Court-side coaching on WhatsApp Coach guide
WhatsApp is here so you can do quick coaching from your phone
without opening the admin app — jot notes, save clips, rate
matches, reply to students. It's a benefit we offer to
paid-subscriber students only, and the goal is to
let you capture the small things in the moment rather than after
the fact.
Always route through the TennisHackery Relay number.
Do not give students your personal WhatsApp, and never DM them
from your personal phone. The Relay is the only channel that
attaches messages to the right match, saves to the report, keeps
juniors safeguarded, and gives you an audit trail. Direct DMs
bypass all of that.
What this is for
The TennisHackery Relay number sits between you and your
paid-subscriber students. Anything they send arrives on your
WhatsApp Business app tagged with their name and match; your
replies relay back the same way. The intent is to let you do
quick coaching from your phone — without having to open the
admin app.
Four small commands let you write into the match record
from WhatsApp:
- 📌 Keep a clip
a student sent you (or one you send them) — pulls it into their
match record.
- 📝 Jot a note
about their match — saves to the report.
- ⭐ Rate their
Fundamentals / Fitness / Mind from 0–5.
- 🔄 Switch students
when you want to log something for a different match.
And you can reply normally to chat — coaching conversation
works like any WhatsApp chat. All of it must go through
the Relay. Don't share your personal WhatsApp with
students, even if they ask — direct DMs bypass the report,
bypass safeguarding, and create a paper-trail gap you'd have
to defend later.
First-time setup (5 minutes)
- Install WhatsApp Business on your
phone. It's free, separate icon from regular WhatsApp.
- Sign in with the coach phone number we have on file
for you.
- Save students to your contacts as they come in — easier
to scan later.
- (Optional but useful) Set up an Away message
so students know your hours.
From here on, you just use WhatsApp normally.
The one habit that makes all of this work: Reply
Long-press the student's message → tap "Reply"
before you type. Every time.
Why: all your students message the same TennisHackery WhatsApp
line, so their messages mingle in one chat thread. Reply
pins your message to the exact student you're talking to. No
confusion, no wrong-student notes.
B
TH-Business · WhatsApp Business
💬 Travis · TH-MC-092
Coach, my second serve felt slow today
10:32 am
Travis · TH-MC-092
Coach, my second serve felt slow today
Try a slightly faster toss arm — we'll work it next session
10:48 am ✓✓
Notice the small grey quote above your reply — that's WhatsApp
showing which message you Replied to. As long as you see that
quote, you're safe.
Ground rules
Read these once. They matter more than the commands.
Always go through the TennisHackery Relay
- Never share your personal WhatsApp with a student,
even if asked. They message the Relay number; you reply on
WhatsApp Business signed in as that number. That's the only
supported channel.
- Never DM a student from your personal
phone — messages outside the Relay aren't logged, can't be
attached to a match, and create a safeguarding gap.
- Paid subscribers only. If someone reaches
out who isn't a current paying student, redirect them to the
website signup. The Relay isn't a public help line.
Keep it short, keep it coaching
- Two sentences max per reply. If a
question needs a paragraph, redirect: "Great question —
let's cover it next session."
- One topic per message. Don't chain
unrelated things.
- Don't get pulled into long dialogues.
WhatsApp is for quick observations and capturing match
metadata — not for free lessons.
- Respect your own hours. Use WhatsApp
Business' Away message so students know not to wait
outside your coaching hours.
- No same-day session promises unless
you've already confirmed availability in the admin app.
Junior players — parents on the chat
For students under 18, a parent or guardian must
be on the WhatsApp thread. Phrase every message
assuming the parent is reading. If a junior is messaging
without a parent present, pause and ask the family to add
one before you continue.
Don't use WhatsApp for…
| Situation | Where instead |
|---|
| Payment, billing, refunds | Admin app / account manager. |
| Scheduling, rescheduling | Admin app calendar. |
| Injury or medical concerns | Phone call (parent first if junior), then admin notes. |
| Disputes or complaints | Phone call, then admin escalation. |
| Anything that needs a paper trail | Email or admin notes — WhatsApp is conversational, not legal. |
| PII (addresses, IDs, third-party info) | Never over WhatsApp. Use the dashboard. |
@save — keep a clip in the match record
Two ways to use it:
1. Save a clip a student sent you
The court situation
Travis just sent a 12-second video of his second serve after
practice. You can see the toss is drifting behind him. Worth
keeping in his match record so it shows up in the report.
What you do: long-press Travis's video →
Reply → type @save toss too low
💬 Travis · TH-MC-092
🎥 video, 12s
Look at this second serve
2:14 pm
Travis · TH-MC-092 · 🎥 video
@save toss too low
2:18 pm ✓✓
📋 TH-MC-092 → Travis Zheng
✅ Media saved.
