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July 1, 2001
Focusing on the mental battle

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.

If you are experiencing technical difficulty with these email tennis lessons please let me know and I will try to correct the situation.  I have a new list server and it may still need fine tuning.  Email me at tom@tenniswarrior.com 

Send your tennis buddies or whole team to www.tenniswarrior.com to sign up for their free email tennis lessons.

Or have them call 713 957-6446 to hear the voice mail Tennis Lesson Hotline!

All past email lessons are posted at my website from 1998 to 1 April 2001. www.tenniswarrior.com

* FOOD FOR THOUGHT and MENTAL MEANDERINGS  

1. 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

2. 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!

3. Why is a tennis pro who hits a forehand groundstroke with an open stance a genius, but when YOU hit a forehand groundstroke with an open stance, you are totally incorrect?

Tom's Online Tennis Lesson
Focusing on the mental battle

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

There are two different mental attitudes toward going for your shots and missing.  With the first mental attitude when you go for your shots and miss you think, "I'll make it next time, keep going for your shots."  With the second mental attitude you think, "I'm going for my shots, but I'm missing.  I should stop doing that."  Which one are you?  Do you have a pessimistic view of your misses or an optimistic view of your misses?  Are you mistake oriented or solution oriented?  I hope you are optimistic and solution oriented.  If not, there's still hope. 

To improve your mental ability to go for your shots you must get your mind off the physical battle and on to the mental battle.  Playing a match is not a battle between you and your opponent, it's a battle between YOU and YOU!  The YOU that concentrates solely on the physical battle and the YOU that concentrates on the mental battle.  If you lose the match, but win the mental battle, you've won!  You say, "that's fine but I still lost the match."  And there you go again focusing on the wrong thing.  When are you going to wake up and get with the program. (sorry I had to get a little tough there :) 

The physical part of winning is the easy part.  It's the mental battle that's tough.  Would you like proof?  Have you won any matches lately?  I'm sure all of you have.  Whether you won or lost the match how many of you consistently won the mental battle?  I'm afraid, not too many.  The mental battle is where the real war is taking place.  You must CONSISTENTLY concentrate on winning the mental battle.  Give yourself the freedom to go for your shots and if you miss, ACCEPT IT.....AND THEN MOVE ON.  Remember, going for your shots does not mean to pulverize the ball every time.  It's the absence of being too careful and being afraid of failing.

Stop confusing yourself by having too many gears to choose from when you play.  You have the ‘go for your shots' gear, the ‘kind of go for it' gear, the ‘I'm being careful' gear, and the ‘I'm a basket case' gear.  Keep it simple, one gear, the ‘go for your shots' gear whether you win, lose or draw.

Now, get out there, go for your shots and lose.  You say, "that's not very positive."  And I say, "you're still not getting it!"  Going for your shots IS POSITIVE.  You are the one making an issue out of losing.  Your mind is still focused exclusively on the physical battle. You've heard it before, tennis is 75 to 90 %  mental.  It's time for you to apply this principle - 75 to 90 % mental.  Tennis is first about winning the mental battles.  All great competitors LOVE THE BATTLE.  YOU must learn to do the same.  Now, get out there go for your shots and lose.

Your email tennis pro,

Tom

Copyright © 2001 Tom Veneziano. All rights reserved

What others are saying about my tapes!

"Tom deals with the thinking end of tennis like no one else. It's almost too difficult to explain, you have to experience it. He has an uncanny knack for getting right to the heart of the matter. You come away thinking, that's right: it makes sense!"

Colleen Cremer, Houston, TX.

"It's interesting to note that everyone can use these tapes from beginner to championship level. You can apply the information to whatever level you play on."

Dan Hanusa, Houston, TX.

" Tom's audio cassettes have changed my thinking, aligning it with the correct information needed to improve my game. He's right there with you, inside your head, challenging you to make those changes. It's like having your own personal coach! I highly recommend his tapes for everyone."

Linda Zimmerman, Houston, TX.

"On the way to my HLTA match I listened to Tom's tape, "Some Before Match Pointers." Call it a coincidence, but I won my first HLTA match ever! I just seemed to be in a better frame of mind. Thanks, Tom."

Mary Ogden, Houston, TX.

"Tom and I have been friends for over twenty years. It's not surprising to me players talk so positively about his tapes. He's always possessed exceptional athletic ability along with an unusual analytical mind. Tom simply likes to think! At times he would drive me crazy, but he was the driving force behind my journey into tennis. I'm 6'1" and Tom is 5'6" but I could never beat the little imp! All joking aside, if Tom's thinking is on audio cassettes, you should listen! You'll never view tennis the same way again!"

Sam Lacava, Tennis Professional, Stewartsville, N.J.

Thank you all for the testimonials! I appreciate it!

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