The Inner Game of Tennis is actually written for tennis teachers and explains how to help students experience what good shots feel like so they can become better players. The ideas have a lot of crossover to coaching and impacted early coaching ideas a great deal since its publication in 1974.
Gallwey devised the idea of two selves. Self 1 is the judgmental person, evaluating progress, giving instructions, and making the player try hard. Self 2 is the person’s “doer”, where the person experiences flow, confidence, and can see the goal of a shot. This is helpful to me as a coach – if I can help the person see their goals and approach them with relaxed concentration, rather than judging their progress, they will more naturally make progress.
