After we at the end of last year our mental expert Dr. Sebastian Altfeld , or rather, we'll get rid of Sebastian with the first mental tips for you. Training world champion - who doesn't know them? Or would you even belong to this category yourself, since you always succeed in training, but then not in the match? In this article, Sebastian explains why it is so extremely important for both your training, but especially for every match. what the difference between result goals and action goals is in the post as well as the elementary distinction between goals and wishes . Because the latter we have so many with tennis. And so that you can implement Sebastians mental tips very specifically, we have deposited a worksheet for you for download . So that training world champions can become real types of winners! Have lots of fun with it!
Actually a banal question right? Isn't it about going off the pitch as the winner in the end? But this is where it is often one who lies from a sports psychological perspective, classic reasons why players do not get to their performance and rather leave the court instead of joy. I think that every reader who actively beats the ball on the net has made one of the following goals at least once: "I want to win today", "I want to bring X* to bring in", "I want the number of unforced today Keep errors at X*, "I want to play the same today as last week", "I want to impress the audience today".
The press mostly speaks about players who won a match or tournament or have put on special statistics such as number of aces. So does it not make sense to do that?
From a sports psychological point of view, we want to approach this question and give a clear advice, which increases the likelihood of the personally maximum performance in one game or a training session. Because that's what everyone involved wants, right?
Therefore, this article is not only a tennis player for you, but also for trainers, board members and parents of young talents. I hope you take something important.
But let's start with the following question: What do the goals set from above have together? They are attractive and motivating. For this reason, it has already happened to every player that he pondered the night before a game about how it would be if the goal becomes a reality. How good it feels when the goal was reached and how others are happy. These are pleasant advantages of this type of goals.
In fact, there is another common ground: they include results or consequences. Want to win, achieve statistics, avoid mistakes, impress people or do not injure themselves, is called a "result goal" in sports psychological literature (e.g. Weinberg & Gould, 2000). Doesn't sound particularly exciting now
, but the knowledge of it can change a lot in the life of a play participant in relation to your own performance. At the top we have already named the beautiful advantages of this type of goal. Since every medal is known to have two sides, result goals must also have disadvantages. We can make it clearer of a thought experiment.
Let us assume that one player is doing that he wants to beat six again today because he did this last week. Now the opponent has adjusted to it and, moreover, is somehow not his day today. Until now, not a single ASS has been successful. What could happen if the player has not yet learned to deal with this situation in a targeted manner? He could start to annoy himself, cramp, lose the focus and choose and force surcharges, which in the current situation rather harm your own game. And "forcing" means choosing blows that have a lower chance of winning and that you would normally not choose.
Problem: This can be the beginning of a negative spiral that could be known to many active people. The worse blows lead to more dominance through the opponent in the rallies and thus more likely to the point for the other side. The frustration thus increases and the performance continues. Provided, of course, that you do not already have the skills to deal with this situation or other effects that suddenly let the game tip over.
For example, the player gets a simple point through a poorly played ball from the opponent. Or the opponent slips away and the blow from the baseline simply finds his goal. This situation that arose by chance could suddenly change the path of the game again and give security. But do we want to be dependent on this random moment?
The thought experiment should show one thing: setting a result for a performance situation like a game can lead to a strong feeling of pressure in the situation that can be reduced by performance. Especially when the result is in danger of the course of the game. Then there may be hesitant decisions
or decisions are being “forced”.
The same applies to school or other performance areas. For example, that a student tells the parents "Today I am guaranteed to write one" and then the following happens: The first task of class work is not immediately understood when reading it through. The likelihood of hustle and bustle that can have a negative impact on the further process increases by expecting beforehand.
But let's get back to the tennis and an important note. There are players who are intuitive to set themselves in an intuitive goal and may therefore read the previous one with astonishment. These people usually have already learned a valuable competence.
But first let's watch the second disadvantage, next to the pressure. The following question: What does it affect whether you make a point in tennis?
Here are a few factors: impact technique/ability, imposition, mind set, preparation of the blow, dealing with previous failures, position from the opponent, ball quality, type of substrate, disorders by spectators, referee decisions, chance, strength of the opponent and of course many still many more.
