Tag Archives: tennis training

Changing Fixed Mindsets

Posted on September 4, 2025 by in The Soft Science of Tennis

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Changing Fixed Mindsets

Last week two top juniors, Steven and Josh were closing out one of their semi-private, two-hour sparring sessions. Josh from Boca Raton, Fl. has a natural inquisitive growth mindset. Steven, from San Francisco, California, possesses a defeatist attitude with his fixed mindset. Steven’s a perfectionist and believes only perfect performances are acceptable.

As Steven was leaving Josh asked me if he could ask me a couple of questions. While I was packing up my gear, Josh asked, “Being solid at crunch time isn’t something that just happens. It’s something you have to develop, right?” “Absolutely,” I replied. “Well, Steven’s doesn’t think he can win the whole Anaheim tournament next weekend, so he says he doesn’t want to go. He’ll probably fake an injury or something. His story is getting old. I don’t understand why he puts so much pressure on himself to win. Even though I want to win every tournament I enter, I’m happy to play well. You know, one point at a time.  I hope to learn from my losses by working harder to improve. So by competing, I’m increasing my tennis intelligence and raising my level, right?”

I confirmed Josh’s position and then said, “A growth mindset is about the journey of seeking mastery, instead of viewing losses as catastrophic.  You can see losses as information gathering opportunities, and that buddy is why you’re going to be famous!” Josh smiled, rolled his eyes and said “Good talk coach…good talk.”

We’ve all had students who have high IQ’s (Intelligence Quotient) but low EQ’s (Emotional Quotient). These athletes are wired to avoid risk while they witness others thrive in competition.

A challenge within The Soft Science of Tennis is to educate these students that their mindset is only their perception of their abilities. After the athlete’s stroke development is said and done, it’s their optimistic or pessimistic attitude that determines competitive success on the tennis court. It is within the parent and coaches job description to develop the power of belief along with a powerful forehand.

Fixed Mindset individuals innately believe that their abilities are inborn and unchangeable.

Growth Mindset individuals trust that their skill sets can and will be developed and improved.

In my observations, fixed mindset students are typically overly sensitive to being wrong. They see failing in competition as catastrophic. If they lose, it’s often something or someone else’s fault, and constructive criticism is taken as a personal insult. Changing this mindset is one of the most challenging roles of a parent or coach.

Recognize the Negative Dialog

Athletes with a pessimistic viewpoint have a running dialog that continually persuades them that they don’t honestly have enough talent, and if they fail, they will be criticized for trying. Many athletes invent an excuse or injury and avoid competition. By doing so, they keep their dignity and ego in check. The following two solutions will help challenge the fixed mindset worrywart to consider adopting a growth mindset warrior attitude.

Explain That Their Mindset Is a Choice

    Their mental habit is to choose to interpret competition as a serious personal threat. Fixed mindset athletes are typically worried about what could and will go wrong versus what could and will go right. This pessimistic view tears down the will to give 100% effort. Changing from the fixed mindset to the growth mindset is challenging because the athlete has an onslaught of two simultaneous opposing demands. One is the need to suppress their pre-set, negative mental habit and two is to be open to learning to embrace the exact opposite viewpoint.

    Present the Opposing View

    Fixed-mindset athletes need to be reminded that improving and growing requires a metamorphosis into a growth mindset. As these students ramp into tournament mode, be on high alert for their worry, stress, and fears to multiply. They view tournament competition as an event that will expose their shortcomings. It’s our job to present tournament play as a healthy way to assess their development necessary to obtain their goals.

    Warning: Responding and changing their negative banter is emotionally draining even for the well-equipped software developing coach.

    Examples of a fixed mindset approach include:

    Athlete: “I can’t play, my games not perfect yet. I’m not ready.”

    Teacher: “Every time you compete, you learn and improve, and that is the goal.”

    Athlete: “If I don’t compete I won’t fail, and I can keep my pride.”

    Teacher: “The only true failure is being too scared to try.”

    Training the stroke components is only the beginning of a world-class coach’s journey. Having the tools to develop the whole athlete is the end game.

    Religiously Spot the Positive

    On practice days, I recommend applying the laws of attraction. Destroy their pessimistic point of view by asking them to say “yes” after performing a desired stroke or pattern of play. By doing so, it brings to light just how many good strokes they actually hit. This exercise combats their mental habit of focusing on the negative. Success starts by focusing on successes versus failures. It requires changing their doubt in their abilities because their doubt directly undermines their progress.

    Once these pessimists see the progress in their abilities, they begin to show positive character traits and critical newborn life skills.

    Commit to Playing One Game

    On match days, fixed mindset “red flags” are everywhere as they try desperately to self-sabotage their performance. By doing so, they’re building their arsenal of excuses for their ego out. “I would have won, but I didn’t have time to train.” “I could have won if I didn’t have this blister on my thumb.”

    Also, typical with fixed mindset athletes is to try desperately to back out of competition the morning of the match.

    The negotiation tactic I recommend is to ask them to enjoy their pre-match preparation and commit to playing at least one game. If the athlete still wants to default out after one game, that’s fine. Once in the match, they almost always see that the environment is not as threatening as they perceived. The opponent’s not as good as they imagined. So they play a few more games.

    Teach my growth mindset philosophy: You have to be present to win. Opportunities and incredible victories present themselves if the athletes are willing to try.

