Tag Archives: Coach Frank Giampaolo

Customizing Your Developmental Tennis Plan

Posted on September 15, 2023 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The Tennis Parent’s Bible
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Developing Your Competitive Persona

Jackie’s a hard-hitting baseliner. Her shot tolerance is 3-4 balls. Jackie is an intuitive player who likes to hit bold winners and can overtake most competitors with her huge serve and big forehands. However, her coach is from South America. The Spanish system nurtured him by being steady and retrieving balls with high-quality defense. He played that style. He understands that style and demands all his students to train within those guidelines. Is this the correct approach for Jackie?

Persona refers to our identity as competitive warriors. It relates to how we perceive and label ourselves in competitive events. It’s essential to be faithful to that which exists within.

2.1 Play Your Game

Parents and coaches often say, “Just go out there and play your game!” Do you know your game? Most players don’t honestly know. This section will help shape your tennis persona.

2.2 Developing Your Competitive Identity

Crucial to achieving long-term success is knowing your tennis identity. Do you know your best style of play in competition? What are your go-to patterns and best court positions? Do you have your offense, neutral, and defense protocols memorized?

2.3 Your Personal Brand

Your competitive identity is your personal brand on the tennis court, enabling you to do what you do best when it matters most. It’s handling adversity, problem-solving, and approaching your training and competition.

2.4 Developing Your Identity

Developing your tennis identity goes beyond fundamental strokes and natural talent. It also involves building resilience and developing decision-making skills. Tennis is an emotionally challenging sport, and your ability to handle pressure and maintain a positive mindset will significantly affect your success.

2.5 Inborn Talents

Inborn strengths and weaknesses mold your competitive identity. Recognizing and using your inborn talents will help to customize a game plan that plays to your strengths while minimizing your weaknesses.

2.6 Prioritizing Time

Balancing commitments requires developing strong organizational skills and learning to manage time effectively. The best competitors learn how to prioritize their commitments.

2.7 Optimal Habits

Optimal habits are the routines that help you to maximize your potential. An example of an optimal habit is setting weekly “stepping stone” goals, working to reach these goals, and then setting more goals the following week. The main goal is to strive for massive improvement. By doing so first, results appear.

Every choice you make either pulls you away from greatness or pushes you toward it. Applying your identity under pressure requires knowing who you are and what you do best. The best players customize their training versus the old-school, one size fits all approach.

Discovering Your Tennis Game

Posted on September 12, 2023 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The Tennis Parent’s Bible
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The Psychology of Tennis

As you progress throughout your journey, you should focus on your physical abilities and cultivate a deep understanding of your psychological makeup. Competition is not just a battle of physical skills; it’s equally a mental game where emotions, decision-making, and personality traits come into play. Let’s explore the psychology of tennis and how personality traits significantly influence your style, approach, and overall decision-making on the court.

“Your awakening begins by looking inside.”

2.1 The Impact of Your Personality Profile

Identifying the traits of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) helps to uncover your approach to the game. It’s in your best interest to go online and take a free MBTI quiz. Different personality profiles see the game differently, and understanding your genetic predispositions is important. Personality preference is measured along four dichotomies: Extraversion/Introversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging/Perceiving. Combinations of these scales produce a four-letter acronym that reflects your dominant functions.

2.2 Examples of The Power of Profiling

Personality profiling assists parents, coaches, and athletes understand how individuals gather information and make decisions. Identifying your personality profile explains why you are naturally good at some things and uncomfortable with others. It is why you think the way you think, say what you say, and do what you do. Below are observations of the different profiles as they relate to tennis. You’ll uncover your personality profile by identifying the most appropriate profile in each of the four categories.

View the following typographies the same way you view right or left-handed players. Athletes have a dominant (preferred) system and an auxiliary system.

Introverts (I) versus Extroverts (E)

Introvert Athletes

1) Reserved, reflective thinkers.

2) Prefer concrete advice versus abstract thinking. 

3) Need quiet, alone time to recharge their batteries. 

4) Energy-conserving, private and quiet individuals.

Extrovert Athletes

1) Enjoy the energy of group clinics.

2) Enjoy the limelight, center court, and center stage. 

3) Easily bored with mundane repetition.

