Hyperfocus

MISCELLANEOUS  EXTRACTS AND NOTES:  “WINNING; IT’S ALL IN THE MIND”

Author: John George

My inspiration to research and write this book followed general discussions I had with the late and great Harry Hopman. There is ample evidence to argue that Harry Hopman remains the greatest tennis coach of all time. The nature of the discussions were anything but formal; the setting was a golf cart. Hop used a golf cart to travel around his vast tennis academy, located in the walled and gated community of Bardmoor Village in Tampa, Florida; near Largo, it had it all, including an 18 hole golf course hosting the prestigious JC Penney Golf Classic.

In the late 70’s and early 80’s I managed groups of aspiring juniors visiting the USA to play tournaments and attend a clinic at Hopman’s International Tennis. 

Hop’s emphasis on fitness was well known. Each day, all those attending clinics would begin with a compulsory, well developed  and graded exercise regime. While my group was taking part, Hop noticed I was standing around doing nothing in particular, and he beckoned me to join him in his golf cart. He was just starting what was a regular tour of the venue, where a purpose built concrete track allowed access to all 48 tennis courts. 

I would find that the morning expedition would follow no specific path, and follow no specific time frame. As we made our way around, he gave me an exceptionally informative running commentary on why he would bypass activities on some courts with little more than a cursory glance, and stop at others, perhaps to watch for a while; occasionally he would  leave the cart to offer instruction or advice. The on court activities ranged from visiting groups of juniors with one of his many coaches, to world top ten players, along with their entourage of hitting partner, coach etc.  I considered Hop’s invitation to join him regularly as an honour and a privilege; it also enabled me to construct a general theme to his advice.

For simplicity, I have referred to Harry Hopman as “Hop”, when he was generally addressed as “Mister Hopman”; showing respect for his standing in the tennis world.

My accumulation of thoughts and ideas flowing from the theme, prompted a simple question: Why do some players rise beyond others who  possess a seemingly identical skillset? Physical fitness and performance technique are unquestionably essential, however I saw another element in our discussions. While I was confident I’d found another, perhaps elusive and even neglected factor, the final decision to begin serious research came later when I was unexpectedly presented with the clearest of evidence.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

I haven’t missed an Australian Open since 1988 when it moved from the Kooyong grass to the hardcourts of Melbourne Park. I rarely watch the headline singles matches, heading straight for the backcourts, to watch the world’s best doubles play; a far more tactical game than singles.

I remember walking past a women’s singles match, noticing it was a set all and 4 games to 2; currently in the lead an 80’s ranked player over a player ranked in the 20’s. I decided to watch the finish. The 80’s ranked player served a close to perfect seventh game, with 2 of her serves finding the lines. She appeared to be full of confidence. She was up 5 games to 2. A little unlucky to lose the next game, she could still serve out the match. Her lead now 5-3. Just 4 more great serves, producing defensive or weak returns, and she’d win. The first point was a double fault, just missing the lines on both serves. 0-15. That point decided the match. You could see the very beginnings of problems evidenced by her demeanour, effecting her approach to her service action…. simply thinking about it. Interjection by those pesky neurons residing in her prefrontal cortex were the culprits; true! She was not relying on the automated action which she’d no doubt practiced to infinity, and she’d relied on without question to that point. Her left arm was clearly tightening and this disrupted her ball toss. Double fault. 0-30. No crowd effect. There were just 3 seat rows and less than 50 spectators. Her entourage was becoming concerned, with comments about the ball toss (but no mention of the reason it was failing). Where she should now be adopting a point by point approach, deep breathing techniques, or at least some mental reprogramming… as simple as focusing on a diversion such as an unnecessary string adjustment…  the loss of the previous two points, and the way she lost them, remained dominant in her mind. At 0-30, her serving arm was also tightening up. She managed to get her second serve into play, but it was so weak it was easily attacked by her opposition. 

0-40; now, with cascading negative thoughts, clearly enveloped with performance anxiety, and despite the fact that she was still leading 5-4, she lost the game, and eventually lost the match 5-7. By the last game she had mentally imploded. Her body was on the court; her mind was already on the way back to the locker room.

