Tag Archives: tennis

Benefits of Personality Profiling- Part 2

Posted on May 24, 2021 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Soft Science of Tennis.

Click Here to Order through Amazon

Frank Giampaolo

 

The Benefits of Personality Profiling Include:

  • Customizing the Athlete’s Developmental Plan
  • Assessing Mental Strengths and Weaknesses
  • Assessing Emotional Efficiencies and Deficiencies
  • Identifying Information Processing / Listening Skills
  • Facilitating Conflict Avoidance and Resolution
  • Empowering Communication Strategies
  • Encouraging the Development of Synergy and Harmony within their Entourage
  • Monitoring Self-Awareness and the Awareness of Other Personality Profiles
  • Acknowledging and Respecting Differing Brain Designs
  • Identifying Productive Communication Avenues
  • Assisting in Identifying Motivational Factors
  • Improving Productivity and Efficiency

 

Benefits to Athletes:

In the soft science realms of confidence, trust, and self-esteem, there’s power to be gained from athletes celebrating their profile. Gaining the knowledge of how they see the world makes the soft science of personality profiling helpful in working with varying styles of coaches and teachers. The quicker those athletes understand their cognitive design the more successful they will be at understanding their style of play and customizing their developmental pathway.

The following chapter gets into the nitty-gritty of how your athlete’s cognitive design affects their performance. Hold on tight because I’m about to blow your mind as I uncover commonalities of each typography.

Benefits of Personality Profiling- Part 1

Posted on May 21, 2021 by in The Soft Science of Tennis

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Soft Science of Tennis.

Click Here to Order through Amazon

soft science

Benefits of Personality Profiling

 

Caroline Sanchez was a top 50 ITF junior in her day. She played D-2 college ball in Florida and competed on the challenger circuit for three years earning her a world ranking of #676 on the WTA Tour. Caroline sounds like an experienced competitor, but is she the right fit for your player’s coaching needs?

Let’s take a more in-depth look at Caroline’s background. Caroline grew up on the slow red clay in Barcelona where her coaches demanded she train and play the “Spanish Way” – steady, retriever style. Caroline possesses solid groundstrokes, great lateral movement, and a 20 ball shot tolerance level.  She loves to camp 15 feet behind the baseline and extend points in a retriever fashion. Like her past coaches, she’s been nurtured to be an old-school drill sergeant style of coach and demands every student train and play in the style that she found to be most successful.

Coaches, is she a good fit for your program? Parents, is she a good fit for your child? The answer: No, not likely, unless all your athletes are wired with the same exact cognitive brain design, body type, and temperament which would be extremely rare. Coaches who only teach the system that they found to be successful regardless of the student’s needs are doing a disservice to the athlete. Tennis playing styles are an extension of the athlete’s brain design and body type. An athlete’s most successful style of play incorporates their inherent strengths versus their coach’s past strengths.

Devising an athlete’s developmental plan is the ideal time to incorporate their personality profile. Training and nurturing athletes to play the style that flows with their genetic predispositions and not against it will maximize their potential at a much faster rate.

 

As I travel around the globe, I notice that coaches and parents religiously focus on the development of the athlete’s hardware (strokes and athleticism) yet tend to neglect the critical development of their student’s software (mental and emotional). Personality profiling falls into the software or soft science of teaching tennis.

 

“Coaches and parents who understand the athlete’s personality in greater depth utilize a more comprehensive foundation from which to maximize performance.”

 

A simple analogy is a comparison between the four main tennis components (strokes, athleticism, mental and emotional) with a conventional four-legged table. A table with four-legs is not stable under stress without all four legs intact. The same holds true for your tennis athletes.

So, how does the understanding of the software development relate to you as parents, coaches, tennis directors or club managers? It develops a greater understanding of how others tick and that sets you and your players above the competition. Software assessment helps us to understand how individuals perform as tennis players. It assists coaches and parents in developing much more than strokes. It helps shape positive character traits, life skills, and a moral compass.

 

Personality Based Training – Part 2

Posted on May 18, 2021 by in The Soft Science of Tennis

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Soft Science of Tennis.

