How Do Our Brains Discriminate This Information Wrongly?

Our coordination is based in some brain circuits which originate and parse out the timing signals for activation and release of our muscles.  Our motor planning and sequencing process does the parsing so that each muscle is activated or released in the correct order for our movements to occur. The more precise those master timing brain circuits, the more precise is our motor planning and sequencing process, and the better is our coordination.

If our master brain timing circuits are not very precise our brain’s motor planning and sequencing circuits cannot keep up with the volume of (visual as well as auditory and kinesthetic) data being received, so they miss some of the data and fill in some data which our brain has made up (extrapolated) from the data that was perceived. If our brain’s master timing circuits are not very precise, many of the things we think we see are made up and filled in by our brain. So, we think we see one thing and the reality can be different.

It’s In The Flipping Cards

Do you remember seeing a series of drawings on a deck of cards being slowly flipped so that your brain sees the artwork moving like a cartoon? That’s how our brain processes the images it has to manage from the real world. It sees a series of frames. And, depending on the precision of your master brain timing circuits, your brain can process anywhere between 10 and 30 frames per second.

How About A Golf Story?

I worked with a golf professional to improve his rhythm and timing. He was not a tour pro. He operated a golf course and he trained golfers. He had a very busy training schedule and he never even had time to play a round of golf during the 6 weeks that we worked together. He did hit a bucket of balls each week, so he knew that his swing and his accuracy improved over the course of his training with me. I had secretly hoped that his golf scores would improve so that I had referral information about using this training to improve golf play. But the surprise was that his golf training students dramatically improved their results during and after his rhythm and timing training with me.

What happened was that he was processing about 15 frames per second as we started and was processing almost 30 frames per second when we finished. This means that for an average golf swing of one of his students, he was seeing perhaps 7 frames when he started the training with me. He was seeing about 15 frames per swing as he finished getting his own rhythm and timing circuits fine tuned with me.

Actually Seeing More Of The Cards

Because he was seeing more of the frames of his students swing, he was able to make more fine discriminations of his student’s movements. He was able to actually see more of what had been happening with his students swing, so he was able to make more fine and more appropriate distinctions of the movements in his student’s swings.

This means that his brain was not giving him as much ‘made up’ information as before. Because he had more precise information about the swing, he was able to give more precise training interventions and his students were able to dramatically improve their own golf scores.

Getting The Right Information Makes All The Difference

Challenging the Line Judge’s calls is tricky business when you didn’t actually ‘see’ where the ball landed. Many times in the matches at the US Open this year, we see a player challenge when a ball is called ‘in’ because they perceived that the ball was ‘out.’ And when the replay shows us that the ball was straddling the line, it is easy to come to the conclusion that the challenging player needs to improve their basic rhythm and timing brain circuits.

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The problem is that most people aren’t doing proper warm-ups before playing tennis. Most people just stretch out their muscles because that is what they are taught to do. In reality, this is the worst thing you can do for your muscles before an active workout. Imagine your muscles as if they are rubber bands. If you stretch a rubber band too far too quickly it could easily snap. Yet if you stretch it gradually, a little bit each day, it will become more stretchable and flexible. It just takes time.

But before you start playing tennis, you don’t need to stretch. You need to warm your muscles up and get blood flowing to them so they’re ready for some intense activity. This is called dynamic stretching, or active dynamic warm-up. Basically, instead of stretching out the muscles, you are moving them so they are prepared for activity.

Some dynamic stretches you can do are:

*Light walking or jogging for five minutes

*Knee Hugs-walking by hugging each knee to your chest

*Arm circles

*Jumping jacks

Doing mock tennis moves also counts as dynamic stretching. Mocking hitting the ball with a variety of swings will prepare your muscles even better for playing. It is advised to do as much dynamic stretching as possible before every game or training session. But make sure to do it within thirty minutes of playing, as the benefits of the warm up will wear out with 30 minutes of inactivity.

Now when it comes to the cool down, this is a different story. If you have no intention of going to play more later in the day, then a static stretch, or cool down stretch, is important. This will help slow down your muscles without bringing them to a complete halt, and slowly removing the lactic acid your activity has build up in your muscles. Without stretching after your workout, your muscles will feel sore.

Some static stretches you can do are:

*Lunges-one foot forward, other leg stretched back, trying to press heel to the floor. Make sure front knee does not go beyond the toe, as this could injure the knee.

*Arm crossovers-one arm across the chest, the other arm holds and pushes it back

*Hand down spine-one arm overhead, hand going back on the spine, other hand gently pulls on the elbow

*Touch your toes-can be done sitting down or standing up. Each stretches the muscles differently.

Warming up and cooling down are integral parts of playing any sport. They are meant to prepare your muscles for active workouts and to relieve them from the stress they endured during the workout. Doing these will minimize the risk of injury.

