The following post is a link to one of my instructional articles printed in Tennis Industry Magazine- February 2015. The article is about the importance of understanding your athlete’s make-up. Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
http://www.tennisindustrymag.com/articles/2015/02/10_your_serve_mind_and_body.html
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
www.MaximizingTennisPotential.com
The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible. Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
Mental and Emotional Tennis Myths of Junior Competition
It’s such a crazy world spending everyday with ranked juniors. Deciphering the facts from the myths raises a handful of question. Their attitudes and points of view of the game never cease to amaze me. They tend to be so unevenly developed. On court, they handle more pressure than most adults I know. Off- court, it is often a very different story. I knew a 22 year old top 80 WTA tour player that watched cartoons for hours on end in her down time. Below are some of the “Best Tennis Myths” coming out of the mouths of your kids!
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
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The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible. Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
Establishing Expectations and Guidelines
Parents have to communicate their expectations to their child during both practice as well as match play. This is especially important in the beginner and intermediate levels of the game. It may also be in your best interest to share your list with your child’s primary coach. You will develop an alliance through clarifying your expectations and guidelines.
When speaking with your child, avoid starting with the standard “When I was your age, I had to walk to school uphill…in the snow…both ways…”
Here are my top twenty practice session tennis parental expectations:
Ask your child to challenge themselves daily. Remind them that choosing to train below their capability breeds “mediocrity.” A customized evaluation/plan will ease the stress and lack of communication that often results with lack of preparation.
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
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The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible. Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
In my opinion, confidence is one of the top factors in achieving peak performance. To achieve confidence as your child progresses on her journey, it is first best to consider her goal in tennis matches. Keep in mind that the best parents and players strive for a certain type of success. That success comes in the form of performing in tournaments at the child’s highest level versus having to win every match.
“The second week in a Grand Slam is all about belief.” Chris Everett
FUN FACT: Often professionals are quoted as saying “I’m satisfied and happy when I play in a match at the same level I do on the practice court!”
Lack of confidence issues such as self-doubt and a negative self-image arise from how athletes view past experiences. Often, when asking an adolescent what happened in the match they reply, “I don’t know, I‘m horrible!” Getting to the root of the issue is done by organizing tournament experiences by using match logs.
Champions have experienced losing hundreds of times more often than your junior player. The difference is how they view it. So, how should your daughter view tournament competition? Junior tennis tournaments in general should be viewed as information gathering missions. Success lies in doubling your child’s level of competence every six months. They have to be twice as good as they were six months ago. Replace focusing on winning with focusing on improving every week. Lack of confidence is a common issue. It sneaks into every athlete in every sport.
Confidence Fades:
Players in a slump may be under achieving in more than one of these issues simultaneously.
Rebuilding the Belief
Confidence is a progressive spiral of positive input which leads to positive attitude. True belief and trust is earned by doing everything in your power to be the best you can be. Let’s first look deeper at ten common stepping stones that will rekindle your daughter’s confidence.
FUN FACT: Girls 14’s, Super Nationals Clay Court Championships in Florida. Minutes before a second round match a Southern California parent cornered my daughter, Sarah, to inform her that she is about to get killed by the next “Martina Hingis.” He practically chased Sarah to her court as he continued to banter about how unbelievable her opponent was and how she should not feel bad about losing to this “great” player.
Luckily for us, Sarah had no idea about this second round match up. We simply told her the parent was a jealous nut and just keep the ball to the girl’s pitiful backhand and we’ll go to her favorite lunch spot in an hour or so. Result: My daughter won in two and 6 years later this parent is still causing trouble on the tournament circuit.
Examples:
Parents, ask your player to read through these ten common confidence busters. Do any of them apply to your child? If so, customize a plan to erase them!
Thank you visiting, Frank
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
www.maximizingtennispotential.com
www.RaisingAthleticRoyalty.com
The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible. Thank you for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
Those strategy books seems so technical. Can you make it easy?
What is strategy? Tennis is a very strategic sport. Strokes may get you into the match, but strategy brings success.
Let’s look at strategy in a simple, yet effective format. There are three factors in understanding strategy on the tennis court. They are generic, stylistic and customized.
Generic Strategy
Generic strategy is simply applying the player’s core strengths in patterns. The plan is that the opponent has to respond to your child. Create your child’s patterns, plans and tactics ahead of time. Your child’s generic strategy is to run their patterns and plays. Generic strategies and tactics could include getting in 70 percent first serves or staying neutral until you get the opponent vulnerable, then attack. Patterns can be detailed or so simple. In times of trouble, saying “bounce, hit” as the ball actually bounces off the court and hits their racquet is an s age old generic tactic. It is a wonderful tool used to control the player’s vision and calm them down when they are overcome by the occasion. These generic tactics will be used in January through December, from the first round through the final, In Miami or Moscow, on clay or hard courts. These are your child’s everyday “nuts and bolts” game plan. The idea is to make the opponent react to them.
