Categories: Good things to knowTennis instruction

Time Lag Between “Knowing” and “Doing”

Ray Brown

The post by Ray Brown.
A long and complex mathematical computation may take several trials to complete. Each trial is a practice run at getting it right. The combination of trial followed by “gestation” can take as much as three days. After three days there is a good chance the solution is right.

There is no difference between this activity and learning to hit a tennis ball in that it takes a lot of trials to get it right. We know from brain evolution that mathematical skills were built on top of physical skills requiring many of the same processes in the brain. However, physical skills also required the development of a neuromuscular infrastructure that is not required in mathematics.

The implications are significant. When a student of tennis believes that they have got the stroke right in only a few days, it may be true as far as the brain part of the stroke is concerned. But they still cannot execute correctly. The difference is that the neuromuscular infrastructure to “hit it right” takes far longer to develop. Hence the student may become frustrated because their view of what is possible does not agree with what their body can execute. This is particularly true of juniors.

This frustration may be acted out in various ways that are mostly unproductive. Whereas if they understand that there is a significant time lag between getting the right sequencing in the brain versus developing the neuromuscular infrastructure to execute the stroke, there might be less frustration. The frustration can also delay development significantly.

Patience is required to allow for the time lag between “knowing how to execute” and “being able to execute”. There is no cure for this time lag but the exact amount of time from “knowing” to “doing” can be reduced by separate training activities.

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