- My opinion is that as a rule on the court, desirable behaviors and commitment should be reinforced.
- The athlete should understand that only if he/she is committed will he/she be able to learn and enjoy playing tennis.
- So feedback should be given first on commitment and then on technical quality.
- You could do drills where you say, “The purpose of this drill is to challenge you and teach you to react positively to the mistakes you will make.”
- The goal is to always show a positive approach to the game. You can say that at the end of each exercise they should always take a deep breath and repeat aloud what they need to do to do well in the next exercise.
- You can also have a competition where the person who was most positive in his or her reactions wins.
- Another way might be to stop a negative reaction right away, reminding them what they should do to be positive and stimulating them to do it right away and only then resume the exercise.
- This allows the young person to understand that how he acts influences how he prepares for the next action. And that when he is negative with himself, he does not do well afterwards.
- Teach how to prepare after a break. For example, if what you say is: stay dynamic, take a certain body position (or whatever). I would have this preparation performed before starting.
- The same goes for closed skills in sports. The serve in volleyball, penalty in soccer, free throw in basketball and could be a deep breath and mentally repeat the technical gesture (or other) and then have them perform a few times without really serving but just to teach how to serve this approach.