4) Work best in short attention span type drills.

“Introverts and extroverts and extroverts can introvert. We all have dominant and auxiliary brain functions.”

Sensate (S) versus Intuitive (N)

Sensate Athletes

1) Choose to make decisions after analyzing.

2) Often hesitate on-court due to overthinking.

3) Thrive on the coach’s facts versus opinions.

4) Success on-court is based on personal experience, not theory.

Intuitive Athletes

1) Trust their gut instinct and hunches over detailed facts.

2) In matches, often do first and then analyze second.

3) Apply and trust their imagination with creative shot selection.

4) Learn quicker by being shown versus lengthy verbal drill explanations.

“Working within one’s genetic guidelines is like swimming downstream. Working against one’s genetic predisposition is like swimming upstream.”

Thinkers (T) versus Feelers (F)

Thinker Athletes

1) Impersonalize tennis matches in a business fashion.

2) Thrive in private lessons versus group activities.

3) In competition, they are less influenced by emotions than other brain designs. 

4) Relate to technical skills training over mental or emotional skills training.

Feeler Athletes

1) Often put others’ needs ahead of their own.

2) Strong need for optimism and harmony on-court.

3) Struggle with opponent’s cheating and gamesmanship.

4) Usually outcome-oriented versus process-oriented.

“A gender stereotype myth is that females are feelers and males are thinkers.”

Judgers (J) versus Perceivers (P)

Judger Athletes

1) Prefer planned, orderly, structured lessons.

2) Often postpone competing because they’re not 100% ready.

3) Need closure with a task before moving on to the next drill.

4) Change is uncomfortable and is typically shunned.

Perceiver Athletes

1) Mentally found in the future, not the present.

2) Easily adapts to ever-changing match situations.

3) Open to discussing and applying new, unproven concepts.

4) Typically need goal dates and deadlines to work hard.

For example: if you chose extrovert, sensate, feeler, or perceiver, you’re an ESFP. Training within those guidelines will maximize your potential at a faster rate.

“Athletes who make the most significant gains have parents and coaches aware of each other’s inborn characteristics, which assist in organizing the athlete’s unique developmental pathways.”

(Excerpt from Frank Giampaolo’s Book: The Soft Science of Tennis)

We’ve explored the multifaceted psychology of tennis and its impact on your persona on the court. Understanding your personality trait is an eye-opening experience. As you become more attuned to your unique psychological makeup, you’ll unlock your full potential and design a playing style that aligns with your personality, paving the way for a successful and more fulfilling journey in competitive tennis.

Embracing Your Tennis Identity

Posted on September 11, 2023 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

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Embracing Your Tennis Identity

Each individual brings a unique set of physical attributes, personality traits, and playing preferences to the court. As you progress in your journey, embrace your superpowers and tailor your performance style to align with your strengths and personality.

“Be smart enough to find yourself and brave enough to be yourself.”

3.1 Building Your Tennis Identity

Staying true to yourself emphasizes the importance of authenticity in developing a tennis identity. Training to play the systems that align with your personality profile maximizes potential. Embracing your personality on-court enhances enjoyment and fulfillment.

3.2 Exploring Different Styles of Play in Tennis

Your tennis identity begins with choosing the right style of play that fits your personality and body type. High-performance athletes develop their A-plan as well as a contingency plan. You’ll apply both nature and nurture to maximize your potential. So, who are you?

  1. Hard-hitting baseliners:

The characteristics of this style focus on leveraging baseline play to control rallies and set up strategic points. Ground stroke power is their weapon of choice. 

  • All-Court Players:

These individuals apply their versatility, adapting to various situations. These athletic individuals blend baseline play and net-rushing tactics to keep opponents guessing.

  • Retrievers:

These counterpunchers thrive on getting every ball back with their patience and incredible court speed. They’re happy to force errors and let their opponents self-destruct.

  • Net Rushers:

These powerful athletes are known for their aggressive net approach. They prefer short points as they pressure opponents and finish points at the net.

A typical battle cry from parents and coaches is, “Play Your Game!” Knowing your true tennis identity is your game. Practicing in the manner you’re expected to perform is “situational training.” Replace the typical grooving strokes with situational rehearsals that align with your game.

