Tag Archives: tennis

Conflict Resolution

Posted on June 28, 2019 by in Preparing for Pressure

Discuss Conflict Resolution and Fear of Confrontation

“Solving problems begins by confronting problems.”
sarah

When athletes are expected to be the competitor, the score-keeper, the linesman, and the umpire conflicts will exist. “Being judged” can bring out the best and worst in all of us. Often opponents who believe that they don’t have the physical tools to win employ gamesmanship to sabotage their opponent’s level of play. There are many gamesmanship situations that athletes need to be aware of, and it is the job description of the coaching staff to address these scenarios. It is also important to teach them to look systematically beyond the incident.

Often, it is not the specific opponent’s gamesmanship tactic but your player’s response to the drama that causes the emotional break the opponent seeks. Preparing for pressure includes how an athlete responds to confrontational situations and whether or not they can remain focused on their performance goals and avoid unraveling.

Covert gamesmanship in tournament play is also applied when the crafty opponent spots the nonverbal clues found in our athletes’ fear of confrontation. If your athletes have a fear of confrontation, address why standing up for themselves versus enabling the “bully” is in their best interest. Nurturing timid athletes to stand up for themselves improves their confidence as they learn to solve problems.

In the intermediate levels, emotionally weak competitors assume that confrontation is bad. If they disagree, the opponent won’t like them and therefore not want to play with them in the future. This is a false assumption. In tennis, the opposite holds true. Opponents that can easily bully and beat your athlete don’t return their calls. Athletes that stand up to gamesmanship and triumph, not only earn respect, they also benefit by getting to choose their future practice match opponents and doubles partners.

Confidence is earned by standing up to conflicts.

Supersize Practice Sessions

Posted on June 24, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, 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 Giampaolo

QUESTION: How can we help supersize practice sessions?

Frank: Below I have created a checklist of solutions to help Super-Charge Practice Sessions.

  • Stop hitting without accountability.

Hitting without accountability is like spending money with an unlimited bank account. Juniors perceive they hit better in practice because they are not aware of the sheer number of mistakes they are actually making. They remember the 10 screaming winners they hit but forget about the 50 unforced errors they committed in the same hour.

  • Change the focus in practice sessions.

Concentrate on skill sets such as shot selection, patterns, adapting and problem-solving, spotting the opponent’s tendencies, tactical changes and between point rituals.

  • Quit being a perfectionist!

Trying 110 percent promotes hesitation, over- thinking and tight muscle contractions. If you must worry about winning, focus on winning about 66 percent of the points. Yes, you can blow some points and allow your opponent a little glory and still win comfortably.

  • Replace some of the hours spent in clinics with actual matches.

Do you want your child to learn how to play through nervousness and manage their mistakes? Do you want them to get better at closing out those 5-3 leads? Do you want them to actually beat that moonball pusher in the third set?

Players must begin to address their issues in dress rehearsals before they can expect them to win under pressure. Playing great under stress is a learned behavior. Practicing under simulated stress conditions is the solution.

“The challenge is to get comfortable being uncomfortable.”

Rehearse doing what you’re scared of doing. Take the tougher road less traveled. One of my favorite sayings is “If you want to get ahead of the pack, you can’t hang in the pack.”

Match Play versus Practice

Posted on June 21, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, 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

QUESTION: Why does my child play great in practice but horrible in matches?sarah

 Frank: Here’s the scenario that plays out at every club around the world.

Friday, the day before a local junior event, John the young hitting pro carefully feeds balls waist level, in Nathan’s perfect strike zone. Nathan doesn’t even have to move and hits like a champ. The pro is essentially playing “catch” right to little Nathan. On the way home, Nate says, “Man, I’m on fire! Tennis is easy! Forget the open tourney, I’m going pro!”

Saturday morning rolls around and little Nate’s opponent isn’t as nice as the club’s assist pro. His opponent’s playing “keep away” from him…not catch! His opponent is wisely keeping balls above Nathans’ shoulders out of his primary strike zone. He’s hitting away from Nathan instead of right to him! Nathan goes down in flames. After the match, Nate says, “I don’t get it, I was on fire yesterday.”

Practicing in the manner in which you are expected to perform is a battle cry heard at my workshops daily. There is a totally different set of skills that provide “competitive” confidence versus simply hitting.

