#59: Jo Ward – Women Tennis Players are different, not limited

The Adam Blicher Show: Dissecting High Performance In Tennis

Jo Ward is a former player herself with a career high of #150 WTA. She has been a National Coach for the LTA, traveled on the WTA Tour as a coach & started back in January 2006 a Tennis Academy in the UK called WimX. Currently Jo is writing a workshop for the LTA with the purpose of educating & empowering coaches to better coach girls & women.

You’ll get to know:

– How we don’t realize how little we know about women
– How women are different, but not limited
– How coaches are not to blame, it’s the environment

Timestamps
01:30 The steps from professional to pH.d about female tennis
06:30 Challenges as a coaching team solved among friends
09:05 Facilitating a great coaching environment
11:30 How current Coach Education is based on men
14:15 Practical consequences for coaches
16:55 Biggest myth encountered in coaching female tennis players
19:00 Differences not limitations
21:30 Women’ Tennis Players are not less skillful
22:45 A move towards a more scientific robust & metrics based analysis of tennis
23:30 How Jo tries to get better
24:10 Billie Jean King & Bounce
29:20 Please don’t label anyone a talent
30:35 Why resilience is crucial
32:45 We don’t understand how little we know about women
33:38 The coaches haven’t gotten it wrong it’s the environment
35:10 Only do things that are pragmatic to the match court
37:37 Coach the player, not the model
39:10 Jo’s favourite metrics
44:00 Know yourself & your goals