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The Tennis Parent’s Bible- Your Athlete’s Organizational Blueprint Part 1

Posted on January 3, 2022 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible
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YOUR ATHLETE’S ORGANIZATIONAL BLUEPRINT

 

Regardless of your child’s long term tennis goals, improving their chances of maximizing their potential begins with efficiency. A customized blueprint reduces stress, wasted time and, most importantly, money spend unwisely. In today’s era, even the most talented athlete has very little hope of reaching elite status without being properly organized.

 

NURTURING A DELIBERATE CUSTOMIZED PLAN

“Junior tennis champions are born from great sacrifice.
They are never the result of selfish parents.”

 

Outstanding parents are outstanding teachers. The parent is the most important adult figure that will define and shape a child. An experienced coach may assist in developing technical tools such as a topspin backhand. A trainer may assist in developing core strength. But, please never underestimate the power of your child’s greatest teacher…you!

The job description of a tennis parent is to provide a safe and loving environment. A tennis parent nurtures the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual growth of the child.  A gifted athlete with the desire, work ethic and character of a champion will never achieve his or her full potential without the loving support of a tennis parent/manager.

 

“A junior competitor without a tennis educated parent
is like a ship without a rudder.”

 

Terrific children, wonderful adults and tennis champions aren’t born, they are developed. It’s not simply heredity. It’s an organized plan. No one becomes extraordinary on their own. “It takes a Village” is the age old saying. As you raise athletic royalty, your village will be your entourage of coaches, hitters, mental/emotional trainers, off-court tennis specific experts, physical therapists and sports medicine doctors.

The Williams sisters are an actual example of a parent with a vision.  The story goes: Richard Williams planned to have more children for the sole purpose of developing them into professional tennis players. Wayne Bryan also had a plan with his twin boys, the Bryan brothers. Without an actual plan, you’ll never know your child’s true potential.

 

Beating a Pusher- Part 3

Posted on February 24, 2021 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers!

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HOW TO BEAT MOONBALL/RETRIEVERSIMG_080_R_WHITE

 

3) Movement, Fitness, and Strength

While lateral movement is important, the key to beating pushers lies in the forward and back directions. Here are two rhymes to help you attack moonball retrievers:

“When the ball is high (defensive moonball…Fly!”
Go (Fly) into the court for a swing volley.

“When the ball is slow (defensive slice)…Go!”
Run (Go) through the volley

Speed is broken down into anticipatory speed and foot speed. Combine cognitive processing speed with foot speed drills to maximize court coverage. What is anticipatory speed?

Anticipatory Speed

Anticipation is the act of expecting or predicting, which is a required skill at the higher levels of the game. Once anticipatory skills are developed, athletes begin to cover the court like a pro.

Foot Speed

Acceleration speed, deceleration speed, recovery speed, changing of directional speed and cardio fitness obviously play a critical role in a 3-hour moon ball match. Often in a national event, your child may have to play two retrievers back-to-back on the same day.

Core and Upper Body Strength

Upper Body Strength is required in the war against retrievers because your child must be able to hit balls above their primary stroke zone. The head-level strike zones require tremendous upper body conditioning and strength.

 

4) Emotional/Focus

So, as you can see, emotional breakdowns and lack of focus issues stem from various key areas. Players often fall apart because they honestly are not preparing properly. Lacking in just one of the four major tennis components/categories is enough to lose to a retriever. I have discovered that some talented athletes are lacking in all four areas.

“Emotional resilience is needed versus pushers.”

 

For both the parent and the athlete, it isn’t so painful to experience a beating by a superior competitor. The agony of defeat stems from self-destruction. The next section will uncover 10 unique self-destruction techniques that, when applied, will bail your athlete out when they’re losing to a toad.

Beating Pushers- Part 2

Posted on February 20, 2021 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers!

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HOW TO BEAT MOONBALL/RETRIEVERSIMG_080_R_WHITE

Four Major Tennis Components:

1) Technical Strokes

Your child must develop world class “secondary” strokes. Patterns used to pull a retriever out of their comfort zone consist of secondary strokes such as: drop shots, short angle swing volleys…Etc.

Your child may have better “primary” strokes, but unfortunately, they are little use against a pusher. It is important to understand that often good primary strokes will only work in the pusher’s favor! A tool belt full of great secondary strokes needs to be developed.

