We've all heard that sports, tennis included, is 90% mental and 10% physical, then why don't we spend more time working on the psychological aspects of the game. It is your mind that will stretch your game the furthest and allow you to accomplish more goals. It is your mind that allows you to persevere when your body is already telling you to give in. It is this determination, this focus, this inner drive that will take you from good to great. We all want to be extraordinary in some way or another and that takes a strong mind to lift us out of the realm of ordinary. As tennis players, we all face the same psychological challenges to some degree, it is only through the coaching of a sports psychologist that we are able to overcome these mental obstacles and achieve our full potential.
There are many reasons to seek the experience of a sports psychologist. Joe Paterno, the football coach from Penn State said that "The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital." For most of us it is easy to have the will to win but the will and motivation to practice can be a challenge. Practicing and preparing yourself is far more difficult then the game itself. The motivation to go and hit balls on the court when their is nobody to play with will be a determining factor in how you perform.
We have all had to deal with pre-game nerves at one time or another. I know players that would throw-up before a game because they were so nervous and uptight. This may not be a huge issue if you are able to collect your composure by the beginning of the game however, this is not the case for most of us who suffer from pre-game nerves. The pre-game jitters ussually affect us for the first few minutes of the game and will have a snow ball affect unless you have the mental strength and focus to turn things around.
A lot of players find that it is easier to play from behind than it is to play with a lead. When you are playing from behind you have nothing to lose, you become more focused and determined because there is a tangeable goal right in front of you. When you are playing with the lead your mind is divided making it difficult to focus on the goal ahead. Any time the gap begins to narrow, you look back at previous plays and negative thoughts begin to encroach on your goals. You miss a couple of shots and you begin to second guess yourself and play tentatively which only leads to more missed opportunities and pretty soon you've lost your entire focus on the game.
Blowing a big lead is a psychological wrecking ball. Everytime you think of the loss, the wrecking ball smashes back into you destroying all of your confidence. It takes a lot of mental energy to remain focused in the moment allowing yourself to play up to your capabilities. You need to have the strength to keep your composure and not allow your emotions to run rampant. The psychological wrecking ball will bring with it anger and dissapointment that you will unleash in the games to follow, making it even more difficult to keep your focus in the here and now.
One of my biggest mental barriers is getting the monkey off of my back. We all have that arch rival, and we know that we are just as talented as they are and maybe even more so but we just can't seem to pull off a win. For several years, my arch rival was my dad. I knew that I had the skills to beat him but he had the psychological advantage. He had the experience of playing with the lead, playing from behind, coming back after blowing a lead and just about any other playing situation you can imagine. What made things worse for me was that with every new loss I became more frustrated with myself and less focused.
If you can relate to any of these things, than having the expertise of a sports psychologist will definitely enhance your game. there are many other psychological barriers that they can help you overcome. So if the game is 90% mental, don't you think that it is about time to get some psychological coaching.