I hope we agree that these are all factors that have an impact on whether I do a point or not. The importance of a factor in every match is different. It is a difference, for example, whether I play against a person placed in position or against a person objectively weaker from the skill.
The much more important question is as follows: What factor does a player have 100 percent under control? If you go through the list, there are actually not so many factors left. And this is an important disadvantage of result goals: they are not 100 percent controllable. For this reason, I only speak of a wish from here. Reaching statistics, gaining a rallies or a match, impressing someone or even winning a tournament are wishes. You cannot be influenced by me alone. Even if we would like it.
But now I don't understand me wrong. Wishes are great. Because they motivate to go to training and work hard. They inspire top athletes to do without different things for a specific request in order to make the desire reality. That is why wishes are important. They help us stay on the ball.
But do we want to go to a match with wishes? Because here you can slow down our performance. Sure, they are motivating. But after motivating, sometimes it follows over -motivated. And we want to increase the likelihood of good performance?
The basketball trainer legend Dean Smith already knew this: “I Think IF You Talk About Winning As The End Result Too Much, It Interferes With Winning. I sack not to look at the score when I was coaching. Were We Playing Well? Were We Playing Hard? Let the score take care of itself ”.
For this reason, tennis players and trainers should do things for a match that players have 100 percent under control and focus on them. These goals are called "action goals".
For example, tennis players supervised by me, for example, do things like:
These are only individual examples. And a disadvantage is immediately apparent. Thinking or talking about these things is by no means as attractive as about wishes.
On the other hand, they help that we can only achieve the wish. They can be implemented independently of the result, do not make unnecessary pressure, in addition to the existing one, and only reflect on their own performance. The result is not the same as the performance! And this also applies in contexts such as school (e.g. grades).
So what should be taken with you: play participants should actually ask themselves the following question before a game or training. “What behavior do I have to show so that I have a positive influence on my request? What specific behavior do I want to show? What should I focus on? ”. There is only one problem. This is similar to changes in technology or specifications for tactics. In emotional situations we forget them very quickly. In addition, our head tends to jump into the result, especially in these situations. Unfortunately automatically and unnoticed. One reason why we have pressure: “It is particularly important today. Today nothing can go wrong "," Today I have the chance to win the tournament ". These are moments when players often change.
But how can you think about what focuses on in important situations? Through a written memory. Write your action goals somewhere so that they remind you when it comes down to it. For example on the drinking bottle or on the racket. If you want support, I have created a worksheet for practicing. You will find it for download via the QR code below. I hope the article will help you to notice at the next match what project you go on the court. Is it a wish or a goal?
Get the worksheet on this topic right away.
As a sports psychologist and psychotherapist, Sebsatian supports various competitive and professional athletes from different sports in dealing with performance pressure, stress and high demands. “Perform when the conditions are not optimal” and “be comfortable to feel uncomfortable” are his mottos. In addition to these activities, he is co-developer of the online program Ready2Perform ( www.ready2perform.de ) to impart skills in dealing with pressure to many people.
"There is no passion to be found in making yourself small and settling for a life that is less than what you are capable of living." -Nelson Mandela
The online course "Ready2Perform" ( www.ready2perform.de ) aims to give people the skills they need to master pressure or performance situations. It is aimed at people who need or want to demonstrate their skills in exams, performance tests, presentations or critical moments such as emergency situations or professional challenges. In moments like this, when what has been learned and trained has to be recalled, people often fail not because of a lack of knowledge or skills, but because of the effects of the pressure and the lack of skills in dealing with it. An increased heart rate, racing thoughts or strong feelings of insecurity can affect performance.
The "Ready2Perform" program, the costs of which can be fully covered by health insurance companies, focuses on preventing these detrimental consequences and enabling people to perform at their best even under pressure. However, “Ready2Perform” doesn’t just offer approaches for specific situations. What is learned serves to use these skills in everyday life and strengthens a person's resilience and psychological flexibility.
The online program “Ready2Perform” offers a mix of interactive teaching videos, practical experiments and understandable explanations to learn the necessary skills for dealing with pressure. The course consists of
So what are you waiting for? Would you like to become Ready2Perform?
Note on our own behalf: this article is not sponsored and we do not receive any commission. We got to know Sebastian's online course and himself and therefore recommend the course to you wholeheartedly.
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