BLOG

Playing With Anger

Posted on August 7, 2017 by in Emotional Tennis, Raising Athletic Royalty

The following post is an excerpt from Raising Athletic Royalty NOW available through most online retailers!
Click Here to Order

 Raising Athletic Royalty Cover-3 FINAL

ANGER

 

“PLAYING ANGRY ALMOST ALWAYS GUARANTEES FOUR UNPLEASANTRIES: LACK OF A GAME PLAN, THE INABILITY TO STAY IN THE MOMENT, INEFFICIENT MOTOR PROGRAMS, AND THAT YOU WILL LOSE AT A FASTER RATE.”

 

“Playing angry is a sign of being underprepared for competition.”

 

“TO STOP PERFORMING ANGRILY, BOLDLY DO WHAT THE MOMENT DEMANDS AND LET GO OF THE OUTCOME.”

 

“If your child has trouble accepting that they have anger management issues, review the following steps.  Step one is admitting that anger is affecting their performance.  Step two is taking the time to organize an action plan to fix the issues.  Step three is rehearsing the pre-set protocols until they are wired.  Without acceptance, there is no recovery.”

 

“PERFORMING WITH ANGER IS A PHASE CHAMPIONS BRIEFLY PASS THROUGH AND THE AVERAGE ATHLETE CHOOSES TO HANG ON TO…”

 

Leave a comment

ADVERSITY

Posted on August 5, 2017 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

https://www.amazon.com/Raising-Athletic-Royalty-Insights-Lifetime/dp/1505374359

The following post is an excerpt from Raising Athletic Royalty NOW available through most online retailers!
Click Here to Order

 Raising Athletic Royalty Cover-3 FINAL

ADVERSITY QUOTES

 

“The parental role should be one of gratitude and optimism versus stress and pessimism.”

 

“RECOGNIZE THAT ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT IS OFTEN THREE STEPS FORWARD & TWO STEPS BACK.”

 

“Under game day adversity, champions choose to stay on script. This is performing in the manner in which they have been trained.”

 

“YOU AND YOUR CHILD MAY NOT REALIZE IT AT THE TIME, BUT ADVERSITY MOTIVATES IMPROVEMENT.”

 

“The ability to handle adversity is a learned behavior. Simulate times of controversy in practice and rehearse how your child should handle it.”

 

Leave a comment

Emotional Toughness

Posted on July 31, 2017 by in Emotional Aptitude in Sports, Emotional Tennis

 

The following post is an excerpt from Emotional Aptitude In Sports NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

 

ea-in-sports4a_finalSolutions to Emotional Toughness

Emotional aptitude isn’t typically identifiable until after competition begins. What separates the elite competitors from the emotionally fragile athletes is their ability to thrive under perceived stress. Emotional aptitude is the ability to overcome hardships and to de-stress situations rather than magnify stressful situations. Athletes struggling with poor emotional aptitude lack confidence, composure, suffer bouts of self-doubt and possess an overwhelming fear of being judged by others. These performance meltdowns often go unseen in practice but shine in all their glory on game day.

Elite competitors are confident that their superior emotional strength will override any hardships and physical limitations. The emotionally weak athletes are convinced that the unfair hardships and their perceived limitations will override their peak performance and catastrophe will once again occur.

An old school word used to describe emotional aptitude is Grit. In regards to high achievers, researchers have come to the conclusion that successful individuals possess traits deeper than the mastery of athletic ability.  Grit is persistent courage, resolve, and strength of character. Grit is the learned ability to have “nerves of steel,” fortitude and determination. Interestingly, some athletes are pre-wired to have these essential components and some are not. For those athletes who are not natural combatants, developing emotional aptitude is critical.

Sadly, emotionally weak competitors often ignore the development of such skills.  Cultivating these character traits is what propels the few into the winner’s circle. If you believe that your emotions are holding you hostage on game day and keeping you from the success you deserve, I suggest focusing your attention on the below list of solutions. (Five solutions of fifteen are listed.)

 Solutions to Foster Emotional Strength (5 of 15 listed )

  • Nurture the Love of Competition
    Studies show that experiences bring more joy than possessions. The energy of the event is contagious. Athletes should enjoy competing against their past, fatigue, opponents and against time.
  • Commit to Improving
    Being the best of the best (even in your town) doesn’t come without extreme effort. Improve your performance by understanding emotional aptitude.
  • Recognize That You Can’t Be Normal …and a Champion
    Champions lead very different lives than normal people. Being an athletic champion is a daily life style.
  • Customize Your Training
    Realize that diligent customized training trumps social, group learning. Research shows, on average, group training takes up to six times longer than quality private training.
  • Adopt a Growth Mindset
    Great skills are cultivated through continuous effort more so than initial talent or IQ. Without effort…you fail by default. Understand that success starts with the effort of optimism and a growth mindset.
Leave a comment

College Athletics

Posted on July 28, 2017 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

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

sarah

College Athletics

If college athletics is your child’s goal, it is in your best interest to begin preparing early. Putting off serious training until your child is in high school is most often too late.

