The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Soft Science of Tennis. Click Here to Order
Re-Examining Risk
Neuroscience shows us that it is normal human behavior to focus on what we could lose versus what we could gain. That is why some intermediate athletes play to win, get a comfortable lead then shift to playing not to lose, only to blow the lead. Their focus on avoiding possible pain causes probable pain.
When an athlete no longer fears losing, they embrace risk and play to win until the match is over. With this mindset, competition isn’t threatening. The challenge is seen as a privilege.
Coaches and parents would be wise to remind their athletes that it is common for many athletes to be unknowingly loyal to comfortable mediocrity. Most want to fit in and not stand out. They prefer to protect the status quo and aren’t willing to break their routines that are not working anyway. It’s important for the educators to frequently motivate their athletes to remember that winning more often stems from improving, improving comes from growing, and growing comes from risk. It is the internal challenge every competitive athlete faces.
The Risk Leads to Reward Philosophy
It’s also important for us as parents and teachers to emphasize to our athletes that risk is inherent in competition. There are reckless risks, and then there are thoughtful, calculated, and inspired risks necessary to beat worthy opponents. Not all necessary risks pay off instantly. Sometimes risk initially leads to losses. Especially when the risky behavior (pattern play, shot selection or stroke) hasn’t been fully developed. When your student attempts the correct shots the moment demands, whether they win or lose, they are improving their mastery of the sport.
“Without appropriate risk-taking, nothing new would ever be accomplished.”
In beginner and intermediate tennis competition, playing it safe and retrieving often pays great dividends. However, in high-performance tennis, it’s a different story. At the higher levels, playing it safe and not taking advantage of appropriate risks is usually a receipt for failure. Without pushing your athletes to embrace risk, they will likely remain stagnant in their growth and predictable in their match play. Athletes who embrace risk are more likely to realize their true potential.
“Athletes have to risk defeat, judgment, pain, and shame to play at their peak potential.
Taking intelligent risks is an essential part of achieving high-performance tennis results.
Managing Risky Players
Like we uncovered in previous chapters, not all athletes share the same cognitive profile. We are all controlled to some extent by our genetic design. While parents and coaches promote the rewards of taking calculated risks to some athletes, it is wise to understand that other cognitive designs need polar opposite training. To these, reckless daredevils, minimizing risk is in their best interest. Some of our athletes aren’t thinking of reasons not to risk; they are thinking why not risk…
Opposite of the timid performers are the reckless athletes who are hard-wired to thrive on risk. In fact, they perform with too much reckless abandon. They are often downright mindless and inattentive to playing high percentage ball. This personality profile doesn’t have limiting beliefs; they have limitless beliefs.
I occasionally work with talented, young juniors who are so overly confident that they are sure they’re going to be #1 in the world next week! Due to their limitless beliefs, nothing is stopping them from routinely attempting low percentage shot selections. Their intuition is skewed, as we watch in horror as these impatient athletes give away relatively easy matches.
With these exciting athletes, I recommend assisting them to play only within their preset comfortable script of play. Firstly, assist them in designing their most proficient serving patterns, return patterns, rally patterns, short ball options and net rushing sequences. Second, practice these exact scripts routinely in place of rallying. Third, bring in a sparring partner and monitor the athlete’s ability to stay on their pre-designed scripts throughout practice sets. Forth, in real tournament play, chart the percentage of points the athlete played on script versus going rogue. In my experience, exceptions follow every rule so shoot for a performance goal consisting of about 75% on script and 25% off script. The athletes should seek excellence and not perfection.
“Champions understand that if they don’t apply intelligent risk, they don’t grow. If they don’t grow, they don’t reach their peak potential. If they aren’t performing at their peak potential, they’re not satisfied with their performance. If they’re not satisfied, they’re not happy. So, happiness stems from risking intelligently.”
