User Experience Design for Tennis Learners and Coaches
On the tennis court, there are a multitude of roles, such as players, umpires, coaches, and fans. Many players who have developed a love for the sport transition into coaching or umpiring.
As a tennis coach, my goal is to provide engaging lessons to my students and help them develop a passion for the game. To improve my teaching abilities, I apply a systematic approach to my tennis courses and create structured sports plans for students ranging from ages 4 to 50.
This article will detail my experience in utilizing the UX method to design more effective learning experiences for my students. Specifically, I will cover three main concepts: professional skills, communication skills, and a business mindset.
Watch my coaching video on IG: perspective.tennis
First: Professional Skills
Professional skills encompass three key areas: knowledge of teaching methods, course content depth, and classroom management. As a coach, it’s crucial to tailor your teaching style and use different metaphors or terminology based on your students’ age and skill level. This can aid in their comprehension of the various techniques and movements involved in playing tennis. For example, you might demonstrate the forehand swing to kids as tracing an infinity sign in the air, while instructing adults to hold their racket like a wine glass.
Regarding course preparation, creativity and innovation are paramount. Using teaching aids to increase the fun factor is a fantastic approach. Additionally, drawing inspiration from other coaches’ methods and staying abreast of the latest trends from international tennis organizations like the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) can help you develop new ideas.
Modularization and organization are critical aspects of creating effective drills. Varying practice exercises can help prevent monotony and boredom from repetitive drills. Simple games can be made more engaging by adding extra elements, but it’s important to keep in mind that children’s attention spans and patience are limited. Therefore, it’s essential to keep lessons fresh and engaging.
Tennis is widely considered one of the most challenging sports to learn due to its physical demands, including hand-eye coordination, flexibility, agility, strength, and speed. The constantly changing footwork also leads to various playing scenarios. The basic strokes in tennis include the forehand, backhand, serve, volley, and more advanced techniques include the slice, drop shot, and overhead smash.
I followed the User-centered Design mindset and Design Sprint process to create a course planning tool. The primary purpose is to help coaches to sort out teaching priorities, changing elements, and course structure.
I sorted out the pain points of course design and the training elements through interviews. My second step is to create prototype cards, which allow coaches to alternate pieces. Coaches can change the aids’ arrangement or shape. It’s a great idea to increase students’ interest and attentiveness. See the example below.
Last, the “challenge or competition” element can be added. For example, the footsteps or the ball must bounce to the assigned area, and a certain percentage of success must be achieved. Specific goals can motivate students’ willingness to win. They practice the same footsteps, but there are three ways to make it more fun!
Acknowledgment: I want to thank my partner Evy who ran the side project with me. She is my junior classmate at ISS. She gave many suggestions from the perspective of a tennis learner and designer. I also want to thank my coach who helped me to test the prototype ideas and discussed the details with me. They let me get precious design inspiration from their teaching experiences!
Second: Communication Skills
The course design may be influenced by the expectations of parents. Some may want their children to develop professional skills, while others prioritize their interest in sports or improvement in attention span. For coaches teaching children aged 4–12, it’s essential to effectively communicate the course design and learning progress to parents. Strong communication skills can help coaches better understand parents’ expectations and goals, as well as facilitate effective parent-teacher communication.
Additionally, coaches should consider implementing a segmentation strategy to offer customized courses tailored to students with different learning motivations. This can help maintain their interest and engagement in the course.
Third: Management skills
The third concept is “Business Mindset,” which involves elevating perspectives from individual contributors to managerial positions. Tasks shift from “how to teach” to “how to manage the learning center,” including establishing branding images, recruiting and training staff, and designing module courses.
To ensure the effectiveness and quality of the course design, coaches should implement systematic thinking. This involves identifying unnecessary repetitive tasks and focusing on the most valuable elements such as practice sessions, marketing content, and parent-teacher communication strategies. With the ideal positioning in the tennis teaching market, coaches can ensure long-term growth by finding the best service model.
Reflections
This project has not only benefited my students but also enhanced my professional development as a tennis coach. Here are some of my reflections :
- From this project, I learned that embracing interdisciplinary thinking: by combining two different areas of expertise can lead to more innovative and effective solutions.
- Throughout the project, I realized that systematic thinking is powerful: it helps me break down issues and allows me to see patterns and connections between seemingly unrelated concepts.
- The iterative process enhances confidence: Through testing, I was able to identify the clear pros and cons of the new course, allowing me to refine it in advance. As a result, I feel more confident in implementing the new course in my classes.
Follow my IG: perspective.tennis
