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Tennis Myths

Posted on October 8, 2016 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 on-line retailers!  Click Here to Order

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QUESTION: What are some of the hidden roadblocks and myths found in high performance tennis?

Frank: It fascinates me how some junior athletes will hold on to crazy-beliefs. They would rather live in their “altered state of reality” and continue to get poor results than simply be accountable to their deliberate customized developmental plan. I have compiled some of the most common myths coming out of the mouths of your kids!

 

Under Training Off-Court

If your child “thinks” that they are mostly in shape…they are most likely not in shape. Players that are in great shape “know” they are in great shape. Getting past the third day of a big event is going to be a challenge for every junior who only “thinks” they’re in shape.

 

Solid fundamentals will get them in the draw. Being crazy fit keeps them in the draw. But being mentally and emotionally stable under stress wins titles.

 

Cramming Last Minute for an Event

Cramming in training days before a national event will lead to your child’s “batteries” half full come match time. Also, their millisecond decision making skills won’t be sharp. They will likely hesitate with their judgments and often over think under stress. Lastly, last minute crammers usually end up playing sore or injured.

 

Mistake Management

It is essential that your child understands the difference between a “good” mistake and a “bad” mistake. Also, did the mistake stem from technical form, inappropriate shot selections or poor movement? Mentally making the appropriate corrections without emotional condemnation is important.

 

Anger Management

Poor preparation is the source of the problems that cause the anger. Plans and patterns should be nurtured months before an event. Tools are sharpened and the rust is buffed out.

 

It’s not the opponent that causes the actual anger issues in a match. It’s the fact that the opponent has exposed a weakness that wasn’t fixed before the match began.

 

Blame Management

Blaming is a common excuse many juniors prefect. Changing string tension, racquets, coaches, and academies is a short-term feel good fix. However, designing a strong personalized developmental program and sticking to it is the solution to their problems.

 

Intermediates spend most of their time working on the strokes they already own. Advanced players also spend time perfecting the strokes and patterns they wish to add to their tool belt.

 

Lack of Pre-Match Routines and Rituals

Essential routines and rituals are used by professionals and often overlooked by junior competitors. Teens are often too cool to prepare properly. Champions act like champions long before they become champions.

 

To review, I highly recommend taking time to communicate the above player accountability issues with your athlete and their entourage of coaches. Plan on organizing solutions to the common road blocks and de-bunking the myths.

 

Parent Athlete Communication

Posted on October 2, 2016 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 on-line retailers! Click Here to Order

 Frank Giampaolo

It is the responsibly of the parent of a high performance athlete to become aware of the ‘do’s and don’ts’ as they manage their child’s athletic career. Poor communication (words and actions) can crush the most talented athlete’s confidence, destroy enthusiasm and permanently damage the emotional climate great coaches’ work to build. Positive communication can increases momentum, reignite commitment and maximize athletic potential.

 

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Posted on September 25, 2016 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

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Acknowledging Your Child’s Efforts

Posted on September 12, 2016 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, Parent Player Communication

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 Maximizing Tennis Potential with Frank Giampaolo

 

Acknowledging Your Child’s Efforts

Once a month, throughout the course of your youngsters tennis career (or any committed passion your child may have…), plan on sitting down and writing a letter stating how proud you are of them. Place it on their bed at night.

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.

 

Strengthen Neurological-Connections with Repetition

Posted on September 1, 2016 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, Tennis Specific Training, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

Coming soon Emotional Aptitude in Sports – a practical guide to solving competitive issues.

EA in sports3

 

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

 

QUESTION: Why is repetition so important in developing athletic royalty?

Frank: Most professional coaches view repetition as the godfather of mastery. Repetition is essentially motor programming.

Developing a motor program begins with a thought, which is messaged through the nervous system, down the spinal cord and into the muscular system. The more we pre-set the protocols the more it “grooves” the pathways. So, the more familiar the habit, the easier it is to execute the proper protocol during match play.

Repetition doesn’t just involve the physical strokes. It also applies to the athletic, flexible skills movements, the cognitive processing skills and emotional responses. All four of these components need appropriate, deliberate repetition.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re actually doing it, imagining it or observing it,
you are developing a pathway.”

