Tag Archives: tennis

Tennis from the Parent’s View- Part 5

Posted on November 27, 2020 by in Preparing for Pressure

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s Amazon #1 New Tennis Book Release, Preparing for Pressure.

 Click Here To Order through Amazon

 

THE CULTURE OF BELIEFPreparing final cover 3D

 

“If you keep working this hard, you’ll be playing at the US Open!”

This was my actual weekly battle cry to my stepdaughter. By the age of 15, Sarah was competing at the US Open. The typical parental pre-match pep talk sounds like this: “Today’s so important! Don’t blow it again! You have to win!”

Belief stems from habitually using life skill terms such as effort, fight, resiliency, courage, persistence, and focus. Parents should routinely apply these lure words to subliminally planting the seeds needed to be clutch under pressure.

Molding belief is similar to molding memories. Do you remember hearing a childhood story throughout your youth that actually never really happened the way it’s told? These embellished accounts spun by family members eventually become real memories. Similarly, parents can apply a form of positive brainwashing to motivate athletes to believe in themselves in the heat of the battle. Children are impressionable. It’s within the tennis parent’s job description to convince their athletes that they can and will succeed.

 

Nurturing life skills and positive character traits should be every parent’s daily battle cry.

Tennis from the Parent’s View- Part 4

Posted on November 25, 2020 by in Preparing for Pressure

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s Amazon #1 New Tennis Book Release, Preparing for Pressure.

 Click Here To Order through Amazon

Preparing final cover 3D

 

CONFIDENCE STEMS FROM CULTURE

 

“Parents, your thoughts and emotions are highly contagious.”

The parents are the athlete’s most consistent sphere of influence. Parents can help prepare athletes for pressure by priming confidence through solution-based optimistic dialog. They should also model positive life skills daily.

Parents would be wise to nurture their athlete’s software (mental and emotional skills) as much as they expect a hired coach to develop their child’s hardware (strokes and athleticism).

Let’s look at a typical week. We all get 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That’s 168 accountable hours. If a high-performance athlete is training their hardware with their coaches for approximately 20 hours a week, how many hours are left for parents to assist in the software development? The remaining 148 hours a week offer wonderful opportunities for mental and emotional growth.

Being clutch at crunch time is a learned skill. Understanding how to thrive versus wilt under pressure is developed by master coaches and master tennis parents. Another great question parents should ask themselves:

Is someone routinely mentoring the mental & emotional protocols needed to handle pressure in competition? If not, consistent disappointment is sure to shadow most upcoming tournament competitions.

Parents, if you’re not developing incredible character traits, a moral compass, and essential life skills, who is? Preparing for pressure requires the development of the athlete’s software skills.

 

Parents are the athlete’s most consistent sphere of influence.

 

Tennis from the Parent’s View- Part 3

Posted on November 22, 2020 by in Preparing for Pressure

 

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s Amazon #1 New Tennis Book Release, Preparing for Pressure.

 Click Here To Order through Amazon

 

FIND THEIR WHYPreparing final cover 3D

 

“The willingness to prepare is more important than wanting to win.
Preparing to be great begins with WHY?”

Mr. Jones wants the new S500 Mercedes Benz with jet black exterior and the baseball-mitt brown leather interior. To afford such a luxury, he realizes he has to work overtime for the next few years. Mr. Jones found his “Why” (his new dream car), so he’s happy to put in
the extra at work.

Junior athletes need to choose between being a champion or a “normal” kid. They also need to buy into their “WHY”- intrinsic motivation. I recommend planting the seed of athletic royalty at the college of their choosing. Review the common perks of the typical college athletes such as free books/laptop, priority registration, room & board, full time dedicated tutor, and of course, tuition!

 

The multiple benefits and rewards of participating in college tennis may be the reasons why young,
intelligent athletes put in the daily work.

 

Tennis from the Parent’s View- Part 2

Posted on November 19, 2020 by in Preparing for Pressure

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s Amazon #1 New Tennis Book Release, Preparing for Pressure.

 Click Here To Order through Amazon

Preparing final cover 3D

PARENT’S, DO YOU HAVE A PLAN?

