The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible
Available through most online retailers!
Talking Economics Before/After a Match
Dumping unnecessary loads of pressure on a player before or after a match is one of the most common mistakes. Parents often say “If you lose one more time to someone ranked lower than you, we’re pulling the plug! Do you know how much we spend on your tennis?” How do you expect them to play in their calm, relaxed peak performance state of mind if you are stressing them out about finances? If you have the money, choose to spend it on the family adventure tennis provides without expecting a return on the financial investment.
Thinking Perfect Strokes are Mandatory
In his book, legendary star Andre Agassi states that he was still learning how to volley when he retired. John McEnroe is quoted as saying, “Nobody has perfect strokes; it’s what you do with what you’ve got that counts!” They simply competed with their secret weaknesses. Learn how to expose your strengths and hide your weaknesses.
Parents, players, and coaches who are waiting for every stroke to be perfect before they begin to compete are missing the boat. Every national champion I’ve ever coached had holes in their game as they held up the gold ball. The trick is learning how to compete with imperfections.
Even if your child did possess perfect strokes on the practice court, performance anxieties will occasionally cause strokes to break down at stressful stages of an event. Dealing with the reality of imperfect strokes is part of the mental, and emotional components of the game.
Managing Without a “Hollywood” Script
Hollywood parents with “wanna-be” child stars have the reputation for being a little nuts, right? Hollywood parents drag their kids from audition to audition in search of ways to live vicariously through their kids. Though I do not recommend forcing your child into any unwanted activity, I do recommend asking your child to use the system that Hollywood actors use when working on a sitcom. Here’s their four-part system:
1) First, the actor gets the script for a new show. (Your child gets a script for how to beat a moonballer. Yes, don’t worry the script is in the mental section of this book).
2) Second, the Hollywood actor spends hours running through their lines. (Your child will ask a hitting coach to run through the patterns used to beat pesky pushers).
3) Third, the Hollywood actor runs dress rehearsals. (Your child has to run their patterns on the practice court and in practice sets, often for weeks at a time doing dress rehearsals).
4) Fourth, the actors shoot the show in front of a live audience. (Your child plays the actual tournament).
All too often, our junior competitors learn wonderful patterns and then choose not to rehearse the patterns in dress in practice and then wonder why they continue to lose to moonballer/ pushers.
Parents and coaches, please use this four-part method to develop each component in your child’s game.
