Mental Skills Project

LTA Senior Coach Course

Mental skills project consists of a presentation that has to be delivered during module 6 of the course

The presentation consists of the 8 slides at the end of this presentation

Assessment will be on a combination of the content of these slides + the presentation delivered

The project is to be based around a real life scenario and a mental skills goal + intervention with a player you are working with

Pass mark is 60/100

Coach Course Senior Course Master Course• has an

understanding of human motivation through CAR coaching

• can increase the likelihood of a player being motivated using CAR coaching

• understands the principles of a healthy motivational climate

• has an understanding of the impact and role of parents

• can use SMART goal-setting on and off court with players

• demonstrates a range of CAR coaching skills

• demonstrates a range of coaching skills to encourage high levels of physical and mental effort needed for deliberate practice

• can explain the mental skills required for tennis, linked to the nature of the game

• demonstrates the use of the key elements of goal setting

• has a basic understanding of the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviours

• demonstrates evidence of creating a positive parental motivational climate

• uses understanding of achievement goal-theory and attribution theory to design and effectively use a match and training review sheet

• shows understanding of the practical implementation of the process of a between point routine

• can evaluate motivational climates surrounding players and provide effective solutions

• demonstrates the implementation of a task oriented climate in their own coaching environment

• demonstrates advanced 5C’s on court ‘coaching psychology’ skills

• can conduct a high quality post match review

• understands the principles of stress and anxiety and can develop both cognitive and behavioural coping strategies with players in competitive, high pressure environments

• demonstrates high level communication skills (e.g. listening, empathy, conflict, etc) to develop effective working relationships with others e.g. parents

• demonstrates understanding of the relationship between thinking, feeling and behaving

• can effectively use interventions to help players to challenge their own unhelpful thinking

• can analyse complex scenarios from a psychological viewpoint and identify effective solutions

Poster Presentation• Slide 1: A brief description of the case study• Slide 2: Your review – a short description of ‘what’s going on’ in

your story• Slide 3: A SMART mental skills goal in the area that you have

identified• Slide 4: On Court Coaching Tools – describe the on court

interventions (exercises/drills) you might use to help the player• Slide 5: Off Court Coaching Tools – describe the off court

interventions (exercises/drills) you might use to help the player• Slide 6: Super Coaching - describe the communication, art of

coaching interventions you might use to help the player• Slide 7: The outcomes of the interventions• Slide 8: How this process has improved your coaching

Poster Presentation MarkingSlide 1 A brief description of the case study 7.5 marks

Slide 2 Your review – a short description of ‘what’s going on’ in your story

15 marks

Slide 3 A SMART mental skills goal in the area that you have identified

15 marks

Slide 4 On Court Coaching Tools – describe the on court interventions (exercises/drills) you might use to help the player

15 marks

Slide 5 Off Court Coaching Tools – describe the off court interventions (exercises/drills) you might use to help the player

15 marks

Slide 6 Super Coaching - describe the communication, art of coaching interventions you might use to help the player

15 marks

Slide 7 The outcomes of the interventions 7.5 marks

Slide 8 How this process has improved your coaching 10 marks

• A bit more detail on the 3 key slides of:– On court– Off court– Super coaching

Off Court• Learning opportunity is not confined to the tennis court and

lessons only. Take on board the regular practice of the academic school and set ‘homework’ between each lesson. Replacing the term ‘homework’ with ‘tennis challenge’ might be more exciting and more appealing to younger players.

• These off-court exercises and activities provide coaches with additional and alternative ways to help players learn outside of the tennis court and help the player to grow and develop self-responsibility as well as enabling the coach to explore player motivation. They can be delivered so that they have a homework feel to them.

On Court

• This is a compendium of on-court activities, drills and games for you to use with a variety of ages and standards of players. These on-court activities will allow players to experience and train specific skills. The key to effective use of on-court drills and practices can be encompassed in saying that it should never be described as

• ‘Nice drill…. shame about the relevance’

Super Coaching• This is going beyond the already admirable quality of having a large personal store of

relevant on and off court interventions. Super Coaching is occurring when the players’ “light bulbs” are flashing on repeatedly or helping to get that ‘penny to drop’ in record short time.

• There is no objective definition or dividing line which separates Super Coaching from other coaching. It is a subjective judgment and possibly elicits from the observer or witness a feeling or comment of “now that is really great, really special, I wouldn’t have thought of that!”

• ‘A great coach is a great psychologist’. It is often the ‘how to do’ skills rather than the ‘what to do’ skills that make the critical difference between good coaches and great coaches. This could be termed the art of coaching as it involves the skilful implementation of knowledge. Knowing what to deliver, how much to deliver, when to deliver it and how to deliver it are essential in being skilful at helping others.

• USING ANALOGIES• TRANSFERENCE OF SKILL – Challenging Unused Strengths• TENNIS AS A MICROCOSM• EMPATHY• EFFECTIVE QUESTIONING• FEEDBACK• CAR COACHING

Field Work

• Working with your player, look at one aspect of their mental skills development and improve it

• Present your poster presentation on 8 slides in power point format in relation to your case study by Module 6 (approx 20 mins)

• Use the following structure for the poster presentation

Slide 1 - Description of the case study

• Name, Age

• Personal Characteristics

• Background of Player e.g. playing history, family

• Personal Goals

Slide 2 - Your Review

• What’s going on in the story

Slide 3 - A SMART mental skills goal

• S

• M

• A

• R

• T

Slide 4 - On Court Coaching Tools

Slide 5 - Off Court Coaching Tools

Slide 6 - Super Coaching

Slide 7 - The outcomes of the interventions

Slide 8 - How this process has improved my coaching