Tag Archives: tennis cheaters

Dealing with Tennis Cheaters

Posted on November 5, 2015 by in Cheating, Emotional Tennis, The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the second edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible coming soon!

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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 cheater, 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.

“Tennis, like life, is not fair…but remember, sometimes it’s not fair in your favor.”

 

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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Tennis Cheaters

Posted on July 27, 2015 by in The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible.  Thanks for visiting, Frank GiampaoloThe Tennis Parent's Bible by Frank Giampaolo

 

Question: My son allows opponents to hook him time after time and then proceeds to get angry and play worse.  How do we explain to him that his fear of confrontation is the reason he is getting so angry?

Frank: This is much more common than parent think. Especially with only children or privileged athletes who never had to battle for the last slice of pizza or the remote control. Confronting adversity is a learned behavior. Champions have learned not to avoid confrontation but to meet it head on.

“Progress usually doesn’t happen without Confrontation”

Confrontation should be seen as negotiation versus a fight. By allowing opponents to hook and avoiding the fight, your son is likely manifesting internal anger. This anger stops the positive, confident attitude essential to playing at the peak performance level.  So by allowing the cheater to cheat, your son is

Remember channel capacity? This neuroscience term states that the human brain cannot solve two complicated tasks simultaneously. It sounds like his negative self-condemnation overtakes his performance goals which lead to him donating games away.  Explain to him that standing up to the confronting gamesmanship is part of the competitive arena and that he must have pre-set protocols to deal with it. (Dealing with confrontation is a life issue- it is likely present in all areas of his life- not just tennis.)

 

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Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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Handling Cheaters

Posted on July 18, 2015 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible.  Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo

Frank Giampaolo Maximizing Tennis Potential Junior Tennis

 

How should my son handle cheaters?

Before we look at cheaters, let’s take a quick look at your own vision. That’s right, your eyes. Studies we did back in the 80’s at The Vic Braden Tennis College showed some interesting data. The human eye cannot register a two millisecond event. That means you cannot actually see the ball hit the court or watch it hit your racquet. The eye is greatly affected by two variables: perspective angles and motion blur.

  1. The first vision variable is the perspective angle that you’re watching from. Try this eye opening exercise at home. My bet is that you’ll laugh as you fail miserably.
    Stand at the back fence on one side of a court. Turn facing the fence so you can’t see the court. Ask a friend to place 4 balls on and just beyond the service line on the other side of the net. Ask them to repeat it with 4 new balls on the opposing baseline. When the task is complete, walk slowly to your baseline and try to make 8 correct line calls. Which balls are in, which are out?
    Don’t forget that in match play, the ball is only sitting there for about 2 milliseconds (two one thousands of a second). Next, walk towards the other side. As you take a sideline view things change! Now go stand behind the other baseline. Things really become clear. We find that your child may be cheated on average 5 times a match, but usually your youngster plays out balls in even more. You see balls landing a half an inch long appear right on the line from the angle behind their own baseline. This means your child may be falling into the common trap of cheating themselves!
  2. The second vision variable is motion bl This occurs when you are running, landing, jumping etc. While in motion, your eyes are actually moving in their sockets and you could be considered “legally blind.” (That’s why you can’t read the paper as you go for your run!) So the first time your child says, “Are you sure?” your child should be asking themselves not the opponent.
    Now let’s look at those Cheaters or “Creative Line Caller” from a deeper perspective. Cheaters will force your child to grow. They will stretch your child beyond their normal frustration tolerance levels. Handling cheaters is a necessary stepping stone to becoming a tennis champion.

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate 

 

Solutions to Cheater’s Antics

Posted on January 25, 2015 by in Cheating, Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following  is an excerpt from  The Tennis Parent’s Bible. Share with your junior champs these six factors used to help defuse the antics of tennis cheaters and your player will be better equipped to deal with these unethical players. It is especially important your child learn to handle the antics of cheaters for two primary reasons:

  • Cheaters are the gatekeepers of junior tennis – forcing many talented players to leave the sport early because they are unwilling/unable to tolerate the cheater’s unethical behavior.
  • Cheaters remain in the game (cheating) until the highest level ( ATP and WTA Professional Tour) – when multiple lines judges call every point!Thanks for visiting, Frank

Handling Cheaters

  1. Pre-Match Speculations

Preconceived ideas of what might happen when playing a known cheater causes so much stress that it affects the immune system and often results in players actually get sick. Many lose sleep the night before the match. Do not let your child’s expectations of the possible trauma pull them away from focusing on their performance goals.