Remember that dynamic stretching goes before you work out, and static stretching comes afterward. If you feel pain at any moment, cease stretching or working out and let the muscle rest. If it persists, seek medical assistance.

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So, parents, here is a great tip to tell your children, just before they go out on the tennis court to play match.

* win the first two points of every game.

* hit two balls to the backhand, then one to the forehand.

By telling children to focus on just these two simple things, they now have a plan. When times get tough in the match they have a friend. Their plan.

People learning to play tennis do not have distinct strengths and weaknesses, therefore your opponent of equal ability really has no massive strength or no massive weakness. Therefore a basic plan really focussing on yourself will be the most effective.

Let’s talk about the two tips in more detail.

Win the first two points of every game. This actually applies to players at every level however it is very important to beginners who need to understand the importance of getting in front in an individual game. Beginners in particular are more likely to have a negative reaction to losing the first two points. They are more likely to throw the towel in, have a tantrum, drop their bundle. Especially kids. Therefore if you can focus on winning the first two points they may be handed the rest of the game with easy points.

Hit two balls to their backhand, then one to their forehand. the goal of this tip is to basically have some direction with every shot that they hit. So many kids just hit the ball aimlessly. Everybody needs direction with every shot. In actual fact, it doesn’t matter where the ball ended up, just as long as you have a plan. I have chosen to to the backhand won to the forehand because usually players backhands are weaker than their forehands. If there is an obvious weakness, play two shots to that side and one to the strong side.

Recently I saw a great example of this work. The standard of the two young players was very similar. Before the match I told his father, to tell his son, to concentrate on those two tips. During the match, the opponent became very annoying on court. He was screaming “come on” on a double fault. For an innocent ten-year old this is very distracting. By having the basic plan – this gave him direction during hard times. He was able to focus during a very distracting match and beat this opponent.

Let me know what you think !! Enjoy, Michael

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It is impossible, nor is it recommended that you stay focused during the whole match. You need to have many breaks, in between points. The challenge, is to regain a high level of concentration quickly at the start of each point.

A technique, I am sure that you have seen the professionals do, is to maintain straight strings in your racquet. Keeping your strings straight makes very little physical difference, however is a great concentration technique.

You will see top players continually straightening their strings before each point. While they are straightening their strings their concentration is very focused. It gives them place for their eyes to focus while they think about the next point and how they going to execute their plan.

If you stick to this technique is easy to see when you are not concentrating. If you look down at your racquet, notice that all your strings are not straight, you need to concentrate more and take more time before points.

Try it out and let me know how you go!

Michael

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During the match is the time to EXECUTE everything that you have thought about before the match.

What am I talking about?? Ok. Before a match you would have trained and practiced. You would have worked on your technique across all your shots. You would have found great rythm on your serve and ground strokes. You also should have developed a clear plan / strategy on how you are going to play this match. Plan A and Plan B.

Do you see what I refer to when I say THINKING? During a match is the time to EXECUTE all these things. Forget about technique, you can not change that in a match. Forget about rhythm – it is your opponents objective to ensure you get no rhythm! Also forget about strategy.. it is pretty tough to work out a solid plan when you are in the middle of a match. Before the match is the time for that.

So, during the match you are relaxed and free to only think about executing your PLAN to beat this opponent. Focus on your plan, have confidence in your plan and most importantly STICK TO IT. Give your plan time to work.

So many people come into a match with a plan and then get discouraged because they are down in the first set. They go to plan B, which also fails.. What happens then? Then they are totally lost. When you are totally lost you are hitting balls aimlessly and points have less meaning. Then what do you start to think of? …. Technique, or creating plan C. During that time, game after game is slipping away and ultimately the match.

IF you PREPARE your plan well, be confident to EXECUTE it. Sometimes your plan may take a few games or set to take effect.

THINK before a match EXECUTE during the match..

Michael

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The drill goes like this.

What you need – 2 players. One Serving and the other Receiving. 2 balls – one for the server and one for the receiver.

1. The Receiver starts the drill by bouncing a ball on their racquet, not letting it touch the ground.
2. The server serves another ball whenever he or she is ready. – Second Serve speed – about 80% serve.
3. The receiver must continue to keep bouncing the ball on their racquet, hit the ball the server served and continue bouncing the ball on their racquet.

It sounds difficult however you work it out after a few serves. What I worked out is – tap the ball gently only leaving the racquet about 1 foot. Just after the server makes contact with the ball tap the ball higher (not sure how high I was not watching the ball in the air – I was focussing on the return- maybe 3 meters)

This really trains you to work on your peripheral vision and after a while you are actually become quite relaxed and confident you can make the return and keep bouncing the ball on your racquet.

After you have finished that drill try hitting normal returns… How easy are they now !!!

By overloading your system you work on all your senses. An advanced version of this would be to have people throwing balls at you, random noise next to you, or obstacles you need to step around. When all these distractions are taken away and ‘all’ you have to do is hit a return it much easier !

