The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Soft Science of Tennis.
Click Here to Order through Amazon
INFJ: Introvert Intuitive Feeler Judger
Challenge: Unfamiliarity is a sensitive topic for the INFJ’s. Adaptability isn’t their strong suit.
Solution: Entering competition, arrive at the new tournament site early to hit. Allow this athlete a bit more time to get comfortable with the elements, the court speed, club, and other environmental differences. Also, scouting of future opponents is comforting to this cerebral design. While profiling the next opponent, it is wise to discuss their style of play, their “go-to patterns,” their stroke and movement efficiencies and deficiencies, and their shot tolerance.
Challenge: INFJ’s prefer quiet, calm training environments with little interruptions. Too much socialization in group scenarios is distracting and illogical to this IJ typography.
Solution: If they believe that the practice environment is unproductive, they begin to feel fragmented and disconnected to their developmental plan. Coaches would be wise to begin sessions with a short preview of the day’s focal points, analyses, and evaluate throughout the session. And then later review with the athletes their thoughts in regards to their success rate accomplishing their daily goals.
Challenge: INFJ’s have vivid imaginations, which they use to, pre-set their ideal perfect conditions and solutions. Lawyers call this “speculation.” When reality doesn’t conform to their pre-set version, their imagined perfection is lost, and their will to fight is shattered.
Solution: Ask them a philosophical question: “Is this world perfect? Their obvious answer is no.” Then offer: “If God couldn’t make a perfect world …why do you think you should be perfect?” The competitive game of tennis is messy and imperfect. It’s best to encourage your athletes to shoot for near excellent performances on a consistent basis instead of perfection and let go of their pre-match speculations.
Challenge: INFJ tennis players are feelers who can be overly sensitive to criticism. When coaches challenge their logical decision-making, they’re likely to get an aggressive comeback. Rigid IJ’s actively dislike being proven wrong. After a high percentage shot selection tip from the coach, they’ll likely seek the exception to the rule and throw out a “Yeah but …” response.
Solution: Explain winning percentages on the tennis court is merely 2 out of 3. Winning 66% of the points is excellent. No one should be expected to win 100% of the points in any given situation. Also, teaching pros should gently remind athletes that exceptions follow every rule in life. In high-percentage tennis, seek to follow the rules approximately eighty percent of the time, while seeking the exception to the rule approximately twenty percent of the time.