Neurological-connections are strengthened by repetition. One of the most important keys to repetition is to “practice in the manner in which you’re expected to perform.” Often, improvements are maximized through manipulating the exercises with variations. Examples include:

  • Athleticism– Varying the direction, physical reps and/or sets.
  • Strokes– Varying the strike zones, tempo and/or movement.
  • Emotional– Varying the performance anxieties and their pre-set solutions.
  • Mental– Varying the different patterns used to beat the different styles of opponents.

Applying each of the four components under stress effortlessly requires an intuitive process. What appears to be a natural talent is actually a learned behavior through repetition. Mastering each component requires repetition.

It’s important to note that repetition isn’t always good. Repeating the same old flawed mechanical stroke or repeating the incorrect emotional response to stress is only ingraining that flaw deeper, making it harder to fix later.

CONTACT: Frank Giampaolo FGSA@earthlink.net

Managing Tipping Point Tendencies

Posted on August 27, 2016 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 on-line retailers! Click Here to Orderblack_ebook_design2

 

TIPPING POINT TENDENCIES

Experienced champions have developed seemingly hidden skill sets I call, Tipping Point Tendencies. To the untrained eye, as the athletes warm up, opponents may appear to be equally matched with similar physical abilities. It is during match play that tipping point tendencies become apparent. The game is on and “playing catch” is over and playing “keep away” begins. These pre-developed skill sets are the critical factors that tip a close match in ones favor.

The tipping points are those hidden moments in each match when an emotional energy shift is about to happen.

 

“In close tennis matches, positive and negative energy and attitudes flows back and forth.”

 

Most intermediate athletes and their parents don’t even realize that this critical struggle for power is taking place. That is… until now! Mental readiness is required to control the positive energy.

 

Think back to the last few times your athlete lost tight matches. Chances are you blamed the losses on bad luck, or the opponent cheated, or your kid just did not have the “feel” that day, or for you superstitious types… you went to Quiznoz’s instead of Subway. Those re-occurring close defeats are most likely due to your child’s incomplete training and not lunch meat. Tipping point tendencies are essential learned behaviors that athletic royalty must master.

An athlete that shifts focus to the following tipping point tendencies, accelerates the learning process and a competitive warrior is born. Close matches are often decided by a handful of points. Let’s look a little deeper at ten of the top “hidden” tipping point tendencies that can help tip your athlete’s matches in their favor. (These are terrific conversation starters for your athlete and their coaches.)

 

Top Ten Tipping Point Tendencies:

1) Pay attention to the energy flow throughout the match. Who’s cranky and negative, who’s eager, hungry and positive? If you’re negative, apply your triggers and steal the energy back.

2) Monitor your state of mind. Is your mental and emotional state in the under arousal state of mind, in the optimal peak performance state of mind or in the over arousal state of mind?

3) Learn to spot the mental and emotional signs of choking (over-thinking) and panicking (under-thinking).

4) Manage the score to manage your adrenaline. Different points have different psychological values. Pay attention and get pumped up before big points.

5) Note that tennis scoring isn’t numerically fair: You can win more points than the opponent in the match and still lose the match. Winning requires spotting tipping points.

6) Spot the mega points (game winning points) and run the appropriate pattern that you’ve trained to death versus going rogue.

7) Spot mini-mega points. A 30-15 lead isn’t the correct time to relax. Winning that crucial point earns you a 40-15 advantage, lose it and you’re staring at a 30-30 tie.

8) Spot mini-mega games. These games in a set hold crucial building blocks. A 4-2 lead isn’t time to relax. Winning that mini-mega game earns you a 5-2 lead. Lose is and the sets a 4-3 dog fight.

9) Opponent profiling is crucial. It’s the flip side to running your Top 7 Patterns. Competitors who pay attention not only spot the opponents preferred patterns but actually shut them down on these big occasions.

10) Self-chart both sides of the net. Witness where errors and winners stem from and problem solve accordingly.

In regards to higher learning, I’m amazed at how often very young intermediate athletes understand this type of mental and emotional training. It is not reserved for the older advanced group. Parents and coaches, please remember, their world isn’t remotely like ours at their age. With Google on their smart phones, they are accustom to collecting and quantifying data at lightning speeds.