    Benefits of Competition for Fixed Mindsets

    Many undeniable, positive aspects stem from tournament competition. Advantages include:

    • Competition keeps us honest: It allows us to assess our strokes and movement efficiencies and deficiencies. Exposing our strengths and hiding our weaknesses is an important function of match play.
    • Competition assists us in the art of opponent profiling. Without match play, there’s no dissecting because there are no opponents.
    • Competition exposes our mental fortitude. The ability to stay on Script (your customized game plan), strategy and tactics the match demands.
    • Competition through failure and success helps us develop the massive list of life skills, positive character traits, and a moral compass.
    • Competition aids in developing consistent quality. Winning a 64 draw event requires peak performance for approximately 15 sets.
    • Competition assists us in customizing our future developmental schedules. It’s not the quantity of on-court time; it’s the quality that counts.

    Tennis mastery is a process of continuous adaptation and improvement, which is a growth mindset system.

    Eliminating Internal Judgment

    Posted on August 24, 2025 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Soft Science of Tennis

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    Eliminating Internal Judgment

    My neighbor, Pete, owns Pete’s Home Repair Specialist. He’s a super friendly independent contractor. Due to his excellent soft science personal skills, Pete’s always in high demand.  His decades of experience have taught him that detailed preparation prevents poor performance. Pete’s truck is like an encyclopedia of tools organized by alphabet and ready for action. Though Pete doesn’t need all of his tools at every job, he brings every tool, just in case he needs it.

    This analogy is very similar to a high-performance tennis player’s tool belt. In matches, they may not need to employ every skill set developed in their tool belt, but they do need to have primary and secondary strokes ready for competition, as well as multiple patterns and plays developed and prepared to be accessed if needed. Life skills, such as preparation improve the athlete’s confidence, inner dialogue, and of course, solution-based self-coaching skills.

    “In the heat of battle, the voice inside each athlete is their driving force.”

    In match play, an athlete’s internal dialogue is their self-coaching. Internal dialogue is the conversation their ego is having with themselves. Athletes have a habitual way they choose to navigate their matches. When they see competition in a negative light, their internal dialogue is dark. Conversely, when they “see pressure as a privilege,” to quote Billy Jean King, their self-coaching is more positive, uplifting, and optimistic. The question is: Where did the athlete learn their internal dialogue mantras?

    An athlete’s negative, problem-oriented inner dialogue sabotages their performance by interfering with their quiet mind. To some athletes, negative inner dialogue spirals them into a self-defeating, under-arousal state. To others, it pushes them into a panicked, over-arousal state. Both are detrimental to performance. As I mentioned earlier, an athlete’s non-stop inner dialogue is either helping or hurting their performance. Intermediate athletes are known to sabotage their play by criticizing themselves, worrying about losing and inventing post-match catastrophic conclusions during competition.

    How to Strengthen Self Coaching Solution#1:
    Video Analysis

    One method of combating the athlete’s negative self-dialogue begins with videotaping tournament matches and providing non-hitting match play video analysis. This process accesses the specific stressful environment that needs to be studied.

    As the high IQ coach quantifies the match data alongside the athlete, I recommend identifying how the athlete’s inner dialogue helped or hurt their performance.  Were they able to self-coach successfully?  When providing match play analysis, remember to apply the five optimistic comments for every one pessimistic statement. Following are video analysis topics the athlete and coach would be wise to discuss.

    Match Play Video Analysis

    • Strokes & Movement Efficiencies & Deficiencies
    • Anticipatory Efficiencies & Deficiencies
    • Staying on Script. (Top 7 Patterns)
    • Opponent Profiling
    • Between Point & Change-Over Rituals & Routines
    • Emotional Control
    • Focus Control
    • Cause of Errors
    • Court Positioning Cause & Effect
    • Score Management

    Athletes who are trained to monitor their emotions and inner dialogue via post-match video analysis are much more likely to become aware of the software complexities of competition.

    How to Strengthen Self Coaching Solution #2:
    Judgments through Comparisons

    Judgmental thoughts typically stem from past or future thought comparisons. Typical thoughts of comparison in the heat of battle include, “Jason beat this dude. I can’t lose, I’ve got to prove I’m better than Jason,” “Kristin is ranked below me, and if I lose today, she’ll take my spot on the team,” “What are my parents and coaches going to say if I lose?” “Here I go…Choking again!”

    Judgmental thoughts play havoc in the minds of our competitive athletes every day. Athletes in competition, with judgmental comparison thoughts, contaminate the match play process, which results in fighting two opponents, simultaneously- their negative thoughts and the real opponent.

    Advanced athletes seeking better results often don’t have to learn more technical skills; they have to shift their attention to developing better self-communication skills. Keep in mind that the athlete’s inner voice will be with them long after they stop competing on the tennis court. Isn’t it worth the time to assist them in developing their lifelong self-coaching tools? Winning is much more likely when our athletes understand the art of self-coaching.

    How to Strengthen Self Coaching Solution # 3:
    Positive Inner Dialog

    The third method of conquering the athlete’s negative inner dialogue is through positive self-coaching with Neuro Priming. It is estimated that individuals have roughly 60,000 thoughts per day. Trading in a turbulent mental state for a relaxed, calming proactive state is essential.

    What is Neuro Priming and why is it an essential addition to an athlete’s preparation? Neuro Priming is the science of preprogramming the athlete’s inner trust in their match solutions.

    Mental rehearsals customize each athlete’s positive inner dialogue by organizing their physical, mental and emotional solutions into audio recordings in their voice. Listening to one’s inner dialogue audio tapes increases tennis IQ, reprograms old pessimistic beliefs, changes negative behaviors, speeds up the learning process, increases focus, assists the athletes in quickly fixing stroke flaws, staying on their script of patterns, coping with stress, nervousness and the fear of failure. Neuro Priming isn’t meant to replace on-court physical training; its purpose is to enhance it. It’s self-coaching at its best. (Visit #1 Best Seller on Amazon: Neuro Priming for Peak Performance, Giampaolo).

