Empowering Growth: Lessons from 'The Inner Game of Tennis' for Parents, Managers, and Coaches

Empowering Growth: Lessons from 'The Inner Game of Tennis' for Parents, Managers, and Coaches

Gijs Van Wezel

There may be lessons to be learned for parents, managers, and career/life coaches from reading the book "The Inner Game of Tennis" by W. Timothy Gallwey. This classic book advises less focus on the technique of tennis for beginning player. Having received technical advice can make it hard to even hit a ball for the first time (tennis, padel or golf). The author describes a situation that I have experienced as a tennis teacher myself.

I admit to 'overteaching' as a new pro, but one day when I was in a relaxed mood, I began saying less and noticing more. To my surprise, errors that I saw but didn’t mention were correcting themselves without the student ever knowing he had made them. How were these changes happening? Though I found this interesting, it was a little hard on my ego, which didn’t quite see how it was going to get its due credit for the improvements being made. It was an even greater blow when I realized that sometimes my verbal instructions seemed to 'DECREASE' the probability of the desired correction occurring.


Gijs van Wezel

As a former tennis coach, this resonates a lot with me. As a professional career/life coach, I have learned over the years that allowing clients to find their own strength can be transformative, whereas advising may, at best, be transactional.


The point is that allowing children, students, managers, and coaching clients to discover their natural way and positively supporting this journey could be more effective than micromanaging.


My grandsons will not receive "overteaching" tennis advice, and I will continue to support my coaching clients through active listening, empowering perspectives, and facilitating growth.