The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s Amazon #1 New Tennis Book Release, Preparing for Pressure.
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Keep Your Athlete On-Script before Competition
“Your athlete’s script is their repeatable dominant patterns.”
Let’s go a step deeper into how parents can assist their athletes in preparing for pressure. When your athletes are uncertain, they play confused and fearful. Fear is the enemy of peak performance. When your athletes and their coaches design scripts (with clear physical, mental, emotional protocols), these intentions breed confidence. Focusing on their script of pre-set patterns and solutions serves two purposes for the athlete.
The first benefit is that a proper headspace distracts the athletes from the onslaught of contaminating outcome thoughts. Worrying about the possible upcoming catastrophe gets most athletes into a horrible mindset. While they can’t really stop themselves from thinking, you can purposely distract them from outcome dreams and nightmares. It’s important to note that often, the parents are the instigators of the contamination.
The second benefit is strategic- pre-setting rehearsed patterns and plays prior to competition. This is accomplished by asking your athlete to review their current performance goals, strategies, and contingency plans. Mental rehearsals through visualization is a terrific way to assist the athletes to adhere to their script mentally and emotionally before competition.
Great performances begin with an optimistic organized mindset.
