Hustle defined
Alex, one of our pros, and I were teaching clinic the other day and realized that the kids were playing terribly. Our main complaint was that most of the kids simply weren’t hustling. There was little intensity, effort, or energy.
Normally our inclination would be to bring the kids together and give a talk about the importance of trying their hardest. These talks, although delivered with great passion on our part, were usually met with mild indifference and limited enthusiasm by our players.
We decided to take a different approach and suggest they simply focus on three things:
Split step every time their opponent hits the ball. We briefly reviewed what a split step was and practiced as a group.
Push off and explode to every ball hit by your opponent. Try and “beat the ball to the spot” which means getting to where you want to hit the ball before the ball does.
Recover quickly back to the middle of the court after hitting each shot. We pointed out that it’s possible to watch where the ball is going AND move back to the middle at the same time.
As the clinic progressed, we noticed the kids were moving and playing much better. During our wrap up, Alex asked for a show of hands from those who felt they had played better after our mid-clinic talk. Almost every hand went up. Then Alex asked for a show of hands from those who felt they had more fun. Once again, lots of hands.
The point here is that our inclination is to talk, and think, in generalities. We say things like “try harder,” “play your game” or “concentrate” but leave out the details. Specific direction always yields better results. And keeping things simple, makes life lots easier for everyone involved.