    How to Strengthen Self Coaching Solution #4:
    Identifying Internal Obstacles

    Looking deeper into competitive success brings us to a fourth method, which is assisting athletes by identifying their internal obstacles. Although losing to a more experienced player stings a bit, losing to a toad because you have self-destructed is much more harrowing. The secret to conquering one’s inner demons stems from understanding the importance of self-coaching. It is essential to master self-coaching with positive inner dialog by exchanging judgmental tirades with calming routines and rituals.

    “Overcoming internal obstacles is more satisfying at a deeper level than beating a top seed.”

    Athletes perform best when they are not excessively judged or overly concerned about the outcome ramifications. Having outcome goals is fine, as long as their focus is on the process. To continually stay process-minded is the backbone of successful inner dialogue. What influences athletes most in their toughest moments is their mental commentary. A healthy mindset orchestrates positive attitude, belief, and effort. So, what is competitive success? Competitive success is performing at one’s peak performance level set after set, the optimum victory for any athlete.

    How to Strengthen Self Coaching Solution #5:
    Monitoring Outer Dialogue

    The fifth method of nurturing a positive inner dialogue is to ask the athlete to monitor their outer dialogue under stressful conditions. An athlete’s outer dialogue includes speech, body language and physical behavior, which are natural biproducts of an athlete’s internal dialogue.

    Monitoring this process begins with the athlete recognizing their automatic system of behavior under the stressful conditions of competition. Although it is common to default to old comfortable habits under stress; negative habits not only perpetuate pessimistic thought patterns, but they also alert the opponent that self-destruction is in the works. Self-spotting outer dialogue behavior will help the athlete to recondition their inner dialog chatter.

    How to Strengthen Self Coaching Solution #6:
    Resist Attention Seeking Negative Dialogue

    A behavior management strategy is to coach the athlete to resist attention seeking negative dialogue and behavior. Athletes gain sympathy by projecting pessimistic behaviors. A typical example of this is an athlete’s excessively loud mini tantrum in competition to gain sympathy from spectators, family or coaches. In essence, the athlete is projecting, “I’m usually so much better than this…I must be having an unusually bad day!” Ironically, the tantrum is seen every day.

    In my opinion, tactically ignoring the outbursts in hopes that they go away is not dialog management because an appropriate alternate behavior is needed.  An athlete’s dialogue projects their thoughts and beliefs. Their voices have been simply programmed into their subconscious. Since they determine the course of their life, reprogramming their negative inner chatter is a battle worth fighting.

    “Optimistic self-coaching is a wonderful technique to create better human beings on and off the tennis court.”

    Here’s an alternate view of tennis parenting and tennis teaching. The conventional method has been to feel balls, criticize what’s broken and then focus on the athlete’s problem areas. This judgment-based approach isn’t always in the student’s best interest. Why? Because it subliminally plants the toxic seeds of negative inner dialogue and in competition, this learned behavior of focusing on what’s wrong opposes the natural flow state found in nonjudgmental, effortless, peak performance. Seeking “what is broken” isn’t part of performing in the zone or “treeing” as today’s juniors describe playing at one’s optimal level.

    Benefits of Personality Profiling in Tennis

    Posted on August 8, 2025 by in The Soft Science of Tennis

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    Benefits of Personality Profiling

    Caroline Sanchez was a top 50 ITF junior in her day. She played D-2 college ball in Florida and competed on the challenger circuit for three years earning her a world ranking of #676 on the WTA Tour. Caroline sounds like an experienced competitor, but is she the right fit for your player’s coaching needs?

    Let’s take a more in-depth look at Caroline’s background. Caroline grew up on the slow red clay in Barcelona where her coaches demanded she train and play the “Spanish Way” – steady, retriever style. Caroline possesses solid groundstrokes, great lateral movement, and a 20 ball shot tolerance level.  She loves to camp 15 feet behind the baseline and extend points in a retriever fashion. Like her past coaches, she’s been nurtured to be an old-school drill sergeant style of coach and demands every student train and play in the style that she found to be most successful.

    Coaches, is she a good fit for your program? Parents, is she a good fit for your child? The answer: No, not likely, unless all your athletes are wired with the same exact cognitive brain design, body type, and temperament which would be extremely rare. Coaches who only teach the system that they found to be successful regardless of the student’s needs are doing a disservice to the athlete. Tennis playing styles are an extension of the athlete’s brain design and body type. An athlete’s most successful style of play incorporates their inherent strengths versus their coach’s past strengths.

    Devising an athlete’s developmental plan is the ideal time to incorporate their personality profile. Training and nurturing athletes to play the style that flows with their genetic predispositions and not against it will maximize their potential at a much faster rate.

    As I travel around the globe, I notice that coaches and parents religiously focus on the development of the athlete’s hardware (strokes and athleticism) yet tend to neglect the critical development of their student’s software (mental and emotional). Personality profiling falls into the software or soft science of teaching tennis.

    “Coaches and parents who understand the athlete’s personality in greater depth utilize a more comprehensive foundation from which to maximize performance.”

    A simple analogy is a comparison between the four main tennis components (strokes, athleticism, mental and emotional) with a conventional four-legged table. A table with four-legs is not stable under stress without all four legs intact. The same holds true for your tennis athletes.

    So, how does the understanding of the software development relate to you as parents, coaches, tennis directors or club managers? It develops a greater understanding of how others tick and that sets you and your players above the competition. Software assessment helps us to understand how individuals perform as tennis players. It assists coaches and parents in developing much more than strokes. It helps shape positive character traits, life skills, and a moral compass.