Often your child’s loses are caused by their lack of secondary strokes. Each primary stroke has secondary stroke “relatives” that also need to be mastered. For example: A primary volley is the traditional punch volley. Secondary volleys are swing volleys, drop volleys and half volleys. These secondary volleys are needed in order to beat a retriever.

 

2) Tactics and Strategies

While the game continues to evolve, the foundation of strategy has not changed much over the past 100 years.

Jack Kramer taught this theory to Vic Braden, Vic Braden taught this to me and I am passing it on to you. “If your strengths are greater than your opponent’s strengths, then simply stick to your strengths. If your strengths are not as great, you must have well-rehearsed B and C plans to win the match!”

Example: If your child can out “steady” a world class moon ball pusher…simply pack a lunch for them and plan on a 3 hour “push-fest.” If your child can hit so hard that they simply blow the ball past retrievers …simply instruct them to hit a winners every point. If not, it may be in your youngster’s best interest to develop the secondary strokes and patterns used to take a retriever out of their game. Below are three patterns that work beautifully against pushers.

Best Patterns to Beat Retriever’s:

  1. Moonball approach to a swing volley.
  2. Short angle building shot to drive winner.
  3. Drop shot to dipping passing shots or lobs.

 

“Often the weakest ball a crafty retriever will give your athlete is their serve. I encourage your athlete to focus on the above three patterns while returning the retriever’s weak serve.”

 

 

Beating Pushers- Part 1

Posted on February 18, 2021 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers!

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HOW TO BEAT MOONBALL/RETRIEVERSfrank

 

No matter what you call them…retrievers, defensive baseliners, counter punchers, moonballers, or pushers, they have one common distinction at almost every level of the game-they have all the trophies!

In my workshops, I seek out competitors re-occurring nightmares- problems that happen over and over again. I then systematically destroy the nightmare by offering self-destruction solutions. One nightmare that seems to be on the top of almost everyone’s tennis list, around the world, is “How to Beat a Moonball/Retriever.” Let’s look at some common key characteristics that separate most of “us” from them.

 

Retrievers versus the Rest of Us:

  • Patient versus Impatient
  • Satisfied to let the opponent self-destruct versus Having to hit bold winners to win
  • Energy conserving versus Energy expending
  • Responds after reasoning versus Responds before reasoning
  • Inspired by the real/practical versus Inspired by the imaginative
  • Found in the present versus Found in the future
  • Concerned with the task versus Concerned with the outcome and how other will view the outcome?
  • Organized in their plans versus “Uh…we’ll see what happens.”
  • Avoids surprises versus Enjoys surprises

 

As you can see, the psychological profile of a retriever may be a little different than your athlete. Tactically, retrievers prefer to retaliate instead of instigate the action. Armed with the knowledge of the actual unforced errors to winners ratio in the sport, this tactic is actually quite intelligent. Lucky for us, having a firm understanding of a retriever’s brain has allowed us to organize a wonderful plan of attack!

Please keep in mind that your child loses to retrievers because your child is not fully developed. There are most likely holes in one or more of the four major components of your athlete’s game. Below I’ve re-listed those four components and their corresponding success principles.  Ask your child’s coach to develop these and your athlete will routinely defeat these pesky opponents.

POSITIVE Coaching

Posted on February 14, 2021 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

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POSITIVE VERSUS NEGATIVE PSYCHOLOGYIMG_080_R_WHITE

 

“Guidance from a coach or parent with a negative mindset is extremely toxic to a child.”

 

Exposing and destroying pessimistic beliefs and attitudes is an integral part of my daily mission, both personally and professionally. It’s your job as the tennis parent to eliminate these poisons from your athlete’s world.

Sadly, it’s often a parent, sibling, friend or coach that’s feeding the negative beliefs and pessimistic attitudes. It is in your best interest to remedy this issue or remove the negative source(s) from the child’s tennis entourage.

Parents, just as it is your duty to remove negative psychology, it is your responsibility to teach positive psychology. Teach belief and confidence, find their motivational buttons, develop their desire and hunger for mastering the game and teach them to embrace the challenge. These positive life lessons are part of raising athletic royalty.  If you teach the love of the game and the benefits of commitment, your athlete will progress seamlessly through the losses, technical difficulties, injuries and bad luck that come with athletics.

Allow the tennis teachers to teach, the coaches to coach, and the trainers to train because as you know now, the tennis parent’s job description is far too comprehensive to micro manage each entourage’s role.