2:18 pm
2. Save a clip you're sending
The court situation
You recorded a 10-second demo of the grip change you want
Sarah to work on. You want her to see it AND want it in her
match record so it shows up in her next report.
What you do: attach the video, type
@save grip change demo in the caption,
send.
Sarah · TH-MC-101
Coach, can you show me the grip?
🎥 video, 10s
@save grip change demo
4:30 pm ✓✓
📋 TH-MC-101 → Sarah Patel
✅ Media saved & sending.
4:30 pm
Sarah sees only the video and "💬 Coach: grip change demo".
She doesn't see @save.
Don't @save everything. Every @save uses
storage. Only save clips that are genuinely worth keeping
for the student's report — a technique flaw, a breakthrough
moment, a demo clip. If you don't @save, the clip is just
shown and discarded — clean and free.
@note — jot a quick note
The court situation
Travis just lost a tight tiebreak. You noticed he was
rushing his second serve under pressure. You want that in
the report.
What you do: Reply on any message from
Travis → type @note rushing 2nd serve in
tight points, tighten toss
Travis never sees this. It goes straight into the match's
coach notes — the same place it'd go if you typed it in the
admin app.
💬 Travis · TH-MC-092
Tough one today coach 😅
5:02 pm
Travis · TH-MC-092
Tough one today coach 😅
@note rushing 2nd serve in tight points, tighten toss
5:05 pm ✓✓
📋 TH-MC-092 → Travis Zheng
✅ Note saved.
5:05 pm
@rate — score Fundamentals / Fitness / Mind
Same FFM scoring you'd do in the admin app — just from your
phone. Score is 0–5. Add a short comment after if you want.
- @rate Fu — Fundamentals (technique)
- @rate Fit — Fitness (movement, stamina)
- @rate Mi — Mind (composure, decisions)
The court situation
Sarah held her composure through a tough 3-setter — that
mental side is worth a 5. You want to log it before you
forget.
What you do: Reply on Sarah's message →
@rate Mi 5 stayed calm down a break
💬 Sarah · TH-MC-101
Won 7-5 in the third!
6:48 pm
Sarah · TH-MC-101
Won 7-5 in the third!
@rate Mi 5 stayed calm down a break
6:50 pm ✓✓
📋 TH-MC-101 → Sarah Patel
✅ Mind 5/5.
6:50 pm
Re-rating the same axis later just overwrites — feel free
to update your rating as you reflect.
@match — switch to a different student/match
The court situation
You just finished writing notes about Travis. Now you want
to log something for Sarah's match, but you're not Replying
to her — you're just typing fresh.
What you do: put the match passcode first,
then any other commands. The match passcode is on her match
in the admin app.
@match TH-MC-101 @note baseline shape much improved this match
7:14 pm ✓✓
📋 TH-MC-101 → Sarah Patel
✅ Note saved.
7:14 pm
Used by itself, @match TH-MC-XXX
just switches to that student — handy if you're about to send
several messages and don't want to repeat the passcode each time.
Doing several things in one message
You can chain commands. Easiest example: a clip is worth
keeping AND you want to log a note AND rate the match — all
in one tap.
💬 Travis · TH-MC-092
🎥 video, 8s · second serve
3:02 pm
Travis · TH-MC-092 · 🎥 video
@save toss too low @note rushing 2nd serve @rate Fu 3 work on grip
3:05 pm ✓✓
📋 TH-MC-092 → Travis Zheng
✅ Media saved.
✅ Note saved.
✅ Fundamentals 3/5.
3:05 pm
Travis only sees the video and your reply text (the @-commands
are stripped from what he sees). Your notes/rating/save go straight
to the admin record.
Always glance at the bot's confirmation
Every command gets a one-line confirmation header showing
which match and student it went to:
📋 TH-MC-092 → Travis Zheng
✅ Note saved.
✅ Fundamentals 4/5.
That header is your safety net. If the
passcode or student name isn't who you meant — re-send with
@match TH-MC-XXX at the start.
It's the one second of attention that saves a wrong-student
note ending up in the wrong report.
End-of-day review in the admin app
Everything you do on WhatsApp — student inbounds, your
replies, your @save / @note /
@rate commands — is mirrored into the
admin app's Messages view, per student, in
chronological order. Messages that originated on WhatsApp are
tagged with a small WhatsApp
icon so you can spot the channel at a glance.
It's a good place to sit down at the end of the day — desktop
or mobile admin — and skim each student's thread to make sure
the right notes landed, ratings make sense, and you didn't
miss anyone. If a note got attached to the wrong student, fix
it there.