Mental Training with Michal Simecek
This summer I worked at Barcelona Tennis Academy as a coach and sport psychologist. As a sport psychologist I did three group mental sessions a day to teach players about various mental aspects of tennis and work on practical exercises to enhance their mental game. We worked on goal setting, relaxation techniques, visualization, concentration, mindfulness, self-talk, routines, confidence, motivation, emotion regulation and team building. I also worked with players individually to prepare them for competitions.
In this video, I worked with two players – Banu and Layan. Both players are very skilled tennis players that can hit long and fast rallies with relative ease. Therefore, in the warm-up it is common for players of this level to lose concentration. Mindful tennis is a useful exercise to help players stay in the present and in best cases experience a state of flow. In the second part of the video, the players were put into an uncomfortable situation on purpose. We simulated pressure to see how they handle stress and learn to adapt to new situations. Pressure training is a very important aspect of competitive play to help players perform at their highest in matches.
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1. SHADOW TENNIS
The goal of shadow tennis is to play without a ball to gain rhythm, confidence and practice visualization. It is a technique often used by boxers imagining their opponents and practicing their striking and dodging. In tennis, players are using it to develop a stronger understanding of their technique, practicing tactics, developing strategies and motivation. In this case, players were asked to go through a game on their serve/return, using visualization to create realistic rallies.
2. MINDFUL TENNIS
In this exercise, players are guided by the mental coach to pay attention to one of their senses while playing rallies. By redirecting the mind toward one of the senses, players can achieve the state of flow and enjoy the feeling of just hitting the ball and moving freely around the court.
3. DISTRACTIONS (CONES)
After the mindful tennis, players should be able to refocus and concentrate on hitting the ball cleanly and play long rallies. In this drill they are tested by cones flying in front of them and shortly disturbing their view of the ball. This can lead to a different timing on the ball and result into more mistakes. However, using mindful tennis and controlled breathing, players are practicing how to deal with this new and unexpected situation.
4. PRESSURE TRAINING
In the last drill, players were asked to play a tie-break. However, to add pressure on them, they each drew a limitation such as: The opponent can play into the double’s alley, you have only one serve, play only serve & volley, etc. These limitations add another level of pressure, discomfort, and frustration to the players to see how they can handle intense pressure situations. Using their theoretical and practical training should lead to more developed coping mechanisms and therefore their ability to manage these situations better.