Aim High While Keeping Your Feet on the Ground!
by: Dave Winship @ On The Line

Fortunately, you don't have to win a grand slam to be a tennis achiever. You can win a competition at any level and call yourself a champion. Success is relative. It depends on your perspective. And you pretty much set the bar yourself. Set it too high and you'll risk disillusionment. Too low and you'll underachieve.

I would commend the sentiment expressed in this extract from a poem written by 19th century poet R. L. Sharpe:

To each is given a bag of tools,
A shapeless mass and a book of rules;
And each must make, ere life is flown,
A stumbling block, or a stepping stone.

Keep these words with you on your journey through tennis and bear in mind that you can acquire additional tools as you go along. Doubts and idleness are the stumbling blocks that prevent the fulfilment of most ambitions. The old adage applies: if you expect to fail, you will.

Create your stepping stones by setting challenging, realistic short-term goals. Construct an appropriate tournament plan and evaluate your performances by reference to your goals, not necessarily by reference to your results. If you've got a coach, involve him or her in the process. Push the envelope by training as hard as you can, but train smart. Training smart means making sure you enjoy what you're doing and don't risk injury.

Make sure your short-term goals are focused on providing you with precisely the tools you need to shape your longer-term progress. That way, you can continue to aim higher while keeping your feet on the ground!

Regards.

Dave Winship