Stay Relaxed - Quiet Your Mind & Trust Your Instincts

Staying relaxed for optimal performance on court is key... This also means keeping a relaxed mind as well. A good example to use for this is what you experience playing at the net. When playing the net you need to stay very attentive (ready to respond) but relaxed with a non thinking mind, one that is alert without being busy with thought. Staying calm might be a better way of describing it. When your mind is busy with many thoughts (or any thoughts for that matter).. you become pre-occupied with your thoughts and not with your instinctive reactions -Remember tennis is a non thinking -feeling game- Your instinctive reactions are desperately needed, especially in a volley situation- where the ball is coming at a much faster rate than if you were in the back court. Quick reactions are key here
Let me give you an example, Have you ever been in a situation where you were not paying attention and someone threw something at you and said;: "catch" .. What happened? Did you instinctively catch it? You probably did, this is because you did not have time to 'think' about it.. you just allowed your reactions to take over and you instinctively went to catch it. We need to perform like this on court, trusting instinctive reactions
to play your best tennis. This is what is referred to as 'playing in the zone'.

This 'Zone' state will allow you to speed up your reactions on court.
So, if you can think quickly under pressure, stay relaxed and keep your mind quiet... trust your instincts- This will speed up your reactions and will advance your tennis!

Loose is Fast

When you want to increase your speed while playing tennis the initial response is to try harder. Paradoxically, trying harder may slow you down. This is because trying harder usually involves constriction and tension within your body, which works in conflict with the generation of more speed.

Speed comes from an overall relaxation & looseness in the body which in turn creates flexibility. The moment your body becomes tight through the act of trying too hard, you remove this flexibility factor creating a reduction in speed.

What ever you desire to achieve you must make sure that you do not 'over try' for it. While trying too hard to increase your speed slows you down, wanting something too badly pushes the object of your desire further away from your grasp.

When this relentless desire takes over the player's actions become counter productive. They often start compromising by over training, cultivating a less than productive mindset and becoming impatient with the level of their progress. So, try to stay clear of over wanting a particular goal.. Take everything in stride and be patient with your progress.. some things will come quicker than others in your development- embrace it.

The 'best' way to get what you want is to pitch your efforts between under trying and over trying. By hitting the optimal zone of not caring too much about achieving your target as well as remembering not to become apathetic toward achieving your goal you increase the chances of success.

when you hit the optimal area on this continuum, you will find that your tennis performance will become more effortless, automatic and instinctive.

Counter Balance

Counterbalance- Refers to counter balancing weight. Any equal and opposing power or force. The state of being equilibrium; balance, To oppose with an equal weight force or indluence.

When your swing is in motion your body rotates from one side to the other (in modern tennis.)
This is done as you swing a racquet across your body creating massive forces of energy that could quickly get you out of balance. Stability with mobility.. sounds contradictory, but it is a fact in your tennis swing. You have a need to counterbalance your body in preparation for your swing. Your lover body has to synchronize movement with your upper body creating a fluid sequential rotational motion. Shifting your weight from one side to the other is the "invisible footwork" Your upper body will spatially follow the lead of your lower body -from one side to the other.

But most recreational swings have too much going on at the same time with incorrect unbalanced rhythm, tempo & timing. Its all about 'Feeling" the ball utilizing all your senses when you preform your stroke. Your tennis movements should be fluid - Your lower body has to synchronize movement along with your upper body, creating a fluid, sequential rotational motion. Shifting your weight from one side to the other is the key.

Let me describe a drill that literally takes you through the dynamic weight transfer phenomena... (described for a right hander)

Take your racquet back at the same time slide your left foot along side your right foot .. as you staart your forward swing to meet the ball slide your left foot back to its original place. Transferring your weight from right to left. Dynamic weight transfer will enable you to 'feel' the ball on the strings.. and deliver more power and accuracy in your shots -Which in turn will develop more confidence and ability to 'go for your shots' and therefore advance your game!

Tennis.. Learn Balance & Rhythm

Balance and Rhythm-

Tennis should be thought of as very rhythmic, like dancing! .. That’s right, it is very similar. When you dance you are in rhythm with your partner (or try to be!) .. The ball is your dancing partner in tennis! If you watch the pros carefully .. you will see they stalk the ball and focus on nothing but! .. They move in harmony with the ball tracking it back and forth flowing with it watching it so intently as if it were prey to them -as if they are going to pounce on it at just the right time. Have you ever seen a nature show, where one of the big cats is running after its prey. As it gains on its prey it mirrors every move right along side it until it lines up at just the right spot to pounce on it? .. That is how intently the pros play watching and waiting, stalking the ball. At that level you have to be completely absorbed in each moment.

http://Mindsport.com has some great focusing exercises to help increase focus and mind strengthening tips for your game.

Balance and Counter Balance is also a major factor in the advanced tennis game – As in any sport when you are balanced you are able to use your weight effectively and efficiently. If you are off balance it is hard to perform anything to its full potential. One of the main issues with tennis players not able to advance their game is that they are off balance when striking the ball and or they do not keep balanced through their stroke.