Click Here to Order through Amazon

frank

 

Getting to know the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

The MBTI is the most popular psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. It’s my intention to bring to light the usefulness of brain preference identification in the tennis industry. Each student has a preferred way of seeing the world. The basic MBTI theory categorizes preferences into four groups from which individuals identify their dominant cerebral preference.

The Typographies Include:

  • Extraversion (“E”)- People/Places
  • Introversion (“I”)- Theories/ Information
  • Sensing (“S”)- Facts/Reality
  • Intuition (“N”) Possibilities/Potential
  • Thinking (“T”)- Logic/Truthfulness
  • Feeling (“F”)- Harmony/Relationships
  • Judgment (“J”)- Orderly/Structured
  • Perception (“P”)- Flexible/Adaptable

 

For each of the above pairings, your athletes typically have a preference for one system above the other. The combination of their four preferences gives them their initial assessment in a four-letter acronym. An example is personality profile: ISTP (Introvert Sensate Thinker Perceiver)

 

“View your athlete’s brain design (dominant and auxiliary) the same way you would view right-handed versus left-handed body type functions.
Each athlete has an inborn preferred system.”

 

Personality Based Training- Part 1

Posted on May 16, 2021 by in The Soft Science of Tennis

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Soft Science of Tennis.

Click Here to Order through Amazon

soft science

 

Personality Based Training

 

“Personality profiling assists coaches, athletes, and parents in understanding how individuals gather information and make decisions. It’s how we are wired. It’s what makes us tick.”

 

Personality Based Training (PBT) is a training method that focuses the attention on the athlete’s unique brain design as opposed to the educator. When applying PBT, tennis pros and parents welcome and respect the athlete’s unique preferred styles of learning, behaving, and playing the game.  The athletes feel empowered because their views and needs are recognized. And once understood, students are more motivated and inspired to learn and improve. An inspired student is more likely to take the leadership role in achieving their goals.

 

“Athletes would benefit from understanding the advantages and disadvantages of their unique brain design. It’s why they are naturally good at some things and uncomfortable with others.”

 

It’s important to note that while I’ve studied sports psychology for the past 30 years, I am a veteran, “In the Trenches” practical application tennis coach, not an “Academia” psychologist. But neither were Katharine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Myers, authors of the famous Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI- A psychological questionnaire used to understand individual mental preferences.) published in the United States in 1943. Together Myers-Briggs noticed that individuals have different temperaments and unique ways of seeing the world.

While some scientists say the MBTI doesn’t stand up to scientific reliability, I can say with all honesty that it has helped me coach over 100 National Champions and several Pro tour athletes. More importantly, personality profiling benefits my athletes and their entourage of parents, coaches, and trainers at a much deeper level. A study conducted by Psychology Today, reports that approximately 80% of Fortune 500 companies use various personality tests to hire future employees, assess progress, and maximize efficiency and harmony through team-building events. The time has come to broaden the role of personality profiling into the athletic realm, as I have outlined in The Soft Science of Tennis.

 

 

Non-Verbal Communication- Part 2

Posted on May 6, 2021 by in The Soft Science of Tennis

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Soft Science of Tennis.

Click Here to Order through Amazon

Frank Giampaolo

 

 

Non-verbal clues to take note of when profiling your athletes

 

 

Appearance

When coaching, I make it a point to notice my athlete’s appearance, clothing choice, and organization of equipment. Is Sarah’s hair braided to perfection? Does her Nike skirt match perfectly with her Nike top, Nike socks, Nike shoes, and Nike warm-ups? This indicates to me an SJ (Sensing, Judging) persona.

Do Sam’s Wilson Blade rackets have different gauge strings, different brand dampeners with non-matching over-grips? Does he carry them in a Head racket bag with a Prince water bottle? This initially indicates to me an NP (Intuitive, Perceiver) personality. I realize that exceptions shadow every rule, so these initial non-verbal clues are observational hunches that begin to shed light on their personality profile.

 

Posture

I then assess the athlete’s body posture throughout our session, both during off-court conversations and on-court performance, which helps me to determine their self-esteem and confidence levels. Defensive attitudes are often shown by crossed arms and slumped shoulders. Students lean-in or walk towards the net when they’re interested. In my opinion, confidence or lack thereof is also identified by the athlete’s swagger or timid posture and stance.

