Remote coaching is something that, until recently, was not a realistic or feasible option for most in the profession. It was accelerated through the COVID-19 pandemic, but had been gaining some momentum as a coaching alternative or add on prior to the onset of the pandemic. Whether you are a freelance teaching professional running your own business or a well established club with a multitude of coaches and programs, remote coaching should be something that is part of your services and business plan. If you teach outside for all or part of the year, you know the challenges that come with doing so. A rainy day cancels all of your lessons; extremely high or humid temperatures will have your clients canceling; in addition, people have unexpected events that prevent them from making it to your session. Obviously, you as the club or sole proprietor need some protection and should have a cancellation policy, but you do not want to push clients away by not giving them a break when circumstances interfere with their schedules. A great alternative or additional offering to your services is remote coaching.
Remote coaching can keep you engaged with your clients and earning money when the inevitable obstacles of weather conditions and people’s daily lives interfere with your schedule of lessons. It can serve as a replacement for a lost in person session or as an add on to your in person time together. Coaching is something that is a very face to face, in person act, but it can also be taken to the virtual world with the invention of video applications such as Zoom and Google Meet. Some will say that nothing can replace the value of an in person coaching session, and while I tend to agree, there are viable alternatives. If you have a rainy week, it shouldn’t stop you from interacting with and helping your clients. While you may not be able to physically hit or feed tennis balls to your client during a remote session, it does not mean that you can’t cover important topics virtually. You can work on and demonstrate technical mechanics through video sharing, review matches that may have been recorded for a tournament player or engage in a mental skull session if your client has been struggling in this department. These are all valuable aspects of someone’s tennis game that can be worked on remotely, if in person obstacles arise. And the next time you see your client in person, it won’t feel as if so much time has passed or you have forgotten certain things if you had a virtual session in the interim.
All in all, remote coaching is on the rise and should be part of your repertoire as a teaching professional or club owner. While it should not serve as a complete replacement for in person coaching, it can add to your services and business. So many people are engaging remotely over video calls and conferences nowadays that you would be shortchanging yourself if you did not adapt and provide this service to your clients. This will help you generate more business and continue to engage with customers when certain factors that are out of your control interfere with your ability to perform in person work.
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