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Opponent Profiling

Posted on April 18, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, 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 

frank

OPPONENT PROFILING

 

Top competitors are continually seeking an advantage. One of the best strategic (mental) and calming (emotional) advantages comes from scouting an upcoming opponent. Casually observing is one thing, but profiling the opponent is a skill set. Each playing style has an inherent group of strengths and weaknesses. Opponent awareness is an important part of match day preparation. Player profiling involves looking past strokes.

NOTE:  Whenever possible, as I coach players from the 12’s to the ATP/WTA pros, I apply the below profiling topics.

 

Opponent Profiling Scouting:

  • Primary style of play.
  • Preferred serve patterns (especially on mega points).
  • Preferred return of serve position and shot selection on both first and second serve returns.
  • Favorite go-to rally pattern.
  • Dominant short-ball option.
  • Preferred net rushing pattern.
  • Stroke strengths and weaknesses (Advanced players should also consider the strengths and limitations of strike zones.)
  • Movement, agility and stamina efficiencies and deficiencies.
  • Frustration tolerance, focus, and emotional stability.

Opponent profiling should continue from the pre-match phase, all the way through the actual match and into the post-match. Intelligent athletes even jot down notes regarding the opponent’s game on their post-match match logs. This is used as a reminder for the next time the two meet.

 

Looking Past Strokes:

During the warm-up, the uneducated player/parents/coaches often think Player A has the match in the bag.  But what they do not realize is that Player B often wins because of their ability to identify and execute a game plan exposing their opponent’s weakness. Player A may have great looking fundamental strokes but “hidden” flawed mental and/or emotional components. Player B may have average looking strokes, but an incredible proficiency in their mental game. Hence, giving player B the edge due to his ability to isolate weaknesses or exert emotional intelligence at crunch time.


 

COMMON PERFORMANCE ANXIETIES – Part Four

Posted on April 13, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

Common Performance Anxieties -Continued.

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10) Common Anxiety: “I focus the whole match on perfect form. That’s Correct …right?”

“Athletes nurtured to focus on mechanics in match play seldom
perform in the flow state.”

I recommend that athletes save most of the detailed analysis of strokes for the improvement phase which takes place on the practice court. Bio- mechanical analysis surely has its place; it’s just not in the midst of competition. Focusing too much on “bend your knees,” “close the racket face 30-degrees and brush up,” and  “tuck the left hand in on the serve to block the third link of the kinetic chain” pulls athletes out of the flow state and into their editing, analytical brain.

The week leading into an important event I recommend trading in the need for stroke perfection and replace it with practicing picking up relevant cues like proficient pattern play, score management, and opponent profiling. This prepares the athlete for pressure by allowing their judgmental ego to slip away. Performing in the zone requires relaxed contentment, which can’t be found if you’re focused on fixing every micro-flaw.

Preparing for pressure requires the athlete to focus on the art of competing.

 

 

11) Common Anxiety: “Yeah, I know I should practice more, but I’m so busy.”

“It’s not the most gifted athletes who typically succeed; it’s
the most organized and disciplined.”

Preparing athletes for pressure include pointing them in the right direction. One of my assessment tools is the 168 Hour Rule. We all get 24 hours a day seven days a week. That equals 168 hours.

I ask junior athletes to begin with 168 hours a week and then deduct their hours for sleep, school, homework, and other serious interests. Most often, the very same athletes who claim that they’re too busy realizes that they have 60-70 free, unaccountable hours weekly! This exercise is very eye-opening for both the parents and the athletes. After we identify the athlete’s free time, we re-design their weekly developmental plan. Together we assess the quality of the hours they’re dedicating to their long-term goals.

Example conversation after reviewing time assessment, “Joey since you just revealed that you have 60 unaccountable hours weekly; would it be possible for you to increase your deliberate customized tennis training to 20 hours a week? That’ll still leave you with 40 hours a week to hang out with friends, socialize, and play

COMMON PERFORMANCE ANXIETIES – Part Three

Posted on April 10, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, Preparing for Pressure

Continuation of Common Performance Anxieties Posts.

 

SAMPLE COVER PRESSURE

7) Common Anxiety: “It’s Losing To The Weaker Players That Kills Me…I Self-Destruct!”

“Self-destruction unknowingly begins in the preparation phase.”

The worst part about the feelings of self-destruction in competition is that the athlete is fully aware it’s happening but can’t do anything to stop it. Their muscles begin to tighten, they shank every other ball, and their brain is fixated on contaminating outcome thoughts. We’ve all been there. You’re choking, and you know it, the opponent knows it, even the spectators know it, but you weren’t taught any self-destruction solutions, so the match feels like a slow death.

