point, the player practices the unusual way with regular instruction from me (the instructor) until the player has reached the point where he can self-correct his own mistakes. 

Using the awareness to find a more efficient shot is similar to Gallwey’s natural learning process. As opposed to trying to obtain a new skill on top of an old skill, the New Way/Old Way method involves the key component of the natural learning process: awareness. “There is a far more natural and effective process for learning and doing anything than most of us realize. It is similar to the process we all used, but soon forgot, as we learned to walk and talk,” (Gallwey). When we learned to walk, we naturally found the most efficient way to move forward. As balance improved, crawling was less efficient than walking, so we walked places. The child is not changing or replacing an old blueprint, but finding the most efficient course. “A child doesn’t have to break the habit of crawling, because he doesn’t think he has a habit. He simply leaves it as he finds walking an easier blueprint to rep around,” (Gallwey). 

When shooting a basketball, children learn with a variety of different forms because they need to come by a way to get the ball ten feet in the air, and, with the popularity of the three-point line, nineteen feet across to the basket. Few children learn properly or shoot shots close to the basket to build proper form. As an example, I held a clinic for 9-12 year olds two weeks ago. I arrived early and watched every player warm-up as I too warmed-up. While I shot from no further than fifteen feet and made a couple hundred shots with very few misses, three boys threw up half court shots, three hundred-and-sixty degree lay-ups, running three-pointers, etc. The smallest player, the only girl in attendance, shot the ball from no further than ten feet and made a lot of shots. When I started the clinic, I explained that she was the one player I would want on my team based on warm-ups, as I knew she would get better while the others I did not know. As the clinic progressed, she backed my initial opinion, as she was the first to understand almost every drill and new move, despite starting near the bottom in skill level. But, she had good practice habits and listened well. She practiced shots she could make and ignored everything else, allowing her to shoot with correct form, and not just throwing the ball up at the basket. Unfortunately, most young players do not practice in this manner, developing abominable habits which must be changed at some point as they progress. 

As athletes age and gain strength, they should catch it considerable easier to accept the ball to the basket. At that point, they should refine their shooting stroke to find a more efficient way. In terms of Gallwey’s natural learning process, it is not unlearning, but forgetting and starting anew. However, to forget, one must be aware of what one is forgetting. In order to gather awareness, a coach may need to use Baxter’s Old Way/New Way Arrangement to illustrate the feeble method and the new desired, more efficient method. 

Along with the awareness, the athlete must reserve judgment; he should simply feel the differences and not evaluate the two based solely on results but on feel. Initially, any new movement will likely be somewhat awkward and less successful, as the athlete is returning to the Beginning level or the Cognitive Stage and building relieve from the bottom. However, “a child learns by trial and error, by awareness of action and result…The child doesn’t cloud his or her awareness by judging the results, the child simply observes the results, and very soon develops a feel for walking that lasts throughout life,” (Shoemaker). An athlete should approach a recent skill in the same manner, observing the results and developing a natural feel for the more efficient arrangement to shoot the ball.

Summary

The distinguished elements for coaches working with players who are developing new skills or refining weak skills is the understanding of the stages involved in learning and the different rivers of advice. By being aware of the two different rivers, a coach is more likely to explore methods from each and look inwards to stare if his approach to coaching is the best it can be. Without the awareness, too many coaches simply rely on what they saw as players, limiting their coaching to their immediate experience, improving upon very dinky. 

In my undergraduate education classes, one of the first and most important learning strategies the professor, Dr. Chip Anderson, introduced was the idea that a teacher’s job was to guide the learner, not relate the learner. Basically, he said our job was to educate by the classical definition of educate, and not like today’s current meaning, where the educating is done to the person from the outside, typically by a teacher giving the student all kinds of information while the student passively listens and writes down every word in preparation for a memorization-based test. 

Similarly, when coaching, the more effective means to impart the player a skill is to guide the athlete through the learning process, not force-feed the athlete with the answers. Instead of telling the player exactly where the arm should be and the legs, and what to look at and where to shoot, the coach offers suggestions as needed but encourages the player to experiment and net his own best shooting method. 

