Second Serve Tennis

The Tennis Mind - Part 2

• Second Serve with Carolyn Roach & Erin Conigliaro • Episode 300

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Do you get upset about bad line calls? Do you need help with your mental game?

We were thrilled to have Christine from The Tennis Mind here to give us a few tips on the mental game! If would like to contact Christine please email cwatson908@gmail.com.

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Carolyn:

Hi, this is Carolyn and I'm here with Erin. And this is part two of our conversation with Christine from the Tennis Mind about the mental game. If you would like to hear about common issues adult recreational players have, please check out part one. But here is part two. Christine, I remember discussing with you my issues about bad line calls. And sometimes I'll go to a bad place mentally, um, not outwardly, when someone makes a few bad line calls. And I remember you telling me that I have no control over the calls that they make and that I needed to take responsibility for how I react to the bad line calls.

Christine:

Well, and the other thing with that specifically is that, you know, it does it change how you feel or change your feel your anger if you're thinking they're doing the best they can and they just didn't see it, you know, they didn't see it the same as you, or they're trying to cheat you and steal and take and win the game by being a cheater. You know, when you think about those, those are just two completely different thoughts that if you think one way, it's enraging, it's a justice issue. You've got to make that right. That's not fair. Or they're doing the best they can and you know they're trying to be fair. And most of the time, people are trying to be fair, they don't aren't malicious about their line calls. Every now and then you're gonna come across someone who is trying to cheat. And that's okay too. There's not much you can do about that. But yes, it's just coming back to what can I control? And because if you get angry and then that affects how you play, then you're essentially handing over the match and saying, All right, you can have it now because I'm mad at you. You know, it doesn't, it doesn't serve you at all. But it's hard. It believe me, I've dealt with that plenty too. So yeah, it is hard, very hard. And one one last tip that I have is to come into the match with one thought ready to go. Because a lot of times, you know, almost every match I have, I'm gonna have a low point or where I'm struggling. Either I'm losing or I'm not playing my best or I need to refocus. And so for me, it's very, very simple. It's about bringing everything back to just the simplicity of why I'm out there. And I'll literally look at the ball, whether I'm getting ready to serve or I'm watching my opponent serve, and I watch her toss the ball, and I'll look at the ball and I'll say, I get to hit this ball. Wow, how fun is that? That's it. That's what I tell myself when I'm struggling, when I'm losing, when I'm not playing my best. And I get back to why I'm out there, which is to hit the yellow ball across the net. And when you get that basic, it's hard to take it that seriously because it's like I'm hitting a yellow ball, you know. So then I can relax my body and I take a deep breath and I can literally feel my body relaxing. And I may not win, it may not change anything, but at least it kind of helps me reset and get back to where I'm enjoying the match because I now enjoy my matches whether I win or lose. It doesn't, the the win is also it's really fun, but it doesn't have to happen in order for me to enjoy the match. So those would be the three things, you know, kind of recognizing your higher brain versus your lower brain, deciding which one you want to uh listen to, and then having the self-confidence going into the match, not waiting until you win to think you're to think you're able to have confidence, but going in before, knowing you're gonna be okay no matter what, and then going in with a thought that that you believe. You can't just go in with something that says, okay, I'm gonna beat them no matter what. You know, you have to have a thought that you believe, because if you don't believe it, it's just gonna fall. It's it's gonna fall flat and it's not gonna help you. So those would be three tips I would give for for players.

Erin:

And that all sounds to me like all of those are just prep work, mental prep work before you go into it. And I would be someone that would write that on a card and probably bring it out right before and just, you know, like or or in a changeover, because we know matches change from not only game to game, but like point to point and set to set, right? So I would be that person that would, and I used to have little, um, when I was a two-five, I had things like, you know, remember to brush up on the ball or like the technique kind of stuff. But now that I've played forever and I have the techniques, it's the mental stuff. So I would write those on a card and like read them either but right before a match or during the match, if things are going south, you know?

Christine:

That's such a great idea because when you get in the heat of the moment and we all get in the weeds of our own brain. You know, I even have a coach. I know the stuff inside and out, and I recognize my higher brain and my lower brain and all of that, and I know how to teach it. But sometimes I'm so entrenched in it that I kind of lose it and I think I can't recover from this. What am I gonna do? I have a coach that can help me get out of the weeds of my own life, you know, whatever it is, whether it's on the court or off the court. And so that's where I can be helpful is that, you know, it's it's like it's so simple. I just need to change this thought. It's not always that simple. It is that simple, but it's not always that easy because it's hard when you when you're believing something and you're in the middle of a match and you've missed, you know, you've double faulted a whole game away, you're thinking, I don't have a serve. Where did it go? I can't get it back. In the moment, sometimes it just feels very hard to get out of that. But it is just a matter of shifting that that thought work. And uh it's just it's so important. And I think having those those cards is a it that's a great way to just remind yourself. It's kind of like your little coach while you're on the, you know, on the bench sitting, you know, during the changeovers.