I remember noting her name, and checking her ranking a year later. She’d dropped out of the top 300.

Why did this happen? It was certainly a physiological response to a psychologically initiated event. 

I suggest that her response to the initial double fault fell under the umbrella of a specific incident  (the double fault), initiating  simple performance anxiety. Not a stranger to generalised anxiety myself, I further suggest performance anxiety syndrome affects us all in some circumstances, and can be easily overcome by some; is so fleeting, that it doesn’t effect a desired outcome, and is therefore irrelevant. For others it can be career destroying.

Both Arthur Ashe in tennis, and Greg Norman in golf,  were so effected, but were still able to become world champions. Nevertheless, it did lead to the loss of events they were expected to easily win.  

Arthur Ashe called it “paralysis by analysis”, although the tennis great was not the first to use these three words. Golfing great Greg Norman described the effect of the same syndrome with just four letters; the “yips”. He wasn’t the first to use these letters either. While these champions had fleeting issues with the syndrome, others would find it overwhelming.

Should players effected by performance anxiety simply be allowed to fail as a result? 

Here’s an analogy to help understand various paths to overcome the issue. 

Let’s say you’re driving your car to a desired destination. You come to a potentially removable roadblock. Your choices are, to look for off road possibilities to go around the blockage, attempt to dismantle the blockage to continue, or accept the blockage as final, give up, and go back. I would suggest the order of approach is 1, 2, and only 3,  after every attempt at 1 and 2 were tried and failed. 

I suggest any degree of performance anxiety can be addressed, or at least reduced, with multiple techniques, and not accepted as irreversible; there can certainly be irreversible cases, where the intervention of doubt can’t be completely “switched off”. The roadblock may be too strong to overcome.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The most recognisable form of performance anxiety for most people is public speaking. Despite many rehearsals, prompt notes, even an "autocue" or a written speech, anxiety often precedes its  presentation. Perhaps it's the intense moment of self awareness  as  you walk on stage, regardless of whether it's an audience of 50 or 5,000. You are the focus of interest. You are aware that in the following moments, perceptions about you will be formed and judgements made. 

Of course, some revel in the opportunity public speaking provides them. Others pass through life carefully avoiding exactly the same situation.  There  are  various  possible  techniques to "get through" public speaking events. I recall discussing this with a regular public speaker; his way of dealing with his anxiety was to always look beyond the audience to the back of the room, and avoid eye contact with anyone near the stage.

………...………………......….........…………...…............…...…...…......…............…...…...…...…………...

I have had the exceptional privilege to provide more than 10,000 children their first tennis lesson. This has enabled me to gain outstanding insight into the subject of this book with reference to children. 

Up to this point we were examining examples of champions. Now we will examine the effect it has on children, and their ability to acquire tennis skills.

With tennis having an exceptionally complex skill set, performance anxiety has ample potential for manifestation. On the subject of performance anxiety, you can have an interesting debate, comparing golf to tennis, relying only on the fact that the ball hit in golf is always stationary.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

All tennis coaches should have a special interest in teaching beginners. Many coaches have trainees deal with beginners. I suggest highly experienced tennis coaches should provide the initial lessons, and trainees should only deal with pupils who have been shown the basics, and attained a reasonable level of proficiency. Of course, each child will have a unique ability to learn and apply, as there is an infinite variation in the absorption and application of these basics; beginners should be placed in a class with no more than four pupils, so individual attention is possible. It cannot be overstressed that a “one size fits all” approach to teaching beginners will fail those that are affected with any degree of performance anxiety; this must be recognised and individually addressed. 

……...……………...…...……………...……...……...……...…...…............……...........................

In  this  chapter  I  will  discuss guidelines  for  the  the  recognition of  performance  anxiety  in  children,  and  how  this  should  best  be   addressed  by  coaches.  

