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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.
Send your tennis buddies or whole team to www.tenniswarrior.com to sign up for their free email tennis lessons.
All past email lessons are posted at my website from 1 January 1998 to 1 December 2001. www.tenniswarrior.com
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT and MENTAL MEANDERINGS
1. 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!
2. 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
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Tom's Online Tennis Lesson
Don't quit because you're tired!
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Welcome to Tom's Online Tennis Lesson, sponsored by TennisWarrior.com, "Where you can learn to think like a pro!"
So, you've taken my advice and you're out practicing like a true Tennis Warrior. Every thing is moving along according to your practice schedule. You're making some mistakes, but over all it's a winning Warrior performance. You're even thinking, "Tom must be right, this repetition practice is the path to tennis immortality. I think I'll continue his email lessons and maybe even purchase his book." Then, wham!!! Out of nowhere you begin practicing like a seasoned beginner. You're not sure what's going on, but your muscles are not responding correctly, your timing seems out of whack, and the tennis ball begins looking like a ping pong ball. Your shots are flying everywhere! All you can think of is...Whoa!!!
Then you begin thinking about how tired you feel. "Aha" you think, "that must be it. I'm tired. That's what's causing all of these problems. Time to stop practicing before I acquire any bad habits. This is all Tom's fault. He told me to practice, practice, practice, practice, practice with massive repetition. But, he did not tell me you quickly become so tired your game falls apart. I better cancel his email lessons before he ruins my game even more."
By the way this is a typical situation. Except for blaming me and canceling the email lessons...I hope! :) When players become tired in their practice they play poorly and think it's time to head for the whirlpool. They think, "what's the point, I'm tired, I cannot play or practice effectively." What? You're tired and cannot play or practice effectively? Who cares!!! Get back out there and mentally work yourself through it. Why? Because this is what it's all about. Physically and mentally working yourself through these situations is what separates you from the players who quit. Mentally tough players forge forward while the mentally timid boomerang backward.
But you still say, "if I'm tired I cannot improve. What's the point?" The point is, this is the time you can improve the most! That's right, bringing yourself to the point of being tired and then working through it physically and mentally can help you improve at a faster rate. It's a technique I use on purpose when teaching my students. I bring them to the point where they are tired. Balls begin to fly every where and they become a bit discouraged. At that point I challenge them to forget where the balls are going, to put themselves on automatic and keep swinging.
There are two concepts at work here. The first is you are physically and mentally extending yourself beyond the norm. As a result you become physically and mentally stronger. If you can practice when the situation is at its toughest, how much easier will it be to practice and play when you are well rested. You push yourself to the max so that anything less becomes easy. This is based on a principle called A FORTIORI. A Latin word for logical deduction that means "with stronger reason." If you can do the greater feat it stands A FORTIORI that you can do the lesser feat.
For instance, if you can extend yourself to run 10 miles, it stands A FORTIORI that you can run 5 miles easily. If you can extend yourself to lift 100 pounds it stands A FORTIORI that you can lift 50 pounds easily. And in our case, if you can extend yourself to concentrate and play when you're tired, A FORTIORI how much easier will it be to concentrate and play when you are well rested. If you can do the greater, you can do the lesser. Push yourself beyond the norm and what once felt difficult becomes easy. I use this principle constantly when teaching...it works!!!
You must not quit practicing at the first sign of tiredness. Don't give yourself excuses to stop even if your playing is terrible. Keep concentrating and moving on. Consistently use the A FORTIORI principle and watch your improvement sky rocket.
Second, if you quit in practice because your tired and playing poorly what are you going to do in a match? I can hear you now talking to your opponent. "I'm a little tired and it's causing me to not play at the top of my game. Do you think we can quit and resume tomorrow when I've had a good nights sleep?" Do you think your opponent will quip, "oh sure that's fine. Is that enough time? How about taking two days rest. This is all my fault. I'm so sorry I got you all sweaty and tired."
Again, you must not quit practicing at the first sign of tiredness or you will train yourself to make tiredness an excuse in your matches. You must effectively train your mind to keep fighting, regardless of the circumstances.
And guess what? We're back to YOU again. There are built in excuses every where that YOU can use to justify why YOU should take the path of least resistance. I hope with this email tennis lesson I have effectively eliminated one of your excuses. Or are you too tired to get it! :)
Your email tennis pro,
Tom Veneziano
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APPENDIX: What I teach is a total system of thinking in regard to stroke production and mental attitude. I cannot explain in one email the whole system. Although each lesson can stand on it's own you will derive tremendous physical and mental benefit by understanding the total philosophy. These emails, my web site, books, and tapes are part of a course in tennis, not just isolated tennis tips. They all fit together into a system. A system that once understood can not only help you learn tennis at a faster rate, and develop mental toughness, but give you the knowledge necessary to help guide yourself and your children to a better understand of the developmental process.
Click here for more information about my books and tapes
Copyright © 2001 Tom Veneziano. All rights reserved.
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