Tag Archives: Emotional Aptitude

Solutions to Foster Emotional Strength

Posted on November 28, 2017 by in Emotional Aptitude in Sports, Emotional Tennis

The following post is an excerpt from Emotional Aptitude In Sports NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

 

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EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Elite competitors are confident that their superior emotional strength will override any hardships and physical limitations. The emotionally weak athletes are convinced that the unfair hardships and their perceived limitations will override their peak performance
and catastrophe will once again occur.

 

An old-school word used to describe emotional aptitude is Grit. In regards to high achievers, researchers have come to the conclusion that successful individuals possess traits deeper than the mastery of athletic ability.  Grit is persistent courage, resolve, and strength of character. Grit is the learned ability to have “nerves of steel,” fortitude and determination. Interestingly, some athletes are pre-wired to have these essential components and some are not. For those athletes who are not natural combatants, developing emotional aptitude is critical.

Sadly, emotionally weak competitors often ignore the development of such skills.  Cultivating these character traits is what propels the few into the winners’ circle. If you believe that your emotions are holding you hostage on game day and keeping you from the success you deserve, I suggest focusing your attention on the below list of solutions

Posted Below are Five of Fifteen Solutions to Foster Emotional Strength.

  1. Nurture the Love of Competition
    Studies show that experiences bring more joy than possessions. The energy of the event is contagious. Athletes should enjoy competing against their past, fatigue, opponents and against time.
  2. Commit to Improving
    Being the best of the best (even in your town) doesn’t come without extreme effort. Improve your performance by understanding emotional aptitude.
  3. Recognize That You Can’t Be Normal …and a Champion
    Champions lead very different lives than normal people. Being an athletic champion is a daily lifestyle.
  4. Customize Your Training
    Realize that diligent customized training trumps social, group learning. Research shows, on average, group training takes up to six times longer than quality private training.
  5. Adopt a Growth Mind-Set
    Great skills are cultivated through continuous effort more so than initial talent or IQ. Without effort…you fail by default. Understand that success starts with the effort of optimism and a growth mindset.

RESILIENCY In Sports

Posted on October 1, 2017 by in Raising Athletic Royalty

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Raising Athletic Royalty

RESILIENCY 

 

“DURING COMPETITION, IT’S THE SPEED THAT YOU RECOVER FROM MISTAKES THAT OFTEN SEPARATES THE WINNERS FROM THE LOSERS.”

 

“Self-control in sports often refers to how one reacts to hardships.”

 

“HIGH-PERFORMANCE ATHLETES HAVE MASTERED THE ART OF RESILIENCY.”

 

“Resilient thinkers aren’t reduced by a loss, they are challenged by it.”

 

“RESILIENT ATHLETES DON’T OVER THINK, THEY SIMPLY ADAPT.”

 

“Success is not judged by winning or losing. In athletic competition, you can perform above your current peak level and still lose. You can also perform way below your personal best and sometimes win.”

 

Negativity on Court

Posted on September 12, 2017 by in Raising Athletic Royalty

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 broken racquet

NEGATIVITY

 

“IT ONLY TAKES ONE NEGATIVE COMMENT FROM A PARENT TO UNRAVEL EVERYTHING A COACH HAS BEEN BUILDING.”

 

“Pessimism, cynicism and negativity are poison.”

 

“NEGATIVE PEOPLE EVENTUALLY SUCK YOU INTO THEIR WORLD.”

 

“Some athletes create their own drama, and then complain about it.”

 

“NEGATIVE PEOPLE DESTROY EVERYBODY’S CONFIDENCE AND SELF-ESTEEM.”

 

“Sadly, Negative People Believe They Are In Reality And Positive People Are Out Of Touch.”

 

 

 

ADVERSITY

Posted on August 5, 2017 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

https://www.amazon.com/Raising-Athletic-Royalty-Insights-Lifetime/dp/1505374359

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ADVERSITY QUOTES

 

“The parental role should be one of gratitude and optimism versus stress and pessimism.”

 

“RECOGNIZE THAT ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT IS OFTEN THREE STEPS FORWARD & TWO STEPS BACK.”

