📚 Story of the Week
Most of my students don’t know this, but I actually have a Master of Arts in Teaching and originally planned to become a secondary school English teacher.
During my education studies, I learned about a reading phenomenon called chunking.
Chunking — also known as word grouping — is the cognitive process of organizing individual pieces of information (like words) into larger, meaningful units or “chunks.”
When reading, instead of processing one word at a time, skilled readers take in phrases or clusters of words as single perceptual units.
For example, instead of reading the phrase “the/player/hit/a/powerful/ace,” you might perceive it as “the player hit / a powerful ace.”
The result is faster reading and enhanced comprehension — your brain processes information more efficiently.
♟️ This Game Is Chess, Not Checkers
The phenomenon of chunking also appears in the game of chess.
While novices see each move as an isolated event, chess masters see sequences — rehearsed patterns of play.
In a classic 1973 study by Chase and Simon, both masters and novices were shown random chess positions and remembered about the same number of pieces. But when shown real chess positions, the masters recalled dramatically more — because they recognized patterns, not individual pieces.
Just like fluent readers group words into phrases, expert chess players group board elements into configurations.
When that happens, cognitive load decreases, processing speed increases, and mental bandwidth opens up for higher-level strategy.
🧠 Habit Stacking
In Atomic Habits, James Clear describes a similar concept called habit stacking — pairing two closely linked activities so they fuse into one seamless sequence.
For example: “After I brush my teeth, I will immediately floss.”
Over time, the two actions become one practiced routine. With less friction between steps, your brain uses less energy — and the new habit sticks.
At their core, both chunking and habit stacking rely on the brain’s ability to compress complexity into manageable, repeatable units:
- Chunking organizes information (like words or chess positions) into meaningful patterns.
- Habit stacking organizes behaviors (like brushing and flossing) into linked routines.
In both cases, your brain essentially says:
“Instead of processing ten separate steps, I’ll package them into one familiar sequence.”
That’s why once you’ve internalized a reading rhythm, a chess pattern, or a morning routine, it feels almost effortless — the sequence itself becomes a single “mental object.”
Beginners operate with high cognitive load — every step requires conscious effort. Experts operate with chunks — linked units that run automatically.
That transition from effortful to automatic is the essence of mastery, whether in cognition or in competition.
🧐 Chunking in Tennis: From Strokes to Sequences
At Colossal Tennis, we’ve taken this idea of chunking and applied it to the tactical training our players experience every day.
When we set up a game, we often require players to complete a specific sequence before the point can open up into live play.
For example:
“Two crosscourt forehands, then the challenger takes the ball up the line — then play the point out.”
By rehearsing these common point patterns, we’re helping players encode them as mental chunks they can recall instinctively during match play.
Here are a few examples you can try yourself:
- Serve +1: Serve wide, return middle, then attack the open court with your forehand.
- Inside-Out Pattern: Play an inside-out forehand to your opponent’s backhand, then change direction with an inside-in forehand down the line.
- Approach & Volley: Approach down the line to the backhand side and volley to the open court.
By chunking these sequences, players reduce cognitive load, process faster, and make decisions more intuitively — freeing themselves to execute with confidence.
🎾 Match Point
My challenge to you this week: Pick one pattern of play you want to ingrain in your game.
Choose something that plays to your strengths — maybe it’s using your forehand to target your opponent’s backhand, or developing a stronger serve-plus-one combination.
Practice it deliberately. Chunk the sequence. Make it part of your tactical DNA.
When the pressure hits, you won’t have to think — you’ll just play.
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