 

Eyes

Throughout my coaching sessions, I also pay close attention to the athlete’s eyes. The old saying is “The eyes are the gateway to the soul.” Spotting if a student is dialed in and focused on the task at hand or mentally gone can be detected in their eyes. Are they telling the truth or fibbing? Athletes’ emotional state such as being upset, tranquil, content or angry can also be detected in their eyes.

 

Facial Expressions

Interpreting an athlete’s facial expression can also help a coach profile their athletes. Obviously, students show emotion through their facial expressions. Squinting eyes and tight lips are signs of anger, tension, and frustration. Smiles are signs of comfort and confidence. I can often tell if an athlete or parent isn’t buying the information I’m providing by interpreting their facial expressions.

 

Tone of Voice

Observing their tone of voice is another essential clue I use to profile athletes. The tone of voice doesn’t communicate logic, but it does convey the athlete’s feelings.

 

 

“An athlete’s tone of voice speaks the truth even when their words don’t.”

 

 

Nonverbal Communication- Part 1

Posted on May 1, 2021 by in The Soft Science of Tennis

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Soft Science of Tennis.

Click Here to Order through Amazon

soft science

Nonverbal Communication

 

Leading into our off-court, mental session Zoe asked “Please Coach Frank … I just wanna hit! Can’t Chloe and I just skip the mental stuff?” Most tennis parents would agree with their athletes. “Yeah, Frank…can’t the girls get more grooving time in?” Not Mr. Potter. He’s an ex-college standout and knows all too well the benefits of training the software components.

I asked the gals, “How is exclusively grooving those groundies working for ya?” “What do you mean?” asked Chloe? “Well, what’s your UTR rating? I heard you both had trouble playing a pusher-retriever last week and profiling your opponents. Are you getting the results you’re capable of achieving?” Suddenly the gals went silent. Mr. Potter added, “Zoe, the mental side of tennis is really important. We can stay longer and groove after Coach Frank addresses mental tennis. Would that be okay Frank?”

“Sure, I want to focus for 20 minutes on the importance of nonverbal communication in competition.”  The gals rolled their eyes as they dropped their racket bags and sat down in the club’s classroom.  I announced the day’s topic as the girls looked to their phones… “Today’s topic is the critical function of opponent profiling. Let’s give this topic 20 minutes of focused attention and interaction and then we’ll be done for the day. Anyone that wants to groove more groundstrokes can stay longer. Deal? I’ll start with a few open-ended questions.”

  • Why is it important to identify the opponent’s style of play?
  • What are the benefits of spotting stroke & movement strengths & weaknesses?
  • Would it be meaningful to decipher the opponent’s most proficient patterns of play?
  • How would knowing their shot tolerance help you strategize?
  • Would knowing what frustrates them help in match play?

The gals initially were stumped, but after a brief discussion, hit the bull’s eye with their answers. I asked them one last question, “Why does opponent profiling fall into the category of nonverbal communication?”

“Girls… I got this one!” Mr. Potter added from the back of the room. “The opponent isn’t going to tell you their weaknesses. In matches, you’ve got to develop the skill of reading the opponent. Am I right or am I right!”

 

At first, profiling athletes through their nonverbal communication seems like reading the invisible but trust me, after a bit of training it becomes as reliable as feeding another basket of tennis balls. Our conscious minds pay attention to the verbal message, the message within the dialog. Our subconscious minds pay attention to nonverbal clues such as tone of voice and body language.

Over the years of focusing on the most effective coaching methods, the importance of nonverbal communication became very clear. I found that an athlete’s words were often only part of their story. Communication research has found that a subject’s actual words to be the least revealing of their true feelings or comfort level, giving more importance to a subject’s tone of voice, facial expression, and body language. It is critical that the coach be able to recognize the athlete’s nonverbal cues because it enhances the learning experience and enables the coach to better understand how the athlete is wired. It is also important to note the athlete’s parent’s nonverbal cues because the parents play a vital role in their child’s success.

In our next post, we will dive into a handful of these critical non-verbal clues to help you begin to profile your athletes.

 

 

Effective Listening- Part 5

Posted on April 28, 2021 by in The Soft Science of Tennis

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Soft Science of Tennis.

