I am Peter Creffield a full time tennis coach. I have been coaching for approximately 12 years and I set up on my own at the end of 2006 start of 2007.     

      My philosophy, the reasons behind it and why I coach tennis for a living.

    I have spent many years pondering what my own and listening to other people’s philosophy on tennis coaching is. After great thought I have decided upon my own which is to treat each player as an individual.

    The reasons for believing in this are that I feel it is impossible in British culture to teach in a generic fashion or everybody the same way and end up with good results across the board. However there are certain Technical, Tactical, physical and mental commonalities in every player but these can be individualised to suit.

What tends to happen is one or two players do well who are coached in a generic way and a lot of others don’t. I feel the reason for this is that British people are made up of a lot of different shapes, sizes and cultures which means that one way of teaching or hitting a tennis ball will only work for a select or lucky few.

To rectify this and have good results for the majority of players coached it is essential that each player is treated as an individual. But in order for this to work the coach has to have a huge knowledge base but not just technically, tactically, physically and mentally but on how to teach as well. E.g. Players learn in a lot of different ways, here are just a few of them, Visually, Kinaesthetically (feel), verbally (Explanation of task), Autocratic (I say you do), Question and answer etc.
To actually find the keys to unlock how each player learns, how they tick and ultimately what makes them improve can be very challenging. However this is why I coach tennis for a living because unlocking each player’s individual potential is a process that fascinates me.

By focusing on how each player is unique, we expand the potentials of tennis as a sport and rather than players struggling to fit a preset mould, the players I coach can develop in their own distinctive way.