The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most on-line retailers! Click Here to Order 
PERIODIZATION TRAINING
When preparing for an upcoming tournament, inexperienced coaches and parents sabotage their athlete’s chances of reaching their peak performance level (at match time) due to a lack of periodization training. This systematic approach to training cycles the athlete on and off through various training aspects. A similar analogy would be to compare off-season, pre-season, in-season, and post-season phases as in other sports to match competition training.
The following are examples of both poor and intelligent pre-match preparations through periodization.
Poor Pre-Match Preparation:
- Changing fundamental grips or strokes. Changing fundamental grips or strokes just before an event often leads to not having the old stroke any longer and not having the new stroke ready for match play.
- Cramming for the event by overloading the practice schedule. This behavior often leads to drained, low batteries on match day.
- Overdoing the off-court training. Overdoing the off-court training the days just before an event, often leads to soreness, fatigue and injuries come match day.
- Adding unfamiliar components to routines. Adding unfamiliar components (such as exercises, practice routines, stroke preparation, meals, etc.) could lead to physical, mental and emotional confusion.
- Seeking out only “Up” practice matches. Seeking out only “Up” practice matches breeds low self-esteem and zero confidence.
- Warming up past the point of diminishing returns. Warming up the same strokes too long often leads to your mind playing tricks on you. A seemingly solid stroke may appear to be flawed by over analysis.
- Exception to the Rule: Often players and/or parents do not want to get off the tournament trail due to the ranking race. In this situation, changes must be made to improve while on the tournament trail. Players/parents will have to accept the fact that losing a battle or two may be in order to win the war. In other words a player may have to lose a minor tournament or two in order to improve enough to be able to win major tournaments in the future.
Intelligent Pre-Match Preparation:
- Train repetition of primary and secondary strokes. This grooves the athlete’s timing and increases their confidence in every tool in their tool belt.
- Train repetition of proactive patterns. This leads to fast cognitive processing speed, no hesitation and faith in one’s patterns.
- Perform tennis specific off-court training. This leads to the reduction of injuries and increased strength and stamina.
- Preset mental protocols. Pre-planning how to beat the different styles of opponents leads to confidence and dependable problem-solving skills.
- Preset emotional protocols. Pre-planning how to conquer performance anxieties leads to self-assurance and trust under stress.
