The Psychology of Tennis Parenting
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Where Attention Goes … Energy Flow
The mind creates deeply engrained pathways that instantaneously cultivate solutions or complications to similar situations. This law of attraction either hyper-focuses your athletes at crunch time or completely derails them when it matters most.
So, what mental habits are your athletes forming? Some athletes with a short fuse have trained themselves to default instantly to frustration first. Once behaviors become automatic routines, athletes perform those actions repeatedly without being mentally aware of the conduct. The acronym is ANTS (Automatic Negative Thoughts.)
So, how do we help our athletes recognize the hidden factors that influence their behavior?
Solution: If their negative energy is winning the power struggle, here are seven ways for them to lessen pessimism.
Decreasing ANTS by:
- Not Assuming the Worst Will Happen
- Avoiding the Words: Never and Always
- Recognizing Distorted Thoughts and Feelings
- Take a Bathroom Break to Reenergize
- Let Go of Past Mistakes
- Refocus on Exposing Your Strengths
- Flip Your Attitude to Gratitude
Kill the ants (Automatic Negative Thoughts) in their Brain.
Athletes often win or lose in their minds before they win or lose in reality. Where attention goes … energy flow is a tremendous mantra for any athlete struggling against themselves in the heat of battle.