Let's back up just a bit so I can explain a bit more about this phenomenon.. The reason for off balance shot making is most tennis players hit the ball way too soon! They are too early striking the ball, they rush to get to the ball and overestimate ball speed, trajectory and bounce speed which forces a hurried shot…Now it may not appear to be hurried by the naked eye.. But it is, trust me. Years ago before I discovered this timing issue… I once played doubles alongside a world- class tennis pro.. One thing I noticed is when the ball came to him, he moved to the ball and what seemed like ‘waiting’ for the ball to reach him after the bounce before he would strike the ball! –This was well after what I perceived to be the right ‘time’ to strike it- I remember thinking to myself.. “His timing is way different than mine.. He has more time to hit the ball” and I knew I was missing something.

This is one of the most important concepts for you to embrace if you want your game to evolve. This does require that you adapt your thinking on how you perceive hitting the ball… First, you must not think of ‘hitting’ the ball.. When you hit the ball you take the racquet back and swing at it! .. not so in higher level tennis.. They are swinging for sure… but the concept of how they get their racquet back and bring it to ‘find’ the ball is quite different than the club player swinging at it. So much so that it makes all the difference in how they strike it so well and place it so accurately. Another important principle is that players react too slowly to the oncoming ball- they don’t start their move and reading the oncoming ball early enough

Are you ready to learn how they do this? Well, it’s really no secret, Oscar has figured this out and teaches it in his books and videos.. and others are quickly following this method of teaching as well. The hardest aspect of coaching in my opinion is getting students to adapt a different mental approach or ‘re-think’ their focus- That is how they see the ball, how they approach it and to wait for it- and that is the hardest of all… everyone wants to rush to strike!

In my next blog I will explain how the pros actually 'hit' the ball so hard while still keeping it in the court consistently! In the mean time check out www.hi-techtennis.com to watch pro video clips and get complete and accurate explanation of modern tennis strokes!

Tennis- Zone State

The Zone

When you get to a "zone" state, it’s almost magical how easy it is to accomplish even the most difficult shots. However, not many tennis players can enter the zone at will or maintain being in the zone once they realize that they are in it because they allow emotions to dominate or control them.

The first step to playing in the zone is to allow your mind to become totally process oriented –(I will explain this in a moment.) By being process oriented you optimize your brain's chemistry, which enhances all of your natural abilities and functions. It is possible to enter and stay in the zone with staying process oriented.

To optimize your brain's chemistry you have to eliminate all of your negative emotions and increase your positive emotions. Easier said than done because of your mind's past programming of outcome thinking and associating negative emotions to facts.

So how do you get to the zone with this process oriented thinking? If you focus on the outcome, you open yourself to negative emotions of fear and anger of missing a shot. The only value an outcome provides is feedback to help you improve the process. It makes common sense that who ever executes the process the best will be the winner. So why focus on the outcome and rob yourself of the opportunity to play in the zone.

To be ‘process oriented’ thinking is to be focusing solely on the process of improving, it is a lot easier to be objective and realize that everything that happens is a fact. A fact is merely a fact. A fact provides information that you can use to improve the process. Don’t allow yourself to justify a reason to allow a fact to cause a negative emotional reaction in your mental makeup.

For example, if your forehand shot misses long that is a fact. An outcome thinker will more than likely feel upset or disappointed because he missed it, and his frustration level goes up!

However, a process thinker will be anxious to look for adjustments within himself- with an internal focus on his game or being in the moment – not focused on external outcome. Example; He quickly reviews his preparation to the ball, body movement, balance and follow-through after he missed the shot to see how it felt and will examine what minor adjustments he might do next time to bring the shot in the court This is process thinking.. Searching inward examining your body movement and feeling how you are performing and Not letting emotion dominate the outcome.

The same fact causes different emotional reactions and brain chemistry depending upon your thought process.

If you train your mind to be process oriented, you can start focusing on how you feel and develop the ability to stay relaxed (no negative emotion to make you tense) feel your way into the zone and maintain it. The greater your mechanical ability, the better your outcomes will be when you are in the zone. (That’s where hitting a lot of balls in practice come in)

This is how Roger Federer plays exceptional tennis. He has excellent mechanical skills (from practice) and anticipates being able to play in the zone during a tournament. He is not concerned with the outcome. His primary concern is to enter the zone because he expects the outcome to be there when he d

Advancing your game - Fear & Risk Taking

Fear & Risk Taking

Fear & Risk Taking- are fundamental components of every successful athlete. It is from these bold and committed actions that sporting events are won and lost. A fear of failure can hamstring a tennis players sense of adventure and the ability to take match winning risks. The thought of making mistakes in front of team mates, coaches friends and family can be so paralyzing that players will sit inside their comfort zone just doing the bare minimum.

A highly respected coach once said; "You will never win if you don't first lose." What he meant by that was, if you don't take a risk in your shots you will never get better. You have to go for your shots - and by 'going' for your shot means by taking a calculated risk to hit your best shot - pushing yourself a bit, not muscling or over swinging at the ball. You may make it and you may not.. Don't worry about it! You went for it and hopefully learned something in the process.. How did it feel? What do you need to work on to get better at it and possibly make it next time?

This is the kind of thinking about risk taking that will advance your strokes -building confidence for next time you try them. By being proactive with your shot making you will eventually feel more comfortable with dictating control of a point, a game a match!

Tolerate Your Mistakes-

With risk taking there may initially be more mistakes.. That's ok, accept them- The first step in overcoming the fear of failure is that mistakes are an inevitable component of advancing your game. All athletes experience difficulty & set backs. The difference is that World-Class athletes accept those failures in their sport to help them grow into a better performing athlete. Anthony Robins once said; "Failure is Feedback"