Rehearsing self-destruction solutions on the practice court provide the athlete with a practical “go to solution.” The following are a few proactive solutions to employ during match play to aid in regaining focus:

  • Focus on Hitting 3 Balls Deep Down the Middle
  • Apply the Old School Bounce-Hit Method of Vision Control
  • Return to your Script of Top Patterns of Play
  • Reboot your Between Point Rituals

I recommend the player choose two of the above solutions and play a few practice sets while focusing exclusively on employing the solutions to stop the imploding.

Preparing for pressure requires pre-set solutions to common problems.

 

8) Common Anxiety: “I used to beat these toads…now I’m losing to them.”

“Revitalizing begins by assessing the athlete’s
efficiencies and deficiencies.”

When athletes aren’t getting the results they believe they’re capable of getting, I recommend conducting an honest assessment of their current training and match preparation. With few exceptions, I find that the athlete has changed their developmental routines…and not for the better.

I’m a bit more detailed than the average coach. When I’m hired to revive a stalled career, I begin with a 300 Point Assessment of the athlete’s life skills, weekly developmental routines, primary & secondary strokes, mental skills, emotional skills, and incorporate match video analysis. Together, the athlete and I assess their confidence level, under pressure in each category. By doing so, we relaunch their progression
with a new plan.

Preparing for pressure often requires rebooting training modalities.

 

 

9)  Common Anxiety: “In real matches, I’m so stressed. All I think about is don’t lose …then I lose!”

“Internal dialogue refers to the unspoken conversations
we all have …”

Athletes are often unaware of the inner conversation they have through the course of a tennis match. Internal dialog is the conversation our ego is having with ourselves. The old Henry Ford saying is “Whether you think you can…or think you can’t…you’re usually right,” refers to one’s inner dialog. In match play, inner dialog takes place in-between points and during changeovers. This is when athletes are encouraged to program themselves towards a more constructive mindset. With practice, athletes will learn to focus on what they want versus what they don’t want.

It’s true that society programs a negative bias day in and day out. Athletes would benefit from committing to replacing the typical negative statement, “The problem is …” with “The solution is …”

Positive self-coaching revolves around a reoccurring theme of this book: Gratitude. It shifts our mentality from pessimistic to optimistic. I encourage my athletes to apply the mantra: There’s nowhere I’d rather be than right here, right now!

Preparing for pressure demands the athlete control their mindset because energy flows wherever their
internal dialog goes.

COMMON PERFORMANCE ANXIETIES – Part Two

Posted on April 7, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

Common Performance Anxieties- Continued.

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4) Common Anxiety: “It’s not my strokes that fail me; it’s my mental toughness.
I just freak out!” 

“Mental toughness is often confused with emotional toughness.”

Mental toughness is often confused with emotional toughness. My definition of mental toughness in the tennis world is the understanding of strategies, tactics, and patterns. It also includes opponent profiling and problem-solving skills. My definition of emotional toughness is the ability to overcome the onslaught of performance anxieties and outcome-oriented emotional thoughts.

Solutions to match issues begin with understanding the actual cause of the problem. Is the athlete’s above statement: “I just freak-out!” A mental issue or an emotional issue? I would say it is an emotional issue. Because the correct solution is customized to the issue, I recommend digging deeper into why this particular athlete “freaks out.”  Does it involve the above mental categories, emotional categories, or a combination of the two?

It’s important to note that a seemingly unrelated component may be the root of the athletes break down. For example, if an athlete is physically unfit for serious competition, that lack of fitness can cause stroke mechanics to break down, reckless choices in shot selection, and manifest negative emotional outbursts.

Preparing for pressure involves knowing the difference between mental and emotional components.

 

 

5) Common Anxiety: “Johnny screams and throws his racket, why can’t I… ?”

“Attitude and emotions are highly contagious.”

Remember the old saying, Monkey See Monkey Do? It’s human nature for people to subconsciously model themselves after their sphere of influences. Preparing athletes for pressure include carefully navigating athletes away from bad influences. Negative parents, coaches or other athletes in their peer group can and will sabotage the strong character traits you seek.

Behavior modeling is a form of social learning. It states that most behaviors are picked up through imitating who and what they see.

Parents who are over anxious, prone to excess worry, stress, and fear are inadvertently conditioning their athletes to be a pessimistic emotional train wreck under pressure. Coaches who lack self-esteem because they couldn’t “make it” on the tour may project a deep-seated doubt in their student’s chances. Their passive-aggressive underlining message is “If I couldn’t succeed neither will you.”

Supreme confidence is essential in preparing athletes for pressure. Be aware of the behavior of those influencing your athlete.

 

 

6) Common Anxiety: “I’ve lost confidence. How do I get it back?”

“Your positive performances are imprinted in your memory, so choose to re-live them.”

A re-occurring defining characteristic of champions is their strong software skills. There are many times in an athlete’s career when they’ve lost their confidence and had to reboot their motivation.

