Tailored advice

Originally posted by Honey   Do you tailor advice to the level of the player (or just above their level), or do you give advice based on what a player should be doing irrespective of the level?

Originally posted by wingspan I'm sure that most amateur players are "battered by pro advice" (excellent phrase!)

I think battered is quite an english word, quite common for us here...

Phrases like:

"I got battered last night" (drunk)
to
"I got battered in that match" (lost)

Often pronounced without the t's

I've learn't a few language things on here. Like Aussies extensive use of the word 'heaps'. I never use it, apart from in baking!

I would say "Your focus needs more focus" 
I think some of the best advice I received during a match was from a kid who was younger than me, and had been playing for a shorter length of time. Given, he was a better player than me, and had more serious experience. I think it depends on the view, and the situation.
At least when it comes to training, you have the time to really look at the situation and say, "okay, here is what is going wrong.".
But I think we, like anyone else, only see the highlights. Unless you're a really experienced and world class coach, you miss the small things like, the transition between your FH and BH is bad, but it's not the stroke, it's your footwork. Or the fact that the player is looping well, but really only in one dimension, it's just that their opponent is simply not giving them enough angles, so it just seems like a lucky shot when the opponent miraculously puts them off guard with an out-of-place, or differently paced shot.
The most useful tool IMHO is not having some kind of high level, high dollar coach. Something will always be overlooked. As with a newer method of observation described by Masaaki Tajima(US National Certified Coach),  he would video tape a match being played by one of his students, and sit and watch the match, with a specifically laid out set of papers. On these papers were categories, boxes etc. for the observer to fill in for every point. Messed up the opponent's serve, missed their own serve, pushed long, hit long, third ball, second ball etc.
What he said was more interesting was, comparing the results of the match with asking what his student felt was going wrong and right, were two somewhat different views.  But regardless, the chart helps immensely with tailoring a training regimen for the player to give them game specific training goals.