 

MindSets: Fixed versus Growth

Similar to the two sides of psychology, there are also two mindsets. Coaches often see student’s with either a fixed mindset or a growth mind set. While the athlete’s genetic predisposition is undoubtedly present, it’s most often the nurtured opinions of their parents, siblings, and coaches that set their outlook.

  • A person with a debilitating fixed mindset truly believes that they cannot change. They are extremely rigid, view the world as black or white and are uninterested in change. Their unwillingness to accept new challenges often results in remaining average at best.
  • A person with a growth mindset believes that their opinions, outlooks, attitudes, and abilities can and will change throughout their lives. Growth mindset individuals are more willing and open to accept change in the name of progress/improvement.

 

“Raising athletic royalty is a direction, not a destination. What you choose to teach your children now will live on for generations to come.”

 

I find that parents who encourage both positive psychology and a growth mindset are developing much more than a future athlete; they are developing future leaders.

Tennis Slump?

Posted on February 11, 2021 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers!

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QUESTION: My son is in a slump. How can we help him through this stage?

 

Frank: The best way to achieve improved results is by shifting your son’s developmental plan. A new plan will help motivate a new mindset which will intern cultivate new beliefs, actions, and results. Below are ten focal points to address to ignite continued growth and maximum potential.

1) Focus on Improvement.

Ask your player and entourage to let go of winning and losing and focus their energy on improvement.

2) Accept that Rivalries Encourage Growth.

Understand that your child needs rivals. Begin with local, then regional, then national, and lead into international. Rivalries encourage growth.

3) Train Adrenaline Management.

On match day, managing the systematic building and calming of adrenaline is often the deciding factor that often pulls an athlete into the winner’s circle.

4) Choose a Supportive Like-Minded Entourage.

Top athletes have an entourage. The entourage provides a “team effect” to an individual sport.  Their collaborative efforts help to inflate the athlete’s confidence and fight while supporting the athlete when they need to the most.

5) Role Play Against Various Styles of Opponents.

Parents, I’ve touched on this topic before, plan on paying slightly older better players to play sets weekly versus your child while role-playing. (For instance, “Here’s $25.00, please play 3-sets versus my son …and be the most annoying pusher possible. My son’s going to rehearse the patterns used to pull a crafty retriever out of their comfort zone. Thank you.”)

6) Play Practice Matches.

Remind your athlete as well as their entourage that success in competition requires protocols that simply aren’t found in simply hitting back and forth.

7) Reinforce Playing Smart.

Regarding competition, educate your athlete that having the presence of mind that missing the shot the moment demands is ok. It’s those reckless, uncalled for shot selections that will make them early-round losers.

8) Learn to Play Through Fear.

Elite competitors control their fears and ultimately their destiny. Intermediate athletes allow their fears to control their psychology and physiology as it steals any real chance of peak performance at crunch time.

9) Adopt a Warrior Mentality.

For some people, the competitive fire is innate, they flourish under stress. For others; they wilt under the very same environment. For these athletes, developing their fighting spirit is a learned behavior.

10) Use Competition as a Learning Tool.

Competition is the best facilitator for improvement. It’s the engine that awakens each athlete’s hidden reserve of effort which later is seen as “talent.”

Spotting Tennis Burnout

Posted on February 8, 2021 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers!

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QUESTION: How do we spot tennis burn out?

 

Frank: Did you know that even the very best in the business don’t stay in their “Optimal Performance State” year around? ATP and WTA tour professionals rarely play more than three events in a row. They need the critical “down” time to recharge, heal and fix flaws.

It’s not in your child’s best interest to force them to try to stay in their peak performance state 365 days a year. Taking a week off to re-charge the physical, mental, and emotional batteries may help your child peak when it counts most. This is part of the periodization cycle. Yes- taking time off may help them to be more committed and focused when their tennis training commences- leading to better results.

 

NOTE: The number one reason junior players report that they want to quit tennis is due to overzealous parents unknowingly pushing them past the healthy limits.

While developing high-performance athletes, I am constantly on high-alert for the warning signs of burnout. The signs of burnout can be physical, mental or emotional. Let’s look at some typical signs to assist you in knowing when it’s time for your athlete to take a break from their tennis quest.