    The Benefits of Personality Profiling Include:

    • Customizing the Athlete’s Developmental Plan
    • Assessing Mental Strengths and Weaknesses
    • Assessing Emotional Efficiencies and Deficiencies
    • Identifying Information Processing / Listening Skills
    • Facilitating Conflict Avoidance and Resolution
    • Empowering Communication Strategies
    • Encouraging the Development of Synergy and Harmony within their Entourage
    • Monitoring Self-Awareness and the Awareness of Other Personality Profiles
    • Acknowledging and Respecting Differing Brain Designs
    • Identifying Productive Communication Avenues
    • Assisting in Identifying Motivational Factors
    • Improving Productivity and Efficiency

    Benefits to Athletes:

    In the soft science realms of confidence, trust, and self-esteem, there’s power to be gained from athletes celebrating their profile. Gaining the knowledge of how they see the world makes the soft science of personality profiling helpful in working with varying styles of coaches and teachers. The quicker those athletes understand their cognitive design the more successful they will be at understanding their style of play and customizing their developmental pathway.

    The following chapter gets into the nitty-gritty of how your athlete’s cognitive design affects their performance. Hold on tight because I’m about to blow your mind as I uncover commonalities of each typography.

    Tennis Training – Personality

    Posted on August 6, 2025 by in The Soft Science of Tennis

    The Soft Science of Tennis Now Available in Audio Format Click Here

    Personality Based Training

    “Personality profiling assists coaches, athletes, and parents in understanding how individuals gather information and make decisions. It’s how we are wired. It’s what makes us tick.”
    Frank Giampaolo

    Personality Based Training (PBT) is a training method that focuses the attention on the athlete’s unique brain design as opposed to the educator. When applying PBT, tennis pros and parents welcome and respect the athlete’s unique preferred styles of learning, behaving and playing the game.  The athletes feel empowered because their views and needs are recognized. And once understood, students are more motivated and inspired to learn and improve. An inspired student is more likely to take the leadership role in achieving their goals.

    “Athletes would benefit from understanding the advantages and disadvantages of their unique brain design. It’s why they are naturally good at some things and uncomfortable with others.”

    It’s important to note that while I’ve studied sports psychology for the past 30 years, I am a veteran, “In the Trenches” practical application tennis coach, not an “Academia” psychologist. But neither were Katharine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Myers, authors of the famous Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI- A psychological questionnaire used to understand individuals mental preferences.) published in the United States in 1943. Together Myers-Briggs noticed that individuals have different temperaments and unique ways of seeing the world.

    While some scientists say the MBTI doesn’t stand up to scientific reliability, I can say with all honesty that it has helped me coach over 100 National Champions and several Pro tour athletes. More importantly, personality profiling benefits my athletes and their entourage of parents, coaches, and trainers at a much deeper level. A study conducted by Psychology Today, reports that approximately 80% of Fortune 500 companies use various personality tests to hire future employees, to assess progress, and to maximize efficiency and harmony through team building events.

    The time has come to broaden the role of personality profiling into the athletic realm, as I have outlined in The Soft Science of Tennis.

    Getting to know the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

    The MBTI is the most popular psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. It’s my intention to bring to light the usefulness of brain preference identification in the tennis industry. Each student has a preferred way of seeing the world. The basic MBTI theory categorizes preferences into four groups from which individuals identify their dominant cerebral preference.

    The Typographies Include:

    • Extraversion (“E”)-  People/Places
    • Introversion (“I”)- Theories/ Information

    • Sensing (“S”)- Facts/Reality
    • Intuition (“N”) Possibilities/Potential

    • Thinking (“T”)- Logic/Truthfulness
    • Feeling (“F”)- Harmony/Relationships

    • Judgment (“J”)- Orderly/Structured  
    • Perception (“P”)- Flexible/Adaptable

    For each of the above pairings, your athletes typically have a preference for one system above the other. The combination of their four preferences gives them their initial assessment in a four-letter acronym. An example is personality profile: ISTP (Introvert Sensate Thinker Perceiver)

    “View your athlete’s brain design (dominant and auxiliary) the same way you would view right-handed versus left-handed body type functions. Each athlete has an inborn preferred system.”

    In my experience, personality profiling is a soft science, meaning other factors such as nurturing and environments skew the data. With that said, I believe that athletes have specific preferences in the way they experience the world and these choices affect their actions, values, and motivational needs on and off the tennis court.

    Universal Truths

    • Gaining an understanding of this soft science takes time. Be patient as you learn to apply this new found skill. I encourage you to apply personality profiling as a means to understand how students tick versus stereotyping or grouping athletes by mere age or general ability.
    • Coaches can’t change an athlete’s primary brain design, but they can nurture both the individual’s weaker, opposing profile and strengthen their dominant profile.
    • Interestingly, on rare occasions, a student’s on-court persona opposes their off-court persona.
    • Everyone exhibits both dominant and auxiliary traits. For example, introverts can be quite sociable for short stints of time.
    • There isn’t a right, wrong, superior, or inferior type, but rather preferred approaches to the game and life. Although there are only 16 unique brain design categories, everyone is unique. For example, there is a broad spectrum of each preference ranging from moderate to extreme.
    • All brain designs need to devote time and energy to nurturing their non-dominant functions.
    • It is not unlikely for athletes young and old to inaccurately self-profile their brain design to fit into a more popular, cool version of themselves.
    • Pay attention to other’s brain design because this is why opposite types make you crazy and similar types make you comfortable.
    • An athlete will benefit significantly from understanding the advantages and disadvantages of their unique design.
    • Customized development through personality profiling increases self-esteem and breeds confidence, which is seen in the athlete’s peaceful performance.
    • Profiling your athlete’s personalities won’t provide you with the final answers, but it will assist in organizing their unique developmental pathways, which will maximize enjoyment, as well as help them to reach their potential at a quicker rate.
    • It’s our job as educators and parents to de-code each athlete, so we are better equipped to assist them in maximizing their potential.
    • Due to the combination of nature and nurture, exceptions shadow every rule in the soft science of personality profiling.