“The ultimate goal for a high school age athlete is to be in the “Buyer’s Market.”

 

The Buyers’ Market versus the Sellers’ Market:

The buyers’ market means your child has focused on developing their skills and achieving athletic royalty (Top National or ITF ranking) and the top college coaches are not only aware of them, they are heavily recruiting them in a bidding war.

It is important to understand that if you and your child have waited to get serious about their sport until high school age, you will most likely be in the “Seller’s Market.” In essence, as a parent, your job will be to “sell” your child’s possible value to the coach. Your child is now one of the thousands of talented but unproven athletes vying for the leftover scraps of scholarship funds. If you think the task of “selling” your child’s skills is tough, wait until you have to write those dreaded big checks for their education. If you build a champion the coaches will come to you!

“Get ahead of the crowd early by applying a deliberate, customized development plan. Successful college athletic careers are preceded by years and years of successful preparation.”

 

Preparing for college early will not only bring the college scholarship offers to you, it may even help you open a door that may have otherwise been closed. For example, Ivy League schools do not offer athletic scholarships but your child’s tennis may give them the admittance edge over other students with similar or even higher academic profiles.

For more details regarding the college search process, please visit my dedicated eBook: How to Attract a College Athletic Scholarship.  It has everything you didn’t even know…you needed to know! www.maximizingtennispotential.com

Leave a comment

Pre-Match Visualization and Imagery

Posted on July 23, 2017 by in Emotional Tennis, Maximizing Tennis Potential

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

09HEADPHONESweb1-1441671027028-master675

PRE-MATCH VISUALIZATION AND IMAGERY

Warming up doesn’t stop at the physical. Players need to build up their “wall of defenses” in preparation for the continuous onslaught of mental and emotional challenges that competitive tennis encompasses. What we think about often dictates what we create.

A mental, emotional no-no is to obsess about the next opponent’s past success, ranking or seeding. Winning tough matches begins with a winning mind set.

“A winning mind set is a performance based plan.”

In the nights leading up to a big event, a great way to preset a positive mindset is to re-live a past peak performance experiences. Set aside 15 minutes a night for three nights in a row to allow your athlete to re-experience the feelings of coming through under pressure. This is known to calm nervousness and quiet fears. It also has been linked to motor programming the skills of applying the appropriate responses with little or no cognitive processing. It has been proven to improve the player’s physical, mental and emotional performance on game day.

Positive visualization includes the athlete imagining their strokes working to perfection, their tactics and strategies working like clockwork and their emotional state of mind calm and relaxed.

Pre-match visualization topics are unlimited, but some of the best visualization exercises include the following:

1) Perfectly executed primary and secondary strokes.

2) Top seven favorite perfectly executed patterns.

3) The three pillars of between-point rituals.

4) Successful patterns of play against the three main styles of opponents.

5) Preset protocols for common emotional issues. (Gamesmanship)

 

Ask your athlete to begin their pre-match visualization by arriving on site early enough to set aside 20 minutes to mentally rehearse the performance goals they’ve been rehearsing on the practice court.

Start this self-hypnosis by seeking out a quiet area away from other competitors and distractions- with closed eyes, ask them to take several deep relaxing breaths. Then create a vivid mental image of numerous tasks being performed successfully. Let’s call this your positive movie.

To build confidence and reduce pre-match stress, ask them to mentally re-run the “movie” several times to reinforce the positive thoughts.

 

“Positive constructive visualization actually trains a player to perform the skills imagined calmly, without hesitation.”

Leave a comment

Responsibility and Accountability

Posted on July 19, 2017 by in Emotional Aptitude in Sports, Emotional Tennis

The following post is an excerpt from Emotional Aptitude In Sports NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

ea-in-sports4a_2d

In athletic competition, accountability is two-fold.  It’s not only what we choose to do but what we choose not to do.

Coaching an athlete isn’t only about teaching the techniques of the sport. It also involves motivating athletes to drop their “conditions.”  These are their creative excuses for not training the way they should be training. It’s their escape mechanism. Competitors of all ages use the excuse of injury, time restraints or simple arrogance for not training properly. It’s their way of liberating themselves from responsibilities.