“The essence of a champion doesn’t simply lie in their strokes but in their head and heart.”

No question, developing sound fundamentals is a critical element of success. However, to improve your child’s ability to perform under stress, it is in their best interest to switch from 100 percent stroke repetition practice to include metal/emotion strategy repetition. Organize a meeting with your athlete’s coach and ask him/her to replace some of the fundamental stroke production hours with mental/emotional skill set development.

Match Play Anxieties- Part 2

Posted on June 12, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, 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

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Psychologists report that the central nervous system decreases its arousal state with extended exposure to the same stimuli. In other words, if one’s nervous system isn’t overly aroused any more… it stops experiencing excessive performance anxiety. Familiar things get boring. This is human nature. So, the best way for players to alleviate their performance anxieties is through exposure, not avoidance.

Five Avoiding Anxiety Consequences
If your child has performance anxieties, ask them to review with their coach the below facts regarding avoiding anxiety:

1) Avoidance eliminates exposure and experiencing the harmless reality of a tennis match.

2) Avoidance clutters the mind and steals any real analysis of the facts.

3) Avoidance eliminates repetition and the chance to see the event as actually routine.

4) Avoidance stops the practice of the actual protocols so there is no mastery of skills.

5) Avoidance kills true mastery and mastery is what decreases future failures.

Another way to look at the effects of avoiding anxieties is that it magnifies ignorance and multiplies fear, nervousness, uncertainty, distress, and disorganization. Although confronting performance anxieties is difficult, it’s the exposure that brings empowerment. So, exposure is the most potent medicine for performance anxiety.

The Practice Court

Posted on June 9, 2019 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

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Please don’t mistake busy work with progression. If your child seeks athletic royalty status, it’s the parent’s responsibility to be aware who is actually on their child’s practice court training them (head coach vs rookie assistant), what the daily focus is (stroke repetition, movement, mental or emotional training), and how their athlete is being trained (large group setting, semi-private) day-in and day-out.

 

“The practice court is where dreams are either
dreamt or actually developed.”

Tennis Great Johan Kriek

Posted on June 6, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, Tennis Professional Interviews, 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

The following post is the foreword to The Tennis Parent’s Bible by Tennis Great Johan Kriek.JOHAN QUOTE PHOTO

By 2 Time ATP Grand Slam Champion: Johan Kriek

Many may hear the name Johan Kriek and recognize me as a top-ranking tennis professional. What they may not realize is the hard work and dedication achieving ATP Tour level status required. I earned an ATP ranking of top 7 and won 2 Grand Slam titles during my approximately twenty-five years of competing in high-level professional tennis, amongst the likes of Connors, Borg, and McEnroe, but my incredible career came with great sacrifice and heartache. Firsthand knowledge of the benefits of supportive tennis parents makes me a perfect fit to foreword Frank Giampaolo’s second edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible.
As a kid growing up in a rural community in South Africa, my mom, Ria, drove me to all my junior tournaments, while my dad and siblings stayed home on the farm. My parent’s played recreational tennis and understood a little about the game but never in their wildest dreams could they have known what was to come. My mom was always positive and constantly reinforcing belief. She did a lot of things right without even knowing it …But looking back that was not enough.
I have been in the junior tennis development business for a number of years now, and I have pretty much seen it all. Parenting is difficult enough in this modern age but parenting AND having a budding tennis star is altogether a tougher challenge. Frank is spot on with bringing to light the extreme importance of the parent’s role in the tennis journey. More often than I would like to admit, parents uneducated about the developmental process unknowingly cause “train wrecks” in their budding tennis players.