    In chapters 8-11, challenges and dominant solutions are presented to help understand the specific cerebral designs. It is important to note that many of the given solutions may also be used with other cognitive types.

    The following chapters uncover the valuable benefits that result from revealing the mental typographies of our athletes.

    Tennis Coaching-Effective Listening

    Posted on August 1, 2025 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

    The Soft Science of Tennis Now Available in Audio Format Click Here

    The following excerpt is from The Soft Science of Tennis.

    Questions That Motivate Dialogue

    A great tool used to develop champions is to ask your athlete their opinion before you tell them your opinion. Questions can be based on an athlete’s perception of their successes or failures.

    Dialog producing examples include:

    • “What was the cause of the winner or error?”
    • “How did that feel when you?”
    • “Were you paying attention to the opponent’s?”
    • “What was the highest percentage shot selection at that moment?”
    • “If you could do it again, what would you do?”
    • “What were you tactically trying to achieve?”
    • “Are you staying on script?”

    On and off the tennis court, winners are great problem solvers so avoid the parental and coaching temptation to solve all their problems for them. By doing so, you’re robbing them of the exact skill sets needed to win tough future matches. In the big picture, listening to them versus talking “at” them is a much more enjoyable approach for the athlete. It sends the message of trust. It motivates them to take ownership of solution-based thinking. With regards to keeping athletes in the game, customized student-based teaching is a fundamental missing link.

    Verbal Communication in the Digital World

    It’s no secret that modern adolescents are obsessed with social media, tweeting, and texting. Kids are nurtured from the cradle to communicate through screens instead of interpersonal communication. They prefer texting over talking. It’s the world in which they live.

    Research in the field of communication found that a third of American teenagers send more than one-hundred texts a day. They want to feel a personal connection, engaged, inspired and understood…they just don’t know how.  The combination of their ineffective speaking skills combined with our weak listening skills is hurting the development process.

    Listening “Between” the Words

    Exceptional listeners filter through conversations to identify the true meaning behind their athlete’s words. The ability to “listen” between words helps the listener discern if the student seeks constructive criticism or only a sympathetic ear. Attentive listeners recognize anomalies that enable them to identify the beliefs, attitudes, and feelings behind words. This allows them to interpret the athlete’s spoken truth, fiction, optimism, pessimism, expectation, intentions, trust, past mental habits and belief systems.

    “An athlete’s belief system crafts their future. Every syllable they speak engages energy towards them or against them.”

    As novice parents and intermediate coaches gain wisdom, they become more in-tune listeners. They discover hidden belief systems behind their athlete’s dialogue. Great listeners know there is “subconscious” energy behind words. Pessimistic behaviors are not difficult to spot because all too often, those very same negative thoughts, tones, words, and actions stem from those nurturing the athlete. As the athlete’s thoughts become their words, those words determine their beliefs and play a deciding role in their performance, especially during stressful match conditions.

    When effective listening is applied, the athlete’s sequence of thought-speech-action becomes very clear to the “in-tuned” entourage. Please pay attention to the belief systems habitually used by your athletes. An athlete’s affirmations and inner dialogue can be categorized as optimistic or pessimistic. It should be painfully obvious that their self-coaching either builds them up or tears them down at crunch time.

    Some athletes affirm positive results while others affirm catastrophe. Researchers continue to acknowledge the power thoughts have on one’s actions. Studies show how thoughts, beliefs, and emotions affect human behavior. Following, I have listed a handful of tennis specific phrases from the mouths of our athletes and you can bet your life these habitual beliefs affect their match performance.

    Pessimistic athletes project performance anxieties with statements such as:

    • “I’m always worried about failing.”
    • “I’m not good enough for that level.”
    • “I’m not ready to compete.”
    • “I can’t do it…I always blow it.”
    • “I’m not jealous but how is Kelly playing #1 and not me?”
    • “I have to win tomorrow or my life is over.”
    • “I don’t belong here.”
    • “I hate this…I hate that…”

    Optimistic athletes project self-esteem and confidence with statements such as:

    • “I can’t wait to compete tomorrow.”
    • “I respect him but I’m going to beat him.”
    • “Competing is fun!”
    • “I trained properly and I’m confident in my awesome ability.”
    • “I’m grateful for the privilege of playing.”
    • “I trust my game and problem-solving skills.”
    • “I love the competitive tennis lifestyle.”
    • “I appreciate all the love and support from my parents and coaches.”

    “A man is but the product of his thoughts – what he thinks, he becomes.”
                                                          Mahatma Gandhi

    Applying Positive Affirmations

    If one’s thoughts become one’s reality, what exactly is a positive affirmation? A positive affirmation is a positive declaration or assertion.  As optimistic thoughts sink into one’s subconscious mind, they become a self-fulfilling prophecy over-riding old negative beliefs and habits with positive beliefs and rituals. Positive affirmations sound like silly fluff to specific personality profiles but they are proven methods of emotional improvement. When applied religiously, positive affirmations have the ability to rewire the chemistry in your athlete’s brain. Elite athletes believe in their potential.

    Assignment

    Ask your athletes to customize ten positive affirmations that will help their self-esteem and confidence. Then ask them to read them aloud into their cell phone voice-recorder app. Finally, ask them to listen to their customized recording nightly as they are falling asleep. As they mentally rehearse their optimistic views, new solution-based habits are formed and negative beliefs are dissolved.

