Tag Archives: Brain Typing

Respecting Your Athlete’s Personality Profile

Posted on November 25, 2017 by in Raising Athletic Royalty

The following post is an excerpt from Raising Athletic Royalty NOW available through most online retailers!
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 Raising Athletic Royalty

Battling is Optional

I got a call from Jim Thompson from Columbus, Ohio. “My son is one of the most talented athletes out there, but he can’t do anything right under pressure.” After an hour on the phone, Jim decided to book a flight to Southern California for him and his son Jordon for a 2-day session.

After I asked a series of brief introductory questions, we discussed how maximizing potential begins when a parent or coach stops forcing the athlete into their way of thinking and enters into the child’s world. It became clear that Mr. Thompson’s ISTJ personality profile was polar opposite to Jordan’s ENFP profile. Not only did Jordan see the world differently than his father, he had a contrasting style of completing tasks and was wired with a very different set of proficiencies and deficiencies. Jim went from answering most questions that I asked Jordan to remaining silent.

Jim began to realize how differently he and son viewed the world. With tears in his eyes, Jim said “I’ve been raising my son wrong for the last 14 years! I seriously believed that my way of thinking was the only way, without regard to Jordan’s personality preference.  I have been stunting his growth.  Jordan, I’m so sorry.”  As he apologized to Jordan, they both began to cry.

Jordan told me during a Skype session a few weeks later that the experience changed their entire family chemistry. He said, “My dad now tells me he loves me. He never did that before.” Understanding personality profiles have been known to bring harmony to an otherwise chaotic environment.

 

“If you need to control everyone and everything, you’ll lose in the long run. Raising athletic royalty is a compromise. Harmony is found when families take the time to look into how each individual is wired and respect how this may affect what they say or what they do.”

 

“PARENTS, DURING A BATTLE WITH YOUR CHILD, ENCOURAGE SOLUTIONS
VERSUS SIMPLY LISTING PROBLEMS.”

Brain and Body Type

Posted on June 24, 2015 by in Customized Organizational Plan, Maximizing Tennis Potential, Personality Profile/Learning Preference

Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo

Championship Tennis Cover

To best help your students, you need to understand the mental and physical predisposition of “athletic royalty.” It’s time to get into your player’s world, instead of continually forcing them into yours.

Old-school teaching and coaching requires the student to get into the authority’s training methodology — which disregards the student’s unique brain and body design. This archaic approach produces average athletes at best, and causes gifted athletes to leave the game at worst.

To get into your player’s world, you need to recognize and respect a student’s inborn characteristics, which mean understanding their brain and body types.

Personality Types

To understand brain (and personality) types, we can use the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which has four categories with their opposing profiles.

Introvert vs. Extrovert: Introverts (I) are more comfortable laying back than retaliating. They need alone time to recharge and prefer to be inside their inner world. Extroverts (E) prefer to initiate action. They gain their energy by bringing people together.

Sensate vs. Intuitive: Sensate (S) individuals prefer to collect data and facts before making decisions. Intuitive (N) persons trust their gut instincts and are better quick decision-makers.

Thinkers vs. Feelers: Thinkers (T) make decisions through objective logic and impersonalize the situation. They enjoy the technical components and choose truthful over tactful. Feelers (F) are in tune to the emotional climate of the event and others’ actions; harmony is paramount.

Judgers vs. Perceivers: Judgers (J) prefer structure and like things orderly; they make lists and prefer to work before play. Perceivers (P) are adaptable and flexible; they enjoy experiencing new ideas and methods, rather than agonizing over details.

To help identify your athlete’s personality profile, first try categorizing yourself. Choose your dominant brain functions and write down your four-letter acronym. (While each of us exhibits multiple sides to our personality, we each have a genetically dominant trait.) For example, if you believe you’re an extrovert, intuitive, feeler, perceiver, then you are an ENFP.

Now, sit with your young athlete to brain type him or her. (Be aware that young people sometimes misdiagnose their own personality profile as they may choose characteristics they believe to be more popular.)

Motor Skills

The other part of this puzzle is how body types affect motor skills and athletic potential. The two opposing body types are called “fine-motor-skilled dominant” and “gross-motor-skilled dominant.” We all have a genetic predisposition to one or the other.

Fine-motor-skilled athletes excel from the muscles found from the elbows through the hands and fingers. A common compliment is that the athlete “has good hands.” Gross-motor-skilled athletes prefer the use of the larger muscle groups in the torso, legs and feet, and are known for superior core balance and body coordination.

Raising athletic royalty requires matching your young athlete’s preferred brain type and body type design with the right sport, style of play and/or position. Here’s one example, using two students of mine. Evan and Jarred are 14-year-old twins. They take the same number of private lessons and clinics but their training regimen is polar opposite. Evan is ENFP and fine-motor-skill dominant; Jarred is ISTJ and gross-motor-skill dominant.

