Sticking with the driving metaphors… This concept also comes from Tim Elmore’s Blog, Growing Leaders. In Tim’s book, which I highly recommend Habitudes for the Journey he explains this concept of Windshields & Rearview Mirrors. Basically when you drive a car you can see behind you through the rearview mirror and in front of you through the windshield. The rearview mirror is wonderful to glance at to see where you have been but spend too much time gazing behind you and you end up crashing! When driving a car it is definitely best to focus on what is in front of you. The same is true for life.
What a profound metaphor for a tennis athlete as well. It never hurts to glance back at past accomplishments and successes because they can help you in understanding where you have been and where you are going. However, it is best to focus most of your attention on looking ahead to what is to come. This mindset sets the stage for a wonderful source of energy and long-term motivation. It also keeps focus on the process of getting better day-in and day-out.
I follow a blog written by Tim Elmore entitled Growing Leaders. It is full of wisdom for parents, coaches and anyone who works with young people. I read a lot of Tim’s work because he is all about developing leadership skills for future generations. A lot of his work fits in with my coaching philosophy.
PA Turnpike Toll Ticket
Recently he wrote a blog post where he introduces this concept of Tollbooths versus Roadblocks. I thought this was such a great metaphor for a developing tennis player and I want to share it with you. I am not going to steal Tim’s words so here is an excerpt from his original blog post.
As we move through various stages of our lives, we reach junctions—points of transition—where we must shift gears and slow down. Suddenly, we realize we have to pay a price to proceed. It’s like a tollbooth. The price might be a tough decision we must make or a situation we must leave behind; it may mean a class we must take or a job we must quit. For many, it could be a career that won’t seem to launch as we had planned. It can be anything that is costly to us. It’s at these moments that we discover that the junction will either become a tollbooth or a roadblock. We either choose to pay the price…or we can’t find it in ourselves to do what is hard. And we get stuck. – Tim Elmore
After reading this I hope you see how it fits in with a developing player. Each athlete is on their own journey with a unique destination. Some want to play high school tennis, some win a junior tournament, others secure a college scholarship, or maybe even compete professionally. Regardless of the desired destination they are all on a journey to get there and along the way there will be sacrifices to be made and tolls to be paid. If players look at these points where they have switch gears and slow down as tollbooths versus roadblocks that will stop them forever they’ll keep growing and developing. They will also learn a valuable life lesson. Some tolls or sacrifices will have a higher price than others but knowing it is something they must do to continue on their journey is a great long-term motivator. Thank you Tim for posting this on your blog it is a wonderful metaphor.
Have you ever had a great idea but never did anything with it? What is it that separates a person with a great idea from the person who turns their idea into reality? ACTION, plain and simple. Action is the only thing that separates someone with a great idea into someone who turns a great idea into a reality. So many people have great ideas but they are afraid to take action on them because they are afraid to fail. I have had all kinds of great ideas like this website or my tennis camp and I would be lying to you if I said I was not afraid to put myself out there but I decided to take action anyway. Sure I messed up a ton of stuff along the way, my old website alone looked archaic compared to this one and the instruction at tennis camp continues to get better each day. In the process I have learned a ton and taking action on ideas has become easier and easier and my ideas get bigger and bigger. For example, I will have a published book coming out on youth fitness this fall!
So you are probably wondering what does all this have to do with tennis or fitness? Well I want to share with you my recipe for getting people to stop being fearful and take action. My formula is simple, I create a sense of urgency to take action.
A very wise tennis coach by the name of Vesa Ponkka explains the environment he tries to create for developing tennis players as one where they have “plenty of time, but no time to waste.” That phrase is pure genius because it provide the two necessary things to be motivated to take action daily, yet not be crippled by the fear of failure. When someone feels a sense of urgency, like they have no time to waste, they take immediate action. When your car breaks down you have to get around so you take urgent action to get it fixed. It becomes the #1 priority. When you know someone else is working hard and is competing to beat you to the finish line it becomes very clear you cannot procrastinate and must begin taking action right now. A sense of urgency is a great motivator both short and long-term. At the same time when you know that the finish line is not in the immediate future but a far off long-range one you also feel as though you can have setbacks and failures along the way without them being detrimental to your progress. Collecting failures is a necessary part of the process, just as a baby fails many times before they can walk on their own. It is this sense of having plenty of time that diminishes the fear of failing along the way.