Click Here to Order through Amazon

Effective Listening- Part 5Frank Giampaolo

Some athletes affirm positive results while others affirm catastrophe. Researchers continue to acknowledge the power thoughts have on one’s actions. Studies show how thoughts, beliefs, and emotions affect human behavior. Following, I have listed a handful of tennis-specific phrases from the mouths of our athletes and you can bet your life these habitual beliefs affect their match performance.

Pessimistic athletes project performance anxieties with statements such as:

  • “I’m always worried about failing.”
  • “I’m not good enough for that level.”
  • “I’m not ready to compete.”
  • “I can’t do it…I always blow it.”
  • “I’m not jealous but how is Kelly playing #1 and not me?”
  • “I have to win tomorrow or my life is over.”
  • “I don’t belong here.”
  • “I hate this…I hate that…”

Optimistic athletes project self-esteem and confidence with statements such as:

  • “I can’t wait to compete tomorrow.”
  • “I respect him but I’m going to beat him.”
  • “Competing is fun!”
  • “I trained properly and I’m confident in my awesome ability.”
  • “I’m grateful for the privilege of playing.”
  • “I trust my game and problem-solving skills.”
  • “I love the competitive tennis lifestyle.”
  • “I appreciate all the love and support from my parents and coaches.”

 

“A man is but the product of his thoughts – what he thinks, he becomes.”
Mahatma Gandhi

 

Applying Positive Affirmations

If one’s thoughts become one’s reality, what exactly is a positive affirmation? A positive affirmation is a positive declaration or assertion.  As optimistic thoughts sink into one’s subconscious mind, they become a self-fulfilling prophecy overriding old negative beliefs and habits with positive beliefs and rituals. Positive affirmations sound like silly fluff to specific personality profiles but they are proven methods of emotional improvement. When applied religiously, positive affirmations have the ability to rewire the chemistry in your athlete’s brain. Elite athletes believe in their potential.

 

Assignment

Ask your athletes to customize ten positive affirmations that will help their self-esteem and confidence. Then ask them to read them aloud into their cell phone voice-recorder app. Finally, ask them to listen to their customized recording nightly as they are falling asleep. As they mentally rehearse their optimistic views, new solution-based habits are formed and negative beliefs are dissolved.

 

Effective Listening doesn’t stop with verbal language. A great deal of information is available from the athlete without them saying a single word. The next chapter addresses the high IQ coach’s secret ability to zero in on gathering critical information via non-verbal communication.

Effective Listening- Part 4

Posted on April 27, 2021 by in The Soft Science of Tennis

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Soft Science of Tennis.

Click Here to Order through Amazon

Effective Listening- Part 4

Soft Science of Tennis_3D_Cover_version5

Verbal Communication in the Digital World

It’s no secret that modern adolescents are obsessed with social media, tweeting, and texting. Kids are nurtured from the cradle to communicate through screens instead of interpersonal communication. They prefer texting over talking. It’s the world in which they live.

Research in the field of communication found that a third of American teenagers send more than one hundred texts a day. They want to feel a personal connection, engaged, inspired and understood…they just don’t know-how.  The combination of their ineffective speaking skills combined with our weak listening skills is hurting the development process.

 

Listening “Between” the Words

Exceptional listeners filter through conversations to identify the true meaning behind their athlete’s words. The ability to “listen” between words helps the listener discern if the student seeks constructive criticism or only a sympathetic ear. Attentive listeners recognize anomalies that enable them to identify the beliefs, attitudes, and feelings behind words. This allows them to interpret the athlete’s spoken truth, fiction, optimism, pessimism, expectation, intentions, trust, past mental habits, and belief systems.

 

“An athlete’s belief system crafts their future. Every syllable they speak engages energy towards them or against them.”

 

As novice parents and intermediate coaches gain wisdom, they become more in-tune listeners. They discover hidden belief systems behind their athlete’s dialog. Great listeners know there is “subconscious” energy behind words. Pessimistic behaviors are not difficult to spot because all too often, those very same negative thoughts, tones, words, and actions stem from those nurturing the athlete. As the athlete’s thoughts become their words, those words determine their beliefs and play a deciding role in their performance, especially during stressful match conditions.

