The Player Development Conundrum
There are several necessary elements that characterize high performance tennis players. Stroke mechanics, movement, fitness and mental toughness are the theoretically controllable factors most widely acknowledged and trained. Obviously, proficiency in these areas separates level of play – but is there something else?
As a coach of many very high-level players over the years, a frustrating element is that despite building world-class mechanics into very good athletes possessing speed and mental toughness, there is a barrier to them reaching the competition goals – they can’t win that big point or match. Tennis is somewhat unique in this regard.
In more general terms, why is it that the #1 player in the world will beat #100 almost every time. If you consider only the traditional skill sets these two players would be similar in shot output, movement and fitness. Mental toughness contrasts may account for some of difference but there must be something more.
The Final Frontier
There is another element to player development and success – precise decision making and the ability to translate that into the appropriate shot is critical. This process is the basis of Neuromechanics. My players don’t win the big match because they make poor decisions and/or elicit improper motor output, and I’d argue this is the biggest factor in differentiating #1 vs #100.
Neuromechanics is rarely addressed in traditional tennis training, at least explicitly. Most players and coaches have never even heard of it, and those that have probably have no idea how it works. This is understandable because the system is quite complex – almost mystical. But it is also unfortunate because I believe Neuromechanical efficacy is CRITICAL to success and the new frontier in player development.
The Neuromechanical system takes sensory information from the environment and from within the body, integrates it in the parietal brain regions, then sends neural output to the musculoskeletal structures to elicit a specific movement pattern. The amount of information that can be processed, and the speed and efficacy of integration vary greatly between individuals.
Function of the Neuromechanical system is largely genetic. The reality is that some individuals inherently possess greater capability in this system than others. But like any other skill, function of the Neuromechanical system should be able to be improved. TCPR is working to develop and test protocols to do just that.
The Neurocognitive Motor Control Program
Training the brain and body to work together
In order to train the Neuromechanics System, TCPR has developed the Neurocognitive Motor Control (NCMC) training program. The program integrates tennis stroke development with visual recognition, information processing, decision-making, and movement coordination. Using interactive FITLIGHT technology and randomly varied ball deliveries—including changes in speed, spin, and trajectory—players learn to recognize information, make decisions, and execute appropriate strokes under constantly changing conditions.
The Ultimate Key to Tennis Success
Adolescent players are at the optimal developmental stage to establish fundamental cognitive and motor capabilities. However, players AT ANY AGE AND LEVEL can improve the capabilities they possess. Regardless of where a player resides on the development spectrum, progressively challenging training activities will help develop attention, working memory, information-processing efficiency, decision-making, and movement adaptability alongside technical tennis skills.
By combining increasingly complex cognitive challenges with realistic tennis movements, the NCMC program aims to develop players who can recognize faster, decide more effectively, and execute more consistently under pressure. The objective is to develop the integrated perceptual, cognitive, and motor skills that are poorly understood and rarely addressed in player development, but that are critical to success on the court.
Research supports the potential benefits of integrated perceptual-cognitive and motor training in specific tasks. The degree of long-term transfer to general competitive performance is an area of important research. TCPR is at the forefront of developing protocols that will pay dividends in competition – after all… if a player sees more, thinks faster, and executes better motor commands then logic dictates that player will be better – no brainer.