So if you want to lose weight, get lean, become stronger, or improve your tennis game all you really need to do is take action. Not just take action once but take action on a daily basis with a sense of urgency while at the same time realizing you have plenty of time to reach your goal and a failure or two along the way is part of the process. As Coach Vesa Ponkka says, “take action as through you have plenty of time, but no time to waste.”
Do you play tennis or are you atennis player? I think there are some distinct differences between the two. In my opinion, those who play tennis are focused mainly on participation goals. I should note right here that there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG with having goals like being a part of the team, using tennis as a means to exercise, or playing socially. In fact, I think participation goals are wonderful for children and adults in more ways than I can count. However, participation goals should not be mixed up with performance goals that a tennis player is striving for. Performance goals are what make tennis players, well players, and include things like starting on the varsity tennis team, winning a particular tournament, or striving for a certain rating or ranking. Becoming a tennis player takes a deeper level of commitment, work, and sacrifices than just playing tennis.
To conclude this post I want to let you know that playing tennis or being a tennis player are both very valuable things. I have coached people who are focused on simply playing tennis for exercise and other participation goals. These people have learned a ton of life lessons through the sport of tennis and then applied them to different areas of their lives. I have also coached players who focus heavily on performance goals. These players have improved and also learned valuable life lessons.
Neither is right or wrong, in fact, they are both wonderful avenues to pursue the world greatest game, at least in my humble opinion. Knowing the difference between the two, the choice is up to you whether you want to simply play tennis or train to become a tennis player?
I have been called many things in my lifetime, husband, brother, Mr. Slezak, a few others names I won’t put in the blog (just kidding), and a coach. The term coach means a lot to me and I am actually honored when someone calls me by it. I am sure as you are reading this a picture of a coach from your past comes to mind, maybe a person who really helped you along or a bad youth experience. I know I have had both of those in my life. By definition a coach is someone who is responsible for the direction, instruction, and training of a sports team or individual. To me a coach is much more than just that one dimensional definition.
The truly great coaches like UCLA’s John Wooden, basketball’s Phil Jackson, and Clemson’s Chuck Kriese develop more than just sports skills, they shape the entire life of their athletes. To them it is not just about sport performance (wins/losses) it is about developing the person. Great coaches simply use their sport as the means to teach young men and women life lessons. Sports are such an outstanding metaphore for life and this is why I believe tennis can have such a positive impact on the lives of young people whether they dream of playing professional tennis or just enjoying the game recreationally.
People wonder how I have seemingly endless energy to coach tennis and train athletes. I literally get excited to train high level athletes and 5-year-old beginners to the same extent. Sure I know a ton about my discipline but what really gets me excited is knowing that I can have a positive impact on a person’s life regardless of their age or ability. When you look at coaching like that how can you not get excited? Tennis and fitness are simply the means with which I teach young people. Certainly the job is to get them bigger, faster, stronger, and playing great tennis but it becomes much more meaningful when you are developing the person along the journey.
So the next time you call me or someone “coach” think about what the term really means. Think about the message that coach is sending to your child when you drop them off. When you start to see coaching through that lens it becomes very clear how to distinguish a good coach from a great coach.
I do not have kids yet but I already have dreams of Little Alex Jr. picking tennis as his favorite sport, holding all kinds of trophies, and being ranked #1 in the world at the age of 10. Then the other day I was reading a new book about motor learning and it really made me have some deep thoughts about my dream. I know my book choices may be a bit nerdy but I love reading stuff that helps me become a better teacher or coach. Anyway, my deep thoughts came from this section where the author basically explained that young athletes with a great deal of success early on in their junior career are typically not the ones who make it to the elite levels of the game. Now common sense would lead one to believe that if they were #1 in the world at the age of 10 the potential to be #1 in the world as a professional is certainly there. However, this early success turned to elite professional success scenario rarely happens and it really comes down to a pretty simple concept of learning and improving.