Evan, being an extrovert, prefers to make things happen on the court. He often charges the net and ends the point with his volleys (good hands). Jarred is more comfortable assessing and then retaliating — the classic counterpuncher. Being gross-motor-skilled dominant helps Jarred uncoil the larger muscle groups of the kinetic chain — enhancing his textbook groundstrokes.

Teaching each student within their genetic guideline will maximize their potential at the quickest rate. Knowing your student’s genetic makeup and natural strengths and weaknesses helps to avoid the needless frustrations in their development and will better prepare you to assist and encourage them.

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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Accelerate Your Tennis Game

Posted on April 15, 2015 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible.  Thanks for visiting, Frank GiampaoloFrank Giampaolo

 

Accelerate your Tennis Game at a Faster Rate

Nature versus nurture is one of the oldest debates in sports: Are great athletes born or made? Are innate physical qualities—size, speed, and coordination—more important than learned behaviors? It would be foolish to boil it down to an either–or conclusion.

Plenty of evidence supports the belief that both factors play an integral part in an athlete’s development. The influence of either factor generally depends on the athlete. From this perspective, every player’s profile is unique. To maximize the player’s potential, the player and coach must understand the player’s genetic predisposition along with personal life experiences. Once players are fully attuned to their personality, body type, and athletic foundation, they can more effectively adapt their playing style. Having an innate stylistic preference leads to numerous advantages.

Benefits of Knowing Your Playing Styles:

  • The knowledge to hire coaches and trainers who possess personalities best suited to accelerate her learning curve;
  • The confidence that comes with knowing exactly how your athlete performs best;
  • The skill to lure opponents out of their preferred style and force them to play out of their comfort zones;
  • The ability of your athlete to impose their  best style, strategies, and tactics on the most important points;
  • Improves you athlete’s ability to reach the goal of mastering a minimum of three playing styles—called A, B, and C game plans—which adds depth and variation to the their game; and
  • The competence to select a stylistically complementary doubles partner to help form a winning team.

Though there are subtle variations, six basic playing styles are seen in tennis. It is important to know which style is most effective for your player and how your player can best compete against each styles.

  • Net-Rusher
  • All-Court Player
  • Baseline Counter-puncher
  • Aggressive Baseliner
  • Retriever
  • Finesse Player

Accelerate your child’s tennis game by identifying their playing style (which is based on their preferred learning preference.) For more information of player see CHAMPIONSHIP TENNIS and/or The Tennis Parent’s Bible.

Thank you for visiting, Frank

 

 

 

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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Athletic Personality Profiling

Posted on April 2, 2015 by in Parent Player Communication, Personality Profile/Learning Preference, Raising Athletic Royalty

The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible.  Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo

 

Athletic Personality profiling

Terrific children, wonderful adults and tennis champions aren’t born, they are developed. It’s not simply heredity. It is an organized plan. No one becomes extraordinary on their own. The Williams sisters are an actual example of a parent with a plan!  The stories 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 capability.

Preparing an organizational blue print will save you thousands of dollars annually. It will also save your child thousands of wasted, unproductive hours, sweat and tears.  Applying the International Player’s Evaluation comprehensive guide will assist you, the tennis parent, in having a world class plan!

Your child is born with a unique genetic predisposition and pre-wired with a specific brain and body type. Consider it carefully as you and your coaches (your team) nurture your child’s talent. This is an important consideration at all levels of the game.

So, what’s the key to maximizing success in the shortest period of time? Is it purchase the latest equipment? Maybe it’s hiring a great local pro?  What if I said neither? The first and most important tool you will ever apply is discovering your child’s personality and brain design.

Old school tennis teaching looks a lot like this. The local pro Jose Gonzales came to the United States from Chile. He was a terrific collegiate player earning a full scholarship to Virginia Commonwealth. Jose even played a few ATP pro challenger events. He found success by being extremely patient. He had a natural gift with his quick feet and he enjoyed running. He took delight in being a steady counter puncher. Jose’s shot tolerance was a 20-ball rally!  As a teaching professional, he demands that each of his students abide by his playing style, disciplines and logic.

Your thinking, boy that guy sounds pretty experienced, let’s hire him as our child’s coach! So, is this the right mentor for your child?

The answer is, not likely.  Why? Because Jose demands that each student plays his style. The style of tennis that your child needs in order to thrive is based on his or hers own unique design. AKA: brain and body type.

Asking your child to play tennis in a style that opposes their skill sets, beliefs and temperament is a recipe for disaster. This is especially true at the beginning levels of player development. One of the quickest ways to ensure that your child will quit the sport is to demand that they play a style that opposes their brain and body type.

Understanding brain and body types is one of the first steps to becoming a world class parent.

 

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate