The following post is an excerpt from Championship Tennis. Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
“Practice in the manner in which you are expected to perform.”
Players wanting to maximize potential at the quickest rate are practicing in the manner in which they are expected to perform.
Here’s a common scenario: John takes a lesson on Friday with his local teaching pro. The pro feeds every ball right to John’s primary strike zone. After a half hour of hitting these perfectly placed balls, John thinks, Forget the club tournament tomorrow—I’m going pro! John leaves the lesson feeling great about his game. The next day, he draws a moonball pusher in the first round of the tournament. The opponent plays at two speeds: slow and slower. He also hits with a higher trajectory than John is accustomed to, forcing John to hit at head level all match long. Not surprisingly, John goes down in flames. After the match, he thinks, I don’t get it. I was on fire yesterday. I’m great in practice, but I stink in a real match. The moral of this story? Players must practice in the manner in which they are
expected to perform. This is why some players feel good about themselves during lessons but seldom improve. Accelerated learning means practicing shots in those pesky secondary strike zones so that they’re second nature during competition.
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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