3.3 Developing Your Signature Shots and Strategies

Signature Shots and patterns are your go-to preferred plays. Exposing your strengths is a proactive approach. Everyone has signature shots; applying them on big points is a great strategic intention. Plan on spending a lot of time developing and strengthening your weapons.

3.4 Leveraging Innate Qualities

Identifying your strengths begins with reflecting on the four pillars of the game (strokes, athleticism, mental and emotional). Begin by deciding to capitalize on your strengths in the four pillars of the game. Addressing weaknesses starts with an honest assessment of the game’s four pillars. Work with your coaches to design targeted training programs to overcome those weaknesses.

3.5 The Impact of Mental and Emotional Alignment

Embracing the development of your software components is a key aspect of peak performance. Understanding strengths and weaknesses in your mental(thinking) and emotional (feeling) components is essential. Hire an experienced mental coach to help align your playing style with your personality leads to a more harmonious experience.

Chapter 3 has emphasized the significance of embracing individuality and tailoring a unique tennis style that aligns with your strengths, preferences, and personality traits. As you build your tennis identity, stay true to yourself. Nurture a style that brings joy and fulfillment to your game.

By combining individuality with strategic adaptability, you’ll create a distinctive playing style that sets you on the path to success in the world of high-performance tennis.

Tennis and the Foundation of Talent

Posted on September 8, 2023 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

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 The Foundation of Talent

Recognizing that a combination of factors shapes the path to greatness is essential. While grit, patience, and great coaching play a significant role, it is equally important to acknowledge the role of genetics in developing your talent. Let’s explore the science involved in shaping your tennis identity. The fascinating world of genetic predispositions lays the foundation of your inborn talents that you’ll apply in customizing your best style of play.

“You don’t have to suffer from what’s happening to you, but you do have to suffer to become what you choose to be.”

1.1 The Role of Genetics in Athletic Abilities

Genetics, the blueprint of life, holds information that dictates your physical, mental, and emotional attributes. As we look at renowned athletes across various sports, it becomes evident that certain genetic traits contribute to their success. In the realm of tennis, genetic factors significantly impact your performance.

1.3 Physical and Mental Attributes

From a physical standpoint, genetic factors like height, body composition, and muscle fiber type impact your style of play. Fast-twitch muscle fibers are applied to explosive movements and serve velocity. Genetics influence your hand-eye coordination, balance, and agility. From the mental side, there are genetic links to your cognitive abilities and decision-making skills on court. There’s also a connection between genetics and mental resilience during high-pressure situations. Your genetics play a role in your temperament and patience in tennis performance.

1.4 Identifying Genetic Traits

Recognizing traits relevant to tennis can provide valuable insights into your development. Athletes within the same peer group all possess different physical, mental, and emotional attributes. For example, Josh is extremely patient- a factor in his retriever persona. Rebecca’s natural quickness aids in her court coverage. Peter is impatient, so hit shot tolerance is low. Discovering your inborn talents is key to organizing development and tennis identity.

1.5 Inheriting Traits

Physical, mental, and emotional genetic characteristics often pass on from generation to generation. Heredity plays a role in your tennis “makeup.” Your genetic predisposition is an increased likelihood of developing particular strengths and weaknesses. For example: If Kelly’s father has ADHD, it’s likely that she may also possess inherited focus concerns in competition.

1.6 Nature’s Impact on Athleticism

Certain genetic predispositions shape your physical talents in competition. Genetics play a role in your height, coordination, and movement capabilities. It drives your unique metabolism, recovery speed and is responsible for your predisposition to injuries. There’s a fascinating relationship between your genetic traits and the synchronization of your brain-body connection.

1.7 Leveraging Your Genetic Advantage

Customization of your physical, mental, and emotional training is key. Research shows that matching one’s style of play with their genetic predisposition found three times better results than those with mismatched training plans. It’s obvious that the old-school, one size fits all approach to training is obsolete.

We’ve explored the foundational role of genetic predispositions in tennis. While genetics lays the groundwork for your potential, it’s essential to remember that genetic factors do not solely determine success in tennis. Hard work, determination, and the correct nurturing environment provided by coaches and family play an equally critical role. Recognize and leverage your genetic advantages. Train within your genetic blueprint. By combining nature and nurture, you’ll set the path to maximizing your potential.

