Richard's Secret

I think Richard is probably the player who has improved the most in the last year from all of my students. I used to beat him very comfortable, but now I have to be at my best. I think I still may have an edge due to my serve and return, but I'm aware that it may not last for long. When we rally from the baseline he is probably stronger.
So the question we must ask is, Why did Richard improve so fast?

Here is what I think is Richard's secret:

1. Richard is responsible for his learning.
2. Richard is a believer of visual learning.
3. Richard practices constantly.

Richard is responsible for his learning. This is one the most important secrets for all of us who wish to become masters of any skill. Its great to have a teacher and someone to guide us, but at the end we are the ones responsible for learning. that's why Richard become a member of tennisplayer.net, he is always curios about someone else shots, he sees a lot of videos from the pros, etc.
So many times I have students that come for a lesson and they are waiting passively for a miracle. They believe that their learning depends only on the coach's knowledge. They are dependent and feel no responsibility from their learning. In this case learning is minimum until the student realizes that his reality is unique and it is He (with the teacher's help) who must find a way to learn.

"when the student is ready, the teacher will appear"

Richard is a believer of visual learning.

Visual learning has the power to accelerate the improvement of your skills beyond your greatest expectations. Seeing yourself hitting a forehand or a serve will give you a great awareness of what you do. It will create an internal visual image that you can bring back and recreate in the moment of execution. Every time I hit a topspin backhand I visualize Federer's Backhand and easily imagine my own backhand since I've seen myself on video. And that helps me to have a great awareness of my own swing and helps me every day on improving the swing.
We just have to follow the great masters of learning, babies and little kids. They learn by observing. Kids have no fears because they don't judge. They observe without judging. We adults do it all wrong, we become paralyzed by our fears because we judge without observing.
Richard is always keen to see his videos. Who hasn't seen Richard swinging in front of the club house to see his own reflection in the window?

Richard is constantly practicing.
'Repetition is the chariot of genius'. I first heard that expression from Tom Veneziano (www.tenniswarrior.com)and I really like it. Richard practices a lot on the ball machine. The ball machine is such a great tool. Unfortunately not so many players use it. You can hit 300 or 400 forehands in an hour and as long as you stay reasonably focused it can do so much for your game. While using the ball machine you can afford missing some shots in order to observe better what you are doing with your swing. You have time to think and you can take more risks and perhaps try out new ways of swinging that you wouldn't if you were playing with your friends.

I think that for us to improve faster at any skill, first of all we have to learn how to learn. A child learns to walk, run or riding a bike without any coaching. He can learn a new language in two months without any instruction. All of that he learns by observation and practice.