How your child preps themselves for a match can have a big impact on how they perform. One thing that I see all the time is that kids psych themselves out by thinking it should be an easy match, and then they get SUPER nervous and end up either winning a long close match that should have been easy or losing against this person they “should have” beaten. The same thing happens on the opposite side of the spectrum. A child thinks they have no chance so they never mentally show up to the match and end up just getting wiped off the court. Meanwhile, had they put their full effort into the match they could have put pressure on their opponent and possibly come out with a big win. In this article, we will go over how your child should think about upcoming matches as well as how to prep for them to make sure they have a fallback plan if things start to go wrong.
What NOT to think about when preparing for a match
It is just as important to not think about the wrong things as much as it is important to think about the right things before a match.
This match will be easy
Thinking a match will be easy is always a big mistake. You never know when your child will have an off day or when an opponent will play their best. If your child starts to think a match will be easy and it’s not, it can be easy for your child to then downward spiral with negative self-talk. If something was supposed to be easy and now it’s not, all of a sudden your child will be second guessing themselves which is the opposite of what any athlete wants in a competition.
I have no chance to win
Going into a match thinking “I have no chance of winning” is a recipe for wasted time. More often than not if a kid thinks they can not win they give up before the match even starts and then get blown away, learning nothing from the experience. You can sometimes avoid this by not letting your child see who they are playing in the first round.
The person I’m playing is seeded
Unless your child is playing in the highest level tournaments your section has to offer; seeding normally doesn’t mean all that much. Often players are seeded just because they’ve played a couple more tournaments than everyone else. So make sure your child doesn’t get too stressed out about playing the top seed. You can avoid this by not letting your child see who they are playing in the first round, so they go in without thinking about who they are playing. Keep in mind this isn’t always the best since they can start thinking of strategies if they know who the player is.
I must win
Winning is without a doubt important in any sport. But, fixating on it only puts added pressure on your child and can lead to poor strategy and wild shots. I’ve watched many kids fixate on winning trying just to hit winners and beat themselves with unforced errors. Meanwhile, had they just focused on the match instead of winning they would have cut down on unforced errors and probably would have won the match.
I must not lose
When nervous, this tends to be the default setting for most kids. They start pushing, trying their best to just not lose instead of trying to play smart and win. While this type of play can work, it does not help your child get better and often only leads to frustration and a sour taste even if they win the match.
What to focus on
Doing their best and taking opportunities
One of the best things your child can do is just focus on taking opportunities. If they can do this during their matches, they will learn how to truly start playing tennis and improve at a much greater rate. They will get better by learning what is a good opportunity ball that they can attack and what is not. Thinking about this can also take pressure off them during the match since they are not too focused on winning or losing but more on just playing well and improving.
Fallback Strategy
Your child should have a fallback strategy in case things start to get tough and they get nervous. A fallback strategy will take pressure off your child since they won’t have as much to think about and can easily transition into it if things go awry. The strategy shouldn’t be complicated and can be something as simple as hit every ball to the opponent’s backhand or move your opponent around.
Optional
If your kid is working on something specific during their lessons, such as coming up to the net, then they can focus on working that. This also takes the pressure of winning or losing off of them and allows them to focus on getting better which will be great for them in the long run.
Preparation
It is easy to just tell your child what to and what not to think about before a match, but it is MUCH harder to execute. For them to implement what was talked about, in this post, both you and your kid need to prep for the match correctly. First, you need to think about their fall back strategy. To create this you and your child should focus on their strengths. If they have a great forehand, then maybe their strategy should be to run around every backhand and hit it to their opponent’s backhand. If your child has a great net game then maybe the strategy is to get to the net as soon as possible. Keep the strategy simple and base it off their strengths. Second, try to get their mind off winning and losing. To do this, you need to try to focus their attention elsewhere and try to underplay the importance of winning or losing. You can focus their attention on anything from coming up to the net to looking for opportunity balls. Just make sure the focus is on something that will make them better by working on it. Lastly, as a bonus, if they have any information on their opponent then you and your child can start to create an initial strategy to use against them. This is not a replacement for the fallback strategy but an initial strategy to get your child thinking about how to play their opponent.
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