One solution lies in choosing to focus on past successes more than past failures. Failure is no doubt part of the learning process but revisiting past successes via- match video analysis is one method used to rekindle self-esteem. If your athletes don’t already videotape tournament play and analyze (along with an experienced coach) their performance, now’s a great time to start.

Past successes leave a footprint in the brain.

Ask the athletes to remind you of previous pressure-packed situations when they performed spectacularly. Go into detail. Where did it happen? What event? What round? How did they overcome the challenges? Why were they determined to fight? What was their inner dialog? This process stops the discouragement and replaces it with the realization that they’ve done it before and they’ll do it again.

Preparing for pressure comes from realizing that you have come through under pressure before.

COMMON PERFORMANCE ANXIETIES -Part One

Posted on April 5, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, Preparing for Pressure

 

COMMON PERFORMANCE ANXIETIES SAMPLE COVER PRESSURE

Performing in an athlete’s peak performance state of mind requires morphing into character and memorizing their scripts of top patterns and emotional protocols. Parents have an essential role in this process. Uneducated tennis parents unintentionally sabotage any real chance of their children performing well when they need it the most. An important job of any tennis parent is to help prepare their athlete for pressure.

 

1) Common Anxiety: “I don’t want to play, what if I lose?”

“Devalue the event to deflate the anxiety.”

 

A common outcome-oriented mindset is that each tournament is a life or death crisis. This negative frame of mind is counterproductive and incredibly stressful. It would be wise to educate the athlete and their entourage that tournament play is only an information gathering mission. Each match should be analyzed to determine why they won points and why they lost points as a result of their competitive decisions. The objective is simple, quantify the data and learn from it.

Competition should be seen as a fun challenge, not intensely difficult or dangerous.

To prepare the athlete for pressure, decompress the situation.

 

 

2) Common Anxiety: “I hit for 10 minutes … I’m ready!”

“Prepare both hardware & software for battle!”

Pre-match preparation begins the weeks leading into the event. During this prep phase, avoid significant mechanical changes or adding brand new concepts. It takes approximately 3-6 weeks for a new motor program to override an old one. The days leading to an event are not the correct time to introduce a new skill.  Starting a new routine may cause the athlete to become confused, sore, or injured and require recovery time not available.

Morphing into a match warrior involves building confidence in their existing skills. Begin with dead ball drills focusing exclusively on neutral, offense, and defensive skill situations. Rehearse court controlling top patterns and solutions in live ball settings. Ask the athlete to incorporate plenty of complete practice matches and listen to their customized audio tapes recorded on their cell phones to visualize solutions (mental rehearsals.) The night before is a terrific time for them to organize their clothes, equipment, and their nutrition and hydration requirements.

Come game day; I recommend athletes prepare their mental and emotional components by reviewing their audio tapes, once again, the morning of the match. Complete a dynamic stretch and warm-up primary and secondary strokes with multitasking movement. (Hitting on the move instead of just standing still.) Prior to checking in, hydrate and go for a short run to reduce anxiety and warm-up the body.

Preparing for pressure requires the confidence that comes from complete preparation.

 

 

3) Common Anxiety: “Everyone says ‘JUST PLAY YOUR GAME.,’ but I don’t know what my game is?”

“Top contenders have defined their global style & most proficient patterns of play.”

Upon arrival at a coaching gig in Spain, I noticed the coaches on all ten red clay courts running the same drill. Player A hits a high & heavy ball deep to player B’s backhand. Player B retreats, contacting the ball above his/her shoulders and produces a short reply. Player A moves into no-man’s land and screeches “AHH …HEEE” and drives a winner into the open court. I asked the famous director “What’s the drill they’re all working on?” He laughed and said, we call it, “How to beat the Americans.”

Athletes should start each match with their global style of play. Whether they’re in Miami or Moscow, in the first round or finals, on hard or clay courts, starting matched by doing what they do best is an intelligent formula. Their global system is their most proficient style of play (not necessarily their favorite style). Styles include hard hitting baseliners, counterpunchers, retrievers, and net rushers.

The athlete’s global system also includes their strategic plan – which is their most proficient patterns of play. These patterns need to be designed and developed. They include: serving and return patterns, rally patterns (like the above Spanish group), short ball options, and net rushing plays.

In competition, each athlete has to know what they do best and must routinely apply their global plan and hitting the same old, boring winners over and over.

When you preach “Just go out there and play your game.” do your athletes honestly know what their game is?

Preparing for pressure consists of exposing the athlete’s strengths to the athlete.

Frank Speaks at High School Tennis Coaches Conference

Posted on April 3, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

boston hsThe two teaching professional organizations of New England, USPTA and PTR, partnered with USTA New England to host their annual High School Tennis Coaches Conference at Longfellow Tennis and Health Club on March 2nd. Despite a typical snowy New England day, 70 coaches attended to network and learn. Click Here for more information.

