The Lesson Lounge - Tennis Warrior

Your Link to Professional Thinking!

Reflection and resolution

Here are some New Year’s resolutions and reflections to help your game in 2003. If you are using my website, email lessons, books, and tapes your game should be advancing . As I tell many players and pros, “if you follow my system you have to improve!” Usually they think that sounds a little boastful. I always preface that comment with, “I really did not create the principles that make up my system. All I did was organize, categorize, and systematize principles that already exist!”

For instance, if you did 20 push-ups three times a week for three months, by the end of those three months would you be stronger? Of course you would! If you designed a system that categorized a consistent process for a person to follow for three months, could you confidently say, “If you stick with my system you have to become stronger.” Of course you could! I have worked hard and put long hours in to organize a system based on EXISTING SUCCESS PRINCIPLES that have to work! Every pro who has ever played the game had to use these principles. No pro that I know of has ever picked up a racket and one week, one month or one year later became a pro. They had to put in the time and the repetition! NO talent is above this principle. No matter how much natural talent or proclivity a person may posses for a particular sport, profession or artistic endeavor no success can be achieved without repetition.

With this in mind, if you would like to improve your game faster in 2003, you too MUST put in the time! Put in the time on what? Well, I cannot teach you specific strokes over an email but I can challenge you to TAKE CONSISTENT ACTION!

THE PLAN

In addition to your normal play, pick one of your weak shots and work on it week after week. Hit a minimum of 100 balls a week on a ball machine or have a friend feed you some balls. If you have time to hit other strokes, by all means practice repetition there too. Keep in mind though, 100 balls a week is a bare minimum. If you aspire to be a pro you must hit many, many, many, many, many more balls. THEN after you have hit all those balls...your practice begins!

Let’s say you’re a club player with a weak backhand. Reflecting to a past email lesson, a club player who plays doubles twice a week normally hits around 1,500 backhands a year. Most players run around their backhand and hit forehands so many times it may only be 800 or so backhands a year! If you were to add 100 extra backhands a week, that would be approximately 400 backhands a month and 5000 a year. You would be hitting five times more backhands in 2003! Do you think your backhand would improve a little faster?

Now, putting this plan in place and staying with it the whole year is where players run in to big time problems.

STAYING WITH IT!

Let me show you a typical pattern that most people fall into when beginning something new. They say, “yes, I’m going for it this year, I’m going to put in the time and make it happen.” They then proceed to go out and hit hundreds and hundreds of balls weekly. They’re excited, they’re motivated and they are making it happen! I believe ‘gung ho’ is the phrase.

After about one month of over doing the practice they begin to tire and question what they are doing. Eventually, instead of just backing off to a tolerable level of practice they just give up! The concept is called ‘all or nothing.’ If they cannot do it all they will do nothing. Most people start off ‘gung ho’ and then quit. Here is a better way to handle this wonderful enthusiasm.

Reflecting to a past email lesson...CONSISTENCY ESTABLISHES MOMENTUM. Using the weak backhand illustration, do not begin your weekly practice by thinking in terms of developing a backhand. Instead think in terms of FIRST establishing some consistency. I don’t care if you do 50 backhands a week at first. What ever amount you chose, do not exceed 100-200 a week for the first month. CONSISTENCY FIRST! After the first month, begin adding a little or stay at the 100-200 mark until you are ready to increase. Once you have established a PATTERN OF WEEKLY PRACTICE then kick in some ‘gung ho!’ If you would like to stay at the 100-200 level...that’s fine! Just make sure by the year end you are still doing the 100-200 backhands a week.

At the health club where I work out there is a girl named Phyllis who works on the tread mill. She does her one hour walk/run routine 3-4 times a week faithfully week after week. I have seen guys come in there ‘gung ho’ running like the wind along side her. Six months later she is still there plugging along with the same routine and the ‘gung ho’ guys are no where to be found! She could literally run circles around them. She is in a league all by herself. She has established tremendous momentum from the consistency. I marvel at her ability to stay with it.

Learn to establish momentum in anything you do by FIRST establishing consistency, then build on that consistency. When beginning a new project or tennis practice do not try to accomplish everything perfectly or quickly. Focus first on consistent action, no matter how much you are doing. You can develop a backhand or any shot you desire by following this simple formula in 2003.

Do the simple right, then do the simple better, then simply be the best at doing the simple! The pros do the simple so well...you think it’s complicated!

For two years I have consistently given you a monthly email lesson on the first of the month...in doing so I have developed some of my own momentum. I’m ready for 2003! It’s been great teaching everyone in 2002 and I’m looking forward to pushing you to the next level in 2003. The question is...are you ready?

Happy New Year with a great backhand complimenting a great game!

Tom Veneziano