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QUESTION: My daughter is losing to players she used to beat. Can you help?
Frank: The fastest way to break a rut and level up is to challenge your child to focus on improving rather than winning. Boost your daughter’s confidence by adding new tools to her play. Ask your child to compete only against himself. This is a sensational way to make progress without stress. To illustrate this point, I’ll use a student of mine from New York. Her name is Kaitlin. She was also in trouble. Below I have listed three of Kaitlin’s problems and her tailor-made solution.
Problem #1: Negative emotional outburst
Challenge: We asked Kaitlin to focus on reducing negative outbursts by 25% per match for the next month. The role of the parents is to chart how often the Kaitlin shows the unwanted reaction. If she reaches her goal and reduces her negative emotional outburst by 25 percent, she’s a winner!
Problem #2: Serving second serve to opponent’s forehand
Challenge: Stop feeding the forehand. Kaitlin serves 80 percent of her second serve into the opponent’s strength. Her challenge is to serve 80 percent of her second serve on the opponent’s weakness. The role of the parents in this case is to map out every serve in match play. If Kaitlin can improve her second serve and place it on her opponent’s weaker side 80% of the time, she’s a winner!
Problem #3: Beating a retriever
Challenge: Changing the way Kaitlin and her father think about retriever/push opponents. The first challenge is to help them understand that they have been deceived; the thinking retrievers become extinct in the twelfth century! In my experience, retrievers are one of the most common styles in women’s tennis.
The second challenge is to ask Kaitlin and her parents to shift their focus from grooving fundamental strokes to understanding and developing the patterns used to push those crafty retrievers out of their comfort zone.
A good place to start in rekindling confidence is to list the four main components of the game. Agree to a radical change in training. Let go of the old, comfortable methods and simply choose one key element in each section that you will focus on for the next month.
Kaitlin’s challenges include:
Stroke mechanics: Developing her second serve. (Power, Spin, Placement, Consistency)
Spiritually: Choosing to take the shot that the moment demands. (Shot selections)
Emotional: Performance anxiety. (Dealing with pushers)
Athletic: Improved fitness. (Speed, Agility and Stamina)
“Athletes who practice with a deliberate, tailored approach typically produce greater benefits within two hours than those who invest six hours of mindless hitting.”
Taking back control requires taking concrete actions. Replacing unproductive past behaviors with new proactive actions is the key to fueling growth.
#Breaking #rut