Signs of Perfectionism in Tennis
Perfectionist tennis kids can often make tennis too complex.
They can be over-analytical about their own performance, think too much, and worry too much about fixing mistakes. All of these mindsets cause tennis players to lose confidence and under-perform in matches even though they may look like stars in practice.
Tim Gallwey was a coach who was one of the pioneers in sports psychology. Tim wrote the popular “Inner Game” series beginning with his classic book, The Inner Game of Tennis, released in the 1970s. If you have not yet read The Inner Game of Tennis, I recommend you do so. Tim’s principles are relevant even today.
Tim contends that when players perform at their peak, the mind is quiet and they experience minimal self-interference. They allow themselves to perform without self-criticism or over-analysis.
According to this inner game theory, two contrasting mindsets are always battling for supremacy. This is sort of a “right brain/left brain” theory.
When kids’ minds are quiet and they allow their performance to flow from creativity, they can get into a state of “flow.” However, when kids’ minds are overactive and critical, they force their performance by trying too hard. Their game is awkward at best.
The perfectionist mind is too overactive and self-critical.
Watch this video to find out if your tennis kids have the signs of perfectionism.
I’ll be offering tennis confidence videos soon to help players, coaches, and parents improve their mental game of tennis.
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