In our continuing observational study, I asked Evan and Jarrod about some of the creative excuses they’ve used for not training properly. Here’s what they came up with:

  • “I would go for my run today but it’s raining outside.”
  • “I would train but my friends are coming over tonight.”
  • “I can’t work out before school because there’s no time.”

Another common creative excuse is blaming others. Here’s what the twins have to say about the blame game:

  • “My teacher gave me too much homework this week and so I can’t train today.”
  • “It’s not my fault I can’t train, my trainer worked me too hard and now I’m injured.”
  • “I can’t play points again today after practice because I’m hanging out with my friends.”

 

Stop Defending Old Bad Habits

When athletes stop avoiding the work and begin to rise to the occasion an emotional break through takes place and confidence is born. Daily accountability separates the dreamers from the doers. I’ve found that some athletes have to be trained to stop defending their old comfortable bad habits. If they’re still defending them, they have no motivation to quit them. It takes honesty and courage to walk away from self-destructive, unproductive behavior. What is stopping most of us from incredible success is the unwillingness to drop the old, bad habits.

Leave a comment

ATP Stevie Johnson Interview

Posted on July 13, 2017 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

 

Dear Stevie,stevie and steve

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. It was an honor to have known your father, Steve Johnson. Someone so special can never be forgotten. Wishing your heart and soul will find peace and comfort during this difficult time. Sincerely, Frank Giampaolo

 The below post is an interview with ATP Professional Stevie Johnson in 2015.

STEVIE JOHNSON ATP PROFESSIONAL

Stevie Johnson was a top US National Junior, 2 Time Singles CIF Champion and 4 Time Team CIF Champion at D-I University of Southern California (USC) and currently a top 30 ATP Pro tour player.

 

Frank: What qualities should a parent look for when hiring a coach or academy?

Stevie: The coach has to truly care about the student and sincerely look for what’s best for the student in both tennis and life. I feel it’s important to seek a positive learning atmosphere where both tennis skills and character skills are continually emphasized.

 

Frank: Looking back on your illustrious junior career, what do you attribute your success?

Stevie: Even though I was #1 in the 12’s and 14’s, that style of game wouldn’t take me to the top in college or in the pros. I had to refocus my development in the 16’s and 18’s. I was a bit lazy with my off-court training early on and relied on my talent and strong competitive nature, but to continue to grow and improve, I had to make fitness a priority. Honestly, I don’t even remember my 12 and under trophies.

 

Frank: It sounds like focusing on improvement versus tournament wins/rankings is a theme of yours. Why?

Stevie: In the younger divisions you can win with a limited moonball game because the rest of the field isn’t fully developed. This winning tactic is not successful in the older divisions. I really don’t see pushers in the pros. The professional athletes attack. I believe it’s important for the parents and players to be “ok” losing while developing the whole game. Just being satisfied with a limited game that wins to at the lower levels will limit your career.  I recommend seeking weekly improvement versus having to always win.

 

Frank: When should parents, players and coaches begin to develop the mental and emotional components of the game?

Stevie: I think it’s a maturity level, not a certain age. Different people allow their mood to affect their performance more than others. If they struggle with crazy emotional ups and downs, they should focus on improving their emotional stability. The key is to develop and continually improve every component so the player can stay engaged and competitive in every circumstance.

 

Frank: What are the primary differences between playing national level juniors and D-1, NCAA ball?

Stevie: If you choose the right college coach and program, there’s a heightened level of dedication, developmental structure, and focused off-court training. Coaches, teammates and even the international opponents push each other to train harder.

 

Frank: What are the primary differences between NCAA tennis and ATP pro ball?

Stevie: It’s not so much strokes but the addition of all the seemingly smaller intangibles. The mental and emotional components are better. They include longer-deeper focus and competitiveness. They don’t give away any free points and the athletes physical, mental and emotional endurance is stronger day in-day out.

 

Frank: I’ve known you and your folks forever but from your side, what makes your folks’ such great tennis parents?

Stevie: Balance! On court, my father was the coach. Off-court, he was just my dad. After matches, my dad didn’t banter for 30 minutes about the performance. My mom played tennis as well so she added great perspective.

 

Frank: Can you share a few words of wisdom for the parents, athletes and coaches reading this book?

Stevie: Have fun with the development of your game. Remember even though it feels like “life or death” at the moment, the wins-losses in the 10’s-14 don’t mean much. It’s a blessing to play so laugh and enjoy the process.