 

“Under game day adversity, champions choose to stay on script. This is performing in the manner in which they have been trained.”

 

“YOU AND YOUR CHILD MAY NOT REALIZE IT AT THE TIME, BUT ADVERSITY MOTIVATES IMPROVEMENT.”

 

“The ability to handle adversity is a learned behavior. Simulate times of controversy in practice and rehearse how your child should handle it.”

 

Proper Preparation Rewards Emotional Aptitude

Posted on July 6, 2017 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

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SOLUTION # 7: Prepare Properly

If you want to make your own good luck, look towards your future athletic competitions as opportunities and bring to these opportunities exquisite preparation. When proper preparation and opportunity meet, the athlete will shine. The solution to developing one’s emotional muscle stems from copying one of the twins. I bet you already know which one it is. In case you are still unclear, let’s review a typical match day- starring our friend, Jarrod.

Spectacular Preparation Preceded Spectacular Performance

Jarrod, Evans younger brother by 9 minutes, is a very gifted athlete but a bit unevenly developed.  Emotional aptitude is his most unnatural component and so far he’s not interested in improving it. Jarrod would sabotage his tournament performances before they even began. Of course, Jarrod believed that his poor starts weren’t his fault. They were just plain bad luck.

The night before an away event in Indianapolis, I called Jarrod to discuss the incoming storm and the news reports of the morning flood-like conditions. “Jarrod, let’s plan on leaving earlier tomorrow.” He replied “Nah… I want to sleep in…We’re good”. Fast-forward to the next morning. The plan was to meet in the hotel lobby for breakfast at 8:00 am.  It is now 8:15 … 8:30 … and still no Jarrod. It turned out he decided to skip breakfast before his day packed full of 6 hours of intense National competition.

So, we began the hour drive to the site. Visibility through the windshield was about 20 yards due to the pelting storm. All we saw for an hour and forty-five minutes were break lights. This, along with him deciding not to put fuel in his gas tank caused unnecessary unspoken anxiety. An hour into the drive Jarrod said, “I’m so hungry”.

Thirty minutes away from the event I gently reminded him to begin his visualization routine. Leaving the “normal” teenage headspace behind and morphing into the character of a warrior. As I began to remind him again about the emotional benefits of pre-game visualization Jarrod talked over me saying, “I’m fine,” as he decided he didn’t need it and reached over from the passenger seat and turned up the rap station on the SUV’s stereo. Memorizing rap lyrics and tweeting friends were more important to him than the mental imagery of ensuring a peak performance in his upcoming match.

Arriving on site late meant that instead of casually enjoying a relaxed 45 minute warm up. Jarrod now had only 15 minutes to rush through his fundamentals. This brought about feelings of being under prepared which is a confidence killer. As the tournament director blew the whistle for the players to gather, I asked him if he remembered to prepare his equipment, drinks, ice, towels, etc.  Jarrod said, “Oh, can you get me a water… And find me a towel?”

Preparing properly for battle doesn’t guarantee victories, but choosing to neglect proper preparation sabotages one’s chance of performing at peak potential.

Jarrod’s athleticism didn’t cause another loss. The loss was caused by his lack of emotional aptitude, as seen in his distorted thinking and behavioral patterns in preparing for his event. Needless to say, Jarrod’s game was off from the beginning. He never recovered and went down in flames.

 

Emotional Toughness is Real Talent

Posted on July 3, 2017 by in Emotional Aptitude in Sports, Emotional Tennis

 

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Emotional Aptitude Is a Skill

At the start of a Southern California junior tennis tournament, the referee calls Kristen Michaels and Jenny Scott to court number four for their match. Kristen seemed to be a super fit, committed athlete with poise and solid fundamentals.  She was dressed from head to toe in the newest Nike gear with her hair braided to perfection. She walked onto the court, unpacked her Wimbledon tournament towel, Gatorade, and water bottle as she meticulously lined them up next to her chair. She then selected two rackets from her Nike tour bag as she “pings” them together to listen for the perfect string tension. Deciding on one, she immediately started shadow swinging and shuffling her feet as she waited for the umpire to perform the mandatory coin toss.