Stylistic Strategy
Stylistic strategy is your child’s ability to adapt tactics depending on the current style of the opponent. Remind your child not to change a winning tactic just because the opponent changes game styles. A change is only made if the opponent starts to win and the momentum has switched to their side. Styles include retriever, hard hitting baseliner and all court players. It is imperative that your player develop and rehearse patterns used to beat each style of opponent.
Custom Strategy
Custom strategy is your child’s ability to adapt to the day. Your child has to customize or adapting to different elements (wind, heat), court speeds and surfaces as well as the particular strengths and weaknesses of the current opponent. A common word in this phase is tendencies. To borrow from the boxing world, your child needs to spot what is causing the opponent to hurt or “bleed” and then do it more. It is just as important for your child to spot what is causing their own “bleeding” and systematically stop the bleeding. If your child is competing well in every game and often has the winning shot on his/her racquet, it is in their best interest to modify their tactics slightly while keeping the current strategic style of play. If they are losing and are not even in the points or games, a much larger shift of complete game styles may be in order. (For example: Take a bathroom break then change from a hard hitting baseliner to a steady retriever style of play.)
SPECIAL NOTE: A wonderful tool is video analysis. Record a tournament match every week. Have a weekly “Match Play Video Analysis Lesson” with an experienced coach. That’s right, a non- hitting lesson.
The preferred learning style of most players is “Visual Learner”. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Together, they will spot strokes that break down under stress, movement and footwork issues, opponent awareness issues and of course tactical and strategic issues that arise under stress. This allows your coach to customize the lessons as they actually provide solutions to the real issues!
For more information: The Tennis Parent’s Bible Thank you for visiting, Frank
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
wwwMaximizingTennisPotential.com
The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible. Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
FOCUS CONTROL: Broad Vision Versus Narrow Vision
Have you ever watched a match, amateur or professional, and the player with flawless strokes loses to a player with less than perfect strokes? Winning tennis requires more than perfect stroke production. The best player uses proper broad and narrow vision on the court.
Why: Employing both broad and narrow vision develops quicker anticipatory speed, court coverage, court awareness.
Narrow vision is used when the incoming ball is approaching your child. Their attention should be on watching the ball after the bounce in their strike zone.
FUN FACT: Avoid asking them to watch the ball hit their racket. Kids are smart. You’ll be embarrassed. No human can actually see a 2-3 millisecond event.
Broad vision is employed when the ball has left your child’s strings and is out bound towards the opponent’s side. Ask your child to shift their focus to the big picture. They’ll need to spot where their ball is about to land, their opponent’s court position, their swing speed and swing length and their probable strike zone.
If they sense the opponent is on defense, they should be moving to an offensive position. On the other side, if they spot the opponent moving forward preparing to cream the ball, your child should be preparing for defense.
Good players have fast reaction time. They possess quick hands and fast feet. Great players have those skills as well as anticipation. Average players focus on simply tracking the ball. Advanced players pick up visual clues milliseconds before the opponent strikes the ball. Top players position themselves based on the pre-strike observations of the opponent. Examples include:
FUN FACT: Top players aren’t always faster; they simply understand what they are seeing and adjust quicker than the average player.
Thank you for visiting, Frank
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
www.Maximizingtennispotential.com
Thank you for your continued support. I truly appreciate the endless kind words about my blog postings and especially my books The Tennis Parent’s Bible, Raising Athletic Royalty and Championship Tennis. Thanks, Frank Giampaolo
Acknowledging Your Child’s Efforts
Here is a very positive action that brings about happiness:
Once a month, throughout the course of your youngsters tennis career plan on sitting down and writing a letter stating how proud you are of them. Place it on their bed at night.
Parents, do you realize that most full grown adults don’t focus on their job 100 percent of the time! They may be at work, but what are they actually doing? It’s my bet that most adults could not handle the pressure a serious junior competitor endures day in and day out. Take a few moments to acknowledge how proud you are of their efforts. Thank them for the courage they show as they lay it on the line week after week.
The Tennis Parent’s Bible Testimonials:
The below testimonials are just a sample of the many satisfied customers. As a parent and/or a coach, you are faced with difficult and sometimes challenging situations as the director of your child’s tennis career. The Tennis Parent’s Bible provides solutions and directions. It is a one of a kind tennis tool!
Tennis Industry Professional Testimonial:
“Frank Giampaolo just published a great new article in the December issue of Tennisplayer, adapted from his new book the Tennis Parent’s Bible. Subscriber response was very positive! But even if you didn’t read the article, you might want to check out the book, because it’s tremendous.
The Bible is an eBook that is over 230 pages of fascinating, valuable information. And if you order it now there are two free bonus booklets. How to Attract a Tennis Scholarship AND The Tennis Parent’s Bible Match Chart Collection. It’s $39.95 for the whole deal.
