Guides · 8 min read
How to Keep Notes That Help You Coach Better Next Month
A practical guide to turning session notes into a running thread you can actually read back, without turning them into a medical chart.
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01
Notes are written for future you
The point of a session note is not to record the lesson. The point is to make the next lesson easier.
Most coaches keep notes the way a student takes lecture notes. Long, dense, written in the moment, never read again. The result is a folder full of paragraphs the coach is too embarrassed to throw away and too tired to actually open before the next session. The notes existed, but they did no work.
A note that helps you coach next month has a different shape. It is short. It is honest. It is written in language you will recognise three weeks later. It points at one or two things to revisit, rather than describing the whole hour. It assumes future you will read it under pressure, two minutes before the next session, on a phone.
02
A repeatable shape that survives a busy week
The best note format is the one you will actually write, every time, for years. Three short lines is usually the sweet spot.
Three lines, written within an hour of the session, on the same device every time. Most coaches who try this find it takes ninety seconds. That is the difference between a notes habit that lasts five years and one that lasts three weeks.
What we did
One sentence. The thing you spent most of the hour on. Not a list of every drill, just the headline. "Worked the second serve toss, then six points up." This is the anchor that tells future you what kind of session it was.
What I noticed
One sentence. The honest read on how it landed. "Toss is more consistent on the deuce side, still drifts left on the ad side." This is the line that future you will actually use to start the next session.
What to revisit
One sentence. One or two things to pick up next time. "Start with the ad side toss. Then a short tiebreak." Future you will be grateful you decided this while it was still fresh, instead of trying to invent it on the morning of the lesson.
03
The detail to include, and the detail to leave out
A good note is specific where it counts and silent where it does not.
The detail to include is the small, sensory thing you will not remember in three weeks. The exercise that finally clicked. The phrase that worked when the player was frustrated. The tempo you took the warm up at. The fact that they mentioned a wrist niggle, even though they brushed it off. The fact that they were quieter than usual.
The detail to leave out is the encyclopaedic record. The full list of every drill in order. The exact score of every point. The technical analysis you might write in a coaching report once a year. These slow the note down without making the next session better. If they matter at all, they belong in a longer end of block summary, not in the weekly note.
Worth writing
One sentence on technique. One sentence on temperament. One sentence on what to pick up next.
Not worth writing
A timeline of the hour. A list of every drill. A long paragraph explaining what you would have done with more time.
04
Three review habits that turn notes into coaching
Writing the note is half of the value. Reading it back is the other half.
Read the last note before the next session
Two minutes. On the way to the court, between lessons, with a coffee. The single act of reading the last note is what makes the next session feel like a continuation rather than a fresh start. Most clients notice this without naming it.
Read the last four notes before each block end
At the end of a block of four to six lessons, read them all in a row. Patterns appear that no single note could show. A serve that has been quietly getting better. A confidence dip that started three weeks ago. A theme you can name in the monthly summary.
Re-read three months of notes once a season
Once a quarter, sit with a coffee and read three months of one client’s notes. This is where the long arc of the coaching shows. You will see decisions you made instinctively that turned out well, and decisions you made instinctively that you can quietly stop making.
05
Where to keep the notes so the habit survives
The habit dies when the tool gets in the way. Almost every coach who quits note keeping quit because writing the note took longer than the note was worth.
The notes need to live somewhere fast, somewhere on the phone, and somewhere attached to the client rather than to a calendar entry or a chat thread. A notebook works for a small caseload but becomes impossible to search past about ten clients. A shared document works for a few weeks then becomes unreadable. A spreadsheet works for the kind of coach who likes spreadsheets and slowly loses everyone else.
Software designed around the per client note, like Another Session, is built for exactly this rhythm. Three lines, attached to the client, searchable in one tap, surfaced before the next session without you having to remember to open it. The whole point is that future you, walking into the next lesson, has the last note already in front of them.
Frequently asked questions.
How long should a session note be?
Three short lines is usually enough. What we did, what I noticed, what to revisit. Anything longer tends not to get written consistently, and a note that is not written is worth nothing.
When should I write the note?
Within an hour of the session, ideally before the next one starts. The honest read of how the lesson landed fades quickly. After a day it is mostly reconstruction.
What should I do with old notes?
Keep them, but do not try to read them often. The honest review pattern is the last note before each session, the last four notes at the end of each block, and three months of notes once a quarter. Anything more is usually performance.
How do I keep notes for thirty clients without losing track?
One profile per client, one short note per session, attached to the profile. The volume only becomes a problem when notes are written to a single timeline rather than per person. Tools like Another Session are built around the per client thread so the volume stays calm.
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