    Effective Listening doesn’t stop with the verbal language. A great deal of information is available from the athlete without them saying a single word. The next chapter addresses the high IQ coach’s secret ability to zero in on gathering critical information via non-verbal communication.

    The Soft Science of Tennis

    Posted on July 29, 2025 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

    The Soft Science of Tennis Now Available in Audio Format Click Here

     Creating an Exceptional Culture

    Mr. Martinez is the tennis operations manager at Big Sky Country Club. A short time ago, he hired Richard as their new tennis director. Richard played college ball, graduated with a highly regarded tennis management degree and his resume checked all the boxes. On the technical side, Richard was microscopically detailed. He could spot a student’s opposing force vectors on their serve six courts away. He was adept at video analysis, organizing compass draws, teaching stroke fundamentals and eager to oversee the clubs racket stringing service. On paper, Richard was a good fit for a Country Club.

    Sadly, within weeks, Richard turned out to be a nightmare. While he had tennis business knowledge, he possessed no interpersonal communication skills. Richard’s interactions with members and co-workers were so poor; it led to his termination just one month into the job. Let’s look into why Richard was let go so soon from Big Sky Country Club.

    Richard had a pompous demeanor toward everyone all the time. When adult members would ask for his assistance, he would respond with a loud disrespectful sigh.  When Mrs. Jones asked him to fill in with the ladies league for 15-20 minutes until Helen arrived, Richard shook his head in disgust and said, “My hitting rate is the same as my lesson rate. For me to go on court, it’s $120.00 an hour!” Richard even drew complaints from the parents of the junior program because he would scold the children if they smiled and laughed in their beginner’s clinic. Richard was a taskmaster, and to him, clinics were to work and not to play.

    The clubs co-workers were also scared of Richard. His pessimistic problem-oriented view of his job made him uncomfortable to be around. The clubs assistant pros reported that he would consistently complain about the facility and the management staff directly to the members. His negative verbal and nonverbal communication reaped havoc throughout the club.

    Richard was also incompetent at the most essential interpersonal communication skill:  listening.  For example, one Friday afternoon, Mr. Martinez, the club manager, handed two rackets to Richard and told him that he had assured junior club member, Joey, that both his rackets would be strung by Saturday morning at 8:00 am. He could pick them up on his way out-of-town to the tournament.  Although Richard was looking at Mr. Martinez as he took Joey’s rackets from him, Richard wasn’t listening. His focus was on a tennis match on the pro-shop television.

    So Joey and his dad stopped in Saturday morning and his rackets sat unstrung in the pro-shop. The members were obviously upset and Mr. Martinez was furious with Richard.  Mr. Martinez addressed Richard about why they were not strung, and he snapped: “You didn’t tell me to string them yesterday!”

    After multiple “red flags” Mr. Martinez had no choice but to put Richard on probation. Richards’s lack of interpersonal communication skills continued to disrupt the clubs optimistic culture. Richard didn’t possess the ability to problem solve, adapt, correct issues or even care to attempt to fit into the clubs corporate guidelines. The final straw was when a member came into the pro-shop and complained that his children are no longer enjoying the clinics and they are considering going elsewhere for lessons. Richard took it personally, called the member an idiot, and instigated a shouting match, “If you want Mikey and Lauren to learn the correct strokes, let me do my job! If you want them to be hackers…then go! I don’t care!”

    Richard’s lack of communication skills instigated his firing. He couldn’t apply appropriate decision making, empathy, analyze options or come up with win-win solutions. It was his way or the highway- period. Insulting the members prompted Richard’s demise. The members quit the club and Richard lost his job.

    Interpersonal Communication

    If technical knowledge is the science of teaching, interpersonal communication is the art of teaching. Interpersonal communication characterizes the interaction that takes place between two or more people. In the coaching world, gaining an understanding of the sports biomechanics is important, but mastering communication is essential. Is your athlete being nurtured interpersonal skills? The following is a laundry list of interpersonal communication skills that facilitate success in tennis and in life.

    Accountable, Accuracy, Adaptability, Adept, Alertness, Ambition, Amiability, Analytical, Articulate, Assertive, Attentiveness, Business-like, Capable, Caring, Competence, Confidence, Conscientiousness, Considerate, Consistency, Cooperation, Creative, Critical Thinking, Dedication, Dependability, Detail Oriented, Determination, Diplomatic, Efficiency, Empathy, Encouraging, Energy, Enterprising, Ethical, Experienced, Flexibility, Hardworking, Helpfulness, Honesty, Imaginative, Independent, Industriousness, Influential, Innovation, Insightful, Intuitive, Leadership, Logical Thinking, Loyal, Management, Motivation, Nonverbal Communication, Optimism, Organizational, Passion, Patience, Perceptive, Positive, Practical, Problem Solving, Productive, Professional, Progressive, Punctual, Rational, Realistic, Reflective, Reliable, Resourceful, Respectful, Responsible, Sense Of Humor, Sincere, Sociable, Teachable, Teaching, Teamwork, Technical Literacy, Tolerance, Trustworthy, Understanding, Verbal Communication, Versatility, Visionary, Work Ethic…Whew!

    Without a doubt, any parent or coach would love to have their athletes possess these personal skills.

    Excellence begins with a positive culture both at home and at the club. In our sport, invested athletes don’t search out places like “Allen’s Average Tennis Academy” or “Mike’s Mundane Monday Night Clinic.” On a conscious level, parents and athletes seek excellent technical knowledge. On the subconscious level, they pursue meaningful interpersonal relationships.

