The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Soft Science of Tennis. Click Here to Order through Amazon
Managing Fear and Risk
Conquering Fear through Desensitization
Let’s use the analogy of Uncle Tommy’s negative association with navigating “La Bomb” through the streets of Los Angeles with a tennis player who has a negative association with navigating tournament competition.
Like Uncle Tommy, some tennis player’s brains chemistry changes for the worst as they prepare for competition. Their attitude and behavior flip due to their pre-set emotional response to fear and risk.
Whether it’s fear of other drivers or fear of a competitor, disconnecting performance anxieties takes desensitization. This is an ongoing process of exposing the athlete to stress-busting, fear-based drills. These fear busting exercises replicate and expose the athlete to simulated versions of the emotional climate of competition.
The desensitization drills are followed by dress-rehearsal practice sets where pre-set, customized rituals and routines are in place. This pulls the athlete’s attention toward the process instead of the outcome. Repeated exposure diminishes the stronghold anxiety has on the athlete. In sports psychology, they describe it as shifting focus from the “destructive neuropathway to the new enlightened neuropathway.”
By learning and rehearsing a pro-active emotional response to fear, athletes (and even old uncles) can discover that their old belief system was merely a bad habit that formerly held them hostage.