Tennis- The Psychology of Listening

Posted on August 10, 2023 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The Psychology of Tennis Parenting
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The Psychology of Listening

For a youngster to mentally process your message, the athlete must pay attention to the essence of the ideas. Most children never get past their parent’s tone of voice and nonverbal clues. Digesting the message isn’t easy for most junior athletes. Once the message is perceived as negative, they stop listening. So use a bit of reverse psychology and apply optimistic solutions instead of the laundry list of their problems. This method detaches the athlete from their ego.

Young athletes are typically lost in their judgmental thoughts, so the listener often distorts the message.

“One who understands what to say has knowledge; one who understands when to say it has wisdom.”

Magnifying the negative and forgetting the positive is a typical communication obstruction. Every athlete, parent, and coach have a unique communication style. There are four basic communication styles (passive, aggressive, passive-aggressive, and dominating). It’s important to understand that if your style isn’t working, change your communication system to fit your listener.

Solution: Understand your communication system. Try to downgrade your tone of voice to a calm, relaxed cadence to get your meaning heard. When choosing to discuss their failures, switch the problems with the solutions. Add player accountability to problem-solving using the “Ask, don’t tell.” teaching method. After all, top athletes are nurtured to solve their problems.

Try to focus on giving without expecting, argue less, stop comparing your child with their peers, avoid participating in gossip, eliminate judgment, and choose not to live vicariously through your child.

Tennis- Successful Parental Habits

Posted on July 30, 2023 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The Psychology of Tennis Parenting
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Successful Parental Habits

Tennis parents rarely get the spotlight, but without their influence and leadership, most athletes wouldn’t even make their local high school squad. I chatted with the parents of my top nationally ranked juniors to find out what they had in common. These parents teach their children ownership of their tennis careers. Below are six commonalities found in the parents of top competitors.

Solutions:

  1. After each tennis lesson, these parents ask their athletes to teach them the concepts they’ve just learned. Learning by teaching solidifies their knowledge, which improves confidence. Communication skills enhance memorization.
  2. For each private lesson their athlete takes, they schedule a hitting session or a practice match utilizing those improvements. Solidifying stroke adjustments takes repetition. Memorizing new material in the form of plays and patterns takes time.
  3. Successful tennis parents have their athletes play sets with paid college hitters. The parent hires the hitter and instructs them to play the style their child has trouble with in competition.
  4. These parents ask them to rehearse their secondary tools, and contingency game plans in group training sessions. They know if their player doesn’t rehearse their plan B, it likely won’t hold up under pressure.
  5. If their child despises playing a retriever, they ask their coaches to stop simply grooving to each other in practice and develop the keep-away patterns used to pull retrievers out of their game.
  6. Successful tennis parents replace some of the hours of drilling with completing practice sets. Practicing in the manner, they’re expected to perform requires a different set of skills than most academy training. Software management stems from being judged, and that involves competition. Being a great competitor is different from being a great stationary ball striker.

Tennis- Conversation with Players

Posted on July 23, 2023 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The Psychology of Tennis Parenting
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Always & Never

“Always” and “Never” statements are frequently used by parents to emphasize their points of view. While using “you always” and “you never” as opening statements, they convey emotional intent, but they also tell a lie. While parents know the “always and never” phrases aren’t meant to be literal, their youngsters may not see it that way. The exaggerations open a floodgate of negative emotions among young athletes. I recommend exchanging “always and never” for statements easier for your young athlete to digest.

Solution: If you must share your insight, start your review with “This is just an observation… not a condemnation. I want to share what I thought I observed, and you tell me if I’m off base or not. Ok, by you? Or, “Here is something to consider ….”

Avoid using the “always or never” opening assertions to prove your point. In the coaching world, as in life, there are exceptions that shadow every rule, and a defensive athlete will try and find the exception to prove their point. These inaccurate statements typically ruin the true message of what you are conveying. Arguments ensue as your youngster tries to prove you wrong, or worse, they shut down.

Replace the “always and never” statements with questions to open a dialog. Your athlete will then be motivated to apply their own solution-based problem-solving.

Correct Conversations

Parents want to help and should be a part of their athlete’s team. That is, if they are not creating pressure. Do you know if you are unintentionally adding stress? Conversations should be based on the performance needed, not the outcome.