Have you ever witnessed your child on their phone with one friend, doing their homework, skyping another friend, snap-chatting, while eating and watching TV?  Children can multi-task. Asking an intermediate tennis player to improve their mechanical stroke components while improving their mental components is a piece of cake!

 

Mastering the tipping point tendencies is the art of winning under stress. Those seemingly “little things” are actually the extremely “big things” that make all the difference in tipping the odds in your favor.

 

CONTACT: Frank Giampaolo FGSA@earthlink.net

 

Beyond Tennis Strokes

Posted on June 23, 2016 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 on-line retailers!  Click Here to Order

 

Blunder: Ignoring Off-Court Training, Proper Nutrition and Hydrationblack_ebook_design2

When your athlete gets fatigued their movement gets sloppy, their stroke spacing is off and unforced errors begin to fly off their racket.  Poor decision making and negative emotions set in.  Often, the actual cause of a child’s emotional breakdown is a lack of fitness. Unfit players do not perform their rituals, they do not spot tendencies and they do not manage their mistake.  Poor physical fitness manifests in mental and emotional breakdowns. For instance, most juniors go for low percentage shots due to the fact that they are too tired to grind out the point. So is off-court training linked to the mental side?  Absolutely!

Proper hydration and nutrition is also a critical factor in the physical, mental and emotional links of every tennis competitor. As parents, we have to insist that our players fuel up before battle. Dehydration triggers fatigue, dizziness, headaches and nausea. Lack of adequate nutrition affects the blood sugar levels to the brain.

Improper nutrition and hydration guarantees poor decision making skills at crunch time.

 

CONTACT: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net

Cardio Tennis Training Coming to Southern California

Posted on May 12, 2016 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The following post is in support of an upcoming TIA Cardio Tennis Training Session in
Southern California.
(The Tennis Industry Association, the not-for-profit trade association for tennis)

For more information: Click Here

Upcoming Cardio Tennis Training Course
May 22, 2016

Course Location:

Lindero Hills Country Club
Agoura Hills, CA
Sunday – May 22

Course Hours: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

Special Comments: Please come dressed and ready to participate in the on-court instruction and demonstrations.

This course teaches the fundamentals of Cardio Tennis and everything you need to know to make it a success at your facility. Cardio Tennis education will include classroom, on court training and peer teaching. After participating in this workshop you will have a strong understanding of the following:

  • What is Cardio Tennis, its purpose and benefits
  • The six components of Cardio Tennis
  • Key ingredients of a healthy curriculum
  • The importance of heart rate monitors and how to use them
  • Proper warm-up activities, Cardio games and drills, cool down activities and cardio blasts
  • Drill based vs play based exercises
  • How to market and make money with Cardio Tennis

Attendees of the Cardio Tennis Training Course will gain the proper experience and techniques for:

  • Recommended feeding approaches
  • Running an ideal Cardio Tennis class
  • Working with players of different skill and ability levels
  • Working with players with injuries
  • What it’s like to wear a Heart Rate Monitor

Contact: Michele Krause for more information:

Cardio Tennis Global Education Director

 

Helping Your Player Through a Slump

Posted on April 12, 2016 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 on-line retailers!  Click Here to Order black_ebook_design2

 

QUESTION: My son is in a slump. How can we help him through this stage?

Frank: The best way to achieve improved results is by shifting your son’s developmental plan. A new plan will help motivate a new mind set which will intern cultivate new belief, actions and results. Below are ten focal points to address to ignite continued growth and maximum potential.

1) Focus on Improvement.

Ask your player and entourage to let go of winning and losing and focus their energy on improvement.

2) Accept that Rivalries Encourage Growth.

Understand that your child needs rivals. Begin with local, then regional, then national, and lead into international. Rivalries encourage growth.

3) Train Adrenaline Management.

On match day, managing the systematic building and calming of adrenaline is often the deciding factor that often pulls an athlete into the winners circle.

4) Choose a Supportive Like Minded Entourage.

Top athletes have an entourage. The entourage provides a “team effect” to an individual sport.  Their collaborative efforts help to inflate the athlete’s confidence and fight while supporting the athlete when they need to the most.

5) Role Play Against Various Styles of Opponents.

