The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Soft Science of Tennis. Click Here to Order through Amazon
Eliminating Internal Judgment
How to Strengthen Self Coaching Solution#1:
Video Analysis
One method of combating the athlete’s negative self-dialog begins with videotaping tournament matches and providing non-hitting match play video analysis. This process accesses the specific stressful environment that needs to be studied.
As the high IQ coach quantifies the match data alongside the athlete, I recommend identifying how the athlete’s inner dialog helped or hurt their performance. Were they able to self-coach successfully? When providing match play analysis, remember to apply the five optimistic comments for every one pessimistic statement. Following are video analysis topics the athlete and coach would be wise to discuss.
Match Play Video Analysis
- Strokes & Movement Efficiencies & Deficiencies
- Anticipatory Efficiencies & Deficiencies
- Staying on Script. (Top 7 Patterns)
- Opponent Profiling
- Between Point & Change-Over Rituals & Routines
- Emotional Control
- Focus Control
- Cause of Errors
- Court Positioning Cause & Effect
- Score Management
Athletes who are trained to monitor their emotions and inner dialog via post-match video analysis are much more likely to become aware of the software complexities of competition.
