Learning to play tennis in Atlanta

Learning to play Tennis in Atlanta, a testiomonial
Learning Tennis with My Friend Jeff Michaud

by Ed Hill

I like Tennis better than Golf because it's a faster paced game and more physically demanding. I haven't played Tennis since my days at Florida State University. So I took lessons to gain some skills. In the course of my training I learned some valuable lessons about tennis coaches. Hiring a tennis coach is like hiring a web marketing consultant, some coaches are good and some coaches are not so good. http://fitnesswithjeff.com/


I signed up for 4 weeks of lessons at a north Atlanta tennis park. They kept changing coaches. One of the coaches did not explain why or how the Tennis forehand and backhand worked, so I could not improve my Tennis skills.

The third week my friend Jeff Michaud, who is a fitness and tennis coach, helped me work on my Tennis technique. The improvement in my skills was immmediate.

So what made the difference? Here is a valuable lesson that also applies to the web marketing consulting that I do.

The crucial difference is the way that my friend and tennis coach, Jeff Michaud, approached learning Tennis. First, Jeff listened to me, when I explained the specific skills that I wanted to improve. For a marketing consultant the first step is to listen to the problems that a business owner is suffering. Business owners are usually very knowledgable about their customers and their products.

In Tennis, I needed to focus on the basics, forehand, backhand, volley and the serve.
In any sport, learning and mastering the basics through practice is crucial to doing well.

Second, Jeff's method of teaching was very effective. Jeff broke down the moves in each Tennis stroke into small manageable parts. Even the most basic Tennis forehand stroke, requires you to start with your side facing the net. It also helps to hold the tennis racket correctly. Once your posture and grip are correct, the complex moves that follow require coordinating the movements of the arm, shoulders, legs and hips to deliver the most power to the ball.

My previous coaches never broke the Tennis moves down into smaller parts that I could understand. They tried to teach the whole Tennis forehand as a complete package, so I learned very little.

The corresponding idea in marketing consulting is to break the business marketing problem down into smaller manageable parts that the business owner can handle.

I have to thank my friend Jeff for helping me become a better Tennis player. It all comes down to breaking the skills down into parts that the student can understand. If you like you can check out Jeff's Fitness with Jeff web site at http://www.fitnesswithjeff.com/. > www.fitnesswithjeff.com