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Brain and Body Type

Posted on June 24, 2015 by in Customized Organizational Plan, Maximizing Tennis Potential, Personality Profile/Learning Preference

Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo

Championship Tennis Cover

To best help your students, you need to understand the mental and physical predisposition of “athletic royalty.” It’s time to get into your player’s world, instead of continually forcing them into yours.

Old-school teaching and coaching requires the student to get into the authority’s training methodology — which disregards the student’s unique brain and body design. This archaic approach produces average athletes at best, and causes gifted athletes to leave the game at worst.

To get into your player’s world, you need to recognize and respect a student’s inborn characteristics, which mean understanding their brain and body types.

Personality Types

To understand brain (and personality) types, we can use the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which has four categories with their opposing profiles.

Introvert vs. Extrovert: Introverts (I) are more comfortable laying back than retaliating. They need alone time to recharge and prefer to be inside their inner world. Extroverts (E) prefer to initiate action. They gain their energy by bringing people together.

Sensate vs. Intuitive: Sensate (S) individuals prefer to collect data and facts before making decisions. Intuitive (N) persons trust their gut instincts and are better quick decision-makers.

Thinkers vs. Feelers: Thinkers (T) make decisions through objective logic and impersonalize the situation. They enjoy the technical components and choose truthful over tactful. Feelers (F) are in tune to the emotional climate of the event and others’ actions; harmony is paramount.

Judgers vs. Perceivers: Judgers (J) prefer structure and like things orderly; they make lists and prefer to work before play. Perceivers (P) are adaptable and flexible; they enjoy experiencing new ideas and methods, rather than agonizing over details.

To help identify your athlete’s personality profile, first try categorizing yourself. Choose your dominant brain functions and write down your four-letter acronym. (While each of us exhibits multiple sides to our personality, we each have a genetically dominant trait.) For example, if you believe you’re an extrovert, intuitive, feeler, perceiver, then you are an ENFP.

Now, sit with your young athlete to brain type him or her. (Be aware that young people sometimes misdiagnose their own personality profile as they may choose characteristics they believe to be more popular.)

Motor Skills

The other part of this puzzle is how body types affect motor skills and athletic potential. The two opposing body types are called “fine-motor-skilled dominant” and “gross-motor-skilled dominant.” We all have a genetic predisposition to one or the other.

Fine-motor-skilled athletes excel from the muscles found from the elbows through the hands and fingers. A common compliment is that the athlete “has good hands.” Gross-motor-skilled athletes prefer the use of the larger muscle groups in the torso, legs and feet, and are known for superior core balance and body coordination.

Raising athletic royalty requires matching your young athlete’s preferred brain type and body type design with the right sport, style of play and/or position. Here’s one example, using two students of mine. Evan and Jarred are 14-year-old twins. They take the same number of private lessons and clinics but their training regimen is polar opposite. Evan is ENFP and fine-motor-skill dominant; Jarred is ISTJ and gross-motor-skill dominant.

Evan, being an extrovert, prefers to make things happen on the court. He often charges the net and ends the point with his volleys (good hands). Jarred is more comfortable assessing and then retaliating — the classic counterpuncher. Being gross-motor-skilled dominant helps Jarred uncoil the larger muscle groups of the kinetic chain — enhancing his textbook groundstrokes.

Teaching each student within their genetic guideline will maximize their potential at the quickest rate. Knowing your student’s genetic makeup and natural strengths and weaknesses helps to avoid the needless frustrations in their development and will better prepare you to assist and encourage them.

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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High Performance Athletics

Posted on June 23, 2015 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible.  Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo

Fitness training accelerates a player’s physical, mental and emotional performance. When an athlete gets fatigued their movement gets sloppy, their technique is off and unforced errors begin to increase. Poor decision making and negative emotions set in. Often, the actual cause of a child’s emotional breakdown is lack of fitness.

Unfit players do not perform their rituals, they do not spot tendencies and they do not manage their mistakes. Poor physical fitness manifests in mental and emotional breakdowns. For instance, most juniors go for low percentage plays or hasty play options due to the fact that they are too tired to properly execute the appropriate play. So is physical training linked to the mental side of sports? Absolutely!

The Following Training Skills are Essential to High Performance Athletics:

  • Lateral Movement (Side to side)
  • Up & Back Movement (Forward & back)
  • Aerobic Fitness
  • Ability to Accelerate
  • Ability to Decelerate
  • Speed/Agility
  • Stamina
  • Recovery Time between Points/Plays
  • Recovery Time between Matches/Games
  • Strength (Upper body/core/lower body)
  • Body Coordination (Gross motor skills)
  • Hand-Eye Coordination (Fine motor skills)
  • Flexibility/Stretching
  • Anticipatory Speed

Accelerate your child’s game with proper physical training.  High level sports demands high level fitness.  Ignoring training and only focusing on sport specific mechanics will severely limit your child’s potential. I recommend you begin by selecting two or three of your child’s weakest physical skills and begin developing those skills. A stronger fitter player will be more confident and mentally tougher.

