Author: blogger

What does it truly mean to believe in yourself? When you believe in yourself, you have full confidence in your physical skills and ability to execute shots in tennis. My definition of self-confidence for tennis is how strongly you believe in your ability to execute a successful shot or win a match. Dont confuse believe in yourself (self-confidence) with self-esteem. Self-esteem is all about how you view yourself and how you appraise your self-concept (how you see yourself), also called self-worth.

Self-confidence comes from a baseline of past success in matches, practice, preparation, and a strong mental game of tennis. For example, a beginning tennis player has little or no confidence in his ability to execute a service in tennis. But with practice, he becomes competent in the skill of serving. With competency or skill mastery confidence improves. You can also get confidence from the belief that you are physically talented, which mirrors the definition of confidence.

When working with my personal coaching students, I discuss two different types or levels of confidence. The first is a general or broad belief in your ability as a tennis player the feeling that you can win or perform well. The second type of confidence is the specific belief in your ability to nail a successful overhead or hit a winning serve. Both broad and specific confidence are equally important and they influence each other.

Over my 20 plus years as a mental game coach, Ive come to learn that many athletes have practice self-confidence, which comes from working hard in practice to develop your skills. However, these same athletes dont always transfer that confidence from practice to playing matches. They lack what I call tournament self-confidence, for many reasons. Match or tournament self-confidence is critical to your success in matches.

It seems irrational that you can gain a high level of self-confidence in your practice, but cant transfer that confidence to tournaments. Most of the time, this problem is due to the mental game getting in the way and how you practice, which Ill discuss in another article.

One of my readers recently asked this tennis psychology question: What is the checklist for gaining confidence before a tough match? I have no simple answer to this question because every player reacts differently to a tough match. However, Ill give you the top four strategies that every player should apply:

1. Check your expectations in the parking lot. I believe that expectations (demands you place on your game) are harmful to high confidence. You want to believe in your skills and your practice, but without demanding how the match should go.

2. Review the reasons why you deserve to play well before each match. You might default to your practice, your experience, or your superior talent.

3. Prepare five positive self-talk statements you can use between points when you need a lift of confidence. These statements can be as simple as I deserve to play well today.

4. Cut off any last minute doubts. Doubt is the opposite of confidence. When you engage in doubt and allow it to feaster in your mind, you confidence suffers. Acknowledge any pre-match doubts you have and practice rebutting your own doubt.

In the game of tennis, are specific rules and regulations that are followed to get the best shots in and to win a game. If you want something to help improve your game or to make your time on the court more valuable, then you can also consider mini tennis. This game is known for providing a slightly different angle to the game of tennis, combined with the capacity of improving your overall game on the court.

The game of mini tennis is designed as an option for those who want to have more control on the tennis court. If you can’t hit power shots, for instance, then mini tennis provides a better alternative to playing the game. Many who are trying to get into the game of tennis, but don’t have the know how may also use this game as a warm up. This allows you to build skills with how you use a racket to control different types of shots, such as angle shots.

Not only does this particular game help with an introduction to the game of tennis, but also works with helping those younger in age to have better alternatives. Most specifically, this game is used for 5 9 year olds who are just developing skills with the game of tennis and need more guidance. Typically, the rules are altered by having a half court or court to play on.

Because of the different approach to the tennis court, it is also important to have the right equipment in place for the game of tennis. Most specifically, this means finding the right rackets to hit the balls with, as well as mini tennis balls that can be used. These both work together to provide more consistency with the game, and also allow anyone who is learning the game of tennis to have a faster game, as well as more consistency when learning the different techniques.

If you are looking for tennis rackets or mini tennis balls, then the most important set of characteristics to look for with the equipment is based on quality. For example, the rackets should provide the right weight so it is easy to hit the balls and so it keeps the game more consistent when hitting any tennis ball. The mini tennis balls should also include this general consistency. This includes having the right weight, as well as dimensions that are easier to hit but that don’t have the same thickness as a regular tennis ball.

If you are getting into the game of tennis and want to improve your hitting average, practice different techniques or want to learn the basics, then you can start with the game of tennis. This provides an introduction to different tennis skill sets to improve the game. While doing this, it is important to find the right rules to the game and have equipment, such as mini tennis balls to help with the game that is being played. The result will be more capabilities with playing a good game of tennis.