The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Soft Science of Tennis.
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Athletes possess different degrees of fear and risk depending on the conditions. For example, in competition, one athlete may exhibit extreme tolerance and grit while playing tennis behind the baseline and extreme adversity and fear when attacking the net. Other athletes may excel on the practice court displaying almost flawless stroke production only to shut down, choke or panic in competition. At the other end of the spectrum, some athletes possess no fear and live for the thrill of competition.
“Some extreme athletes hold only mild fear as they seek canoeing over Niagara Falls or bungee jumping over the Bhote Kosi River.”
Most coaches hope that their athlete’s strokes and athleticism have authority and command over their performance, but I believe it’s their emotional aptitude that actually runs the show.
When working with players who have issues with fear and risk, begin by asking yourself the following six questions to identify the athlete’s level of emotional awareness.
- What is their cognitive design? Do they understand their brain preferences?
- How do they view the feared situation?
- Do they appreciate the opportunity to be able to compete?
- Are there past biases or experiences they need to let go?
- Will they accept a strategic, proactive plan to attack their issues?
- Are they willing to train correctly for the mission at hand?
Conquering Fear Stems from a Courageous Plan
A re-occurring message throughout the book is that teaching tennis requires more than teaching the fundamentals of the game. It takes serious interpersonal skills. One necessary interpersonal skill is motivating athletes to dig deeper, push a little harder, and dare to compete in the face of fear. Courage is the ability to persevere and withstand fear. Unfortunately, in match play, fear often dismantles athletic performance.
“Peak Performance happens only when fear doesn’t interfere with the process.”
On the practice court when there’s no real threat of negative judgment fear is minimal. Fear comes to life, in all its raging glory when the athlete is judged during competition. In the competitive tennis world, fear is emotionally induced by a perceived threat, which is natural. Fear is real and best not to be ignored or treated lightly. Fear changes an athlete’s brain chemistry, upsets the stomach, tenses muscle groups, and directly alters the athlete’s behavior. So I’ll say it again, fear is real and emotional training shouldn’t be ignored.
When fear is interfering with performance, experienced competitors are trained to fight despite the perceived threat. While intermediate competitors, uneducated about the process, tend to freeze or cave into the pressure. I believe that the best way to conquer performance anxieties, such as fear, is to accept that they come with the privilege of competing.
Parents and coaches, simply telling an athlete not to be scared aren’t preparing them for the onslaught of mental or emotional contaminants that will hold them hostage in match play. Overcoming debilitating fear comes from re-routing the athlete’s brain. This entails shifting their focus away from the outcome of the match and toward their preset performance goals. Sounds easy, right? Wrong! Modifying the brain’s response to fear has to do with neuroplasticity. Eliminating the strong-lasting inner connections formed by poor mental habits takes time, though, and daily effort.
Neuroscientists call this pruning. The process of pruning is unlearning by re-routing old, undesirable neural pathways, which form physical, mental, or emotional barriers. For example, relax and cross your arms…no really! No one’s looking. Cross your arms in a relaxed state. Now, consciously unwrap your arms and re-cross them the other way. Boom! It doesn’t feel right, does it? This new motor program feels a bit uncomfortable and awkward. The same concept holds true after your spouse re-organizes the kitchen drawers and for two weeks you habitually go to the old spoon drawer only to find dish towels. As the new neuropathways are strengthened, the old pathways are weakened. It is a two-step system: Part one is pruning of the old mental habit, and part two is developing the new mental habit.
Uncle Tommy is 83 years young. In his home, he is kind, relaxed, funny, and comfortable to be around. We hang out, watching Blue Blood re-runs, and snack on junk food. But when we jump into his 2002 Camry (which we nicknamed “La Bomba”) Uncle Tommy turns the key, and the different environment changes his brain’s chemistry, his attitude, and his body language. Within minutes, he’s agitated, tense and uncomfortable.
Behind the wheel, Uncle Tommy feels a lack of control. He associates driving with uncontrollable reckless drivers, bumper-to-bumper traffic, and mayhem, which translates, to fear and risk. When a driver changes lanes without their blinker, Uncle Tommy’s automatic response is to roll down the window and curse them out. I asked my wife if Tommy‘s emotional climate changes every time he drives his car? “Oh yah…every time. It’s embarrassing!” Without re-wiring his agitated headspace every time he sits behind the wheel he is strengthening that neural pathway and cementing his emotional response.
Conquering Fear through Desensitization
Let’s use the analogy of Uncle Tommy’s negative association with navigating “La Bomb” through the streets of Los Angeles with a tennis player who has a negative association with navigating tournament competition.
Like Uncle Tommy, some tennis player’s brains chemistry changes for the worst as they prepare for competition. Their attitude and behavior flip due to their preset emotional response to fear and risk.
Whether it’s fear of other drivers or fear of a competitor, disconnecting performance anxieties takes desensitization. This is an ongoing process of exposing the athlete to stress-busting, fear-based drills. These fear-busting exercises replicate and expose the athlete to simulated versions of the emotional climate of competition.
The desensitization drills are followed by dress-rehearsal practice sets where pre-set, customized rituals and routines are in place. This pulls the athlete’s attention toward the process instead of the outcome. Repeated exposure diminishes the stronghold anxiety has on the athlete. In sports psychology, they describe it as shifting focus from the “destructive neuropathway to the new enlightened neuropathway.”
By learning and rehearsing a pro-active emotional response to fear, athletes (and even old uncles) can discover that their old belief system was merely a bad habit that formerly held them hostage.