  1. Focus on What You Can Control

Expect about 5 bad line calls per match. This is not in your control. What is? How about the 30 unforced errors per set you commit? Limit your unforced errors to 10 per set and they can have the 5 hooks!

  1. Focus on Not Cheating Yourself

The truth is that most often we see players missing calls. That is, not calling out balls out! The average number of missed calls is six per match. Tighten up your own calls.

  1. Be Grateful

Cheaters cheat because they know down deep that their skills are no match for yours. Usually a cheater is able to win because their bad calls get you so emotional that you become distracted from your performance goals and the trap is set.

  1. Try the Standard Procedure for Handling Cheaters

First First question the bad call. When that does not work, get a line judge. When the line judge leaves after a game or two, you have two options: Be an “enabler” and let the “cheater” steal the match away from you; or take matters into your own hands and fight fire with fire.

  1. After a Confrontation Do Not Begin Play Right Away

Regain your composer first by taking a “legal” bathroom break. You will need time to get your head back into your performance goals. Remember to use your between point and change over rituals to stay focused on your game!

FUN FACT: We conducted a seminar with 26 young national level players. We asked the ten National Champions in attendance to sit in front of the class and share their insight. The first question from Joey, a 10 year old from Las Vegas was “Were you ever forced to cheat back to stop a “cheater” from trying to steal away a National title or ITF title. Guess how many champions answered yes, they were forced to take matters into their own hands and solve the problem? All ten!

Thank you for visiting.  By the way, if you think cheaters go away in college tennis, you would be mistaken! The sooner your child learns to deal with them the better.   Frank Giampaolo

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Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
RaisingAthleticRoyalty.com

Handling Cheaters

Posted on January 24, 2015 by in Tennis Parent Education, The Tennis Parent's Bible

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The following post is an excerpt of The Tennis Parent’s Bible. Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo

HOW SHOULD MY SON HANDLE CHEATERS?

Handling cheaters or “creative line callers” is a very common problem in all levels of tennis. But I must admit that learning to handle cheaters improves your tennis game.

Before we look at cheaters, let’s take a quick look at your own vision. That’s right, your eyes. Studies we did back in the 80’s at The Vic Braden Tennis College showed some interesting data. The human eye cannot register a two millisecond event. That means you cannot actually see the ball hit the court or watch it hit your racquet. The eye is greatly affected by two variables: perspective angles and motion blur.

First Variable: The perspective angle from which you are viewing the ball.

Try this eye opening exercise at home. My bet is that you’ll laugh as you fail miserably. Stand at the back fence on one side of a court. Turn facing the fence so you can’t see the court. Ask a friend to place 4 balls on and just beyond the service line on the other side of the net. Ask them to repeat it with 4 new balls on the opposing baseline. When the task is complete, walk slowly to your baseline and try to make 8 correct line calls. Which balls are in, which are out? Don’t forget that in match play, the ball is only sitting there for about 2 milliseconds (two one thousands of a second). Next, walk towards the other side. As you take a sideline view things change! Now go stand behind the other baseline. Things really become clear.

We find that your child may be cheated on average 5 times a match, but usually your youngster plays out balls in even more. You see balls landing a half an inch long appear right on the line from the angle behind their own baseline. This means your child may be falling into the common trap of cheating themselves!

Second Variable: The motion blur that impacts your vision when moving.

This occurs when you are running, landing, jumping etc. While in motion, your eyes are actually moving in their sockets and you could be considered “legally blind.” (That’s why you can’t read the paper as you go for your run!) So the first time your child says, “Are you sure?” your child should be asking themselves not the opponent.

Now let’s look at those Cheaters or “Creative Line Caller” from a deeper perspective. Cheaters will force your child to grow. They will stretch your child beyond their normal frustration tolerance levels. Handling cheaters is a necessary stepping stone to becoming a tennis champion.

In coming blogs, I will share with you six factors you can share with your child and they will never have to worry about playing a cheater again.  Thanks, Frank Giampaolo

 

Contact: Frank Gimapaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com