practice is something that everyone agrees is what makes people in choosen skills, fields. Sometimes it can be termed hard work. You are what you practice, you are what you eat, you do what you do. these phrases carry the same kind of message that what you repeat is what you become and this paradigm appears all over.
what does a maths test examine? whether a person can answer questions (they don’t change all that much year to year) so one simply must practice enough to become proficient at the posed questions. Does this mean that now you can use mathematics in the work place? only if it is similar enough to what you have practiced and that what you have practiced can be transferred to this “new” problem. if you want an A at GCSE maths you must practice, bottom line.
the issues are people don’t want to practice or don’t make the time to practice (or don’t have the time) there personal requirement. I was lucky at GCSE maths as for whatever reason I didn’t need many reps to get it but I know people who did, my wife for example, she practiced her butt off to obtain the grade.
another example is French, or any language for that matter. I passed French and I most certainly didn’t learn any I just rep’d what I needed to pass the exam. learnt it like a parrot and boom..done..but I don’t rep french anymore and so lost 99% of it. Spanish I rep at reading and writing..no listening and limited speaking (in my own head) and you know what..im pretty good at reading and writing and suck at the rest. why? no reps!
Now, there is (im sure, I think i use some) learning methods and teaching methods that almost bypass the need for so many reps and reach the same result. I have heard it term Accelerated Development before in the tennis world. I think the UK tennis education has done a great job in this as this is what we need to do in the UK due to lower numbers and a multitude of opportunities for young people. We need to get the success fast so that kids stick at the game..but there is still a requirement for reps and practice.
the amount of practice and reps is partially individual and also goal orientated. for example if you want to play for the senior county cup team you need to be a certain level (county dependent, weaker for my county) and this requires a certain amount of work. If you want to go to the USA for college then you must reach a certain level and this also requires a certain amount of work. If you want to make the top 100 then this requires a certain amount of work. If you want to play for a laugh with your mates once a year then once a year is all you need.
there is no substitute for practice.
finally, the LTA rating system. it seems flawed at times, but it also dosn’t. the issues are to do with the amount of matches played by players, when they play them (mini tennis, u12, u18 etc) and the huge imbalance created by choices of these factors. I will also throw into the mix the reps required to reach a level (individually). to try to illustrate..take a u12 8.1 who has just started competing but is accelerating drastically..they enter a grade 4 locally and get a 6.2 in the first round. The 6.2 has played a lot (obviously) and probably has reped alot but how much better is a u12 6.2 than this particular 8.2..could be not much. does the result matter..reality no, actually probably to everyone..8.2 if wins is over the moon and may want to play more..6.2 may say, oh well a respect the situation and continue to get better or may give up as this is not in the script. Many scenarios..but consider it from a reps point of view. If the 8.2 just carrys on not doing much and dosn’t practice they will fall later on..if the 6.2 carrys on they will reach a higher level? what it takes is continued practice to get better and better..it took me many years to reach the dizzy heights of a 3.1 (now 3.2) and what do I need to go higher..practice (at the right level but practice).
I am sure there is more on this paradigm that is practice but my laptop is about to die..thoughts are most welcome on this..
the tennis engineer!
The Tennis Engineer 