Red, orange and green low pressure balls

The FourCoach curriculum follows a progression of skills that are absolute requisites in the development of complete tennis players. The curriculum has been developed to assist coaches in creating individual lesson focuses for students as well as tracking progress through a no-fuss, simple reporting methodology.

One rationale of the FourCoach curriculum is the recognition that coaches have countless games, activities, drills and routines that work for them and because of this, the FourCoach curriculum only describes necessary skills, movements and tactical mindset that need to be assessed at each stage. How a player comes to find competency with each attribute is the domain of the coach.

An equally important tenet of the curriculum is the widely shared belief that it is detrimental to any player to have to unlearn poor habits later on, or to develop with debilitating areas of weakness in skill, movement and tactical planning. Each stage has a clearly defined checklist that must be complete before reaching a new stage.

Whether a player has ambitions of becoming a professional tennis player or just good enough to beat their mates on a social day, they need to have a well-rounded education and the words 'I hate my backhand' should never ever be uttered.

Low Pressure Balls

Low pressure balls can certainly be used in place of standard balls in the earlier stages of the FourCoach curriculum and this decision should be made by a coach, based on age, size or strength of a player. The skills, movements and tactical development of a player can be used with any pressure ball.

Earlier stages in the FourCoach Universal Curriculum have the option of assessing requisite skills while using low pressure balls.

The great players over the decades such as Federer, Jean-King, Nadal, Sampras, Navratalova, Agassi, Williams, Graf, Lendl, Connors, Borg and co.  were not introduced into the game with low pressure balls. That is not to say that modified equipment can't make things easier for the tiny people in our game. FourCoach believes that building a complete game around progressive skills, movements and tactics should be the main focus.

The role of the coach is to employ a variety of techniques and processes to help a player reach their true potential.

Equipment modification helps a player become acquainted with the game.
Games help a player become engaged in the game.
Drills and competitions help a player learn more about the game.
Following an educational curriculum helps a player build mastery and confidence in their game.