So lets imagine Alex Jr. is #1 in the world at the age of 10. He obviously has figured some things out and has learned how to win. The problem lies in human nature telling us to cling to safety. You see because he has achieved so much and obviously what he is doing is working causes him tend to cling to what has worked in the past in his training. The old saying, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” comes to mind. What if Alex Jr. always spent all his time training technique on the tennis court because that is what he had initial success with? Then his strength, power and overall athletic development would suffer in the long run because he did not put in any work off the court. What if his serve technique was slightly flawed and he never took the time to correct it because the serve was good enough to get him all the wins and #1 ranking? Then long-term his flawed technique would eventually catch up with him and his peers would surpass him. The truth is that early success and clinging to what got a player that early success is going to eventually be what hampers continued growth and improvement. This is a product oriented mentality, meaning it is all about winning and results. This is in opposition to a process oriented mentality, meaning always trying to learn and improve regardless of the outcome or product.
My dream has changed for Little Alex Jr., I want him to be good at tennis but not the best, especially at a young age. I want him to have to struggle, lose a few matches, and respond by continually looking to get better. I want him to focus on the process of getting better each and every day and knowing sometimes he has to go out of his comfort zone to do it. Finally, I want him to be focused on his long-term development as a tennis player. I think those are the attributes the greats of the game have and that is where I really would dream of him being. They are also the attributes I approach my coaching career with.
Now if you are fortunate enough to have a young child be very successful at a young age I think with the right guidance and grounded roots they can harness that early success into long-term success. It will not be easy but with the right guidance, focusing on the process over the product, and looking forward to continually getting better I think it can be done.
Fun, enjoyment and love of the game should always be at the core of a tennis player’s development regardless of age or competitive level. I think unfortunately sometimes players, parents and coaches get too caught up in last tournament loss, the team record or training simply to win. Don’t get me wrong I think competing and setting performance goals are incredibly important but at the root of it all players need to be having fun, loving the game, and doing it for the “right” internally motivated reasons.
Truth be told the best players have a common trait and that is their love of the game. Listen to the next interview from Roger Federer, Nadal, Novak or Serena Williams during the French Open and you will see what I mean, they love the game. Just last night a reporter asked Roger Federer about retiring and he gracefully answered by saying something to the effect that he still has so much love, passion and respect for the game which motivates him to still give so much in both his training and competition he is not ready to walk away. Now there is a man who has won more big tournaments than anyone in history and made hundreds of millions of dollars and even after all of that Roger is playing the game for the “right” reasons and still having fun doing so.
Tennis at high school, college and higher levels takes hours upon hours of technical work, practice matches, strategic training, and even tough off court physical training and the only reason I can think that someone would be motivated to put in that much hard work is because they love what they are doing. That doesn’t mean that they necessarily love running hill sprints or playing practice sets in the middle of a hot summer day. In fact, they probably do not love that but they do love playing tennis so they are internally motivated to do whatever it takes to be the best they can be at what they love.
Players, parents, and coaches please try not to lose sight of the fact that tennis is a game and it should be fun. You will be surprised how quickly you will improve when you start focusing on the internal reasons why you play the game versus the external reasons like winning and rankings. As my friend Chuck Kriese says, “The moment junior players start worrying about their ranking is the moment they stop getting better at tennis.”
Coach Kyle Bailey was on my friend Chuck Kriese’s American Tennis Radio Show today talking about the recruiting in college tennis. He was also kind enough to share his College Recruiting Timeline with all the critical steps. This information is pure gold if you or your son/daughter will attempt to secure a scholarship. As you’ll find out and as Coach Bailey says, “You have to look for the fit that fits you.”
Someone recently asked me what makes tennis different than other individual lifetime sports like swimming, running, biking, or even bowling. I’ll share my answer to that question right here. I have a passionate and maybe biased answer but tennis does have two very unique properties over most sports.
First, I want you to think about tennis compared to those other sports I listed above. In most of those individual sports you are really competing against yourself or the clock. Runners, swimmers and bikers are in a race against others but really they are competing against the clock. In bowling there is not clock but really you are competing against yourself. In tennis when you walk out on the court against an opponent you are about to compete in combat. There is no clock and you are not competing against yourself. In fact, I like to think of it as civilized combat because your goal is to defeat your opponent without touching them.
