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Performance Anxiety Symptoms And Causes – Part 5

Posted on January 5, 2019 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

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Confidence Is Nurtured by Positive Self Talk

Encourage your athlete to think positively, such as, I deserve my success, I have trained for it, I am a problem solver, I am resilient, I will do my best and/or I can.  A positive attitude is a critical first step when tackling performance anxiety issues. Sadly, I’ve found that many athletes are actually nurtured pessimism. This happens when players are raised by parents or trained by coaches that see the negatives in every situation- which is actually programming pessimism unknowingly to their children. Ironically, the very same parents and coaches often report, “My kids are so negative!”

If the family environment is becoming a bit too negative, a fun game to play for the entire family is an old psychology exercise called the “Flip It” game. Trust me, it could change your lives.

 

Hold a family meeting and introduce a one week exercise. Everyone is encouraged to say “Flip It” whenever they witness another family member saying something pessimistic or acting negatively. Athlete example, “I don’t want to eat this healthy stuff.”- FLIP IT, “I hate this drill”-FLIP IT, “It’s too early…I don’t want to go for a run before school.” FLIP IT! Parental example “Yea, he won 6-2, 6-4 but he should have won 0-0”, -FLIP IT!  This exercise spotlights the negative behavior. It makes the negatron aware of his/her reoccurring pessimism and encourages optimism in a light-hearted, non-threatening way.

 

“Learning to spot and flip pessimism and replace it with optimism is presenting the moral code needed to champion tennis and life.”

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Performance Anxiety Symptoms And Causes – Part 4

Posted on December 31, 2018 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

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Solutions and Cures

Remember the acronym for WIN- W: What’s; I: Important; N: Now. Dummy up and only focus on what’s important now, from pre-match rituals, through each point of the match, to post-match rituals.
Be prepared in every possible way- technical, physical, emotional and mental:

Technical Preparation: The “tool belt” of primary & secondary strokes are all pre-developed and wired for tournament play.

Physical Preparation: Aerobic and anaerobic capacities are ready to handle the long-standing suffering of winning six matches in a row.

Emotional/Focus Preparation: Pre-set protocols/solutions have been discussed and developed to handle any crisis.

Mental/Strategy and Tactics: Pre-set patterns to successfully pull all four different styles of opponents out of their comfortable system of play.

 

 

“The very best way to destroy performance anxiety is through growth.”

 

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Performance Anxiety Symptoms And Causes – Part 3

Posted on December 27, 2018 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

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Solutions and Cures

Individual personalities come with unique frustration tolerance levels. So it’s safe to say that symptoms and cures are often remarkably different. Listed below are the anxiety-reducing strategies that I teach my students to handle pressure. Set aside time to discuss the below 6 performance anxiety busters with your team.

1) Pre-match preparation is essential. Prepare all strokes, patterns, one’s physical body and one’s state of mind properly before each match. Top professionals have a specific routine before and after every match.
2) Keep your self-destruction notes handy. The mental section provided you with a list of ten “Self-Destruction Solutions.”
3) To avoid choking and panicking requires understanding the under arousal, ideal performance and the over arousal state of minds.
4) Emotional toughness is being bigger than the moment. This state of mind requires three months of practicing in the manner in which you are expected to perform versus simply hitting tons of balls back and forth.

 

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Performance Anxiety Symptoms And Causes – Part 2

Posted on December 21, 2018 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

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Below, I’ve listed four categories of common performance anxiety symptoms.  If you suspect that your child’s fear of competition, confrontation or adversity is affecting their performance, it may be time to gather the coaches for an emotional training session. Ask your child to check any below symptoms that they feel describes them on match day. Design a new action plan to overcome each issue.