It’s the parental role to create accountable young adults- a common theme throughout this book. Your young athletes are best served by attempting to solve their own problems. We want to nurture them to apply solution-based dialog to increase confidence and resiliency. Please keep in mind that parents and coaches are often “planting seeds.” These mental and emotional skills often need years to develop.

Here are some match day correct conversations for your “Weekend Coaches.”

Solution:

  1. Warm Up Correctly. Come tournament day; your player should be mentally, emotionally, and physically ready for peak performance. The match day starts with a well-planned physical warm-up session. This includes warming up general athleticism and their tool belt of strokes. I also recommend warming up hitting offense, neutral, and defensive situations on the move. After nutrition and pre-hydration needs are met, mental and emotional visualization of preset plays and protocols are warmed up before they step into the club.
  • Gifting Away Matches. A great question: Am I losing, or is the opponent beating me? If your athlete makes things easy for their opponent through unforced errors, they are losing. If their opponent is outplaying them, they’re getting beat, and there’s a big difference. Often winning in junior tennis is error reduction. It’s your athlete’s job never to become the most valuable player for the other team!
  • Today’s Elements. Explain why they should adapt to the elements. Smart players avoid complaining about the court, the sun, the wind, the ball, or other elements they cannot control.

Here is a typical conversation regarding the elements. Your junior is in a clay court tennis event, and it just rained. Discuss how the clay court is going to play very differently. The ball is going to be heavier. They may want to adapt by using the lowest tension racket in their bag. They adjust their game accordingly by simply viewing the conditions as part of the game that day. Ask your athlete before matches to identify possible element issues and to be prepared to plug in the correct solutions.

  • Paying Attention. Ask your mature athletes to pay attention to the opponent’s tendencies by spotting their top patterns – opponent situational awareness. Mentally tough competitors are allowed to be surprised by an opponent’s shot option once or twice, but after a few times, the shot is their tendency and not a “surprise” but a lack of match awareness. For example: If the opponent is killing them with a drop shot to lob pattern, and your athlete doesn’t know to drop shot a drop shot, then how to combat common patterns should be in your athlete’s coach’s future developmental plan. Ask your athlete to spot key serving patterns, returning patterns, rally patterns, and favorite short ball options. Just as it takes years to develop strokes, it takes years to be a mentally tough competitor.
  • Self-Coaching. Discuss how to adjust to mistakes with proactive solution-based dialog. If they complain “out loud” about the problem, ask them to “flip it” and talk about their solution. Be careful about your “weekend coaching.” Athletes who broadcast their issues during play are usually parroting a parent or coach that begins every sentence with “The problem is …” An athlete’s self-coaching is often a mirror of the parent’s and coach’s past dialog.
  • Change. Insanity is defined as doing the same thing but expecting a different result. Discuss how and when to change a losing strategy. Here are two very different changes. Knowing when to activate each one will help win matches. If your athlete is running great patterns, controlling the court but not executing the last shot, I recommend sticking with the strategic plan but applying better margins. If they are playing well but still find themselves on the losing end, it is time for a different strategy- their second contingency game plan. At least two styles of well-rehearsed game plans (Plan A and B) should be available for each match.
  • Letting Go of the Outcome. Ask them to focus on winning the performance battle, and the outcome will take care of itself. This principle focal point is essential for parents as well. Let go of USTA rankings, UTR rating numbers, and tournament seedlings. The consistent chatter about who’s ranked where pulls your athlete into the outcome frame of mind, sabotaging the quiet performance-based goals you seek.

Tennis Six Anticipatory Skills

Posted on July 10, 2023 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The Psychology of Tennis Parenting
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Six Anticipatory Skills

Anticipatory skills are techniques advanced tennis players use to decrease the amount of time it takes them to respond to the structure of a point. Anticipation relies on conditional awareness, broad vision, mental processing speed, score management, ball-tracking ability, and spotting tendencies, to name a few. Anticipating a competitive event begins with how well the athlete has prepared for pressure. Preparation includes the physical, mental, and emotional demands of training to compete at one’s peak performance level for approximately twelve to fifteen sets in a three-day event.

