Stop Playing If You Really Want To Improve

The title is provocative, but the idea is very basic and fundamental.  In order to improve something, you must practice it for enough hours where "old" technique or tactics get erased, and the new technique or tactics become hard wired.  Playing matches during this time, does nothing to improve your ability to learn new things.  It only serves to IMPEDE your learning curve.

The reason is when you go play a tournament match (if you are a junior), or a practice or league match (if you are an adult), chances are you will not use anything you are currently learning in your lessons.  Instead, if the new things have not be hard wired yet, you will simply revert to the old technique and tactics, creating more interference for the new technique and tactics to take hold.

Any pro will tell you that it takes anywhere between 4-6 weeks of constant training on a technique or tactic for it to become second nature.  This 4-6 weeks assumes you are practicing the change at least 3-4 times a week.  If you can't practice the change but once or twice a week, the change will take even longer to implement.  Any competition that takes place within this window will set you back 1-2 weeks of training.

When we learn something new, our central nervous system creates myelin, which serves as a link between neural pathways, and determines how well we are able to do certain movements.  The more myelin that is created in a neural pathway, the more coordinated and permanent it can become.  When you make a change, you must effectively overwrite the myelin that you have already developed for your current movements and tactics.  In order for your change to take hold and be ready to use in a match, the myelin you develop must exceed the myelin you have in place for the old technique and tactics.  The less you use a neural pathway, the more it degenerates.  This is why when you stop playing for 6 months you struggle to regain your form for some time.  The process of overwriting old myelin, involves creating new myelin for a new movement, and not using the old movement at all.

The best and quickest way to learn something new is to literally stop playing competitively.  You must immerse yourself in the change until you are proficient.  If it is technique, stop playing matches, and stop hitting until you can produce the proper technical movements 20-30 times in a row from a feed from a racquet, or a ball machine.  Keep in mind practice doesn't make perfect - practice makes permanent. So only use the ball machine if your pro has indicated to you that your technique is solid enough to make permanent.  Think of the ball machine as a myelin builder on steroids.  Slowly build you ability to the point where you are hitting in practice with the new technique or tactic.  Only after you can achieve success with the new technique in practice should you then try practice matches where you only use the new technique.  Remember, part if the process is ditching the old technique.  Do not fall back on it as a crutch, as this will only serve to delay your ability to master the new.

If it is a tactic, stop playing matches, and immerse yourself in the new tactic for 4-6 weeks.  After the 4-6 weeks, begin practice matches where you concentrate on using the new tactic, damned the outcome of the match.  Once you feel proficient at the new tactic, begin competition again.

The adult league seasons are such that adults must decide which ones to SKIP in order to learn something new.  Juniors need to skip tournament play for the required time,

So stop playing if you truly want to learn something new.  Your game will thank you for your beneficence.