Tennis in Surrey Magazine 2016

promotion
Is Surrey coach Nick
Wheatley the next
YouTube sensation?
At the end of 2014 I wanted to do something
different and came up with the idea of a video
series filmed at the small venue where I’m Head
Coach, Hawker Tennis in Kingston.
There’s plenty of tennis coaching
material already on YouTube so I
took a different slant and focussed
on our own coaching programme,
using some of the juniors who
are involved. It would be fun and
exciting for them, not to mention
very beneficial for their learning.
With full support and permission
from the parents, I cracked on with
the project.
To make it different, I added
some comedy and music to the
videos. This might not appeal to
all tastes, but I didn’t want the
footage to be dull, especially as
my initial target audience was our
own junior players. I planned lighthearted
videos, with content of the
highest quality, to rival anything
already out there.
As a coach this project was a
fantastic way for me to affirm my
own coaching philosophies and to
put them out there to get feedback.
There were no set number of
videos at the beginning and no
detailed plan other than to try
and cover as much as possible.
The project did have a one-year
time frame though as I wanted to
motivate myself to get it completed
with a finish point.
I’m certainly not a natural
behind the camera and I’m
no technological whizz either.
However, with a little research
and some affordable software,
I realised it was quite simple to
make videos with all the features
I wanted, including pro footage,
slow-mo’s side-by-side comparisons,
and much more. Throughout
the series, my confidence behind
the camera grew as the project
progressed.
I’ve received some great feedback
from a variety of people, most
notably top coaches like Miles
Maclagan, John Yandell, and Judy
Murray, and current/former pro’s
Mark Petchey, Danny Sapsford, and
Marcus Willis. The video project
has also encouraged me to write a
series of articles for John Yandell’s
excellent website TennisPlayer.Net
(to which all LTA licensed coaches
have free access too). The articles
are based on one of my coaching
concepts, 1-2 Rhythm, and I’ve
received great feedback so far.
All in all, it’s been a fantastic
experience and I’m sure there is
plenty more to come. I plan to
release further videos when the
time is right.
I would recommend that all
you highly passionate and driven
coaches out there try something
similar. It’s been hard work, but
well worth every minute!
Video making process:
It takes time and hard work to
produce each video. First you need
the basic idea, then you must
script the content, including any
usage of pro footage and slow-mo
analysis. Rehearse the scripts and
then film the clips, along with
any action shots required. My
trusty assistant. Jeremy Westcott,
(who also coaches at Hawker and
features in some videos) was a
great help with the filming, and
was very patient when we needed
more takes than I would have
liked.
After that, you need to review
the footage and get the clips onto
the PC from the tablet. Once there,
they can be touched up with a
video converter, before going into
the video editor, where you put the
clips together, and add voiceovers
and text as needed. Once happy
with the final version, it’s then
ready to be uploaded to YouTube.
Job done!
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