These awareness skills fall into the athlete’s software development.

Solution: The following are advanced concepts, so start “planting the seeds” of anticipation by discussing:

  • Broad vision clues include where the ball will land in the opponent’s court, the opponent’s intentions based on their court position and strike zone, and the opponent’s swing speed and swing length. All these millisecond clues tell a story that advanced players size up each time the ball crosses the net.
  • Mental processing speed involves self-awareness (recognizing the quality of their shots, what’s working -what’s not working) and opponent awareness (recognizing the quality of their opponent’s shots – what’s working and what’s not working).
  • Score management relates to knowing when to play bold or grind based on the score. There are both positive and negative game points. Consider the scoring situation and the observations of both self and opponent awareness when managing the correct play, depending on the score situation.
  • Ball tracking ability relates to the ball’s speed, spins, and trajectories. Athletes need to anticipate the incoming ball’s flight path and depth. Athletes move and space properly and decide on the correct swing length, adjusting their swing path and speed based on their ball-tracking skills.
  • Spotting tendencies relate to both your athlete and their opponent’s shot choices. Recognizing the opponent’s style of play, their favorite patterns, their strengths and weaknesses in strokes, and court coverage would all assist in anticipating their possible future tactical choices. Paying attention to how the opponent anticipates your athlete’s game plan and manages the score also plays a vital role in your athlete’s anticipatory skill sets.


If you’re thinking, “Wow, this could take a while,” You’re right. Plan weekly classroom sessions with a high IQ coach to discuss these advanced software skills.

Tennis Kobe’s Approach

Posted on July 7, 2023 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The Psychology of Tennis Parenting
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Kobe’s Approach

I’m from Southern California. I’m not necessarily a Lakers basketball fanatic, but I was a huge Kobe fan. As a lifelong student of high-performance sports, I was fascinated by his approach to greatness. He realized that you need a different approach than the rest to become the best. His developmental plan was very detailed, and his pre-game preparation was exceptional. His self-awareness and opponent awareness were insane. He studied his past game videos and future opponents’ game day tapes. The extra work he put into his job outside the team’s regular training was sheer discipline.

Solution: Apply Kobe’s discipline to your athlete’s developmental blueprint. He called it the “Mamba Mentality.” He said it’s all about focusing on the process and trusting in the hard work when it matters most. His Five Pillars of the Mamba Mentality:

  1. Resilience
  2. Fearlessness
  3. Obsessiveness
  4. Relentlessness
  5. Passion

His above five pillars are more about strong character traits than lessons in the fundamentals of basketball. He states that hard work outweighs talent every time. Kobe said, “Mamba mentality is about 4 a.m. workouts and always doing more than the next guy.” Can your tennis athlete learn from a master in another sport? I think so!

As you know, tennis isn’t an easy game to play. It is even harder to master. Without the help of a well-educated tennis parent like you, your athlete has very little chance.

Tennis Training Anticipation

Posted on July 3, 2023 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The Psychology of Tennis Parenting
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Training Anticipation

Competitive tennis is a violent game of keep away, not catch. Plan on each match being a 2-hour dog fight and plan on multiple matches daily on tournament days.

Yes, your athlete’s legs and lungs need to be at their peak performance level but preparing your athlete includes more than cardio endurance, speed, and agility. Factor into the equation anticipatory speed. This hidden skill set holds many benefits. Anticipation assists your athlete with their ability to quickly and accurately predict the outcome of actions even before that action occurs.

Roger Federer rarely appears hurried when executing strokes. The high-speed film confirms that he reacts and moves earlier than most competitors. His ability to apply agility and stability with his body and head through the strike zone is legendary. His early detection is essential for delivering and receiving on the run. So, how do top players like Federer do it?

Solution: Professionals acquire knowledge of their opponent’s favorite sequence of shots in particular circumstances. Athletes at the higher level all have preferred options of plays and patterns. They use pre-match video analysis and scouting reports to predict performance. If your athlete is preparing to play in the high-performance arena, I suggest uncovering ways to develop this incredible, secret skill set of predicting possibilities.

When my daughter played her first 14’s finals in the Hard Courts in Georgia, six fathers of her competitors videotaped her performance as a future scouting report. Yes, acquiring knowledge about opponents starts early.