The  interpretation  of  “awkwardness”  when  a  child  is  introduced  to  hitting  a  tennis  ball should  be  be  regarded  as  a  psychological  rather  than  a  physiological  issue;  it  should  be  therefore  addressed  as  such.  Children  will  always  volunteer  a  physical  reason  that  may  effect  their  performance,  but  not  a  reason  that  is   psychological.  

  I  have  found  that  performance  anxiety  in  children  is  age  related.  Generally,  beginners  in  the  5-8  age  group  are  less  likely  to be  affected than  those  9-12,  due  in  part  to  simple  social  conditioning.

Any  degree  of  performance anxiety  will  affect  timing  and  a  smooth  fluid  movement  as  the  racquet  is  swung  forward  to  hit  the  ball.  For  this purpose  we will  use  the  forehand  drive.  The   racquet  should  already  be  held  back  so  timing  is  solely   dependant  on  the  forward  swing.  In  the  5-8  group,  they  should  initially  be  hitting a  dropped  ball;  does  their  weight  transfer  appear  to  be  natural?  Interestingly,  to  achieve  a  more  physically  relaxed  approach to hitting  the  ball,  I have  successfully  used  some  of  the  same  methods  used  by  tour  players,  including  breathing  control,  mental  relaxation,  etc., 

With  the  9-12  group,  performance  anxiety  is  more  transparent,  and  can  be  addressed  by  similar  techniques.  Perfect  timing  is  achieved  when  there  is  no  intervention  by  thoughts  which  interrupt  this  timing.  Ultimately,  it  is  conditioned  by  our  individual  abililty  to  “switch off”  imposing  thoughts  of  reason  and  question.  “Overthinking”  is  a  good  word  to  provide  a  simple  description.   “Paralysis  by  analysis”.  

………………………………………………………………

One of the gifts in teaching beginners is that every coach enters a great lottery. First prize is an Ashleigh Barty. In a recent interview, Ash Barty’s first coach commented on how effectively she hit the ball at her very first lesson;  exceptionally talented kids (such as Ash Barty) are part of this great lottery. My experience suggests 1 in every 10 new pupils can be made very good tennis players; 1 in 100 can be made exceptional tennis players; 1 in 1,000 have the potential to be made world champions. This potential is critically dependent on the right management. 

It must also be noted that regardless of their commitment, for 999 new pupils, “world champion” status is not an achievable end; you simply can’t make a champion, if the factors of potential are not presented. 

I suggest the focus of tennis coaches should be on the 999 pupils, to be made the very best they can be, and their tennis coach provide just as much commitment to this end, regardless of potential, with particular reference to the incidence and effect of performance anxiety within this group.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

As I have previously mentioned, I’m not a stranger to generalised anxiety; my own experience was yet another incentive to pursue this research, including methods to encourage self belief. All sport coaches would have observed that every beginner will have a different level of self belief,   A  “one size fits all” approach to teaching tennis to children who are beginners tends to leave behind any pupil who fails to maintain the pre-set median of progress for their class. 

The set standard usually favours those who are progressing at above a pre established rate. In this circumstance, those that have fallen behind may simply lose interest and drop out. 

It is important therefore, to look beyond the question of coordination and movement to interpret what may be a primarily psychological rather than a physiological factor affecting the rate of progress. This can then be interpreted as a need for pure encouragement, rather than stressing errors in technique. Look for any element of technique that is near to correct and offer congratulations. You may just intercept a “downward spiralling sense of failure”. 

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Thanks for  reading  these  notes  and  extracts.  I  hope it may one day incentivise the book’s purchase. No need to start saving up just yet, as there is still research to take place, updating to be made, intentionally limited research time, and no completion date! Hopefully the notes have provided “food for thought” among any tennis coaches that may read them. Should you be interested in learning more regarding my trips to Hopmans International Tennis Academy, along with some “happy snaps”, you could refer to my “Mini-Bio”. 

JOHN GEORGE

The above " Miscellaneous Extracts and Notes: Winning: It's all in the Mind" is Copyright and must not be reproduced or  copied in any form in whole or in part without the express written consent of the author.