As a young fulla, I was madly into most sports. My favourite was tennis. I played up to a pretty high level, competing in the various tournaments in Wellington. To get to the next level, my interclub coach thought it would be a good idea for me to get some professional coaching.

The coach saw me as promising, but noticed that both my forehand and backhand grips were unorthodox. He wanted me to undo years of practice and take on the new grips. The grips that the books say you should use.

As a good student I took the coaches advice on board and changed my grips, despite the fact that it felt unnatural to me. My game suffered big time, but I stuck at it. After all, it takes time to unlearn a long time skill and retrain yourself. Or so my coach told me.

I continued with this long run of poor performance for six months before I decided enough. I wasn’t improving. I was getting worse as I was getting more and more frustrated with my performance. I’d lost the love of the game. I wasn’t enjoying my Saturday mornings anymore.

I went back to my original grip and in no time I was happy again. Not to mention a much improved player. I never got coaching again too!

general advice is not catered to you

This is just my way of saying that we all have our things going on. With tennis, maybe I had a differently made body than most other players, where the standard grip doesn’t work for me.

We all have our own unique circumstances and we intimately know our own strengths and limitations. A good coach should work with the strengths of their students.

There is no one right way to invest for everyone.

There is no one right way to set up your bank accounts for everyone.

There is no right amount to spend for everyone.

There is more than one type of lifestyle for everyone.

There is no one right retirement number for everyone.

I realise what I write about in my blog won’t resonate with everyone all the time. It resonates with me, but I am not you.

The best we can do is take pieces from everywhere that apply to our own situation and try our best to put them together. You and your life are unique. Give it the individualised attention it deserves, because sometimes the standard advice or techniques, like my tennis grip, is not for you.

The information contained on this site is the opinion of the individual author(s) based on their personal opinions, observation, research, and years of experience. The information offered by this website is general education only and is not meant to be taken as individualised financial advice, legal advice, tax advice, or any other kind of advice. You can read more of my disclaimer here