Mental Preparation and Training
Mental training is important for the athlete, whether striving to do his or her personal best or competing against others. When appropriate, athletes should practice mental imagery. The mind cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is imagined. Practice is practice, regardless of whether it is mental or physical. Ask the athlete to sit in a relaxed position, in a quiet place with few distractions. Tell the athlete to close his/her eyes and picture performing a particular skill. Each is seeing himself or herself on a large movie screen on the tennis court. Walk them through skills step by step. Use as much detail as possible, using words to elicit the senses of sight, hearing, touch and smell. Ask the athlete to repeat the image, picture rehearsing the skill successfully, even to the point of seeing the ball going over the net.
Some athletes need help to start the process. Others will learn to practice this way on their own. The link between performing skills in the mind and performing skills on the court may be hard to explain. However, the athlete who repeatedly imagines himself or herself correctly completing a skill and believing it to be true is more likely to make it happen. Whatever goes into one's mind and one's heart comes out in their actions.
