Carmel Racquet Club

 

Manuel's Mental Tips by Manuel Tuveri

Controlling your Emotions During Competition

Are your emotions controlling your game? What do you feel? Where are your “vibrations” centered? Do you feel a “heavy chest” while competing? 
 

Here are a few ways to control, identify, and channel your emotions:

1. BREATHING exercises. Since emotions can change the way you breathe, control your feelings by paying attention to your breathing pattern. For example, being scared or angry can affect the way you breath and consequently the way your muscles contract.  Here is an easy exercise that you can perform even in between points: take a deep breath for 4 seconds, hold it for 7, and exhale through your mouth for 8. Repeat for a maximum of 3 times in a row.

2. VISUAL skills. You can start by generating images in your head.  You could imagine watching yourself playing one or two points. Picture yourself executing one or two GREAT points using all the shots, especially the ones that often give you trouble. See yourself performing at your very best and at the same time your “heavy chest” will start to feel less heavy (you are relaxing and the anxiety is leaving your body)

3. AUDITORY system.  Ask the heavy chest to speak to you and listen to what it has to say.  You might hear it saying "I'm feeling scared”.  At that point, imagine the worst thing that could happen: You can lose the match/game. Put things in prospective and redirect your thoughts towards the present time. REMEMBER: play in the present!

4. KINESTHETIC perception (sensation and feelings of movement). Try to feel what you are doing. Each time you perform, you get an internal feedback and sometimes your perception of your strokes, patterns, movement could be wrong (your body is lying to you). Practice this internal feedback during training and try to determine if your perceptions are accurate.

Tennis player Roger Federer spent quite some time practicing mental skills and emotion control. Once known for his impulsive temper, he attributes his successful career partly to becoming calm. He recently said: “Took me a long time to figure out that staying calm was going to be better for my game than not. I only realized that only about at 20 years old. A long time coming sometimes”.  

 

Previous Mental Tips:

1. Solutions for Bad Tennis Days

Would you like to learn more about mental toughness? Would you like to read the unedited, full version of this article? Interested in learning anxiety control techniques? Contact Manuel Tuveri, clinical therapist, mental conditioning consultant: mtuveri@hotmail.com Phone: (317) 844-1177, ext. 29.