Frank has had the opportunity to work with over 60 players (and their families) who went on to win national junior titles. He’s seen it all–the beautiful and the ugly–and talks about what players, coaches, and parents need to know and need to do to help kids have a fabulous, positive life experience and become the best players they can. And he does it with honesty and humor.
I enjoyed and learned from the book myself and that’s why I am recommending it. As I worked through it I saw that the principles and situations Frank describes are really about tennis in general. It’s great to see it applied to high level juniors but it’s relevant to club players and competitive players at all levels. In fact, it’s relevant to life.
So do yourself a favor and order this one. And write in with your own review or leave us a comment in the Forum!”
Tennis Parent Testimonial:
“Dear Frank, Thank you so much for writing The Tennis Parent’s Bible. My family is finally at peace. We have been at “war” over how to best pursue my son’s tennis goals. Now we have a direction and plan of action. My son’s coach, my son and my wife are all on the same page. There is so much to know about developing a tennis player. You have opened my eyes and brought so much clarity for us. I feel my son really has a chance to be the best he can be…Thank you from the bottom of my heart! “
Tennis Coach Testimonial:
“Thank you Frank! I could of not said it better myself! If only every teaching professional would read this manual! It is such a helpful source of information. It takes the blame off all parties and makes the game of tennis much more enjoyable. I am asking all of my tennis instructors read it and I am suggesting that all the tennis families at the club read it! I cannot thank you enough! “
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
www.MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate
The following post is an excerpt from my Player/Parent/Coach Summit in New Zealand with Craig Bell. Thank you for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
www.MaximzingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate
The following is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible. Thank you for visiting, Frank Gimapaolo
Why Does My Child Play Great In Practice But Horrible In Matches?
It’s Friday, the day before a local junior event, John the young hitting pro carefully feeds balls waist level, in the perfect strike zone for your little Nathan. Nathan doesn’t have to move and hits like a champ. On the way home, Nate says, “Man, I’m on fire! Tennis is easy! Forget the open tourney, I’m going pro!”
Saturday morning rolls around and little Nate’s opponent is playing “keep away” from him. He’s wisely keeping balls above Nathan’s shoulders out of his primary strike zone. Nathan goes down in flames. After the match Nate says, “I don’t get it, I was famous yesterday.” Practicing in the manner in which you are expected to perform is a battle cry heard at my workshops daily. There is a totally different set of skills that provide “competitive” confidence or confidence under stress versus simply hitting.
It is important to understand that the essence of a champion doesn’t simply lie in their strokes but in their head and heart. The ability to stay comfortable when things get uncomfortable is undeniably a skill. Mastering their emotions may be just the ingredient your child requires to break through to a higher level. In typical private lessons, clinics and academies around the world the primary focus is on stroke mechanics. The attention is placed on bending your knees, change your grip, toss higher and run faster.
No question, developing sound fundamentals is a critical element of success. However to improve your child’s ability to perform under stress, it is in their best interest to switch from 100 percent stroke repetition practice to the following five practice solutions:
Practice Solutions:
Hitting without accountability is like spending money with an unlimited bank account. Juniors perceive they hit better in practice because they are not aware of the sheer number of mistakes they are actually making. They remember the 10 screaming winners they hit, but forget about the 50 unforced errors they committed in the same hour.
Concentrate on skill sets such as shot selection, patterns, adapting and problem solving, spotting the opponents tendencies, tactical changes and between point rituals.
Trying 110 percent promotes hesitation, over- thinking and tight muscle contractions. Remember this topic in the blunder section?
If you must worry about winning, focus on winning about 65 percent of the points. Yes, you can blow some points and allow your opponent a little glory and still win comfortably.
Top players lose almost every week. Take for example one of the ATP stars I worked with as a teen, Sam Querrey. He has been on tour full time for years. He is well adjusted, rich and famous and yet he understands that he is not going to win every tournament – which means he’s ok with the fact that he will most likely lose almost every week.
Do you want your child to learn how to play through nervousness and manage their mistakes? Do you want them to get better at closing out those 5-3 leads? Do you want them to actually beat that moonball pusher in the third set?
Well, they have to overcome these issues several times in dress rehearsal first before you can expect them to win under pressure. Playing great under stress is a learned behavior. Practicing under simulated stress conditions is the solution.
FUN FACT: Most junior players spend hours upon hours hitting in academies and zero hours a week in full practice matches. They’ve become solid ball strikers but weak competitors.
The challenge is to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Rehearse doing what you’re scared of doing. Take the tougher road less traveled. One of my favorite sayings is
“If you want to get ahead of the pack, you can’t hang in the pack.”
This goes for parents as well. Obviously dropping your child off at the group lesson then going shopping for shoes is way easier than finding practice matches, charting and /or paying a college hitter to play sets. But ask yourself, is taking the convenient way out keeping your child from winning national titles?
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
RaisingAthleticRoyalty.com
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The following post is an excerpt from a Player/Parent/Coach Summit I held in New Zealand with Craig Bell. Thank you for visiting, Frank Giampoalo
Contact:Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate
