WISHING YOU A HAPPY, HEALTHY, AND PEACEFUL NEW YEAR!
All the Best, Frank
Strive for Tennis Improvement
The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s Amazon #1 New Tennis Book Release, Preparing for Pressure.
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True Happiness Stems From Progress
“Seek daily progress versus daily perfection.”
As crazy as it sounds, true happiness doesn’t always come from winning. It comes from performing at one’s peak potential under pressure.
Did you ever win a match against a player whose ability was levels below yours? It wasn’t truly satisfying, was it? Did you ever compete against a player whose ability was several levels above yours and you played amazingly, only to lose in a tightly contested battle? Remember walking away proud of your performance?
Choosing to feel passionate about performance as opposed to the outcome opens the doors to progress. Only with constant progress is consistent victory insight.
Let’s do a comparative analysis: 32 girls play a weekend soccer match and 16 players go home losers, and 16 go home winners. The same weekend 32 girls play a junior tennis tournament and one player wins, and 31 go home losers.
Tennis families that are only happy if they win the whole event are not likely enjoying the journey.
ELITE TENNIS PARENT JOB POST
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 wrote the ELITE TENNIS PARENT JOB POST as a humor piece while addressing the tennis parent’s extreme importance to maximize tennis potential and facilitate a healthy and positive environment. Enjoy!
ELITE TENNIS PARENT JOB POST
Before we dig deeper into the more serious components of the tennis parent’s role, let’s first laugh a bit about what a “Tennis Parent Needed” internet job post would look like…
With “tongue firmly in cheek,” I created the below piece for Tennis Magazine, which ran last year. The point of detailing this incredibly difficult and sometimes thankless job is acknowledging the love and dedication that go into developing and nurturing your child’s life skills.
Tennis Parent Job Description:
- Positive team player needed for 168 hours per week position.
- Candidate must possess a universal desire to be screamed at, talked down to, and be willing to be hated 5-6 days a week.
- The successful applicant must have an uncanny sense of “Buddha-like” calmness in an often psychotic, stressful, chaotic environment.
- Candidate must be willing to work early mornings, late evenings, and most weekends.
- Candidate must be willing to forget about their own personal interests, workout routines, sports, and hobbies.
- Candidate must not expect to go on vacation due to the year-round tournament obligations.
- The successful applicant should plan on missing traditional family holidays due to Thanksgiving Nationals, Winter Super Nationals, Spring Break/Easter Bowl, Labor Day, and Memorial Day Events.
Requirements:
- H R Skills– Interviewing, hiring, and firing tennis coaches, trainers, hitters, and off-court specialists…with the enthusiasm of Donald Trump.
- Accounting /Banking Skills- Possess an extremely thick checkbook and be willing and able to max out all of their major credit cards.
- Designated Driver- Must be willing to put 100 thousand miles on the family car and enjoy most of your meals behind the wheel.
- Expect your child to occasionally go “Tennis-Brain Dead“- Be willing and able to accept that your child will occasionally forget everything they were taught during the last $5000.00 worth of lessons and blow several events a year.
- Scheduling Manager- World-class juggling skills required to organize the ever-changing schedules of booking practice courts, times & logistics, hired hitters to practice partners, lessons, and events.
- Booking Agent– Flexible skills required to book last-minute airlines, cars, and hotels.
- VIP/24 Hour Courier Service: Laundry service, racquet re-stringing service, drug store pharmaceuticals pickup and delivery service, bedtime psychology sessions.
- Fashion Coordinator/Personal Shopper- Purchasing only the latest and greatest shoes and matching clothes.
- Maintenance Knowledge– General Maintenance of equipment such as racquet re-gripping, clothing malfunctions, shoelace replacement…
- Parental Intuition- Must have the uncanny ability to become expendable and invisible in a seconds notice and/or appear bright-eyed/ happy to help two minutes later.
- Match Performance Review- Must be willing to evaluate a crummy performance by first pointing out fifty positive observations but NEVER share negative feedback without starting WWIII.
Wages and Expenses:
- There is no pay for this position.
- All the work and travel-related expenses will not be reimbursed.
MATCH DAY VIDEO ANALYSIS- PART 3
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
Matchday analysis is a staple for NCAA college athletes and professional tennis players and their entourages. Evaluating performance is essential for growth. I recommend two important steps prior to beginning the process of matchday video analysis:
1) Purchase a High-Speed Video Camera. It is often essential to utilize slow-motion playback to actually catch the hundreds of issues not seen by the human eye. Parents reading this may ask “Isn’t it expensive to purchase high-speed cameras and playback equipment?” The answer is …no if you have a smartphone, it’s as easy as purchasing the “Coaches Eye” App. It costs under $10.00 in most countries. It is a great product.
2) Hire a Well-Trained Teacher. A high tennis IQ coach is essential to quantified data. A well-trained eye can spot dozens of issues that simply pass right by 95% of the parents and players watching the exact same film.
Most coaches do practice court “static” stroke mechanic’s video analysis. Coaches, please take it one step further and begin to apply match play video analysis. It often dispels the confusion over what players believe they are doing and the reality of their performances. It will assist the entourage in discovering a whole new world of improvement opportunities.
MATCH DAY VIDEO ANALYSIS- PART 2
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
MATCHDAY VIDEO ANALYSIS
Pre-Match Routines:
- Equipment preparation
- De-stressing versus over stressing environment
- Managing the overflow of adrenaline
- Opponent profiling
- Proper nutrition and hydration
- Use of dynamic stretching
- Essential warm-up routines
- Quiet time visualization
Match Performance:
- Proper use of between point rituals and changeover rituals
- Strokes: efficiencies and deficiencies
- Patterns and plays: strengths and weaknesses
- Identifying the actual cause of the errors
- Opponent dissecting/match awareness
- Score management and real-time problem solving
- Emotional performance state
- Universal movement flaws (Footwork)
- Cognitive processing speed (Hesitation)
- Correctly spotting and playing positive and negative “Mega” points
- Length of peak performing
- Controlling the “energy-flow” of the match
Post-Match Rituals and Routines:
- Recovery
- Static stretching
- Nutrition and hydration
- Opponent scouting
- Match logs
As I conduct high-performance player assessments around the world it is amazing that even top ITF players and their coaches have never even heard of quantifying their performances in such detail.
As parents, it is up to you to organize video analysis and review sessions. As coaches, it is up to you to suggest video analysis and review sessions to be initiated. And it is up to you, the player, to be willing to “allow” video analysis and review sessions.
MATCHDAY VIDEO ANALYSIS- PART 1
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
MATCHDAY VIDEO ANALYSIS
Experts agree that visual learning is the most common learning style. Professional athletes in every field get a leg up on their competition by analyzing their performance through video replay. Matchday video analysis quantifies performance and reinforces future quality instruction.
More often than not, tournament champions have developed skills that go far beyond good strokes. Often it is the underdeveloped, hidden components that separate the early losers from the champions. Video analysis of matchday performances can provide proof of actual tennis performance versus perceived tennis performance.
Often, parents and coaches see the same re-occurring performance nightmares match after match but guess who’s never actually seen the event from a clear perspective? The Athlete.
During the heat of battle, over analyzing the performance is not advisable. It is highly recommended to persuade players, along with their coaches, to self-diagnose matchday issues via video after the event. Parents if you are not providing your child’s coaches with match day videos, you’re not doing your job.
“After each tournament, hire an experienced coach to analyze match day performance alongside your child. This is a non-hitting classroom session.”
Parents, keep in mind that it is often meaningful to video the pre-match routines and rituals, the actual match, and the post-match routines and rituals. Flaws in any of the three phases may lead to poor performances and a serious lack of results.
Note: Below are twenty-five essential issues that often separate the early-round losers from the champions. It may be beneficial to break out the video camera for proof and/or clarity. Hire a trained eye to assist in spotting those hidden match day flaws and give your child a real chance at performing at peak potential. (Video recording can be done with a smartphone or with a mounted video camera.)
DOES YOUR CHILD NEED MENTAL/EMOTIONAL TRAINING?- PART 3
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
DOES YOUR CHILD NEED MENTAL/EMOTIONAL TRAINING?
Is a lack of Mental/Emotional training holding your child back from getting the results they deserve?
- My child has problems managing their stress, anger, and mistakes. Yes/No
- My child hasn’t yet developed their groups of proactive patterns. Yes/No
- We do not understand or utilizes periodization training. Yes/No
- My child has trouble dealing with external and internal distractions. Yes/No
- My child doesn’t spot mega points and mini mega points. Yes/No
- My child doesn’t know the difference between a positive mega point and a negative mega point. Yes/No
- My child lacks confidence in his/her abilities. Yes/No
- My child has trouble coping with cheaters. Yes/No
- In matches, my child’s mind often wanders to the past or the future. Yes/No
- My child’s training has primarily focused on stroke mechanics. Yes/No
- My child wants to win so badly it affects his/her performance. Yes/No
- My child freezes under stress and plays “Not to lose” instead of playing “to win.” Yes/No
- My child’s words, “I want to be a pro”, don’t match his/her actions. Yes/No
- My child doesn’t know how to spot the opponent’s tendencies in match play. Yes/No
- My child hasn’t spent time identifying his/her mental game strengths and weaknesses. Yes/No
ANSWERS: If you or your child checked “Yes” to any of the above questions, you may want to consider mental and emotional training.
