Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers (for sale below) puts forward the notion that some of the greatest athletes, musicians and businessmen were simply passionate about their work rather than being born geniuses. Malcolm Gladwell suggest that anyone that becomes an expert at their trade, from The Beatles to Boris Becker will have practiced over 10,000 hours. However, it is not quite that simple: The practice must be ‘meaningful.’ In the coming months I intend to delve deeper into what ‘meaningful practice’ and ‘meaningful coaching’ really is. I believe more focus should be put on how players practice, especially as a child is developing their game, rather than worrying about ranking points etc. Coaches should also know how to provide meaningful coaching sessions. Click here to watch a video on Meaningless and Meaningful Tennis Coaching

I highly recommend reading Outliers – Tom Allsopp