 

“Your Weekly Initiative Separates Your Athlete From Their Peers?”

All throughout the history of tennis, we have seen ordinary men and women come from humble backgrounds with nothing but a dream. Most of these athletes weren’t especially gifted or financially wealthy. Yet they were able to become top ATP and WTA professionals. What separates us from them is their family commitment to push beyond mediocrity. It doesn’t take much effort to be average. Follow the crowd, and you’ll reach that level.

Most athletes dream of playing professional or NCAA ball but only a few are destined for greatness. It’s estimated that only 5% of High school varsity tennis players move on to play high-level college tennis. It’s not their lack of athleticism, it’s their lack of a deliberate, customized developmental plan.

 

The tennis success you seek requires a high tennis IQ, well developed emotional aptitude,
and the acceptance of serious weekly growth.

 

Tennis from the Parent’s View- Part 1

Posted on November 17, 2020 by in Preparing for Pressure

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s Amazon #1 New Tennis Book Release, Preparing for Pressure.

 Click Here To Order through Amazon

 

Preparing final cover 3D

THE PARENTAL VISION

 

The Parental Vision was written to assist parents in shaping their athlete’s future. What parents think, say, and do matters. In my experience, a parent obsessed with character trait development and positive brainwashing trumps the parent obsessed with pointing-out their athlete’s failures.

Issues arise when the parental influence is misaligned, which confuses the athlete and derails the process. It is important that the athlete, parents, and coaches are all on the same page with the singular goal of maximizing the athlete’s potential.

Parents who shape their athlete’s future make the journey a family priority. This section includes samples of goal setting and advanced scheduling.

“A goal without a plan is just a dream.”

 

The parent is the team leader who’s responsible for shaping the athlete’s future. Parents only interested in being passively involved should only expect average results from their children.

Parents, children model the behavior they witness daily. It’s not only what you say … it’s what you do that matters most.

 

Proper Tennis Preparation

Posted on November 16, 2020 by in How To Attract A College Scholarship

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s updated release:  How to Attract a College Athletic Scholarship.

College standout Steve Johnson provides his view on college tennis. Special e-Book price is $1.99

To Order Click Here

13

Tennis Can Teach Life Skills

Posted on November 13, 2020 by in How To Attract A College Scholarship

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s updated release:  How to Attract a College Athletic Scholarship.

College standout Steve Johnson provides his view on college tennis. Special Amazon e-Book price is $1.99

To Order Click Here

17

ELITE TENNIS PARENT JOB POST

Posted on November 12, 2020 by in 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 online retailers!  Click Here to Order

Frank wrote the ELITE TENNIS PARENT JOB POST as a humor piece while addressing the tennis parent’s extreme importance to maximize tennis potential and facilitate a healthy and positive environment. Enjoy!

 

Frank Giampaolo

ELITE TENNIS PARENT JOB POST

Before we dig deeper into the more serious components of the tennis parent’s role, let’s first laugh a bit about what a “Tennis Parent Needed” internet job post would look like…

With “tongue firmly in cheek,” I created the below piece for Tennis Magazine, which ran last year. The point of detailing this incredibly difficult and sometimes thankless job is acknowledging the love and dedication that go into developing and nurturing your child’s life skills.

 

Tennis Parent Job Description:

  • Positive team player needed for 168 hours per week position.
  • Candidate must possess a universal desire to be screamed at, talked down to, and be willing to be hated 5-6 days a week.
  • The successful applicant must have an uncanny sense of “Buddha-like” calmness in an often psychotic, stressful, chaotic environment.
  • Candidate must be willing to work early mornings, late evenings, and most weekends.
  • Candidate must be willing to forget about their own personal interests, workout routines, sports, and hobbies.
  • Candidate must not expect to go on vacation due to the year-round tournament obligations.
  • The successful applicant should plan on missing traditional family holidays due to Thanksgiving Nationals, Winter Super Nationals, Spring Break/Easter Bowl, Labor Day, and Memorial Day Events.

