Resilience and Tennis players

Resilience is one of the cornerstones of development of a tennis player. According to Carlos Cuadrado, Tennis Australia’s former National Academy coach, Spain offers the right atmosphere to develop this trait in younger tennis players. Cuadrado believes that this is because in Spain, hard work and lack of taking something for granted worked in tandem to help players push themselves amid hearty competition.

Yet, Cuadrado adds that resilience could also be developed among other players who do not hail from Spain, and as such, belonged to countries where competitive spirit was not so pronounced even as comfortableness was on display more. Cuadrado speaks about the following six aspects that could hone resilience among non-Spanish players. Broadly though, these factors are just the template, and need to be adjusted uniquely to suit an individual player’s needs:  

Humility

The first step to becoming resilient is to be aware of the situation that a player is trying to supersede. Cuadrado points out that this awareness could only be possible if the player showed humility. Such humility is also two-fold: in not only accepting the situation but also in knowing how it came to pass in the first place. Lack of humility in such circumstance would only fuel negativity in the player’s mind leaving him unable to get past the obstacle.

Avoiding taking things for granted

Cuadrado says that players, while accepting of the inputs they receive when it comes to developing their game, should also not take these inputs for granted. Doing so would not help them understand the value of these inputs which would be detrimental to them when they take to the court.

Parental Support

Cuadrado states that parents, too, play an important role in shaping up the formative years of a tennis player. Parents’ roles extend to that of the coach at home through encouragement and motivation instead of bringing down players’ morale by pessimistic and discouraging talk. Watching these behavioural displays from their parents would also prompt the students to behave similarly, thereby affecting their mindsets.

Generating Competitiveness

All actions lead to an end goal. Cuadrado opines that with forming a tennis player, instilling competitiveness among the youngsters is a good tactic to keep them motivated to achieve their goal. Such competitiveness can be imparted by setting up short-and long-term challenges for the youngsters to tackle, and thereby improve.

Furtherance through pushing oneself

Conversations help, says Cuadrado, giving the example of Toni Nadal’s conversational pick-me-ups with his nephew, Rafael, whom he coached up to the end of the 2017 season. In terms of conversations, Cuadrado says that coaches need to help the players to push themselves to better themselves. Doing so, will help the players think for themselves in tougher outings thereby helping them to find their resilient selves.

Striking a balance

As with anything in life, balance is key to finding one’s resilience. Cuadrado says that when it comes to moulding tennis players’ resilience, balance needs to be struck between competition and training. If one weighs the other down in terms of quantity, impairing the players’ development.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2OY844C