FYI: Proper hydration and nutrition is also a critical factor in the physical, mental and emotional links of every competitor. As parents, we have to insist that our players fuel up before battle. Dehydration triggers fatigue, dizziness, headaches and nausea. Improper nutrition lowers 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
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Proper Nutrition and Hydration

Posted on June 18, 2015 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible.  Thanks for visiting, Frank GiampaoloThe Tennis Parent's Bible by Frank Giampaolo

Just as proper nutrition and hydration are essential to maximizing athletic peak performance, poor nutrition and hydration can ruin any real chance of even reaching peak performance.

Athletes employing improper nutrition and hydration can expect:

  • Lethargic play
  • Decreased strength & reaction time
  • Low physical, mental & emotional endurance
  • Impaired concentration, reduced court awareness & problem solving skills
  • Emotional break downs
  • Delayed muscle repair and recovery

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
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Pre-Match Visualization and Imagery

Posted on June 14, 2015 by in Match Day Preparation, Maximizing Tennis Potential

The following post is an excerpt from Match Chart Collection.  Thanks for visiting, Frank GiampaoloMatch Day Preparation by Frank Giampaolo

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.

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 four main styles of opponents
  5. Preset protocols for common emotional issues

To learn more visit my book Championship Tennis (Human Kinetics Publishing or Amazon)

ASSIGNMENTS:

Begin your pre-match visualization by arriving on site early enough to set aside 20 minutes to mentally rehearse the performance goals you’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; take several deep and 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, you should mentally rerun the “movie” several times to reinforce the positive thoughts.

Make a list of your Top 5 Visualization Rituals.

 

Positive constructive visualization actually trains a player to perform
the skills imagined without hesitation.

ntact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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Pre-Match Warm-Up Rituals

Posted on June 13, 2015 by in Match Day Preparation, Maximizing Tennis Potential

The following post is an excerpt from Match Chart Collection.  Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo

Frank Giampaolo

 Pre-Match Warm-Up Rituals

Before each PGA tournament round, Tiger Woods warms up every club in his golf bag, just in case he needs it. In the high performance tennis world, players who routinely warm up both their primary and secondary strokes have a major advantage in tightly contested matches. Grooving fundamentals before a match is important, but let’s go deeper.

A first-set tiebreak can often come down to a player executing a winning secondary stroke such as a swing volley or topspin lob.  To confidently perform secondary shots at crunch time, without hesitation, stems from properly warming them up before the match. Players who neglect their secondary strokes have a very different mind-set when faced with the same exact situation. Instead of instinctively moving forward to hit the swing volley to take the tiebreaker, they hesitate and are caught thinking, “I don’t remember the last time I hit one of these? Can I make it? Should I go for it?”  Now guess who misses the easy shot, gets upset and blows another breaker?

 

Obviously, any stroke has to be developed on the practice court long before tournament competition begins. Once developed properly, it should be placed into your match day tool belt.

 

ASSIGNMENT

Make a brand new normal warm up routine. Leave the old school warm up routine behind and begin to warm up in the manner that you are expected to perform.

 

The 5 different forehands and backhands:

  1. Primary drive ground strokes
  2. High and heavy ground strokes
  3. Short angle/side door ground strokes
  4. Slice and drop shots
  5. Defensive lobs

The 3 different serves:

  1. Flat serve
  2. Slice serve
  3. Kick serve

The 5 different volleys:

  1. The basic punch volley
  2. The swing volley
  3. The drop volley
  4. The half volley
  5. The transition mid court volley.

The 2 different overheads:

  1. Stationary, service box overheads
  2. The turn and run, scissor kick overhead with movement

The 5 different approach shots:

  1. Serve and volley
  2. Return and charge
  3. Moon-ball approach to swing volley
  4. Traditional approach to volley
  5. Spot a vulnerable opponent and steal the volley

 

Let’s return to the golf analogy. Tiger Woods knows that each day’s course conditions dictate his upcoming club options. Within your tennis world, your warm up is often dictated by the style of opponent you’ll be facing in the up-coming match. For example, if you know that your next opponent is a Moon Ball/ Pusher, it might be wise to warm up your swing volleys, side doors and drop shots.

 

Often, what separates two talented players is the time and

energy put into properly preparing for battle.

