Frank Giampaolo's Maximizing Tennis Potential

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible
Available through most online retailers!

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Avoiding Character Building

Guess who an angry emotional train wreck was as a junior competitor? If you said Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and even the iceman Bjorn Borg, then you’re right! Moral excellence is a maturing process. Everyone can compete in a relaxed, happy state, but not everyone chooses to do so. Let’s cover that again. Everyone can compete in a relaxed, happy state, but not everyone chooses to do so!

Often negative behavior has been motor programmed into the player’s routine. It is a comfortable, dirty, old habit. The development of character lies in the ability to first learn to be uncomfortable competing without the negative act. It’s like a stand-up comedian without his props to hide behind. The old props are comfortable.

The insight lies in the understanding that each player has a character choice. Somewhere in their late-teens, tennis greats Borg, Federer, and Nadal were taught a wiser code of conduct and chose to apply it.

Encouraging Dependency

A serious blunder is “selling” dependence. I’ve seen numerous parents and teaching pros fall into this category. Often parents and coaches live vicariously through their superstars. Their fear of being abandoned by the champ motivates them to develop dependency. I often hear the player’s points of view as they communicate their feelings during their evaluation session. The players live in fear because a parent or coach has insinuated that they were responsible for their child’s success; “I’m the only one who can save you.” or “I don’t ever want to catch you hitting with another pro because they’ll mess up your game!”

Successful national champions have developed the physical, mental, and emotional tools to solve their own problems. It’s our job to assist them in solving their own problems!

Here’s what I did as a tennis parent from the time my stepdaughter was 12 years old, attending her first national event.

 “Ok, Sarah, this is your event. I’m here to assist you every step of the way. Let’s play the co-pilot game.  Sarah, I can’t drive and read the Google map. Can you please find the way to the airport? Great! Now find the parking structure. What’s our airline? Read the signs and lead the way.  Terrific.

As we de-planed, I would ask Sarah, “Can you follow the signs to baggage claim?”  That was easy.  Now, we’re searching for Alamo rental cars. I wonder what kind of car is in slot #26?  What’s your guess? Oh no… a P.T. Cruiser…Not again!!!  “Sarah, can you read the map and direct us to the hotel?” 

Lastly, we’re going to hit for an hour on the tournament courts so you can sleep easy knowing the surroundings. “Can you co-pilot us to the tournament site?”

Was it easy? Nope.  It was like pulling teeth!  It would have been a hundred times faster and easier if I had made her dependent on me. Did she learn self-reliance? Did she develop confidence in her abilities with the unknown? Did she become an independent thinker? You bet! By age 15, Sarah was flying comfortably, without us, nationally and internationally to compete.

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible
Available through most online retailers!

 Click Here to Order

Opponent Profiling Checklist (“Paying Attention”)

(The following checklist is designed for the coach/parent to review with the athlete.)

• Paying attention to the opponent’s current style of play.

A top player won’t stick to a losing game for long. They’ll often shift to a different style of play known as their pre-developed plan B. They may lose the first set with plan A but win the match with plan B or C.

• Paying attention to the opponent’s stroke strengths and weaknesses.

Don’t stop attacking the weaknesses until they have proven repeatedly that they have solved the problem. Stick with the same old boring winners.

• Paying attention to the opponent’s movement and spacing likes and dislikes.

Some opponents are terrific from behind the baseline yet pitiful when pulled forward into the forecourt.

• Paying attention to patterns of play (theirs and yours).

If a particular serve pattern of yours works like a charm, revisit it on game points. If the opponent is killing you with a particular pattern, expect it on big points and shut it down early.

• Paying attention to the opponent’s negative emotional cues.

Remember, not all forms of communication are verbal. Watch between points for the opponent’s negative facial expressions and body language. Whatever caused their negative reaction, plan on repeating it.

• Paying attention to where the ball is landing on both sides of the court.

The court zone in which the ball lands dictates shot selection. For example, if you hit a short ball, weak into their service box, that ball has landed in their attack zone. Preparing your defensive skill sets early is court awareness.

• Paying attention to the opponent’s court position and strike zone at contact.

For example, an opponent who is drifting back 15 feet beyond the baseline and meeting the ball at a head level strike zone, is most likely in a defensive position. You should be moving inside the court preparing to execute an offensive reply.

• Paying attention to the ball you are giving to the opponent.

“Think like a baseball pitcher versus a baseball batter.” Yes, you are hitting a ball but your stroke is their incoming pitch. Are you throwing the same 67 mph fastball, 2 feet over the net directly into their wheelhouse over and over again? You then walk away from the match saying, “They were too good! I had no chance!”   The reality is you made them look good.