Along the same lines, I vividly recall Dr. Anderson’s lessons and his exhorting us not to say the same thing over and over when a student did not understand. People learn differently, and instead of repeating oneself multiple times, a good teacher will structure his sentences differently or use a different means to teach the student. While verbal instruction forms the basis of most instruction, on the court and in the classroom, many people do not learn verbally. Some learn by reading, while some learn by seeing pictures or demonstrations. In a classroom, if a teacher uses only one method, he is limiting his effectiveness: few teachers stand in front of the classroom day after day and simply lecture without the employ of videos, overhead projectors, writing on the blackboard, demonstrations, etc. Simply lecturing on a basketball court is equally as ineffective. 

“If you asked a group of teaching professionals to write down all the important elements of hitting a forehand, most would find it easy to distinguish at last fifty, and they may have several categories for each element. Imagine the difficulty for the tennis player dealing with this complexity…On the other hand, thought the swing, and remembering its feel, is like remembering a single narrate. The mind is capable of that and can gaze when one element in one picture is slightly different from another,” (Gallwey).

Visual demonstrations and feedback are essential to the learning process, which is why many teams and coaches spend videotape to show their players what they did and did not do correctly. “Movements are learned through visual and feeling images,” (Gallwey, Tennis). The use of videotape allows he player to survey oneself without any judgments; the truth is captured on tape, whether the athlete believes it or not. By seeing oneself on the tape, the athlete likely will see things they never realized before. Oftentimes, for instance, players insist they are “low” until they watch themselves on tape and see they stand almost completely upright. The video tape creates the awareness that no amount of yelling would have produced, and allows the player to focus on her stance and concentrate on getting low in the future.

Conclusions

Coaches are always looking for an edge, a way to beat the competition. However, one procedure to create the edge, and the one that will help players the most, is to become a better coach, namely through a greater awareness of the manner in which athletes learn and develop motor and sport skills. Coaches who work with younger athletes really need an belief of the fundamental motor skills and should incorporate these skills into practice to insure players learn to move correctly, as many children execute poor running techniques that are inefficient and flawed. 

Coaches should also have an awareness of the different learning stages and understand that players in the Cognitive Stage need more time and the coaches should encourage their thinking as a process of development, as opposed to exhibiting frustration through body language and mannerisms because the player cannot perform at game bustle. The primary purpose of youth sports is to assist physical development and the attainment of motor skills, not to catch league championships and back AAU National Championships. However, somewhere along the line, our achievement-based society lost track of the purpose, and now different teams operated in different manners based on their team goals. 

The learning process cannot and should not be rushed. Each athlete has a different hasten of learning and a coach’s challenge is to incorporate each into an effective practice where each is challenged and nobody falls too far behind. Each athlete must go through the different learning stages and the different levels of movement in order to develop fully. 

“When we plant a rose seed in the earth, we notice that it is small, but we do not criticize it as ‘rootless and stemless.’ We treat it as a seed, giving it the water and nourishment required of a seed. When it first shoots up out of the earth, we don’t condemn it as immature ad underdeveloped; nor do we criticize the buds for not being open when they appear. We stand in wonder at the process taking place and give the plant the care it needs at each stage of its development. The rose is a rose from the time it is a seed to the time it dies. Within it, at all times, it contains its whole potential. It seems to be constantly in the process of change; yet at each stage, at each moment, it is perfectly all right as it is,” (Gallwey, Tennis).

The analogy is useful for coaches and players to imagine when they open to get frustrated with lack of progress. Instead of judging oneself, appreciate the stage of development and do what is necessary to further one’s learning and awareness to improve and fabricate. Competition is inward; one’s goal should be to arrive one’s own potential, not to be better than another person. Developing a skill, like learning in the classroom, is an internal skill, and the self-discovery process is essential to the learning. A coach should guide the learning and order the player to the best methods, but in the end, the athlete must go through the learning process in order to develop and retain the needed skills.