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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Equipment Preparation

Posted on June 12, 2015 by in Match Day Preparation, Maximizing Tennis Potential

The following post is an excerpt from Match Chart Collection.  Thanks for visiting, Frank GiampaoloChampionship Tennis Cover

Equipment Preparation

Are you a serious competitor? If you are a serious contender, the following list of Match Day Equipment Essentials should be included in your bag (or with you) during competition. Circle Yes or No by the tools that are currently found in your racket bag.

MATCH DAY EQUIPMENT ESSENTIALS:

  1. Three rackets freshly strung and re-gripped.? Yes/No
  2. Extra sets of strings (your brand and gauge) and extra vibration dampeners? Yes/No
  3. A first aid kit composed of Band-Aids, athletic tape, elastic bandages, appropriate pain reliever, plastic bags for ice, liquid Band-Aid, hair ties etc.? Yes/No
  4. Extra shoelaces, socks, and shirts; and a fresh towel(s)? (You may need an extra towel to soak in ice water to cool you down in very hot temperatures.) Yes/No
  5. Water, sports drinks, fruit (banana), and energy bars/gels to be used as quick energy and/or to bridge between meals. ? Yes/No
  6. Performance goals, match notes and cheat sheets (Reminders). Such as: How to beat moon-ball/pushers, match logs for post-performance analysis, past opponent notes, to possibly assist with matches in future rounds. Yes/No

ASSIGNMENT:

Pre-Pack your tennis bag with the above Match Day Equipment Essentials that can permanently be left in your bag? List any essentials that you wish to add to your bag? Make a check list of your essentials and review before each match.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

 

Review and Organize:

Prior to your match: Review your list of the Match Day Equipment Essentials (Preferably the night before your match.) Pack your perishable Match Day Essentials the day of your match – ice, food, drinks etc.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

 

Plan to check and re-check your tennis bag long before you leave for the tournament site.
Waiting until the last minute adds un-needed stress that can steal your emotional energy before even getting to the tournament.

 

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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Organizing Practice Sets

Posted on June 11, 2015 by in Match Day Preparation, Maximizing Tennis Potential

The following post is an excerpt from Match Chart Collection.  Thanks for visiting, Frank GiampaoloMatch Day Preparation by Frank Giampaolo

Organizing Practice Sets

The art of winning tournaments begins with the science of organizing practice sets. To win an event, a player will usually have to defeat several types of opponents. Worthy adversaries will apply a variety of playing styles along with their own unique strategies, tactics, ball speeds, and playing tempos.

List the four styles of players found in tournament competition.

1.

2.

3.

4.

(Answer:  Hard hitting base-liner, Retriever/pusher, All-court net rusher and Drop shot artist)

 

Have you noticed a singular style of opponent that continually gets the best of you in tournament play?

(Example: Retriever/Pusher)

Now, begin organizing by looking deeper into playing practice sets. Develop and rehearse the actual patterns needed to defuse the exact style of opponent that sends you home early.

List 3 patterns of play that systemically pulls the crafty opponent out of their comfort zone.

1.

2.

3.

Examples Include: 1. Short angle/side door pattern, 2. Moon-ball approach to swing volley, 3. Drop shot to passing shots and lobs.

Readiness breeds confidence. Developing and rehearsing the game plans to defeat every style of opponent is essential to winning championships.

 

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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PRIOR TO MATCH DAY

Posted on June 6, 2015 by in Match Day Preparation, Maximizing Tennis Potential

The following post is an excerpt from Match Day Preparation.  Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo

Prior to Match Day

Success in tournaments is directly related to the quality of preparation. Champions become champions because they’re the few who are actually willing to put in the grueling hours of pre-match preparation. Spectacular achievements are preceded by spectacular preparation. This section of your book is dedicated to proper preparation. Remember the old saying “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail”. Make today be the last day that you go into an event under prepared.

PERIODIZATION TRAINING

Players need to balance their preparations for short-term goals—such as an upcoming tournament—with their long-term improvement schedule. Managing these training phases is called periodization. When preparing for an upcoming match, a player’s plan for training to reach a peak level at the event should be customized to the player’s current comfort and ability level. Trying to perform skills that have not yet been securely ingrained is a recipe for disaster. The following are examples of both poor and intelligent pre-match preparations through periodization.

Poor Pre-Match Preparation

  1. Changing fundamental grips or strokes– Changing fundamental grips or strokes often leads to not having the old stroke any longer and not having the new stroke ready for match play.
  2. Cramming for the event by overloading the practice schedule. This behavior often leads to drained, low batteries on match day.
  3. Overdoing the off-court training– Overdoing the off-court training, often leads to soreness, fatigue, and injuries come match day.
  1. Adding unfamiliar things to routines– Adding unfamiliar things to routines could lead to physical, mental and emotional confusion.
  2. Seeking out only “Up” practice matches– Seeking out only “Up” practice matches breeds low self-esteem and zero confidence.
  3. Warming up past the point of diminishing returns-Warming up the same strokes too long often leads to your mind playing tricks on you. A seemingly solid stroke may appear to be flawed by over analysis.