Parental education with respect to junior tennis development is a vital component to future success, whether it be college education or shooting for the pros. It is a tough journey with many more “downs than ups” as losing is a huge part of the development of a tennis junior. It is vitally important, in my humble opinion; that parents “arm” themselves with the knowledge found in “The Tennis Parent’s Bible” to better facilitate the growth and happiness of their children. Parent education is quite possibly one of, if not the most neglected part of junior athletic development.
Mastering the game of tennis is a process that demands technical, mental, and emotional skills throughout a child’s development. The parents need to understand that competency requires in-depth knowledge. The highly competitive individuals that are not trained the appropriate mental and emotional IQ face incredible anguish for which they have no way of dealing.
Many parents hope (pretty much what my mom did) that their children will eventually “grow up and mature.” But this is not the right way to go about it. I was, and because I was a type A Plus personality, I flew off the handle a lot. This poor behavior came to bite me hard during my career. Suffice to say I succeeded despite myself. If I had better training as a youngster on how to deal with my emotions in a better way, I would have been a much better and happier competitor.
Frank Giampaolo is a rare guy to have addressed these issues by writing a number of books on developing athletes. I highly recommend this second edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible to any tennis coach or parent. Believe me, even if you think you are an “expert” tennis coach or parent, you need to read this book.

Parents, Allow Your Athletes to Dream Big

Posted on June 3, 2019 by in Preparing for Pressure

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book soon to be released, Preparing for Pressure.

 

Preparing for Pressure

“Winners are nurtured to dream big.”

Why are some athletes content to let their peers shine? Why do the average players laugh at dreamers? Every great innovation started with a dream. Preparing for pressure includes the acceptance of dreaming big. Once accepted, the parents have to work to nurture it.

All throughout the history of tennis, there 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 decision and commitment to push beyond mediocrity. It doesn’t take much effort from parents and players to be average. Follow the crowd, and you’ll reach that level.

Most athletes dream of playing professional or NCAA D-1 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.

Preparing your athletes for pressure includes training longer, smarter, and harder than the academy group down the street. It requires a high tennis IQ, well developed emotional aptitude, and the acceptance of serious weekly growth.

 

Dreaming big is a nice start, but dreaming doesn’t make it real. Parents, ask your athletes to think big, believe big, work big, and most of all…learn big. After they’ve dreamt it, start working for it.

Secondary Strokes- Part 2

Posted on May 26, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

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

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Secondary Strokes

As parents and coaches, we have to assist in managing the time needed to develop each athlete’s secondary “colors”. I recommend encouraging, educating and developing both primary and secondary stroke principles. The following are the primary and secondary strokes in an elite tennis player’s tool belt:

 

The Six Different Types of Forehands and Backhands:

  • Primary Drive
  • High Topspin Arch
  • Short Angle
  • Defensive Slice
  • Drop Shot
  • Lob

The Three Types of Serves:

  • Primary Flat Serve
  • Kick Serve
  • Slice Serve

The Five Types of Volleys:

  • Primary Traditional Punch Volley
  • Drop Volley
  • Swing Volley/Drive Volley
  • Half Volley
  • Transition Volley

The Four Types of Lobs:

  • Primary Flat Lob
  • Topspin Lobs
  • Slice Lob
  • Re-Lob (Lobbing off of the opponents over-head smash)

The Two Types of Overheads:

  • The Primary/Stationary Overhead
  • The Turn & Run/Scissor Overhead

The 6 Types of Approach Shots:

  • Serve and Volley
  • Chip and Charge
  • Drive Approach
  • Slice Approach
  • Drop Shot Approach
  • Moonball Approach

 

The devil is in the details, they say. Maximizing potential requires the deliberate development of every tool in your child’s tool belt.

 

I got to know Tiger Woods a bit when I was the tennis director at Sherwood Country Club, in Westlake Village out-side of Las Angeles. We hosted his multimillion dollar charity event at Sherwood annually. Before each round of golf, Tiger practiced every club in his bag. He often, secretly, flew to the site a week or so before the actual event to experience the courses uneven fairways, the speed of the greens, the feel of the sand traps and elements such as the wind.

 

“Winning is persistent, customized preparation.”

 

Advanced players have worked to develop their secondary strokes along with their primary strokes. With their complete tool belt of strokes, they apply these tools in shot sequencing patterns used to torture the opponents as they control both sides of the net.

If a deliberate, customized developmental plan is followed, it takes an average of two years to develop these “secondary” tools into reliable pattern-play weapons. If your child is simply grooving primary strokes…well, they’ll stop progressing and never actually realize their true potential.

To assist your youngster in controlling the court and the match, meet with their coaches and discuss their opinion regarding shifting focus in practice from only grooving fundamentals to developing a champion’s tool belt of strokes.

Like Tiger Woods, remind your athlete to warm up every stroke in their bag before each tournament match. Winning a close tie breaker is often decided on a few points. Making that crucial swing volley in the tie-breaker versus missing it is often a matter of confidence.