20 Signs of Tennis BurnOut:

  • Multiple injuries.
  • Reduced flexibility in their body.
  • Complaining about fatigue.
  • Reduced concentration.
  • Fear of competition.
  • Lack of emotional control.
  • Poor judgment.
  • Decreased opponent awareness.
  • Negative verbal or physical outbursts.
  • Lack of motivation to practice or to hit the gym.
  • Unwillingness to compete in a tournament.
  • Poor equipment preparation.
  • Appearing slow and heavy with no energy.
  • Lack of anticipation and agility.
  • Short attention span.
  • Inability to concentrate.
  • Lack of concern about performance goals.
  • Low patience.
  • A sense of hopelessness.

 

In my opinion, if your child is showing several of the above negative signs and seems to be in a downward spiral, it may be in their best interest to put down the racquets for a while. A true contender can only stay away for a short time. Parents, allow them to heal. Then slowly re-start a deliberate customized developmental process.

 

SPECIAL NOTE: During your child’s time off court, encourage them to stay in physical shape by enjoying non-tennis cross-training.

Re-Commit to Tennis- Part 3

Posted on February 1, 2021 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

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QUESTION: How do we help our daughter re-commit to her tennis? (Part 3)

Encourage your athlete to stretch beyond their comfort zone and try new approaches by:

  • Putting your goals and plans in writing.
  • Acknowledging that the better choice is often the harder choice.
  • Identifying possible negative influences.
  • Cutting out trouble making friends and instigators.
  • Limiting time spent with negative people.
  • Establishing the rules in troubled relationships.
  • Flipping negative talk: “I don’t know” or “I don’t care” or “I hate…”
  • Letting go of “I can’t, I’m terrible, or I am not good enough.”
  • Addressing difficulties as challenges and not defeats.
  • List solutions, not problems.

 

The above proactive behaviors are not necessarily tennis issues, they are life issues. I find that we’re all too often addicted to our old comfortable thoughts. Behavioral changes stem from changing those unproductive negative thoughts.

 

“While your athlete can’t go back and change the past … they surely can start over and create a better future.”

 

Your athlete’s tennis re-birth begins as soon as your athlete commits to improving!

Re-Commit to Tennis- Part 2

Posted on January 30, 2021 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers!

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QUESTION: How do we help our daughter re-commit to her tennis? (PART 2)

Begin your one-month organizational plan by reminding your athlete to:

  • Flip their negative words and thoughts to positives.
  • Take ownership and be accountable.
  • Let go of past failures and be future-orientated.
  • Believe in their plan. (The athlete is more likely to believe in a plan if it is their plan.)
  • Commit to daily and weekly planners.
  • Complete a nightly focus journal.
  • Accept that change is uncomfortable…but that’s where growth lives.
  • Take away destructive behaviors.
  • Celebrate positive behaviors.
  • Identify proactive behavior and destructive behavior.
  • Choose to chase excellence, not perfection.
  • Acknowledge that today’s results stem from past choices.

 

“Every choice your athlete makes either pushes them closer to their goal or further away from their goal.”

 

Re-Commit to Tennis- Part 1

Posted on January 28, 2021 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

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thumbnail_IMG_0158

 

QUESTION: How do we help our daughter re-commit to her tennis?

 

Frank: It sounds like it’s time for you, the CEO, to formulate a fresh, deliberate, customized developmental plan for your athlete. It’s often too painful for a struggling athlete to jump wholeheartedly back into the never-ending old cycle of training during a losing streak. When struggling, baby steps are often required. So I suggest seeking a commitment to try a brand new one month challenge.

I recommend applying The Tennis Parent’s Bible’s self-evaluation chapter (Section VII CUSTOMIZED PLAYER EVALUATION) to assist your team in assessing your athlete’s efficiencies and deficiencies. Use the data to organize a fresh weekly developmental plan. Include all of the essential components found in this book. You and your athlete must make peace with your past then let it go, so it doesn’t impair your future.

This new found dedication starts with flipping a non-believer into a believer once again. To rekindle their belief system, ask your child to read and discuss the optimistic challenges listed below. This re-birth begins with shifting back to an optimistic, motivational state of mind.

Challenge your athlete to be fully engaged for a single month. The following common negative behaviors should be prohibited:

  • Blaming Others or Circumstances
  • Inventing Excuses
  • Complaining
  • Initiating Unnecessary Drama
  • Choosing a Pessimistic Attitude