Exception to the Rule: Often players and/or parents do not want to get off the tournament trail due to the ranking race.  In this situation, changes must be made to improve while on the tournament trail. Players/parents will have to accept the fact that losing a battle or two may be in order to win the war. In other words a player may have to lose a minor tournament or two in order to improve enough to be able to win Major tournaments in the future.

Intelligent Pre-Match Preparation:

  1. Train repetition of primary and secondary strokes, which grooves the timing and increases confidence.
  2. Train repetition of proactive patterns, which leads to fast cognitive processing speed and faith in the patterns.
  3. Perform light off-court training, this leads to strength and stamina.
  4. Preset mental protocols, this leads to dependable problem-solving skills.
  5. Preset emotional protocols, which leads to self-assurance and trust under stress

ASSIGNMENTS:

Review the above Poor Pre-Match Preparation actions and list the actions you have regularly included in your pre-match regime (if any) and how you will change these regimes.

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
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IDENTIFY YOUR PERSONAL PLAYING STYLE

Posted on June 5, 2015 by in Match Day Preparation, Maximizing Tennis Potential

The following post is an excerpt from Match Day Preparation.  Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo

To identify your personal playing style, let’s begin by self- profiling your game. Answer the following questions based on what best describes your game.Matchday preparation

 

SELF PROFILING QUESTIONS:

  1. Primary style of play? (Hard hitting baseliner, All-court player/Net rusher, Pusher/Retriever or Drop shot artist)?
  2. Preferred serve patterns (Especially on mega points)?
  3. Preferred return of serve position and shot selection on both first and second serve returns?
  4. Preferred return of serve position and shot selection on both first and second serve returns?
  5. Dominant short-ball option?
  6. Preferred net rushing pattern?
  7. Stroke strengths and weaknesses?
  8. Movement, agility and stamina strengths and weaknesses?
  9. Frustration tolerance, focus, and emotional stability?
  10. Preferred length of points? (Do you like to elongate points?)

ASSIGNMENT:

Tipping close matches in your favor requires a player to run their best patterns at crunch time. Do you think pattern rehearsal would help you perform better under pressure?

List 3 reasons why knowing your preferred style of play will improve your confidence on court and get you better results.

1.

2.

3.

(Example answers: If you know your style of play you will conserve energy versus waste energy; you will expose your strengths while hiding your weaknesses; you will be proactive instead of reactive and control the match dynamics.)

 

Plan on entering every match whether it is the first round or the finals, Miami or Moscow, hard courts or clay courts, with your favorite style of play and your time tested patterns.  Starting each match with what you do best…is a recipe for success!

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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Primary and Secondary Groundstrokes

Posted on June 4, 2015 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The following post is an excerpt from Championship Tennis (Available through Human Kinetics and Amazon) Thanks for visiting, Frank GiampaoloChampionship Tennis Cover

Primary and Secondary Ground-Strokes

The beginning and intermediate stages of stroke development often resemble a game of catch. Players are content to simply hit the ball back and forth. At the advanced levels, training starts to look more like a game of keep-away.

To maximize potential and accelerate the learning curve, players should begin by understanding the components of winning ground-strokes. To the untrained eye, perfect primary strokes are the main reason for players reaching the advanced levels of tennis, just as being tall is a prerequisite for playing top-flight basketball. But if just being tall was all it took to play in the NBA, my cousin, Big Vinnie, wouldn’t be driving a limo at Kennedy Airport.

Owning only primary strokes in tennis—or unusual height in basketball—is usually not enough. For players to experience accelerated learning, they need to develop additional tools and skills, or what are known as secondary strokes.

A good comparison that can be used to help players understand the importance of these strokes is to look at the differences between amateur and professional painting. Anyone looking to get started in painting generally begins at the same place: a prepackaged painting set that comes with a canvas or paper, brushes, and a strip of colored paint containing basic colors. As the person dabbles more in painting, though, one thing becomes evident: Using only basic colors makes the painting look amateurish. Advanced artists and professionals have learned that to make a painting jump off the canvas—to make it become lifelike—they need to use secondary colors as well. Instead of applying 1 shade of green, they may use up to 12 different versions.

The process of developing ground-strokes into weapons follows a similar principle: A player should start with a base version and then enhance it with three secondary options.

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
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