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June 1, 2006
Success with risk or Security with safety?

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.

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STROKES ARE BASED ON 'FEEL' NOT MECHANICS!
 
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

Tom's Online Tennis Lesson
Success with risk or Security with safety?

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

Many players make decisions on the tennis court based not on success principles but on feeling secure. They feel that with security comes safety, but this muddled thinking is a delusion. Let me give you a perfect illustration:

SUCCESS WITH RISK

In doubles drills I teach players to advance to the net and position themselves approximately halfway between the net and service line. From this position they are in excellent striking distance when they receive a high short ball, and when they volley they are closer to their opponents which shortens their reaction time. There is a positive mental attitude connected with playing aggressive offensive tennis. Sounds spectacular, doesn't it? So what's the problem? The problem is, they are put at risk for a lob over their heads. And with any risk comes the much-maligned, the most terrifying and the much-feared... FAILURE!

SECURITY WITH SAFETY

To avoid the horrors of failure, players will seek warm, cozy security and rush to the service line. There, they feel safe and can more comfortably cover the lob. This is perfectly logical, yet they unknowingly create an array of unfortunate circumstances. Here are three:

1. They are now vulnerable to balls that land at their feet.
2. They present their opponents with an opportunity for more reaction time.
3. They are not in a position to hit winners when the opportunity arises.

So they still fail, but safety is so alluring that they prefer security to success.

FAILING COMFORTABLY

The interesting paradox is that players may fail many more times playing incorrectly, but failing is irrelevant since they feel so wonderfully secure! And they do not even realize they are doing anything wrong. But if just one time they move up closer to the net and fail... It is the end of the world as they know it! The player whines, "This is horrible, this can't be correct, nothing is working, lobs are constantly going over my head, my pro must have lost his mind!"

Bottom line - Players are more comfortable failing as long as they are in their comfort zone. They have three separate scenarios to choose from: 1) Do the right thing; 2) Do the wrong thing; or 3) Stay in the comfort zone. For most players right or wrong is irrelevant - the only priority is to stay in their happy comfortable zone of security. This is a huge problem because inside a player's comfort zone, wrong becomes right. And, believe me, players will fight a coach tooth and nail to hold on to a wrong that is within their comfort zone. This is the main reason why learning something new is so difficult.

PROS ARE VULNERABLE TOO!

It is my opinion that Andy Roddick is struggling to come out of his comfort zone and venture to the net more often, especially behind his booming serve. Remember, pros are human too. They do not like to venture outside of their comfort zone any more than you do. Many pros will rally from the baseline, putting their opponent in deep trouble with a well-placed laser groundstroke, and then stand there watching as the opponent hits a weak return. If only they had advanced to the net! They would have had an easy volley and created extra pressure on the opponent. With the exception of Roger Federer, this strategy is outside of many pro's comfort zones. Thus they let many golden opportunities slip by.

COMFORT ZONE CHALLENGE

During practice, sneak out of your comfort zone in these three areas:

1. Move out of your comfort zone by closing in when venturing to the net in doubles (approximately halfway between the net and service line). Staying on the service line is a band-aid solution until you learn how to advance to the net correctly. 

2. Move out of your comfort zone by not being so tentative when hitting your shots. You do not have to kill the ball, but let's start being positive and going for your shots (without tentativeness and cautiousness).

3. Move out of your comfort zone by not letting high floaters bounce at the net. Close in on the ball and put it away...now!

Make your pro happy... take a risk!

Your tennis pro,

Tom Veneziano

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TESTIMONIAL

Hi Tom,

I'm a tennis coach from Portugal. I have seen your tennis web site and I think it's fantastic!

"When I was a young kid I would always slice my backhand in match play and just could not hit a topspin backhand. And I remember practicing those topspin backhands time after time, but my coaches just didn't 'let it happen' as you say. They were always focusing on my technique and always changing
something, so I wasn't relaxed enough to play a topspin backhand. The funny thing is that once I got rid of all my coaches and started playing in the circuit on my own, I learned to hit topspin backhands. Suddenly I had a great weapon."

Tennis really is a mental sport!

Thanks Tom for your inspiration."

Best regards,

Andréé Vaz Pinto
Portugal

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ADDENDUM:  I teach a total system of thinking in regard to stroke production and mental attitude which I cannot explain in one email.  Although each lesson can stand alone 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 help you not only learn tennis at a faster rate, and develop mental toughness, but also give you the knowledge necessary to help guide you and your children to a better understanding of the developmental process.

Click here for more information about my books and tapes

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