3 Tips For Coaching Mental Toughness To Your Tennis Players.

Did you know that less than 10% of all competitive tennis players, ever reach their full potential before their careers are over?

This is an issue that we coaches have to address.

And that is why I am going to do something different in this post today and go off-topic, by giving you 3 tips that can help you coach mental toughness to them and hopefully turn this thing around.

So.

Write them down.

Make sure they know the game that they are really playing in their tennis matches.

Could we start here?

All tennis competition is MENTAL.

The first thing that you have to do is...

Teach them that... they are not playing tennis, they are really playing the mental game.

YES!

That's a fact, and their match-play results will be determined by how well they learn how to play the mental game.

Because.

The reason most players don't reach their full potential is they don't know this and no one is teaching them this, and I wish more coaches would understand this coaching fact.

Me myself.

I discovered this coaching secret years ago, and when I did.

I refocus all my coaching effort on getting them mentally stronger.

And when I did that, their match play results just took off.

Never forget that.

When any player starts competing in tournaments on a regular basis, they will, at that point in their career, stop playing tennis and start playing the mental game.

Also.

Stress to them to never take their mental game for granted.

They should know that one game they may have it, then, in the next game they may not, or during one set they could be on, and the next they won't.

Which is why they should…

Focus on developing their mindset and character.

This is where Mushin and Fudoshin come into play.

I use both of them when teaching mental toughness to my players, and both of them have been very effective in me helping them to take their mental game to the next level.

What I like about them is they help players to transform the way they look at competing in their matches.

You can research them through the links above.

But.

I'll give you my short interpretation of them.

The Mushin mindset is when they free themselves from all thoughts through the power of their breath, so they can be mentally present during the match, and this will help them be able to play in the moment, execute their shots better and play each point on their OWN terms.

Can you see how this can have a powerful effect on the way they perform?

Fudoshin is developing the immovable mindset through silent warrior meditation, after this mindset is reached, they will be able to face pressure with a calm and relaxed spirit.

You should have them play out the whole match in their minds while they are doing this, too.

Then.

During the match.

All that they have to do is remember the MENTAL picture that they created and stay in the Fudoshin mindset, and they will be able to mentally compete at an elite level without even trying.

I have found players able to dominate their opponents by using these mindsets because most players just aren't using them!

To teach mental toughness to your players.

Use Mushin and Fudoshin in your daily training with them.

Give the developing process time to kick in, it may take about 40 days, sometimes less.

Last tip on coaching mental toughness to them.

Get them to understand that, they become the player that they pretend to be.

This is my favorite tip of them all for coaching mental toughness.

Because it's metaphysical.

After you teach them about the game, that they are really playing in their matches.

And introduce them to Mushin and Fudoshin mindset for about 1 month.

Get them to take their match-play game to another level…

How?

Have them pretend that they are already the player that they want to become.

This is a very powerful way to coach mental toughness and if the player buys into this coaching concept, it WORKS every time, and it can work VERY fast.

Why?

Because every time the player goes through the motion and the whole routine of pretending that they are already the player that they want to be, they imprint the image on their subconscious mind.

Then eventually.

They will BECOME that player when the subconscious accepts the image that they have been sending it.

This again.

May take about 40 days to happen.

As coaches.

We always need to stress to our players that everything is first created mentally first in their minds and then played out on the court.

They must use this metaphysical method of pretending that they are already the player that they want to be persistent while holding the vision at the same time.

Okay, coaches.

Those are 3 powerful ways to coach mental toughness to your players.

Wouldn't you agree?

They are also very effective too.

For more on learning about coaching mental toughness, click here.

There is also a free e-book on mental tennis here.

Thomas Daniels is PTR/MTM tennis pro with more than 29 years of coaching experience teaching all levels and ages in Kansai. He is now a tennis writer and online tennis consultant based in Osaka.

To hire him for seminars, clinics or workshops, call 0798-451-4481 or email [email protected]