 Match Day Symptoms

Physical Symptoms:

  • Shallow, fast breathing
  • Increased muscle tension throughout the body
  • Increased perspiration
  • Feeling dizzy and weak in the knees
  • Feeling that your body is on the court but your mind is somewhere else

Mental Symptoms:

  • Inability to focus one point at a time
  • Overthinking (choking)
  • Underthinking (panicking)
  • Reoccurring thoughts of failure
  • Worrying about others opinions of their performance
  • Obsessing about others rankings & successes

Emotional Symptoms:

  • Self-doubt in strokes as seen in “pushing”
  • Self-doubt in stamina & strength as seen in reckless shot selection (to endpoints prematurely)
  • Nervousness, hesitation & fearful performance
  • Stressing about uncontrollable variables
  • Not taking the time to enjoy the moment

Behavioral Symptoms:

  • Not performing match day routines & rituals
  • Hurrying & fast pace walking
  • Having mini-tantrums, racket cracking or mindless fast walking/play
  • Forgetting the basic ball striking functions
  • Allowing the opponent or situation to control your playing speeds

 

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Performance Anxiety Symptoms And Causes – Part 1

Posted on December 18, 2018 by in The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

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Performance anxieties appear in a broad spectrum. Some athletes seem to fear nothing…some fear everything. Most have their personal anxiety triggers that should be discovered and examined. If you suspect that your child is experiencing excessive performance anxiety, it’s time to look at the common signs. If your athlete’s lack of personal belief is over-riding their actual ability then they’re battling performance anxiety which is part of the emotional development of the game.

 

“Emotional Development is just as important as stroke development.”

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Neuro Priming- Designing and Recording Protocols- Part 4

Posted on December 14, 2018 by in Neuro Priming for Peak Performance

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Designing and Recording Protocols

Neuro Priming for Peak Performance is organized into five chapters.  Each chapter is devoted to a distinct tennis skill set. Designing an athlete’s personalized audio recordings is best completed with a high EQ (Emotional Quota) coach or tennis mind. The following is a step by step guide for all five sections. (Sample solutions for all five sections provided in Sample Solutions section beginning on page 59.)

Step 1

With your coach, discuss each of the audio recording topics and complete your personalized script of solutions. These solutions should result from on-court training and most proficient patterns and tactics. The athlete should be able to perform the solutions routinely.

Step 2

Once solutions are identified, find a quiet space, eliminate all distractions, and get comfortable while you read your customized scripts into your cell phone’s digital recorder. Allow 5 seconds in-between tips to enable time for adequate mental rehearsal visualization.

Step 3

Begin your mental rehearsals in a calm mental state by breathing deeply, eliminating muscle tension and controlling your wandering mind. While visualizing your physical, mental and emotional skill sets, apply realistic imagery using slow motion and real-time visualization.

 

Key Times for Neuro Priming

  • Nightly before falling asleep, especially before matches.
  • Early morning, when you’re just waking up.
  • Drive time/travel time.
  • Before competitive matches.
  • Between points & change-overs.
  • After competition as a performance review.
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Neuro Priming- Part 3

Posted on December 9, 2018 by in Neuro Priming for Peak Performance

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The Sports Science of Neuro Priming

Neuroscientists report that mental rehearsal activates a network of neural coded motor programs in the brain that when primed activate the athlete’s correct physiological responses. By creating customized audio recordings and then routinely listening to the recordings, the athlete strengthens the neural pathways required for competition.

 

Why Neuro Priming Works

Mental rehearsal is a form of preventative medicine. It identifies the causes of an athlete’s anxiety. Neuro priming pin-points the possible problems and pre-sets their solutions. Performing at peak performance level requires the athlete to be confident and able to adapt when things go astray. In competitive matches, the athlete who has their pre-set contingency plans has superior confidence in their problem-solving ability.

Neuro priming is one of an athlete’s greatest defenses against performance anxieties. It assists the athlete in trading in pessimism for optimism.  (Note: Neuro priming may be a 3 -second between-point visualization routine or up to a 20-minute complete pre-competition review.)