When effective listening is applied, the athlete’s sequence of thought-speech-action becomes very clear to the “in-tuned” entourage. Please pay attention to the belief systems habitually used by your athletes. An athlete’s affirmations and inner dialog can be categorized as optimistic or pessimistic. It should be painfully obvious that their self-coaching either builds them up or tears them down at crunch time.

Effective Listening- Part 3

Posted on April 23, 2021 by in The Soft Science of Tennis

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Soft Science of Tennis.

Click Here to Order through Amazon

Effective Listening- Part 3

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Those of us who fail to abide by the above guidelines send damaging subconscious “red flags” to the athlete in regards to the student-teacher relationship. Parents and coaches who are poor listeners send the following messages to their athletes:

  • Your opinions and views aren’t as important as mine.
  • Your feelings are ridiculous and stupid.
  • I’ll explain your position more accurately than you.
  • Listening to you is a waste of my precious time.
  • I’m superior, stop talking and I’ll prove it once again to you.
  • There’s nothing you can say that I haven’t heard a million times.

Being a thoughtful teacher and communicator begins by being an empathetic listener. Great listeners change the student’s perspective from a problem being a catastrophic event to an issue that is a solvable opportunity for growth.

Questions That Motivate Dialog

A great tool used to develop champions is to ask your athlete their opinion before you tell them your opinion. Questions can be based on an athlete’s perception of their successes or failures.

Dialog producing examples include:

  • “What was the cause of the winner or error?”
  • “How did that feel when you?”
  • “Were you paying attention to the opponent’s?”
  • “What was the highest percentage shot selection at that moment?”
  • “If you could do it again, what would you do?”
  • “What were you tactically trying to achieve?”
  • “Are you staying on script?”

On and off the tennis court, winners are great problem solvers so avoid the parental and coaching temptation to solve all their problems for them. By doing so, you’re robbing them of the exact skill sets needed to win tough future matches. In the big picture, listening to them versus talking “at” them is a much more enjoyable approach for the athlete. It sends the message of trust. It motivates them to take ownership of solution-based thinking. With regards to keeping athletes in the game, customized student-based teaching is a fundamental missing link.

 

Effective Listening- Part 2

Posted on April 21, 2021 by in The Soft Science of Tennis

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Soft Science of Tennis.

Click Here to Order through Amazon

Effective Listening- Part 2Soft Science of Tennis_3D_Cover_version5

 

The method in which a parent or coach asks questions and listens is also important. If the athlete views the questions as an intimidating interrogation, they feel frightened and pressured. There is indeed an optimistic demeanor that encompasses effective listening.

Effective Listening Begins with:

  • Get down, physically, to the students’ level.
  • Take off your sunglasses and look them in the eyes.
  • Give them your time. Listen intently.
  • Assume you can learn from the student.
  • Accept their view (set aside your beliefs).
  • Allow them to lead, go with their flow.
  • If you don’t know the answer, say, “Let’s explore that…”
  • Understanding that talking “at” someone isn’t power. Listening is power.
  • Avoid speculating and jumping to conclusions.
  • Maintain their conversational pace and fight the urge to interrupt.
  • Allow them to finish their thoughts and sentences.
  • Focus on spotting key objectives and phrases to discuss later.
  • If you’re planning witty responses, you’re typically not actively listening.
  • Remember, some athletes aren’t seeking advice; they are seeking an empathetic ear.
  • After discussing the issue, ask them for their solutions before offering your solutions.
  • Ask them if they’d like to hear your thoughts.
  • Avoid one-upmanship statements to prove that your past experience trumps theirs.
  • Avoid saying, “I told you so!” Even when you told them so.
  • Facilitate your relationship by applying empathy.
  • Mirror their feelings within the context of their conversation.
  • Follow their train of thought with nodding, caring facial expressions, and body language.
  • Re-state their points to clarify that you understand them correctly.
  • Affirm their frustrations. “That sounds difficult, how did you respond?”
  • To keep the focus on them, ask, “How did that make you feel? Versus “Here’s what I would have done!”
  • Conclude with a summarizing statement to ensure that their information was received correctly.
  • Organize future, agreed-upon solutions, and job descriptions.