 

 

 

Secondary Strokes- Part 1

Posted on May 20, 2019 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

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QUESTION: What are secondary strokes?

 

Frank: Building a solid foundation is vital to your child’s success. Although this is not another “Mechanical Stroke Book,” a flawed stroke causes unforced errors, produces short vulnerable balls, causes injuries and inhibit your child’s growth into the next level of competition. If stroke production is what you seek, I recommend my bestselling book Championship Tennis. In this book, primary and secondary stroke production is covered in extreme detail.

 

“Efficient stokes aren’t always elegant strokes.”

 

Just as being tall is a prerequisite to playing in the NBA, efficient strokes are a prerequisite to playing in the highest levels of tennis. But, if just being tall earned you the right to play in the NBA, my cousin Big Vinnie wouldn’t be driving a limo at Kennedy airport. So, though fundamental strokes are important, they are only part of the puzzle.

Here’s a fun painters analogy. To this day, we can all run to the store and pick up a beginners paint set. These pre-packaged sets come with paper, a paint brush and a strip of a few basic paint colors. As we dabble and enjoy the art of painting one thing becomes evident, if only primary colors are used, the paintings will continue to look “amateur.”

Advanced painters have learned that to make a painting jump off the canvas and become “life like” they need to master the skills of applying secondary colors. Now, instead of applying one shade of green, they have multiple versions of green! They essentially have more tools in their painting tool box.

 

Neuro Priming – Part 2

Posted on May 17, 2019 by in Neuro Priming for Peak Performance

The following post is an excerpt from Neuro Priming for Peak Performance NOW available!
Click Here to Order neuro priming

The Sports Science of Neuro Priming

Neuroscientists report that mental rehearsal activates a network of neural coded motor programs in the brain that when primed activate the athlete’s correct physiological responses. By creating customized audio recordings and then routinely listening to the recordings, the athlete strengthens the neural pathways required for competition.

Why Neuro Priming Works

Mental rehearsal is a form of preventative medicine. It identifies the causes of an athlete’s anxiety. Neuro priming pin-points the possible problems and pre-sets their solutions. Performing at peak performance level requires the athlete to be confident and able to adapt when things go astray. In competitive matches, the athlete who has their pre-set contingency plans has superior confidence in their problem-solving ability.

Neuro priming is one of an athlete’s greatest defenses against performance anxieties. It assists the athlete in trading in pessimism for optimism.  (Note: Neuro priming may be a 3 -second between-point visualization routine or up to a 20-minute complete pre-competition review.)

ATP and WTA touring professionals are often quoted as saying the game is 90% mental and 10% physical. Neuro priming is a cutting-edge method to improve the mental and emotional components of a competitive athlete’s tennis game. As I stated at the beginning, an athlete’s routines and rituals ultimately define their success. I hope you find Neuro Priming for Peak Performance the key to maximizing your athlete’s potential.

Designing and Recording Protocols

Neuro Priming for Peak Performance is organized into five chapters.  Each chapter is devoted to a distinct tennis skill set. Designing an athlete’s personalized audio recordings is best completed with a high EQ (Emotional Quota) coach or tennis mind. The following is a step by step guide for all five sections. (Sample solutions for all five sections provided in Sample Solutions section beginning on page 59.)

Step 1

With your coach, discuss each of the audio recording topics and complete your personalized script of solutions. These solutions should result from on-court training and most proficient patterns and tactics. The athlete should be able to perform the solutions routinely.

Step 2

Once solutions are identified, find a quiet space, eliminate all distractions, and get comfortable while you read your customized scripts into your cell phone’s digital recorder. Allow 5 seconds in-between tips to enable time for adequate mental rehearsal visualization.

Step 3

Begin your mental rehearsals in a calm mental state by breathing deeply, eliminating muscle tension and controlling your wandering mind. While visualizing your physical, mental and emotional skill sets, apply realistic imagery using slow motion and real-time visualization.

 

Key Times for Neuro Priming

  • Nightly before falling asleep, especially before matches.
  • Early morning, when you’re just waking up.
  • Drive time/travel time.
  • Before competitive matches.
  • Between points & change-overs.
  • After competition as a performance review.