ATP and WTA touring professionals are often quoted as saying the game is 90% mental and 10% physical. Neuro priming is a cutting-edge method to improve the mental and emotional components of a competitive athlete’s tennis game. As I stated at the beginning, an athlete’s routines and rituals ultimately define their success. I hope you find Neuro Priming for Peak Performance the key to maximizing your athlete’s potential.

 

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Benefits of Neuro Priming- Part 2

Posted on December 6, 2018 by in Neuro Priming for Peak Performance

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The Benefits of Neuro Priming For Peak Performance Includes:

  • Increased confidence
  • Enhanced match awareness
  • Quickened cognitive processing speed
  • Improved the mind-body neuro connection
  • Greater tactical awareness
  • Stroke flaw awareness & solutions
  • Conflict resolution
  • Stress management
  • Opponent awareness
  • Score management
  • Choking & panicking resolution
  • Problem-solving skills
  • Enhanced strategic responses
  • Improved emotional responses
  • Staying on script (patterns and plays)
  • Decreased worry, stress and fear
  • Advanced resiliency
  • Increased motivation
  • Less hesitation
  • Increased developmental organization
  • Upgraded focus ability

Enhanced concentration

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What is Neuro Priming?

Posted on December 4, 2018 by in Neuro Priming for Peak Performance

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Neuro Priming For Peak Performance

In the medical field, heart surgeons report that if they practiced the way they did just five years ago, they would have been sued for malpractice. Yet, in the business of coaching tennis, teaching professionals all too often teach the same fundamental systems they were taught decades ago. Dedicating most tennis training to grooving forehands and backhands and neglecting training what’s between the ears. Success in the competitive game of tennis is dependent on emotional and mental warfare.

I’ve found that only training an athlete’s hardware (stroke fundamentals & athleticism) and ignoring their software (mental and emotional), often results in match-day disappointment due to underdeveloped competitive skills.

Researchers estimated that even with the best teachers, students typically walk away from their training sessions retaining approximately 20% of the coach’s advice. So to help reinforce lesson instruction, I recommend applying customized neuro priming.

Neuro priming involves mental imagery to review and rehearse solutions for competitive performance. This visualization process is an essential off-court form of training personalized to each athlete with advanced solutions designed for specific match play situations. Neuroscientists report that athletes who apply personalized mental rehearsals drastically improve performance during match play. I consider neuro priming not only fundamental for competitive athletes but often the missing link for athletes unable to compete under stress at their full potential.

 

“Competitive successes or failures aren’t the results of a singular performance, but the result of the athlete’s physical, mental and emotional routines and rituals.”

 

This guidebook provides a fresh, unique pathway to improving tennis skills with a customized script, in the athlete’s very own voice via a series of audio recordings on their phone. Neural priming is not meant to replace an athlete’s on-court tennis training. It is an essential enhancement of their mental, emotional and physical skills. Just as priming muscles before competition increases athleticism, neuro priming increases cognitive processing speed.

 

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Does Your Athlete Know Their Game?

Posted on December 2, 2018 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

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When parents and coaches say, “Just go out and play your game!” Most athletes do not even know what their game is? 

Identifying and rehearsing the Top Seven Patterns that are played most proficiently will help the athlete maximize potential at a quicker rate. Does your athlete know their game? 

TOP SEVEN PATTERNS

 

1) Top Service Pattern: Deuce Side (2 Ball Sequence)

My Script: _________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

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2) Top Service Pattern: Add Side (2 Ball Sequences)

My Script: _________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

 

3) Top Service Position & Return Pattern Versus 1st Serve

My Script: ____________________________________________

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

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4) Top Service Return Position & Shot Option Versus 2nd Serve

My Script: _____________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

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5) Top Rally Pattern to Get the Opponent Vulnerable

My Script: ______________________________________________

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

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6) Top Short Ball Option

My Script: ______________________________________________

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______________________________________________________

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7) Top Net Rushing Pattern

My Script: _________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

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