Second, tennis has the most unique scoring system in the world. I say that not because of the 15, 30, 40, Deuce system, which by the way that comes from a clock dial. Originally they used an old broken clock to keep track of the score for spectators. One player had the hour hand and the other the minute hand. They would move the hands around the clock as points were won. Deuce was when it was tied at 40-40 and they would move the clock hands to the 50 mark for Ad-In and Ad-Out. Now moving past that little history lesson the scoring system is unique because in order to win you have to learn how to group points together. More specifically you have to learn how to win points in groups of 2’s and 3’s. It is incredibly unique and really makes a player utilize their mind along with their athletic ability. This is the exact reason why tennis is such a mental game. You are trying to win points in groups and your opponent is trying to do everything they can to stop that from happening and vice-versa.
There you have it tennis is a highly combative, mentally engaging, and athletically demanding sport. This is why it takes 10 plus years to really get good at the game because there are so many areas to develop. My good friend Coach Chuck Kriese has a saying, “Easy to pick up is easy to put down, hard to pick up is hard to put down.” I think that sums up best why you see people playing tennis and even attempting to master tennis for an entire lifetime.
Foam rollers have swept the nation and are all over gyms and fitness centers. In what I have seen the majority of the population has no idea how to effectively use them and that is a shame because the benefits are emourmous. Foam rolling, self-massage or scientifically appropriate Self-Myofascial Release (SMR) have become a go to for elite athletes and fitness enthusiasts who are serious about taking care of their bodies. In this post I want to explain what response using SMR elicits and then I’ll provide a video of my own daily routine because a picture is worth 1,000 words.
To be pretty blunt, the first couple of times you use a foam roller correctly it can be downright uncomfortable, but do not let that be a deterrent to all its benefits. All the discomfort just shows you how tense and tight your soft tissues really are. When looking at the big picture your muscles need to be both strong and pliable at the same time. Strong muscles without pliability leads to limited mobility. On the other side of the coin pliable muscles with no strength leads to a whole host of other joint integrity problems. Lets assume you are like the majority of the population and have strong muscles but are lacking pliability. Training or sitting in the same postures all day cause your muscles to always be turned on and hold tension which leads to stiff tissues. Now traditionally people have gone out and stretched to improve tissue quality and this can certainly help but stretching is mainly focused on the length of the tissue. SMR methods are after something very different, they are after improved muscle tone.
How Does SMR Improve Muscle Tone?
Foam rollers, tennis balls, and lacrosse balls all allow you to turn down muscle tone by a nerdy term called, autogenic inhibition. Even more nerdy is that inside your muscle you have receptors called Golgi Tendon Organs. To over simplify, the Golgi Tendon Organ tells the body how much tension is in a given muscle at any given time. When the tension inside a muscle becomes too great, to the point of possible injury like rupturing a tendon, the Golgi send a message to the Muscle Spindles to relax the muscle to prevent injury. The process that protects the muscles and tendons from injury is autogenic inhibition.
So when you put a muscle with high tone on something with a focal point of pressure like a foam roller or lacrosse ball you create autogenic inhibition and the Golgi Tendon Organ sends a message to the muscle spindles to relax the muscle. If you perform these techniques regularly over time the overall tone of the muscle is lowered and you end up with more pliable tissue. In addition, if you do SMR regularly you also get the benefits of breaking down accumulated soft-tissue adhesions, scar tissue, and increasing blood flow to muscles but those topics could be a whole other blog post!
Now you can get the similar results with treatments such as deep tissue message or active release treatments but honestly who gets these done on a regular basis besides professional athletes? So doing some SMR work regularly gives you an effective, convenient and inexpensive method to improve the quality of your soft tissues. I like to think of it as a poor man’s massage.
This literally is just the tip of the iceberg on this topic and the interrelationship with mobility and posture. However, for your viewing pleasure below is a video of my SMR routine. The routine is pretty comprehensive but you may want to spend more time on certain areas where you have greater tension than me. Also realize that I have been doing this for a long time and my tissue quality is pretty good so this is mainly a maintenance program for me. If you are new stick with it and over time you will see amazing differences in your tissue quality.
To wrap this post up here are some instances when you would NOT want to do SMR techniques. Those would include performing it on recently injured areas, over boney areas/joints, over areas with circulatory problems or areas of chronic pain caused by something like fibromyalgia. For the youth reading this blog, I typically begin using these methods around the age of 14-15. This is not the magic age where tissue quality starts to decline but instead I like to introduce the methods so they get to practice them and make them a part of their training routine as it becomes more and more important with age.
If you are interested in buying one I have been impressed with the quality of this Foam Roller by OPTP.
