So, I kept hearing bits and pieces about Danielle Collins, the tennis player. What caught my ear wasn’t just her playing, but this whole thing about her coaching situation. Or rather, the lack of a regular, big-name coach sometimes. People mentioned she often just figured things out herself, especially during key parts of her career. That got me thinking.
See, I play a bit of tennis myself. Nothing serious, just knocking the ball around at the local park courts. But I’d hit a plateau, you know? Same mistakes over and over. Getting a proper coach seemed like a hassle, and honestly, a bit pricey for just hitting around. So, hearing about Collins, I thought, maybe I could try that self-coaching stuff too?
My Little Experiment
I decided to give it a shot. My plan was simple, maybe too simple.
- More solo practice: Instead of just rallying with friends, I started going to the court alone more often, just hitting serves or practicing against the wall.
- Trying to ‘feel’ it: I really tried to pay attention to my body, my swing, where the ball was going. Sounds easy, right? It wasn’t.
- Watching myself (briefly): I even propped up my phone a couple of times to record myself hitting. Watched it back later. That was… humbling. My form looked nothing like I imagined.
- Focused drills: I tried to isolate problems. Like, just practice forehands down the line for 20 minutes. Then backhands crosscourt.
It started okay. I felt very focused, very intentional. I was really trying to analyze what was going wrong. Why did my serve always go into the net on the second try? Why couldn’t I get more topspin on my forehand?
But honestly, it was tough going. Analyzing yourself is incredibly hard. You think you’re doing one thing, but the video shows something else entirely. Or you just don’t know what to look for. I’d make an adjustment, felt weird, didn’t seem to work, so I’d go back to the old habit because at least that felt familiar.
There were definitely moments of frustration. I’d spend an hour just trying to fix one little thing, and feel like I made zero progress. Sometimes I felt like I was actually getting worse, maybe reinforcing bad habits because there was no outside eye to correct me.
What Happened In The End
After a few weeks of this dedicated ‘Collins method’, I didn’t see much real improvement. Maybe a tiny bit more consistency on my serve, but my main problems were still there. The self-analysis thing? Way harder than it sounds. You need a baseline of knowledge to even know what to look for or how to fix it.
It made me appreciate what actual coaches do. Even just having someone point out one simple thing you’re doing wrong can save hours of frustration. And it definitely made me appreciate Collins’ mental game even more. To compete at that level, often relying purely on your own analysis and grit? That takes something special.
So, I kind of abandoned the strict self-coaching experiment. I didn’t rush out and hire someone, but I did start paying more attention when playing with others, asking for quick feedback sometimes. Maybe the Collins way works for superstars, but for a regular person like me, having another set of eyes, even occasionally, seems pretty necessary. It was an interesting experience, though. Made me think about learning differently.
