How to Blend In-Person lessons With Online Resources for Rapid Growth
It’s difficult to find a good padel coach. It takes time and energy to find the right person you immediately connect with who understands your level and what you need to do to improve.
It’s also challenging to use online resources without an excellent coach who will watch and correct your form in person.
For these reasons, we recommend mixing in-person training with online resources. This article is your how-to guide.
The sweet spot is just the right mix of in-person training and online resources.
First, it’s imperative you find the right coach who will help you improve your technique. In-person training is crucial because your coach will see exactly what you need to correct and (hopefully!) will help you develop the right swing, footwork, technique, etc.
Second, use online resources to gain knowledge about specific aspects of padel. We have plenty of free resources on our YouTube channel or you could sign up for our Padel School Plus membership for full access to 12+ courses which cover just about every aspect of padel.
Whatever you use, don’t overwhelm yourself by watching all the content in one sitting. Our YouTube stats would thank you, but we know it takes focused practice to see real improvement.
For example, let’s say you want to improve your bandeja. Many people coming from tennis, squash, or table tennis don’t have any familiarity with this unique-to-padel shot, so it takes a multi-step process to master it.
It’s extremely difficult to put this technique into practice without the aid of a coach and a bucket of balls to practice. But if you start out with no idea what a bandeja even is, it will take extra time out of your session for your coach to explain it.
Before you train this skill, view online resources to improve your bandeja to get a leg up. Go into training with a basic familiarity of the concept and purpose of the bandeja to master the technique much faster.
Pro tip: record yourself during your coaching session and/or your next match. Seeing yourself play is painful, but those who record themselves and adjust accordingly see rapid improvement.
The next time you play, you’ll see that you aren’t doing the bandeja technique properly by raising your elbow or moving your feet into the right position. Your coach was right! Whoops.
Recording yourself is useful because you can play it back and gain awareness. This improved awareness is a skill that will carry over into other areas of padel and make you a better overall player.
Instead of being that player who hits ball after ball after ball out of the court exclaiming, “Oh no!” forty-five times a match, you’ll be able to more quickly correct your own mistakes.
This personal empowerment and improved self-awareness will quickly raise your padel level AND will make your in-person coaching sessions more impactful.
Instead of asking your coach, “What should we practice today?” Tell them what you know you need to work on. Coaches love working with players who understand their own faults and actually want to improve and take advice. Learning how to intentionally plan out your next steps for growth is vital.
Make it a priority to improve your game on and off the court. The best players take it upon themselves to make improvements based on their weak areas and work at it until they improve.
Find the right coach to learn proper technique. View online resources to enhance your learning between lessons. Grow in self-awareness and correct your mistakes. Become an unstoppable force on the padel court.
Cheers,
-The Padel School