    The culture I recommend is solution-oriented versus problem-oriented. Athletes are much more likely to flourish in a solution orientated environment. Coaches that provide a solution-based program are teaching lasting life skills.

    A Great Replacement Tip:

    Occasionally trade in the old school, pre-hit stretching routine with an upbeat dance-off. Turn up the tunes and watch athletes laugh their guts out while they dynamically stretch their bodies. Trust me, even if they arrive tired, stressed or negative, as they let go, they’ll dance their worries away, and you’ll have 25 kids with 25 huge smiles!

    A positive mindset is a precursor to a meaningful session. Parents, the preceding replacement solution also works wonders at home as a way to motivate the family to seek optimism.

    “An exceptional culture creates the positive attitude and mindset that promotes growth strategies, which in turn sustains excellence in competition.”

    It’s important to note that despite the student’s inherent athletic ability, level of play or commitment to the game, each student deserves the same sports science data, focus, and energy as a high performer. In fact, providing a rich culture of mentoring is precisely how average performers blossom into the high-performance category.

    Over the past few years, I conducted an informal study on the culture of tennis facilities throughout my travels around the world. I came to some very predictable conclusions:

    The programs with a positive culture were monitored and often reviewed by the owners. They were optimistic by design, and as a result, they achieved thriving, positive environments. They attracted top players organically via their triumphant athletes and their satisfied parents. They also acquired disgruntled clients from the negative cultured programs. As a result, the programs with a positive culture retained athletes up to three times as long as their problem oriented rivals.

    The programs with a problem-oriented drill Sargent culture, struggled to keep coaches, to keep students and to pay the rent. As a result, they had to partake in serious recruiting, sales, and marketing to just to keep their doors open.

    Audio Book Now Available

    Posted on July 24, 2025 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

    The Soft Science of Tennis Now Available in Audio Format Click Here

    We all know that mental toughness and emotional resolve are critical skill sets in competition. The Soft Science of Tennis is specially designed to improve the seemingly mysterious software skills. With this groundbreaking book, the athlete will realize an exceptional culture, stronger communication techniques, and a deeper connection. The Soft Science of Tennis helps players, parents, and coaches to identify individual personality profiles and unique cerebral designs to assist them in understanding how the athlete’s inborn genetic predispositions affect their behavior on and off the court. Also included is the importance of positive character traits, life skills, and why a healthy moral compass matters. The Soft Science of Tennis dissects how to conquer essential performance anxieties such as overriding negative belief systems, eliminating internal judgment, and building coachable athletes. Rounding out this book, are several chapters, favored by high IQ coaches around the world, uniquely focused on how to change fixed mindsets, managing fear and risk, and developing confidence and self-esteem. Within these pages, it is my goal to share everything you didn’t even know…you needed to know about the soft science of tennis.

    Rethinking Stress- Emotional Aptitude

    Posted on July 22, 2025 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

    To Order Emotional Aptitude In Sports (Available in Paper, Kindle and Audio): Click Here

    The follow post is an excerpt from Emotional Aptitude in Sports

    Rethinking Stress

    A very common view within the athletic community is that stress is the enemy in competition- the more stress felt, the worse the performance. Essentially believing that nothing good comes from stress.  But this belief couldn’t be further from the truth. Stress is actually very beneficial to the competitive athlete. Athletes who accept that stress is part of competition, are actually healthier competitors and much more likely to succeed.  How one views competition, ultimately determines the effects that stress has on their performance. In fact, on the playing fields, chasing excellence is better for your well-being than trying to avoid the stress (pain) of competition.

    Let’s join up with Evan and Jarrod one last time. This time to discuss their take on the stress of competition.

    Question: How does stress in competition effect performance?

    Evan: When I feel stressed, my heart beats faster, raising my adrenaline levels and pumping more oxygen throughout my body.  I see stress as a plus- preparing me for the battle. Stress tells me it’s “GO TIME” and I focus better. Without the stress, there wouldn’t be extra hormones running through my body giving me an extra boost.

    Jarrod: In the past, when I’m freaking out … My stomach hurt and I became irritable, overwhelmed and angry. All I would think about is the outcome and I panicked and choked.  I guess I chose to go that route. I used to be an
    idiot …

    Frank’s Tip: Stress isn’t the culprit. It’s how individuals choose to view the stress. If you’re a bit like Jarrod, it is time to apply stress management solutions to help you flip your attitude and learn to use stress to improve your performance.

    Final thoughts on Evan and Jarrod: I had a feeling that Evan would help provide young athletes with an optimistic, solution-based voice coming from their peer group. Honestly, I was very worried about Jarrod in the beginning of this process. I speculated wrongly that his narcissistic views couldn’t be swayed. As we dug deeper into the benefits of emotional aptitude, Jarrod slowly but surely changed his rigid stance and began to accept this developmental process. I couldn’t be more pleased that Jarrod is now on board.

    Real Talent Is Emotional Toughness

    Posted on July 18, 2025 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

    To Order Emotional Aptitude In Sports: Click Here

    The Real Talent Is Emotional Toughness

    Emotional Aptitude Is a Skill

    At the start of a Southern California junior tennis tournament, the referee calls Kristen Michaels and Jenny Scott to court number four for their match. Kristen seemed to be a super fit, committed athlete with poise and solid fundamentals.  She was dressed from head to toe in the newest Nike gear with her hair braided to perfection. She walked onto the court, unpacked her Wimbledon tournament towel, Gatorade and water bottle as she meticulously lined them up next to her chair. She then selected two rackets from her Nike tour bag as she “pings” them together to listen for the perfect string tension. Deciding on one, she immediately started shadow swinging and shuffling her feet as she waited for the umpire to perform the mandatory coin toss.