Parents, I’ve touched on this topic before, plan on paying slightly older better players to play sets weekly versus your child while role playing. (For instance, “Here’s $25.00, please play 3-sets versus my son …and be the most annoying pusher possible. My son’s going to rehearse the patterns used to pull a crafty retriever out of their comfort zone. Thank you.”)

6) Play Practice Matches.

Remind your athlete as well as their entourage that success in competition requires protocols that simply aren’t found in simply hitting back and forth.

7) Reinforce Playing Smart.

Regarding competition, educate your athlete that having the presence of mind that missing the shot the moment demands is ok. It’s those reckless, uncalled for shot selections that will make them early round losers.

8) Learn to Play Through Fear.

Elite competitors control their fears and ultimately their destiny. Intermediate athletes allow their fears to control their psychology and physiology as it steal any real chance of peak performance at crunch time.

9) Adopt a Warrior Mentality.

For some people, the competitive fire is innate, they flourish under stress. For others; they wilt under the very same environment. For these athletes, developing their fighting spirit is a learned behavior.

10) Use Competition as a Learning Tool.

Competition is the best facilitator for improvement. It’s the engine that awakens each athlete’s hidden reserve of effort which later is seen as “talent.”

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink,net

Finding the Right Teaching Professional

Posted on March 13, 2016 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible 2nd Edition.
Thank you, Frank Giampaoloblack_ebook_design2

FINDING THE RIGHT TEACHING PROFESSIONAL

“When selecting a pro, you’re not just paying for the hour on court…but hopefully you’re paying for the thousands of hours of experience the coach has acquired solving similar issues.”

Initial instructors are usually chosen by proximity, cost and availability. Once your youngster moves into the competitive stage, it’s time to identify the styles and personalities of coaches that fit your child’s needs. Yes, it is perfectly acceptable to have more than one coach. In this day and age, top players have an entourage of technical teachers, hitters, mental and emotional experts, off-court athleticism experts and physical therapists.  The key to success is unity among the entourage.

A great example is ATP star Sam Querrey. When I worked with Sam in his early teens we focused on the mental/emotional side of his development. His parents Chris and Mike always employed a terrific team of hitters, coaches and clinics to provide world class instruction for their son.

Profiling a coach before a relationship begins is recommended. Most confident coaches will welcome you to simply sit and observe their lessons before committing to lessons. There are many factors to consider when seeking a new coach. The first is what personality and style best suites your athlete?

Facts to Consider When Selecting a Pro

Finding a Pro is easy. Finding the right Pro will require more thought and leg work. You may be using different types of Pros for different reasons. Below are a few insider tips to help you hire your entourage of coaches:

1) In every region, only a very small percentage of pros actually teach the top players. (There are very big differences between teachers and recruiters.)

2) Look for a coach who’s enjoying what they do, it’s contagious.

3) Seek out a Pro that is so busy, that they don’t need you.

4) The 10,000 hour rule applies! Being a master coach is a learned experience.

5) Seek out a Pro who understands your child’s unique Brain and Body Type (Genetic Predisposition).

6) Make sure the coach is asking questions, customizing and targeting their lessons.

7) Ask every player that beats your kid, “Great match…who is your coach? Where do you train?”

8) Ask a prospective coach, “We’ve heard great things about you, may we come and observe a few of your lessons?”

9) Pay the coach to chart a match and devise his game plan for improvement. Meet regarding his observations and suggestions.

10) Ask for a resume and who they trained under. (As a teacher- not as a player.)

11) Look for a coach that encourages independent thinking versus dependent thinking.

12) While there are exceptions, a former ATP or WTA challenger player does not always translate into a great teacher. The most successful tennis coaches were not the most successful tour players.

13) Be wary of a Pro that discourages you from hitting with other Pro’s, hitters or trainers!

SPECIAL NOTE: To avoid confusion, employ one coach per job at any given time. Two different coaches employed to fix a serve may prove to be extremely confusing for your child. Conflicting information and battling egos spells trouble!

 

“It often proves beneficial to secretly observe a coach or academies without the coaching staff knowing you are a future client.  This experience will provide you with an honest assessment of their program.”

 

CONTACT: FRANK GIAMPAOLO
FGSA@earthlink.net