 

Leave a comment

Game Day Performance Anxiety Solutions

Posted on July 9, 2017 by in Emotional Aptitude in Sports, Emotional Tennis

The following post is an excerpt from Emotional Aptitude In Sports NOW available through most on-line retailers!  Click Here to Order

ea-in-sports4a_final

Game Day Performance Anxiety Solutions

Pre-Event:

  • Arrive early, stretch and undergo a thorough physical warm up routine.
  • Recognize that pre-event anxiety is normal. Excess adrenaline can be burnt off by going for a run before competition.
  • Prepare mentally and emotionally by visualizing your peak performance plays and patterns.
  • Discuss performance goals and not outcome goals. Performance goals include running the correct plays and patterns the moment demands. Outcome goals include the ramifications of winning or losing. By pre-setting the correct performance-based state of mind, athletes have a much greater chance of performing in the zone.
  • Avoid poor performances by utilizing proper nutrition and hydration.

 

During the Event:

  • Focus on your performance goals rather than the outcome of the event.
  • Choose to stay in your optimal performance state of mind.
  • Fake it until it becomes natural. Replace negative thoughts with positive visualization.
  • Perform in the matter you’ve been trained and to choose to stay on your performance script for the duration of the event.

 

Post Event:

  • Relax and recover. An athlete needs to recuperate. Downtime wards off burnout and is essential for long-term progress.
  • Review the event when emotionally ready to accept constructive criticism. Juniors, remember that the game is an information gathering mission to aid you in long term growth.
  • Agree upon a time to review the performance and make a developmental action plan to improve strengths and weaknesses.

 

Positive Game Day Inner Dialog for Athletes

Staying on your script requires constant positive self-talk.  In the heat of competition, an empty mind is susceptible to becoming contaminated with unwanted, negative thoughts. Staying in your optimal, peak performance state of mind requires the management of your inner dialog/thoughts. Positive dialog examples include:

  • I’m Shooting For Excellence, Not Perfection
  • I’ve Got Strokes, Athleticism, Mental & Emotional Skills
  • I’m So Grateful That I Get to Participate
  • I’m Performance Oriented Not Outcome Oriented
  • I Love Solving Problems in Competition
  • I’ll Walk into the Club Like I Own the Place
  • I’ve Morphed into An Athletic Warrior
  • I Admire My Courage to Compete
  • My Optimism Is Contagious
  • This Is My Favorite Part of the Week

 

I suggest picking a few positive statements from the above list and rehearse your own inner dialog. Research shows that performing in the future, as the “Alpha Competitor,” stems from continuously, nurturing your inner belief. Emotional aptitude is a learned behavior.  An athlete’s optimism and growth mindset should be molded daily.

Leave a comment

Proper Preparation Rewards Emotional Aptitude

Posted on July 6, 2017 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The following post is an excerpt from Emotional Aptitude In Sports NOW available through most on-line retailers!  Click Here to Order

ea-in-sports4a_final

SOLUTION # 7: Prepare Properly

If you want to make your own good luck, look towards your future athletic competitions as opportunities and bring to these opportunities exquisite preparation. When proper preparation and opportunity meet, the athlete will shine. The solution to developing one’s emotional muscle stems from copying one of the twins. I bet you already know which one it is. In case you are still unclear, let’s review a typical match day- starring our friend, Jarrod.

Spectacular Preparation Preceded Spectacular Performance

Jarrod, Evans younger brother by 9 minutes, is a very gifted athlete but a bit unevenly developed.  Emotional aptitude is his most unnatural component and so far he’s not interested in improving it. Jarrod would sabotage his tournament performances before they even began. Of course, Jarrod believed that his poor starts weren’t his fault. They were just plain bad luck.

The night before an away event in Indianapolis, I called Jarrod to discuss the incoming storm and the news reports of the morning flood-like conditions. “Jarrod, let’s plan on leaving earlier tomorrow.” He replied “Nah… I want to sleep in…We’re good”. Fast-forward to the next morning. The plan was to meet in the hotel lobby for breakfast at 8:00 am.  It is now 8:15 … 8:30 … and still no Jarrod. It turned out he decided to skip breakfast before his day packed full of 6 hours of intense National competition.

So, we began the hour drive to the site. Visibility through the windshield was about 20 yards due to the pelting storm. All we saw for an hour and forty-five minutes were break lights. This, along with him deciding not to put fuel in his gas tank caused unnecessary unspoken anxiety. An hour into the drive Jarrod said, “I’m so hungry”.