 

 

Requirements:

  • H R Skills– Interviewing, hiring, and firing tennis coaches, trainers, hitters, and off-court specialists…with the enthusiasm of Donald Trump.
  • Accounting /Banking Skills- Possess an extremely thick checkbook and be willing and able to max out all of their major credit cards.
  • Designated Driver- Must be willing to put 100 thousand miles on the family car and enjoy most of your meals behind the wheel.
  • Expect your child to occasionally go “Tennis-Brain Dead“- Be willing and able to accept that your child will occasionally forget everything they were taught during the last $5000.00 worth of lessons and blow several events a year.
  • Scheduling Manager- World-class juggling skills required to organize the ever-changing schedules of booking practice courts, times & logistics, hired hitters to practice partners, lessons, and events.
  • Booking Agent– Flexible skills required to book last-minute airlines, cars, and hotels.
  • VIP/24 Hour Courier Service: Laundry service, racquet re-stringing service, drug store pharmaceuticals pickup and delivery service, bedtime psychology sessions.
  • Fashion Coordinator/Personal Shopper- Purchasing only the latest and greatest shoes and matching clothes.
  • Maintenance Knowledge– General Maintenance of equipment such as racquet re-gripping, clothing malfunctions, shoelace replacement…
  • Parental Intuition- Must have the uncanny ability to become expendable and invisible in a seconds notice and/or appear bright-eyed/ happy to help two minutes later.

 

  • Match Performance Review- Must be willing to evaluate a crummy performance by first pointing out fifty positive observations but NEVER share negative feedback without starting WWIII.

 

Wages and Expenses:

  • There is no pay for this position.
  • All the work and travel-related expenses will not be reimbursed.

 


 

Learn How To Compete

Posted on November 11, 2020 by in How To Attract A College Scholarship

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s updated release:  How to Attract a College Athletic Scholarship.

College standout Steve Johnson provides his view on college tennis. Special e-Book price is $1.99

To Order Click Here

19

Eliminating Internal Judgment- Part 5

Posted on November 7, 2020 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

 

Eliminating Internal Judgmentsoft science

 

How to Strengthen Self Coaching Solution #5:
Monitoring Outer Dialog

The fifth method of nurturing a positive inner dialog is to ask the athlete to monitor their outer dialog under stressful conditions. An athlete’s outer dialog includes speech, body language, and physical behavior, which are natural bi-products of an athlete’s internal dialog.

Monitoring this process begins with the athlete recognizing their automatic system of behavior under the stressful conditions of competition. Although it is common to default to old comfortable habits under stress; negative habits not only perpetuate pessimistic thought patterns, they alert the opponent that self-destruction is in the works. Self-spotting outer dialog behavior will help the athlete to recondition their inner dialog chatter.

 

How to Strengthen Self Coaching Solution #6:
Resist Attention Seeking Negative Dialog

A behavior management strategy is to coach the athlete to resist attention seeking negative dialog and behavior. Athletes gain sympathy by projecting pessimistic behaviors. A typical example of this is an athlete’s excessively loud mini-tantrum in competition to gain sympathy from spectators, family, or coaches. In essence, the athlete is projecting, “I’m usually so much better than this…I must be having an unusually bad day!” Ironically, the tantrum is seen every day.

In my opinion, tactically ignoring the outbursts in hopes that they go away is not dialog management because an appropriate alternate behavior is needed.  An athlete’s dialog projects their thoughts and beliefs. Their voices have been simply programmed into their subconscious. Since they determine the course of their life, reprogramming their negative inner chatter is a battle worth fighting.

 

“Optimistic self-coaching is a wonderful technique to create better human beings on and off the tennis court.”

 

Here’s an alternate view of tennis parenting and tennis teaching. The conventional method has been to feel balls, criticize what’s broken, and then focus on the athlete’s problem areas. This judgment based approach isn’t always in the student’s best interest. Why? Because it subliminally plants the toxic seeds of negative inner dialog and in competition, this learned behavior of focusing on what’s wrong opposes the natural flow state found in nonjudgmental, effortless, peak performance. Seeking “what is broken” isn’t part of performing in the zone or “treeing” as today’s juniors describe playing at one’s optimal level.