• Paying attention to the speed of play.

This includes ball speed as well as between point and changeover playing speed. If the opponent prefers an aggressive, quick pace of play, slow it down. Controlling the pace of the match is called rhythm disruption and it is very much a part of high performance tennis.

• Apply proper changeover rituals.

Use the allocated 90 seconds to design or modify the next two game’s plan of attack instead of simply getting a Gatorade stain on your new shirt while watching the players over on court #6.

• Apply proper between point rituals.

The proper between point rituals are just as important as change-over rituals in implementing a successful plan of attack. Defeating a top ranked opponent is a complicated affair. It may require a bit of mental warfare to outsmart a seasoned champion.

A top NCAA award winning coach told me that he doesn’t teach strokes…he teaches “paying attention.”  The art of winning requires opponent profiling under stress. This is part of the essential mental component applied in high performance tennis.

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible
Available through most online retailers!

 Click Here to Order

TIPPING POINT TENDENCIES

Experienced champions have developed seemingly hidden skill sets I call, Tipping Point Tendencies. To the untrained eye, as the athletes warm up, opponents may appear to be equally matched with similar physical abilities. It is during match play that tipping point tendencies become apparent. The game is on and “playing catch” is over and playing “keep away” begins. These pre-developed skill sets are the critical factors that tip a close match in ones favor.

The tipping points are those hidden moments in each match when an emotional energy shift is about to happen.

“In close tennis matches, positive and negative energy and attitudes flows back and forth.”

Most intermediate athletes and their parents don’t even realize that this critical struggle for power is taking place. That is… until now! Mental readiness is required to control the positive energy.

Think back to the last few times your athlete lost tight matches. Chances are you blamed the losses on bad luck, or the opponent cheated, or your kid just did not have the “feel” that day, or for you superstitious types… you went to Quiznoz’s instead of Subway. Those re-occurring close defeats are most likely due to your child’s incomplete training and not lunch meat. Tipping point tendencies are essential learned behaviors that athletic royalty must master.

An athlete that shifts focus to the following tipping point tendencies, accelerates the learning process and a competitive warrior is born. Close matches are often decided by a handful of points. Let’s look a little deeper at ten of the top “hidden” tipping point tendencies that can help tip your athlete’s matches in their favor. Once again, these are terrific conversation starters for your athlete and their coaches.

Top Ten Tipping Point Tendencies:

1) Pay attention to the energy flow throughout the match. Who’s cranky and negative, who’s eager, hungry and positive? If you’re negative, apply your triggers and steal the energy back.
2) Monitor your state of mind. Is your mental and emotional state in the under arousal state of mind, in the optimal peak performance state of mind or in the over arousal state of mind?
3) Learn to spot the mental and emotional signs of choking (over-thinking) and panicking (under-thinking).
4) Manage the score to manage your adrenaline. Different points have different psychological values. Pay attention and get pumped up before big points.
5) Note that tennis scoring isn’t numerically fair: You can win more points than the opponent in the match and still lose the match. Winning requires spotting tipping points.
6) Spot the mega points (game winning points) and run the appropriate pattern that you’ve trained to death versus going rogue.

7) Spot mini-mega points. A 30-15 lead isn’t the correct time to relax. Winning that crucial point earns you a 40-15 advantage, lose it and you’re staring at a 30-30 tie.
8) Spot mini-mega games. These games in a set hold crucial building blocks. A 4-2 lead isn’t time to relax. Winning that mini-mega game earns you a 5-2 lead. Lose is and the sets a 4-3 dog fight.
9) Opponent profiling is crucial. It’s the flip side to running your Top 7 Patterns. Competitors who pay attention not only spot the opponents preferred patterns but actually shut them down on these big occasions.
10) Self-chart both sides of the net. Witness where errors and winners stem from and problem solve accordingly.

In regards to higher learning, I’m amazed at how often very young intermediate athletes understand this type of mental and emotional training. It is not reserved for the older advanced group. Parents and coaches, please remember, their world isn’t remotely like ours at their age. With Google on their smart phones, they are accustom to collecting and quantifying data at lightning speeds.

Have you ever witnessed your child on their phone with one friend, doing their homework, skyping another friend, snap-chatting, while eating and watching TV?  Children can multi-task. Asking an intermediate tennis player to improve their mechanical stroke components while improving their mental components is a piece of cake!

Mastering the tipping point tendencies is the art of winning under stress. Those seemingly “little things” are actually the extremely “big things” that make all the difference in tipping the odds in your favor.