We’re often influenced by our environment to see quick results – the one-minute workout, the 21-day diet, 20 minute fat loss and so on. Our focus is diverted entirely to the end result and how quickly one can achieve it. This mindset rarely works in elite sport where the aim to get into the top 1% of the population as far as skills and ability, can be only be achieved by persistent effort.
We see parents and players who work with us for a few weeks and almost instantly start looking for results – how many tournaments won since we started working together, how many semis or finals have they reached and so on. There’s little appreciation for if the player’s endurance has improved, if they’ve gained the ability to hit 20 balls in a row or if they can now construct a 10 point cross court rally.
This short-term thinking can be really detrimental to the growth of a tennis player. Instead of sticking with a coach and practice group, parents keep jumping from coach to coach (just like fad diets) in the hope of seeing small, immediate improvements from each coach. Instead what they get is a confused tennis player who’s being given a different set of directions from each coach.
What if we instead, adopted a different mindset i.e. the long-term approach – set long term goals, map a path on how to get there (work on this with your tennis coach) and then forget about short term results.
Day in and day out, show up, do the work, rest, rinse and repeat. Instead of focussing on things that aren’t entirely in your control (i.e. rankings, tournament results), focus on the things that you can control i.e. your 40m sprint times, ability to run 5k a day, hitting 100 balls consecutively inside the court, putting 9 of 10 first serves in. Master your schedule, control your excuses and you’ll be on your way to achieving your long term goals. This applies to many areas of our lives but particularly towards achieving goals where there is no substitute for putting in the time and hard work.
To sum it up, here’s a gem of a passage from Christopher Sommer, gymnastic coach at gymnasticbodies.com
“Dealing with the temporary frustration of not making progress is an integral part of the path towards excellence. In fact, it is essential and something that every single elite athlete has had to learn to deal with. If the pursuit of excellence was easy, everyone would do it. In fact, this impatience in dealing with frustration is the primary reason that most people fail to achieve their goals. Unreasonable expectations time-wise, resulting in unnecessary frustration, due to a perceived feeling of failure. Achieving the extraordinary is not a linear process.
The secret is to show up, do the work, and go home.
A blue collar work ethic married to indomitable will. It is literally that simple. Nothing interferes. Nothing can sway you from your purpose. Once the decision is made, simply refuse to budge.
Refuse to compromise.
And accept that quality long-term results require quality long-term focus. No emotion. No drama. No beating yourself up over small bumps in the road. Learn to enjoy and appreciate the process. This is especially important because you are going to spend far more time on the actual journey than with those all too brief moments of triumph at the end.
Certainly celebrate the moments of triumph when they occur. More importantly, learn from defeats when they happen. In fact, if you are not encountering defeat on a fairly regular basis, you are not trying hard enough. And absolutely refuse to accept less than your best.
Throw out a timeline. It will take what it takes.
If the commitment is to a long-term goal and not to a series of smaller intermediate goals, then only one decision needs to be made and adhered to. Clear, simple, straightforward. Much easier to maintain than having to make small decision after small decision to stay the course when dealing with each step along the way. This provides far too many opportunities to inadvertently drift from your chosen goal. This single decision is one of the most powerful tools in your toolbox.”
About Us: LTA Tennis Academy is based in Ashburn, Virginia. Our mission is to bring elite tennis player development to youth and adults in the NoVA region including Chantilly, Aldie, Sterling Vienna and Fairfax. Our head coach, Lorenzo Popescu, has trained professional tennis players globally and now brings the latest in tennis coaching techniques to players Northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC.