The following post is an excerpt from Emotional Aptitude In Sports NOW available through most on-line retailers! Click Here to Order
12 Tough Love Rules of Tennis
- When you lose, it is usually caused by flawed preparation. Learn from losses and prepare intelligently.
- Competition isn’t always fair. Pre-set solutions to deal with it.
- When push comes to shove, tennis peers are opponents, not friends. In battle, put aside the friendship until after the match.
- If you want to make friends with the top players, you must first beat them … then they will be calling you.
- You will not earn a college athletic scholarship training only when it is convenient.
- High-performance tennis is a game of keep away… not catch. Rallying back to someone in practice day in- day out isn’t the best use of your time.
- Practice in the exact manner you’re expected to perform.
- If you think junior tennis is tough, wait until you get to college. College coaches demand that you put in approximately 30 hours a week of hard work.
- Playing practice matches versus a slightly weaker opponent isn’t beneath you. It is called: an opportunity for growth.
- Only playing up usually teaches you one thing… how to lose. Playing down will assist in implementing one’s game plans and actually learning to stay on script long enough to win multiple matches in a row.
- Clean strokes will get you into the event, mental preparedness will progress you into the later rounds but it is your emotional aptitude that will the tournament for you… if you have developed it.
- Top national players don’t take summers off. As a matter of fact, they don’t spend school breaks (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, long weekends…) relaxing with friends because they are dedicated to being competing at the highest level and being the best they can be!
Coaches, please pass this reality check on to your athletes and their parents!
Frank Giampaolo, Best Selling Author
The Tennis Parents Bible/Emotional Aptitude in Sports/ Championship Tenniswww.maximizingtennispotential.com
