TENNIS FITNESS

It may be pouring with rain, or perhaps you cannot get a court or find a good practice partner, however that does not mean that you stop working on your game!

PLAN FOR SUCCESS

Firstly, write down all those areas of your game that need more work. Give yourself a score out of 10 for each area, 10 being outstanding, 5 being average and 1 being poor. Next step is to write down what it will take to score 10 in all of these areas. If you rate yourself a 6, what will it take to get you to a 10? Talk to your coach. What would she say you need to do? What are the action steps needed to achieve a 10? You need to clearly define each and every step along the way and a target date to achieve each step. Make sure they are challenging goals that are believable and desirable. The more detailed and clear they are, the easier it will be to reach them and quicker you will get there. People with goals succeed because they know where they are going.

MAKE A SUCCESS POSTER

Make a treasure map or poster of exactly how you want to play, what you want to achieve, and how you want to look. Go through old tennis magazines and find pictures of your favourite players that reflect how you want to look on court. Add reinforcing messages that your coach may constantly tell you and good quotes to keep you focused and goal-oriented. Display it prominently in a place so you see exactly what you want to achieve everyday.

BECOME AN ACTOR

Your thoughts, feelings and actions all affect one another. If you act confidently, you feel confident. Try walking tall, with your head and shoulders back and a spring in your step. It is hard to feel down. Your body language can be used in many ways: to help rid you of negative emotions like fear and discouragement; to intimidate your opponent and show her what a fighter you are; as well as to demonstrate your confidence and composure. However like all actors, you must rehearse and practice. And don’t wait until you are on stage (court) to do it. It takes practice and lots of it. Practice in your own home in front of the mirror, walking tall around the house, pumping your fist. Your script is to exude confidence, positive energy, calmness, fight, and determination. Picture in your mind the type of player you want to be and begin acting like that player. Have fun practicing and you will learn to be a winner both on and off the court.

CATCH YOUR THOUGHTS

Whilst sitting around home, catch your thoughts… what are you thinking? Are you occasionally negative; do you doubt yourself? To think like a winner, you must be positive all the time. The conversations you have with yourself (often referred to as self-talk) are crucial for moulding attitudes and beliefs. What you focus on is what you get. For self talk to be of benefit, you must learn to control it all the time, not just on the court. We are exactly what we think we are. Great players learn to control their self-talk so it is only filled with positive statements. Challenge yourself to greatness. Compliment yourself regularly and acknowledge what you are doing daily. Most importantly, speak to yourself like you mean it, full of energy and vibrancy! Stronger the feeling, greater the excitement and energy and the quicker the manifestation. Speak with confidence to create it on and off the court.

PLAY ON CUE - USE CUE WORDS

When you can’t get on court, a great way of practicing is to shadow strokes, preferably in front of a mirror or a window where you can check your form. For each stroke, select a cue word. Get your coach to help you choose the best word for you for each particular stroke. For example, it could be early, low, dynamic, or feet. Practice playing the strokes and saying the cue words. This is a useful way of focusing or re-focusing when concentration is broken during a match. It’s an exercise that is ideal for a rainy day or as a warm-up.

NOW

You know you have to play in the now and not think about past mistakes and get angry with yourself, or think about winning and then choke. But how do you do that? One of the best ways to practice the maintenance of moment-by-moment focus during a match is to learn meditation, yoga or deep breathing. This is a learned skill – just like your forehand and must be practiced regularly for best results. You’ll be amazed at how much better you can concentrate and relax on court.

MAKE A TAPE

A great way to mentally prepare off the court is to make a tape of about five of your favorite songs that stimulate the feelings of confidence and enjoyment. Your aim is to trigger the way you want to feel when you play your best tennis. Once a tape is made, listen to it several times a week – on your way to tennis, in the car, on planes – and visualise playing outstanding tennis whilst listening to the music. Become so familiar with the music that whenever you listen to it or play the song in your head, you trigger your ideal performance state. Have fun with it. It is a great way to mentally prepare for your matches.

DON’T PHONE HOME – PHONE YOU!

If you are lucky enough to have one of those mobile phones that take movies or pictures, use them as part of your pre-match preparation. Take photos of exactly what you want to look like on the court – intense, aggressive, calm, focused – whatever the look, photograph or video it and watch yourself performing exactly as you wish. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Create those perfect images in your mind first and then create them on court.

IN CONCLUSION

Mentally preparing for a match is much like going to the gym to do fitness training. You can’t get physically fit in a weekend. You need to keep going back to build up your emotional muscles! Success depends on spaced repetition and regular immersion, to help you fully integrate these powerful techniques into your life. Make good habits and they will make you.

INFORMATION FOR TENNIS PARENTS

Research has shown that tennis is one of the healthiest, least injurious sports youngsters can play. Tennis is a lifetime sport. It builds self-confidence and self-esteem. It teaches self-discipline, self-reliance and respect for others. But, above all, it provides a good way of performing physical exercise whilst having fun. Today, more children than ever before are taking part in tennis You, as a parent, want to help your child to manage this new situation, as you do in other aspects of your child’s life: school, friends, family, etc. You want your child to be happy, to have fun and to learn to play tennis to a reasonable level. No doubt that’s why you encouraged them to be involved in the sport in the first place.

Hence the reason for this document which has been written to help you, the parent, to perform better within the highly complex and sometimes, confusing world of competitive tennis. It is written to inform and to provide guidelines on how to best help your child so as to ensure that you, as well as your child, enjoy your involvement in tennis. We hope that you find the information useful in your tennis parent role wherever in the world it may be.