1. Mental Skills Project LTA Senior Coach Course

2. 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

3. Coach CourseSenior CourseMaster 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

4. 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

5. Poster Presentation Marking Slide 1A brief description of the case study7.5 marks Slide 2Your review – a short description of ‘what’s going on’ in your story 15 marks Slide 3A SMART mental skills goal in the area that you have identified 15 marks Slide 4On Court Coaching Tools – describe the on court interventions (exercises/drills) you might use to help the player 15 marks Slide 5Off Court Coaching Tools – describe the off court interventions (exercises/drills) you might use to help the player 15 marks Slide 6Super Coaching - describe the communication, art of coaching interventions you might use to help the player 15 marks Slide 7The outcomes of the interventions7.5 marks Slide 8How this process has improved your coaching10 marks

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

7. 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.

8. 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’

9. 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

10. 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

11. Slide 1 - Description of the case study Name, Age Personal Characteristics Background of Player e.g. playing history, family Personal Goals

12. Slide 2 - Your Review What’s going on in the story

13. Slide 3 - A SMART mental skills goal S M A R T

14. Slide 4 - On Court Coaching Tools

15. Slide 5 - Off Court Coaching Tools

16. Slide 6 - Super Coaching

17. Slide 7 - The outcomes of the interventions

18. Slide 8 - How this process has improved my coaching