All the coaches know that it is very important to communicate effectively with the players. It is a very important factor if you want the players to be successful. With my experience as a table tennis coach for the past few years, it is not long before I found that communicating with my players is very challenging. Everybody knows that good communication is very important, but it is easier to be said than done.
There are a lot of time when you need to introduce a new technique or strategy to a player (especially to an experience player) and he may not be willing to accept the idea. This is mainly because they had been doing the same thing since a long time ago. Since it had become a habit, it is somewhat hard for them to be convinced that they need to make a change in order to be better. What coaches can do is to break down the concept behind the new technique or strategy. Explain to them why it is important to make that change. Coaches can create simple drills that can implant the new habit in the players. However, the most important thing is to let the player to have the chance to discuss about the technique. By understanding the player’s perspective, it can help us as a coach to know which approach should we take to help him in understanding the new technique or strategy. From my experience, explaining the science behind the techniques and showing the stats behind the strategy can always help in convincing the players.
Of course, players can convince their coaches too. Good coaches should always be open to accept feedback from players. As a coach, I always believe in the fact that new techniques or strategy can be popping out any time in the future. It applies to every sport. If we would just like to settle on the traditional techniques and not thinking out of the box, it is impossible for us to be the next greatest player. Think about it, if Stephen Curry was forced to shoot like Ray Allen, who was one of the greatest shooter of all time, can he still be that great? He redefined shooting by doing his one motion shots which allows him to have quicker release and greater range. If he didn’t think out of the box, maybe till today we will think that the only way to shoot over taller player is to jump as high as possible like Ray Allen did. Thus, the advice for coaches here is to constantly be getting feedback from players. Tweak the techniques to serve the needs of the players.