Mental Pre-Match Preparation

Below is a e-mail exchange where I answered a man's question on Pre-match preparation

I am preparing a talk on how top athletes mentally prepare for 
competition just before their matches. I would appreciate any specific 
examples coaches or players may be aware of.

Robert F. Heller,Ed.D.,ABPP,USPTA
The Winning Edge

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Robert,

There is only one Mental Pre-Match Preparation that works..awareness.

Not one minute, 10 minutes or 1 hour before the game, but all day,....... as a way of living life.

The athlete or professional can choose to live in awareness doing what they know to be right, each and every moment of their day, always objective to the distractions of the mental, Simply being aware of what they are doing now.

Everyone knows what is right for them to do in this moment, and they have the choice to do it, or to be lost in a mental or emotional distraction. All power comes from doing what you know is right, staying in this awareness; Not choosing to be lost in "Thought."

Then when you step on the court or field or into the arena, you carry with you a character that is charged and strong, not from weights, but from mental toughness in your whole life.

And when "Thoughts" try and sway you from this focus before or after the match, you do what you do in all your life, ...notice the "Thoughts" and bring your attention back to what you are doing.

The "Thoughts" try and distract a player in many ways. but it all comes down to a distraction. If a player buys into the "Thoughts" which try and distract them, not only are they not aware of what is going on, they are weighed down by subsequent false beliefs and feelings.

Case in point is the player who is up 5-1 in the second set. He chooses to be distracted by the lie "Thought" that he "has it won." Once this is believed he loses his awareness and power as he is believing a lie. It is not over and does not have it won, to believe otherwise is to believe a lie. Carrying this lie is an invisible weight that ruins games and lives.

The aware player hears that thought, knows it is a lie and goes back to the game at hand. So if they play and either win, or if the player does come back, they are not in a state of shock, nor do they feel the up and down of the experience.

With the score tied 5-5, the player is now getting lie "Thoughts" telling him so called good advice...... he notices these "Thoughts" without believing them and brings his attention back to the match.

Then when he is down 5-6 "Thoughts" come telling him he has "lost the set," he sees the "Thoughts" and lets them pass un believed.

Point is he is not being tossed around mentally or emotionally by the mental dialogue in the head. He is just aware playing. One cannot stop the dialogue in one's mind, but they can choose to let it pass UN believed...going back to being aware of what they are doing now.

But a person who day dreams and is lost in the "Thoughts" during the day believing the "Self talk," cannot before game time just turn it off.

Either you live in awareness and are not a puppet to the "Thoughts" "Emotions," and "Feelings," or you are a puppet.

The choice is each players, and what a person like your self can do is make the choice in your own life, regardless what your practice is.

Then when you speak it is clear and from a knowing instead of an intellectual theory.

Ryan
Ryan Wolfington
Living it

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I found Ryan's view of awareness as preparation and execution very
interesting. I would like to know some of the bases of his ideas.

Rick Johnson
Grosse Pointe Park, MI

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Rick,

The basis of my "Ideas" are my living it on a day to day basis. In life, as is on the field and court, are a number of challenges on a day to day basis, and either man is a winner in this arena or a failure.

To me tennis is just one aspect of the bigger game and one cannot check their character and ability to deal with life mentally at the gate. They bring it with them on the court.

If you are not a puppet to the "Thoughts," "Feelings" and "Images" off the court then you cannot be made to be a puppet on the court.

Choosing to be aware does not guarantee wins. It guarantees a satisfaction with oneself regardless of what the score is, and if you lose, at the least you know it was not due to a mental breakdown.

And long after the crowds go away a player has with them what had always made them great, their inner knowing and awareness.

Ryan
Ryan Wolfington

David Wrote:........"Yes...awareness itself is not a strategy or the result of being immersed in 
one. Awareness can lead to the use of a strategy or action. I don't think 
being aware is the "opposite" of strategy...they're just different aspects."

David,

Each person is aware of what they are led to do in each moment, leaving you with the choice to do what you know or to doubt it.


.....................Definition for Strategy- .............."A plan of action"



Being in a "Strategy" is not being intuitive. It is being in the mental, which is a choice.

But it is not the only choice.

One can choose to be objective to the mental as it comes to you in the form of "Thoughts", "Feelings" and "Images".....and let it pass UN believed.

Then in the moment an intuitive knowing of what is right is there to guide you, through this life and match, one leading at a time. Simple!

So simple.

But some people choose to be lost in the mental, strategizing and analyzing. All the while the ball passes by them.

Ryan

Hi Ryan,
I read your spot on tennisbiz.
What you said .... is so good.......so right.
I feel the same way. I have recently started this philosphy of just "let
it flow" and its fun and relaxing and I've been hitting unbelievable
shots.
thanks
Sandy