The faculty consisted of national and highly regarded local experts including PTR’s Chief Operating Officer, Brian Parkkonen and Frank Giampaolo.

 

The Pros and Cons of High School Tennis – Part 4

Posted on March 30, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

Bottom Line: Playing High School Tennis

It is important to reiterate that most high school age players are not as devoted as Mark. Others may be just as serious but need to decompress and simply play social tennis for a season or two. If so, I recommend playing their freshman year to get a little famous at their new school and then again their senior year after they have signed their letter of intent to play for their college.

I encourage taking some time to consider all these variables. If your child is more of a “hobbyist”, high school ball is one of the best experiences available.  However, if your child is a phenom, a compromise may be in order. It may be best to have a meeting with the coach and/or athletic director and organize a win-win schedule. Often top players and their parents can negotiate a workable schedule with the high school coach.

For elite players considering high school tennis, the following three topics should be addressed (negotiated) prior to committing to the high school season:

1) Skipping most practice session in lieu of their private sessions.

2) Scheduling to only play the tougher rival matches.

3) Playing enough matches in order to qualify for the season-ending state championships.

The Pros and Cons of High School Tennis – Part 3

Posted on March 28, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, 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

417

NEGATIVE Side to Playing High School Tennis:

 

Developing Bad Habits

After spending four months on-court with less devoted “hobbyists”, Mark develops bad work ethic issues, poor shot selection, and poor mental toughness.

Quantity versus Quality Practice Time

Most often Mark is goofing off with intermediate teammates or even assisting them with their games. While on the court, he’s even texting friends and making plans for Friday’s party.

Quality of Match Level

Mark wins 8 out of 10 matches 6-0. Winning most matches easily may be great for his ego but not for his long term development. Mark needs a competitive environment to continue to grow and improve.

College Scholarship Factor

According to top Division I  coaches speaking at my seminars, Coaches look at national rankings and ITF rankings. They don’t consider high school ball as a High-Performance Level.

The Success Formula

Remember that the success formula is spending approximately 20 hours of serious training every week for approximately 10 years. Is playing high school tennis for 4 consecutive months 4 years in a row in Mark’s developmental plan?

Rebuilding the Level

It actually takes an additional 2 months of serious physical, mental and emotional training after the high school season ends to re-establish the high-level Mark was playing before the season. Now, factor in a six-month loss in training time. As Mark chose to de-stress and have fun playing high school ball for 4 months. His rivals who have chosen to skip high school tennis have continued to improve their games as well as their rankings.

 

The Pros and Cons of High School Tennis – Part 2

Posted on March 27, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, 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

POSITIVE Side to Playing High School Tennis:

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 Plenty of Court Time!

On non-match days, they hit about 2 hours a day, grooving strokes, running through tennis drills and exercising. On match days they play matches and watch team-mates play matches.

Wonderful Team Atmosphere

Although tennis is an individual sport, playing high school tennis provides the players with the benefits of team sports. Such as camaraderie, cooperation, and social interaction skills.

Fun Peer Group Socialization

Team tennis encourages players to be more sociable in different environments. They have to deal with different people, who may or may not be their friends. The van trips alone, to and from matches are a blast.

Big Fish in a Small Pond Experience

Mark feels average participating in nationals at his ranking level. At high school, he is the king! Even the cheerleaders know him.

Low Cost

Mark’s parents wrote a check for $650.00 to the booster club for the whole 4 months!

Less Driving To Lessons and Tournaments

Mark’s parents don’t have to worry about driving him anywhere.

 

 

The Pros and Cons of High School Tennis- Part 1

Posted on March 25, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, 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

 

 

417THE “PROS AND CONS” OF HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS

Playing high school ball is a rite of passage issue for the high-performance athlete. The benefits of high school tennis lean towards life experiences rather than excelled tennis growth. There are exceptions to any rule, so let’s take a deeper look at this interesting question.

The answer is a bit complicated. It greatly depends on your child’s level, needs, and goals. It also depends greatly on the level of the possible teammates and coaching staff at your child’s high school. Some high school teams I work with are better than most college teams.

Is High School ball right for your athlete?

Mark is a student of mine. He is an SCTA sectionally ranked player in the top 20. His national ranking is around 60. He is diligent about his tennis and spends about 20 hours of training extremely hard every week. He has reached the semis of three national events and his long term goals are to play for Peter Smith at his dream school USC.

His dad is a former player and they are certain he will play a minimum of two years on the ATP futures and challenger tours after college. At his high school, there is one other fairly serious player on the team. The high school coach is a super nice guy. He is a biology teacher. He is coaching because he used to play high school ball and enjoys the game. The coach runs an “optional” fee-based 6-week pre-season training camp. Of course, paying and attending greatly increases an athlete’s chances of playing varsity for the team. Now let’s review the positive and negative sides of high school ball for Mark and his family.