Jenny, on the other hand, did not appear to be as polished. In fact, she looked downright amateur in her California board shorts and surfer T-shirt. At the coin toss, Jenny was still wrestling through her tennis bag looking for a hair tie as the umpire yells “heads or tails?” Jenny grabs the only racket she brought and calmly saunters towards the net. She lets Kristin choose to serve or return. Jenny couldn’t care less.

The 5 minute pre-match warm up started and Kristen looked like a professional.  Her movement and strokes were flawless.  Jenny, on the other side of the net, looked unorthodox, as she scrambled to return the ball back Kristin’s way.

The referee called time and the match started. Most watching were sure Kristen was going to blow Jenny off the court. But to the spectator’s surprise, Kristin was struggling, down 0-2 within the first 5 minutes of play. The beautiful strokes we had witnessed in the warm up were gone. By game 3, Kristin reached her maximum frustration tolerance level. She couldn’t keep a backhand in the court as Jenny profiled her opponent and systematically hit every ball to Kristin’s ailing backhand side. Kristen was angry, stomping around, yelling at herself, screaming at her racket, her coach, and her mom.  Jenny, on the other hand, was a composed warrior relentlessly picking on Kristin’s weakness. Within 45 minutes, Jenny went on to win 6-2, 6-0. After the match, Jenny’s mom was overheard only uttered three words “Who wants Taco’s?”

As illustrated above, emotional aptitude isn’t typically identifiable until after competition begins. What separates the elite competitors from the emotionally fragile athletes is their ability to thrive under perceived stress. Emotional aptitude is the ability to overcome hardships and to de-stress situations rather than magnify stressful situations. Athletes struggling with poor emotional aptitude lack confidence, composure, suffer bouts of self-doubt and possess an overwhelming fear of being judged by others. These performance meltdowns often go unseen in practice but shine in all their glory on game day.

Elite competitors are confident that their superior emotional strength will override any hardships and physical limitations. The emotionally weak athletes are convinced that the unfair hardships and their perceived limitations will override their peak performance and catastrophe will once again occur.

An old school word used to describe emotional aptitude is Grit. In regards to high achievers, researchers have come to the conclusion that successful individuals possess traits deeper than the mastery of athletic ability.  Grit is persistent courage, resolve, and strength of character. Grit is the learned ability to have “nerves of steel,” fortitude and determination. Interestingly, some athletes are pre-wired to have these essential components and some are not. For those athletes who are not natural combatants, developing emotional aptitude is critical.

 

 

Jelena Ostapenko French Open Champion

Posted on June 22, 2017 by in Emotional Aptitude in Sports, Emotional Tennis, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

2017 French Open Champion Jelena Ostapenko

 

Jelena Ostapenko demonstrated how mental, emotional aptitude is often more important than technically sound strokes.

Any high-performance tennis coach viewing the 2017 French Open Woman’s finals surely picked up on some interesting technical “flaws” in Jelena’s strokes. She chooses to use an eastern forehand grip on her two-handed backhand, she severely falls to her left on her serve, her forehand’s backswing is consistently 6 foot too long and her two-handed backhand volley is struck with a severe downward flight pattern.

So… how does someone with such glaring fundamental deficiencies win a grand slam?

The answer is…by not exclusively focusing on changing her strokes year in and year out.

With imperfect yet efficient fundamentals Jelena customized a beautiful game plan- accentuating her court speed, fitness level, patience and her fine motor skilled flat ball striking ability. Jelena’s obviously trained differently. Instead of grinding back & forth all day, my bet is that she focused on the art of winning.

She’s magnificent at changing the angle of the ball. I call this “playing keep away versus playing catch”. Even on the slow red clay, her strategic focus was to dominate with shorter points by utilizing pattern play. Jelena is brilliant at time management- essentially taking away the opponent’s recovery time. She does this by moving into “no man’s land” and taking short balls on the rise and fearlessly spotting when the opponent’s vulnerable and moving inside the court to knock off swing volleys.

Best of all was her emotional strength to attack relentlessly from the first point until the last.

Maybe we should learn from Jelena and apply positive coaching.  This is done by letting go of ONLY focusing on the athlete’s flaws and instead, focusing on the athlete’s unique strengths as well.

