As cliche as it has always sounded to me, “stay in the moment” has finally sunk into my thick skull.
I’ve been working on my own game with Michael Wayman, Men’s Head Coach at St. Mary’s College here in Moraga, CA., off and on for the past year, and Michael has really helped me with several specific areas of my
game, and possibly the most important one has been to tangibly understand “stay in the moment” along with “don’t live in the future”.
I’ve got to give full credit to Michael for helping me win the National 60 Hardcourt Singles title in early April 2009.
Living in the future for me was about what might happen in the next second or two. It was that short of a time frame.
For example, we were working on that situation where in a baseline rally you ’ve played a nice shot that has moved your opponent way out wide, they’ve scrambled out there just to get your shot back, and they’ve now left you with a relativley short ball somehwhere in the middle of your court that is just begging for you to take their shot early, and rob them of their time to get back into the court as you play an approach shot to
their open court.
And time after time, either in a match or on the practice court with Michael, I could find a way to miss this shot. That’s right, not even get it back in play…
And what Michael finally said to me was that just prior to the moment of contact with my approach shot, I was thinking a couple seconds ahead to the “result” of that approach shot.
And you know there are a million and one things that can go through your mind as it applies to what might happen in the next second or two.
It’s crazy…
Thinking ahead to the future was disrupting my ability to maintain good stroke mechanics including staying against the ball and not lifting up a hair too soon.
So we worked on “staying in the moment” with that approach shot, quickly setting up on balance as early as possible, taking as much time as I needed with the shot, and in fact, almost exaggerating staying against the contact point, and not thinking ahead.
And it’s tough to NOT think ahead. I believe it’s a learned skill for most of us.
It requires lots and lots of practice on the court and additional visualization time off of the court.
We’re so concerned about what’s about to happen in the future that we lose focus on taking care of business in that moment.
So for me what’s helped the most with this subject is to exaggerate staying down against the ball, to exaggerate not looking up too soon to see my shot, to have faith and trust that I don’t have to get rid of the ball, and to take enough time so I can “feel” this shot.
The more we think about future events with our shots, the less we apply good stroke mechanics.
And what are we talking here? A matter of nano seconds…
Practice this next time you’re on the court. Stay in the moment with your shot…
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Hi Brent, and thanks for all your tips, they’re really helpful! I’ve only been playing tennis for 9 months and every single tip you give helps me improve my game. I can’t believe how much my forehand groundstroke improve this weekend after reading your post about “staying in the moment”. I look at the ball as I’m hitting it and only concentrate on that during those couple of seconds, and my strokes just become so consistent, every one of them goes where I want them to go!
Thanks so much!
Kind Regards,
Pablo