Peak performance under stress is not reserved for the gifted few, it’s the “software’ that needs to be developed along with the athletic hardware. Simply put, being mentally or emotionally tough under stress is a learned behavior.
DOES YOUR CHILD NEED MENTAL/EMOTIONAL TRAINING? – PART 2
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
DOES YOUR CHILD NEED MENTAL/EMOTIONAL TRAINING?
Is a lack of Mental/Emotional training holding your child back from getting the results they deserve?
TAKE THE QUIZ
The following questions can be used to determine whether your child is in need of mental/emotional training. Good Luck!
- My child plays incredibly on the practice court but often falls apart in matches. Yes/No
- My child avoids playing full practice matches most weeks. Yes/No
- In matches, my child’s focus is only on winning versus actual performance goals. Yes/No
- My child doesn’t apply proper change over and between point rituals in matches. Yes/No
- My child is unorganized in planning their weekly training schedules. Yes/No
- My child has not yet developed his/her secondary strokes. Yes/No
- My child has super high expectations and expects to perform perfectly every match. Yes/No
- We haven’t yet put together our entourage of hitters, teachers, and trainers. Yes/No
- My child hasn’t developed plans or patterns to beat moonball/pushers. Yes/No
- My child hasn’t developed plans or patterns to beat hard-hitting baseliners. Yes/No
DOES YOUR CHILD NEED MENTAL/EMOTIONAL TRAINING? – PART 1
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
DOES YOUR CHILD NEED MENTAL/EMOTIONAL TRAINING?
Understand mental/emotional training is the practical application of finding solutions to common pitfalls. We often hear, “My child has trouble closing out a 5-2 lead”, “My child plays terrific in practice but horribly in matches”, “My son can’t beat a moonball, pusher”, “My daughter can’t handle cheaters!”, “My son has trouble focusing for the whole match!”
Essentially, the mental component consists of the X’s and O’ of strategy. The emotional component refers to the athlete’s ability to navigate through performance anxieties that many athletes see as challenges. Often, these two-component are intertwined.
Parents are often hesitant and a bit unclear about the role of mental or emotional training. This type of instruction involves more than simple fundamental stroke production. Developing the “hidden” skill set within your child’s game is crucial for peak performance. It is a myth that only children with abnormal behavioral problems need mental or emotional guidance.
Do we have to change primary coaches to begin working on these issues?
No, not at all! A mental training coach can assist your primary coach and become a part of the team. In fact, the most intelligent coaches will encourage their players to seek out such training. It’s a win-win situation for both the client and the professional.
Is a lack of Mental/Emotional training holding your child back from getting the results they deserve?
Three Phases of Athletic Development
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
THE THREE PHASES OF ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT
Once you’ve discovered which type of tennis parent you want to be, the next step is to identify which phase of development best categorizes your child’s current level. All too often, parents have an unrealistic view of their child’s current phase of development. This is a result of the parent’s lack of awareness of the developmental process.
Due to personality profiles, growth development schedules, and maturity levels, I don’t like to pigeon-hole athletes based on their age. At each level, customization is encouraged. It is very common to find mature 9-year-olds in phase 3 and immature 17-year-olds in phase 1. Customization is the key.
The Introductory Phase:
In this stage of the game, children are sampling many sports. The primary objective is enjoyment while developing sound fundamentals.
Special Note: I’m a firm believer that proper motor programming is essential. Allowing a child to groove poor mechanics only to spend thousands of wasted dollars, hours, and tears fixing them later doesn’t make sense. You can still laugh and have fun while developing world-class strokes.
The Developmental Phase:
Also known as the intermediate phase. In this stage, tennis is the main hobby. Social clinics are the norm. Specialized training has begun and juniors are experiencing sectional tournament play.
Special Note: This is when the parents, uneducated in the process unintentionally push talented athletes away from the sport by allowing them to train like a hobbyist and then expect the child to be getting championship results.
The Break-Through Phase:
In this stage, athletes are dedicated to the sport and are engaged in full-time training. Each component of the game is developed as the athlete begins to invest in the future. Players begin to look towards National level or ITF level events to secure a college tennis scholarship at a major university.
Special Note: This is when a shift from hardware development (strokes and athleticism) to software development (mental and emotional) is most often needed.
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