 

Frank Giampaolo
www.maximizingtennispotential.com

 

 

Dealing with Adversity

Posted on May 24, 2017 by in Cheating, Emotional Aptitude in Sports, Emotional Tennis

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most on-line retailers!  Click Here to Order

QUESTION: Why does my daughter become irrational when cheated?

Frank: The human brain simply can’t stand being treated unfairly. It’s that resentment of injustice which triggers the downward spiral. Youngsters feel they deserve a fair chance of any reward being offered and with that taken away … so goes their rational decision-making abilities.

How to handle unjust situations is not a tennis issue, it’s a learned life skill. When a tennis opponent is repeatedly cheating and provoking your athlete, a full-blown meltdown is often the result. Biochemical reactions in the brain distort rational reasoning and the fight or flight syndrome overtakes the situation. That is unless your athlete has been trained to insert the correct protocol- which is the solution to the problem.

Taking back control begins by understanding Channel Capacity- a term neuroscience has assigned to the brain’s inability to process multiple forms of important information at one time.  A common example of channel capacity is texting and driving.

“The human brain cannot solve two complicated tasks simultaneously.”

On-court, the creative line caller systematically pulls your athlete away from the present (performance state of mind) and into the past or future (outcome state of mind.) Understanding this phenomenon is key to salvaging seemingly catastrophic matches.

So instead of little Zack focusing on his performance goals such as “ I’m going to serve to the backhand, hit high and heavy ground-strokes and crush short balls.”, Zack finds himself stuck in the wrong thought process. He is thinking “This guy is such a punk!!! I can’t lose to such a jerk, what will my friends say? I can’t believe I lost the last set, he’s ranked 57 spots below me…” The creative line caller has now got Zack right where he wants him-mentally far away from his performance goals.

If your athlete has issues playing against cheaters, ignoring the issue and hoping it will go away is not in their best interest. I recommend practicing their pre-set protocol during practice sessions to reinforce their match tough confidence. Arrange a few practice matches each week with the opponent being allowed to call any close ball out. Learning to deal with adversity and staying on the correct side of your brain under duress is a skill set that must be rehearsed.

 

Competitive Dramas: Internal Struggles

Posted on May 17, 2017 by in Emotional Tennis, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most on-line retailers!  Click Here to Order

 

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QUESTION: What does emotional conduct have to do with winning?

 

Frank:  Maintaining peak performance is dependent on a player’s emotional intelligence. Let’s look deeper into where an athlete’s focus shifts during competition when they leave their optimal performance state of mind.

Optimal emotional conduct is a performance state of mind which allows a competitor to reach and maintain their peak performance level. It’s important to note that even though stroke mechanics are solidified in a non-stressful practice environment, poor emotional control can cause solid fundamentals to faultier under stressful match conditions.

“Pre-setting appropriate solutions is emotional readiness.”

Champions in their optimal emotional state of mind report being very happy, confident, dialed into the moment, flowing not forcing, feeling confident, safe and secure, performing on script, being ready and optimistic about the match.

Often the difference between a great competitor and good competitor is the understanding and implementation of their optimal emotional conduct.

“Average athletes unknowingly drift in and out of their competitive script – floating through their under and over arousal state of mind. This instability allows their performance level to drop significantly.”

Very few athletes have been taught to be aware of their emotional state of being. An athlete’s optimal emotional state is dependent on their ability to spot their under-arousal and the over-arousal states of mind.

The Art of Winning

Posted on May 7, 2017 by in Emotional Aptitude in Sports

The following post is an excerpt from Emotional Aptitude In Sports NOW available through most on-line retailers!  Click Here to Order

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The Art of Winning

 

  • Developed Strokes will get you into the tournament.
  • Strategies and Tactics (Mental Components) will push you through the ‘gatekeepers/retrievers.’
  • Endurance & Stamina will move you into the final rounds.
  • Emotional Skill Sets (Handling Performance Anxieties) will earn you the winner’s trophy.

 

Frank Giampaolo

Amazon’s #1 Best Seller: Emotional Aptitude in Sports