Thirty minutes away from the event I gently reminded him to begin his visualization routine. Leaving the “normal” teenage headspace behind and morphing into the character of a warrior. As I began to remind him again about the emotional benefits of pre-game visualization Jarrod talked over me saying, “I’m fine,” as he decided he didn’t need it and reached over from the passenger seat and turned up the rap station on the SUV’s stereo. Memorizing rap lyrics and tweeting friends were more important to him than the mental imagery of ensuring a peak performance in his upcoming match.

Arriving on site late meant that instead of casually enjoying a relaxed 45 minute warm up. Jarrod now had only 15 minutes to rush through his fundamentals. This brought about feelings of being under prepared which is a confidence killer. As the tournament director blew the whistle for the players to gather, I asked him if he remembered to prepare his equipment, drinks, ice, towels, etc.  Jarrod said, “Oh, can you get me a water… And find me a towel?”

Preparing properly for battle doesn’t guarantee victories, but choosing to neglect proper preparation sabotages one’s chance of performing at peak potential.

Jarrod’s athleticism didn’t cause another loss. The loss was caused by his lack of emotional aptitude, as seen in his distorted thinking and behavioral patterns in preparing for his event. Needless to say, Jarrod’s game was off from the beginning. He never recovered and went down in flames.

 

Leave a comment

Emotional Toughness is Real Talent

Posted on July 3, 2017 by in Emotional Aptitude in Sports, Emotional Tennis

 

The following post is an excerpt from Emotional Aptitude In Sports NOW available through most on-line retailers!  Click Here to Order

ea-in-sports4a_2d

Emotional Aptitude Is a Skill

At the start of a Southern California junior tennis tournament, the referee calls Kristen Michaels and Jenny Scott to court number four for their match. Kristen seemed to be a super fit, committed athlete with poise and solid fundamentals.  She was dressed from head to toe in the newest Nike gear with her hair braided to perfection. She walked onto the court, unpacked her Wimbledon tournament towel, Gatorade, and water bottle as she meticulously lined them up next to her chair. She then selected two rackets from her Nike tour bag as she “pings” them together to listen for the perfect string tension. Deciding on one, she immediately started shadow swinging and shuffling her feet as she waited for the umpire to perform the mandatory coin toss.

Jenny, on the other hand, did not appear to be as polished. In fact, she looked downright amateur in her California board shorts and surfer T-shirt. At the coin toss, Jenny was still wrestling through her tennis bag looking for a hair tie as the umpire yells “heads or tails?” Jenny grabs the only racket she brought and calmly saunters towards the net. She lets Kristin choose to serve or return. Jenny couldn’t care less.

The 5 minute pre-match warm up started and Kristen looked like a professional.  Her movement and strokes were flawless.  Jenny, on the other side of the net, looked unorthodox, as she scrambled to return the ball back Kristin’s way.

The referee called time and the match started. Most watching were sure Kristen was going to blow Jenny off the court. But to the spectator’s surprise, Kristin was struggling, down 0-2 within the first 5 minutes of play. The beautiful strokes we had witnessed in the warm up were gone. By game 3, Kristin reached her maximum frustration tolerance level. She couldn’t keep a backhand in the court as Jenny profiled her opponent and systematically hit every ball to Kristin’s ailing backhand side. Kristen was angry, stomping around, yelling at herself, screaming at her racket, her coach, and her mom.  Jenny, on the other hand, was a composed warrior relentlessly picking on Kristin’s weakness. Within 45 minutes, Jenny went on to win 6-2, 6-0. After the match, Jenny’s mom was overheard only uttered three words “Who wants Taco’s?”

As illustrated above, emotional aptitude isn’t typically identifiable until after competition begins. What separates the elite competitors from the emotionally fragile athletes is their ability to thrive under perceived stress. Emotional aptitude is the ability to overcome hardships and to de-stress situations rather than magnify stressful situations. Athletes struggling with poor emotional aptitude lack confidence, composure, suffer bouts of self-doubt and possess an overwhelming fear of being judged by others. These performance meltdowns often go unseen in practice but shine in all their glory on game day.

Elite competitors are confident that their superior emotional strength will override any hardships and physical limitations. The emotionally weak athletes are convinced that the unfair hardships and their perceived limitations will override their peak performance and catastrophe will once again occur.

An old school word used to describe emotional aptitude is Grit. In regards to high achievers, researchers have come to the conclusion that successful individuals possess traits deeper than the mastery of athletic ability.  Grit is persistent courage, resolve, and strength of character. Grit is the learned ability to have “nerves of steel,” fortitude and determination. Interestingly, some athletes are pre-wired to have these essential components and some are not. For those athletes who are not natural combatants, developing emotional aptitude is critical.

 

 

Leave a comment