TennisWarrior.com - Learn to Think Like a Pro with Free Online Tennis Lessons

RAMBLINGS!

Welcome to all the new subscribers to my email tennis lessons. You will receive one long lesson on the first of every month and some quick tips in between.

If you are experiencing technical difficulty with these email tennis lessons please let me know and I will try to correct the situation. I have a new list server and it may still need fine tuning. Email me at tom@tenniswarrior.com

Send your tennis buddies or whole team to www.tenniswarrior.com to sign up for their free email tennis lessons.

Or have them call 713 957-6446 to hear the voice mail Tennis Lesson Hotline!

All past email lessons are posted at my website from 1998 to 1 May 2001. www.tenniswarrior.com

FOOD FOR THOUGHT and MENTAL MEANDERINGS

Why is a tennis pro who hits a groundstroke with his weight moving backward a genius, but when YOU hit a groundstroke with your weight moving backward, you are totally incorrect?
There are many ‘perfect' tennis players with ‘perfect' technical strokes out there, but I can tell you one thing, they are not in the top ten professionals of the world because the top ten are swinging, jumping, diving, and flailing at the ball with controlled abandonment!
Remember the basic principles for learning tennis with my system is to develop a ‘feel' for different strokes along with developing mental skills through REPETITION. Repetition of simple procedures create that ‘feel' NOT an over emphasis on the technical skills and mechanics. Click here for an article that I wrote on 'feel' vs 'mechanics' in April 2001

TEAM AND SCHOOL SPECIAL!

The Team and School discount specials are ready. Order in quantity and save money! Each order will receive free of charge my Mental Attitude Survival Kit consisting of the Refocus Technique summary cards (A technique to handle your mistakes explained in my book, "The Truth about Winning!"). And tennis racket stickers with the phrase, "The next shot is more important than the last mistake!" for every team member. This is a simple reminder, but extremely effective in match play. Players tell me when they are struggling in a match, they look down at their racket, see the sticker, and bounce back. I love it! For details click here.

Tom's Online Tennis Lesson
A champion's mental attitude after failing

Welcome to Tom's Online Tennis Lesson, sponsored by TennisWarrior.com, "Where you can learn to think like a pro!"

A phrase I have heard many times from successful athletes and businessmen is ‘start from where you are, and new options will open up as you go along.' The application for tennis or any sport is phenomenal. Mentally tough players realize they must start from where they are regardless of what has occurred. Whether it's a negative, mistake, or failure champions have a built in ‘start from where they are' button they can push immediately to keep them on track. Most players have an ‘anger' button, ‘self-pity' button, ‘frustration' button, ‘rationalization' button, or an ‘over analyzation' button they push first before they get to the ‘start from where they are' button. In fact in many cases the ‘start from where they are' button has not even been installed!!!

The trick is for you to first CHOOSE to install one. Then when adversity hits, you can practice not pushing all the other buttons first, but instead push the ‘start from where you are' button. You maybe thinking, "how do I do that?" Haven't you heard? Adversity is inevitable, negative thinking is optional. You CHOOSE to allow these incorrect emotional responses to control you. In a match you may be feeling frustrated, angry, or annoyed, but that does not mean you can't choose the ‘start from where you are' button. Doing this will eliminate the incorrect emotional reactions, and keep you looking forward. When you look forward and not backward new options will open up that you did not even expect. Options like:

Feeling in control of yourself and not fearing failures.
Feeling a mental strength you previously did not possess.
Feeling an increased confidence from that strength.

You accept the fact that you're in control. You're the one that makes the decision to push the ‘start from where you are' button or not. Then ‘adversity is inevitable, negative thinking is optional' becomes a way of thinking.

Whether you're an aspiring junior, club player, or a pro, if your ‘start from where you are' button is busted or not installed, you better have a talk with yourself and fix it fast.
Why? Because this is the stuff that champions are made of.

The other day I had a talk with a player who wanted to purchase my books and tapes. I asked him why? He said he also played golf and was a 12 handicap. The other day he played with some top notch players that were out of his league. He noticed how they handled adversity in comparison to what he would have done. For instance, when they hit the ball in the water, without any anger they just got another ball and proceeded forward. He said he would have wrapped the clubs around a tree. An experience I understand many people who play golf have had. :) He thought to himself maybe there's something to this mental stuff. A couple of days later he came across my site and it peaked his curiosity.

In conclusion, speaking of golf, I'll always remember the great golf legend Bobby Jones when he was asked how he coped with never playing golf again because of debilitating health problems. His reply gave me goose bumps. He said, "I play the ball from where it lies." A golf term for ‘start from where you are.' He was a great champion on and off the course.

When adversity hits on the tennis court which button do you push? The panic button? Do you even have a ‘start from where you are' button to push? If not, I know someone who has written a book that can help. Me! :)