    Jenny on the other hand, did not appear to be as polished. In fact, she looked down right amateur in her California board shorts and surfer T-shirt. At the coin toss, Jenny was still wrestling through her tennis bag looking for a hair tie as the umpire yells “heads or tails?” Jenny grabs the only racket she brought and calmly saunters towards the net. She lets Kristin choose to serve or return. Jenny couldn’t care less.

    The 5 minute pre-match warm up started and Kristen looked like a professional.  Her movement and strokes were flawless.  Jenny, on the other side of the net looked unorthodox, as she scrambled to return the ball back Kristin’s way.

    The referee called time and the match started. Most watching were sure Kristen was going to blow Jenny off the court. But to the spectator’s surprise, Kristin was struggling, down 0-2 within the first 5 minutes of play. The beautiful strokes we had witness in the warm up were gone. By game 3, Kristin reached her maximum frustration tolerance level. She couldn’t keep a backhand in the court as Jenny profiled her opponent and systematically hit every ball to Kristin’s ailing backhand side. Kristen was angry, stomping around, yelling at herself, screaming at her racket, her coach and her mom.  Jenny, on the other hand, was a composed warrior relentlessly picking on Kristin’s weakness. Within 45 minutes, Jenny went on to win 6-2, 6-0. After the match, Jenny’s mom was overheard only uttered three words “Who wants Taco’s?”

    As illustrated above, emotional aptitude isn’t typically identifiable until after competition begins. What separates the elite competitors from the emotionally fragile athletes is their ability to thrive under perceived stress. Emotional aptitude is the ability to overcome hardships and to destress situations rather than magnify stressful situations. Athletes struggling with poor emotional aptitude lack confidence, composure, suffer bouts of self-doubt and possess an overwhelming fear of being judged by others. These performance meltdowns often go unseen in practice but shine in all their glory on game day.

    Elite competitors are confident that their superior emotional strength will override any hardships and physical limitations. The emotionally weak athletes are convinced that the unfair hardships and their perceived limitations will override their peak performance and catastrophe will once again occur.

    An old school word used to describe emotional aptitude is Grit. In regards to high achievers, researchers have come to the conclusion that successful individuals possess traits deeper than the mastery of athletic ability.  Grit is persistent courage, resolve and strength of character. Grit is the learned ability to have “nerves of steel,” fortitude and determination. Interestingly, some athletes are pre-wired to have these essential components and some are not. For those athletes who are not natural combatants, developing emotional aptitude is critical.

    Sadly, emotionally weak competitors often ignore the development of such skills.  Cultivating these character traits is what propels the few into the winner’s circle. If you believe that your emotions are holding you hostage on game day and keeping you from the success you deserve, I suggest focusing your attention on the below list of solutions. See Emotional Aptitude In Sports: Click Here

    Competitive Tennis and Positive Belief

    Posted on July 6, 2025 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

    For The Psychology of Tennis Parenting (AUDIO VERSION): Click Here

    Comfort Is Where Dreams Go to Die

    Let’s use an archer’s bullseye target as an analogy to illustrate the growth cycle of an athlete. The target rings have several colors. The black outer ring represents your child’s comfort zone. The inner blue rings represent the fear zone. The red-colored ring represents your athlete’s mastery zone. The inner circle or bullseye is yellow, representing the management zone. Top athletes have to manage the tools they’ve mastered. Common issues occur when the athlete would rather remain moderately uncomfortable yet safe instead of dealing with the uncertainties that would make a real change in their life. I recommend asking your athlete to repeat this saying:

    “If I Keep on Doing What I’ve Always Done…I’m Gonna Keep Getting What I Always Got”

    Solution: Improving your athlete’s performance starts by understanding the growth cycle. Athletes must be ready and willing to leave their Comfort Zone and step into their Fear Zone. Only by passing through the Fear Zone can Mastery be attained. After skills are mastered, managing those skills takes place. The pathway:

    “Comfort Zone … Fear Zone …Mastery Zone …Management Zone”

    My mentor, the late Vic Braden, said this a thousand times: “Once the pain of losing to another inferior opponent overrides the pain of change, the prognosis is good for quick improvement.” If change is still more painful, growth is stalled.

    Changing Inner Belief

    Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Teach your athlete that we all have empowering and destructive beliefs. Remind them that the power of positive inner belief will become thoughts that guide their new actions.

    It’s important to note: Athletes can’t outplay their belief system, so if they think they can or can’t, they’re usually right.

    One of the reasons that it’s challenging to change emotional habits is that the athlete is usually loyal to them only because they’ve believed in them for so long. Changing their perspective will take commitment from the athlete, parent, and coach. If your athlete is willing to improve their inner belief at crunch time, these ten tips are for you.

    Solutions: Parents, please ask your athlete to utilize the following tips:

    1. Choose inner dialog and positive self-talk that boosts confidence versus the standard negative monologue that derails confidence.
    2. Please list of all your unique strengths, then one by one, appreciate them.
    3. Employ SMART goals which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. Reminder: Winning every time isn’t a smart goal.
    4. Develop a skill each day. Inner belief comes from growth.
    5. Seek new inspiring mentors as trusted advisors.
    6. Nourish your inner belief by exchanging pointless social media with informative YouTube posts regarding confidence and belief.
    7. The human mind magnifies the bad. So, review the matches you were clutch under pressure versus those you gifted away.
    8. Focus on what could go right versus what could go wrong.
    9. Remember: Where your focus goes, energy flows.”
    10. If you’re going to have an attitude, make it gratitude.

    Changing inner belief begins with these ten simple reminders.