The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Soft Science of Tennis.
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3. Religiously Spot the Positive
On practice days, I recommend applying the laws of attraction. Destroy their pessimistic point of view by asking them to say “yes” after performing a desired stroke or pattern of play. By doing so, it brings to light just how many good strokes they actually hit. This exercise combats their mental habit of focusing on the negative. Success starts by focusing on successes versus failures. It requires changing their doubt in their abilities because their doubt directly undermines their progress.
Once these pessimists see the progress in their abilities, they begin to show positive character traits and critical newborn life skills.
4. Commit to Playing One Game
On match days, fixed mindset “red flags” are everywhere as they try desperately to self-sabotage their performance. By doing so, they’re building their arsenal of excuses for their ego out. “I would have won, but I didn’t have time to train.” “I could have won if I didn’t have this blister on my thumb.”
Also, typical with fixed mindset athletes is to try desperately to back out of competition the morning of the match.
The negotiation tactic I recommend is to ask them to enjoy their pre-match preparation and commit to playing at least one game. If the athlete still wants to default out after one game, that’s fine. Once in the match, they almost always see that the environment is not as threatening as they perceived. The opponent’s not as good as they imagined. So they play a few more games.
Teach my growth mindset philosophy: You have to be present to win. Opportunities and incredible victories present themselves if the athletes are willing to try.
Benefits of Competition for Fixed Mindsets
Many undeniable, positive aspects stem from tournament competition. Advantages include:
- Competition keeps us honest: It allows us to assess our strokes and movement efficiencies and deficiencies. Exposing our strengths and hiding our weaknesses is an important function of match play.
- Competition assists us in the art of opponent profiling. Without match play, there’s no dissecting because there are no opponents.
- Competition exposes our mental fortitude. The ability to stay on Script (your customized game plan), strategy, and tactics the match demands.
- Competition through failure and success helps us develop a massive list of life skills, positive character traits, and a moral compass.
- Competition aids in developing consistent quality. Winning a 64 draw event requires peak performance for approximately 15 sets.
- Competition assists us in customizing our future developmental schedules. It’s not the quantity of on-court time; it’s the quality that counts.
Tennis mastery is a process of continuous adaptation and improvement, which is a growth mindset system.