What do you think? Leave a comment or let us know another drill you like and use

Michael

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Ok, firstly anxiety and nerves are slightly different things.
Anxiety is where you are looking forward to achieving a particular outcome in the future. The frustrating part about anxiety is that you are basically waiting for a ‘time’ to achieve it. For example a match on the weekend, in a few hours etc. Usually anxiety goes away once the match has started and you are able to do something about the outcome.
During a match or just before anxiety is usually replaced by nerves. So, what are these nerves? A definition of nerves is: ‘the gap between what needs to be done and what you believe you can do’.

Nerves are good – it mean that you care about the outcome !
Again, ‘what needs to be done’ – beat this opponent, play strong, volley well, work out how to beat someone.
The next part – ‘what you believe you can do’ – can you beat this opponent, play well etc. The closer your ‘belief’ on your ability to ‘achieve’ what needs to be done the less nerves you should have…. Never thought about it that way? The nerves are proportional to the size of the gap! Examples
If you are confident you can beat someone you might be slightly anxious to do it – but not nervous.
If you think you are going to loose, and are sure you can achieve loosing well you wont be nervous. (being negative – but proving a point)
If you are playing a good player of similar standard however you are feeling a little rusty, well you might feel nervous about how you will perform on the day.
How do you reduce nervousness?? Increase confidence. How do you increase confidence? Be confident in your preparation leading into the match. Your fitness, technique, routines etc.
If you are well prepared, confident with what you have done before the match you should be less nervous.
Preparation is something you can work on to reduce anxiety ! It makes you already in control of the outcome – preparing yourself. Now do you see how they fit together?? Interesting…
There also other tips for confidence like strategy and mental rehersal – that is going to be in another article!!
Have a great day !! Michael

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However, does that win matches? Unfortunately the answer most of the time is no. The chances of hitting winners all match is very low. The risk of these attempted winners becoming unforced errors is very high. Some players, sometimes will hit winners shot after shot, however usually that will only last a few points or games. Maybe they can keep it up for a set, but not likely for a whole match.

I am considering a winner to be one where you have executed a shot at about 95%, it would need to be close to the lines and unreachable by your opponent.

So when is the best time to go for a winner? Hmmm, tough question..

Some would think – when you have a decent lead on the opponent. However you should never change a winning game. You should be closing the match out not handing points back to them.

Maybe, if you have little or no chance of winning the point so it is ‘do or die’. Clean winner or loose the point. However if you dont go for a winner and give the opponent another shot – they might make an error on their shot or play a weak shot so you can recover. So really you MAY still win the point.

If you have a short ball and maneuvered your opponent out of court, a high percentage winner is a good shot selection !

Maybe the secret is Winners in Moderation..

Let me know your thoughts… Winners feel great, they get the crowd excited but do they win matches?

Something to think about !! Sign up to ensure you do not miss the Daily Tennis Tips. Please contact us with comments, suggestions, topics etc.

Until Tomorrow !! Michael

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Well here is a tip. Pretend, in your mind that your towel is your new best friend and coach. Take him or her with you all over the court. Your towel follows you down each end of the court and every time you need a chat do it! (You can actually wipe your face and forearms with it too !)

It may sound strange, but by talking to your towel – probably not too loud – you are actually talking to your self, and having to construct your thoughts in a coherent way. Therefore the jumbled ideas in your head become clearer. Listening to yourself or asking yourself questions, you WILL give your self answers.

There is a great book called ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’ and early in the book it talks about Self One and Self Two. You become the player and the coach. Talk about what to do next, if you are feeling tired etc. IT is also a way for you to ‘vent’ and become more relaxed afterward.

By talking to the towel you start to ask the coach in you clear questions and YOU WILL get answers. Remember not to talk too loud, maybe you dont need to actually say anything out loud, but just go through the process and see how that goes !

Thanks for listening and keep the feedback coming in.. It is great to hear !!

Michael

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Focus on making no unforced errors. In the warmup you should be looking for your opponents weaknesses and not letting them see any of yours. Focus on not having any balls sitting on your side of the net.

After warming up your ground strokes be the first to come into the net to warm up your volleys. This shows that you are happy with your ground strokes and are moving on. You are already starting to control the match.

After you have practiced your serves to first court be the first to change sides and serve to second court.

Finally, when you are practicing your serves to second court offer to start the match before the opponent. “Are you Ready?”

This is what I call win the warm up. You are already focusing your attention to the job at hand AND you are already appearing like a solid opponent who is already in control and knows what they want.

Keep that momentum going and win the first game, serving or receiving, it sets a nice tone for the match !!

Enjoy and keep improving. Dont forget to Sign Up to ensure you do not miss a Tip!

You never know, the next tip could be the difference between winning and loosing your next match!

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