Carolyn:

Christine, I love that the way you do this because you coached Aaron and I, and you coached us as individuals and then as partners. And I think that's great that you do this. Can you talk a little bit about how you coach players?

Christine:

Yeah, I actually have a bunch of different packages that I offer. And it while, you know, I coach individuals, doubles partners, whole groups, and then teams. And while each of them are a unique experience, I teach the same thought tools and for everybody. So whether you come to me as an individual or a doubles pair or a team, I'm gonna teach you those skills to self-coach because I really think it's important that you're not dependent on me, that you're not thinking, oh, I need Christine because I'm losing it. There are gonna be times when you're in the weeds and you may need, you know, I need a session because I'm struggling to find my way out of this. Totally get that. But day in and day out, I want you guys to feel empowered. I want my clients to feel empowered to be able to make their own thought changes in the moment or before or after a match. And so what's important for me is teaching those skills, no matter how I teach it, no matter what the package looks like. So with individuals, they tend to come to me when they're in a rut or maybe they've lost the joy of the game, you know, they're struggling, like, this just isn't fine for me anymore. I don't know why, I'm frustrated all the time. You know, I work with them personally and help them kind of work through the thoughts that they're having and how can I help them see that, you know, tennis can be so fun all the time, no matter what, you know, and to help them figure out why they're struggling. So, and those packages can range from just, you know, range from three to 10 sessions or more, or it can be long-term, short-term. I work, I'm very flexible about those. And then for the doubles partnerships, those are fun because you're working with two people and kind of helping them gel together. And I have what I call a mini package for them. And it's just three sessions. I do one, and this is what you guys experience. So you I did one personally, a private session with each one of you, and then we come together and have one session as a team. And that's where we work on strategies and and kind of sharing each other's thoughts and becoming more aware of how each of you are thinking so that you can help and you can support each other and actually grow more and have more fun on the court. Instead of bickering or getting mad or not understanding each other, you know, that's that's what you see a lot, is especially as you start to play together a lot, you become like sisters or family or a married couple and you want to, you know, it it just gets a little you get a little harder on yourselves and each other. So that's super fun. And and it's always when I work one-on-one, or when I work with you guys as individuals, a lot of times, sometimes people will, the partner will say, Well, if they would just do this or that, and I get frustrated when it's never about the other person, it's always about you, you know, and so that's what we talk about in your private session, and but it's also a confidential thing. So I'm not gonna go and say, Oh, well, Aaron, guess what Carolyn said about Carol?

Erin:

Let me tell you what Aaron said.

Christine:

It's not about that. So it's really about bringing a cohesive team together and having more fun and winning more. So I love working with doubles partners. And then I also, one thing that was really successful when I was in Texas is I would work with whole groups where anywhere from six to 20 people, somewhere in that range. But I would get with the teaching pros and we would the the teaching pro would maybe spend 45 minutes or so doing running the running everyone through drills, doing strategies for singles or doubles or whatever. And um, then we would come off court and I'd spend about 30 minutes working on the mental game. So, you know, if there's ever a teaching pro that's interested, they can just reach out to me and we can set something up. So it's usually about like a two to three hour workshop, super fun, very low-key, but you you can learn a lot of skills that way. And then the last way that I work with people is if a full team wants to work with me, let's say they're prepping for a season, like combo season's getting ready to start. Like if there's a combo team that really wanted to try and do their best as a whole team, they can hire me to work with them. Or if let's say you do well and you're what you're going to states or sectionals or something, they can hire me. And we work together. And I coach them as a big group. I teach them strategies, I teach them how to coach themselves. So they're all kind of following the same um mental game together. There's a lot of ways that I work with people, but it all comes down to teaching them the thought tools that I have, teaching them how to self-coach and how to manage their thoughts before, during, and after a match. So I enjoy all of it. I think it's super fun and just love working with the tennis players in any of those capacities.

Erin:

Yeah, I love all of those ways. But I think working with a team is would be so beneficial because every individual has their own idea of what the successful team looks like, right? So the captain might have formed a team and is like, we're going to states. Someone else might be on it just to be like, I'm just here to have fun. I want to meet people, you know, like everyone has their own goals. But I think coaching as a team gets everyone on the same page, which I think that would be wildly successful for teams. We have a lot of really strong teams in our area that tend to, you know, a lot of them tend to, or a lot of the same teams tend to go to states, but um, maybe can't get over that hump of like winning states and getting to sectionals or nationals. And I know people have those aspirations, but that would be such a great way to work with, you know, not just in our obviously everywhere, but yeah, it gets everyone on the same page, you know.

Christine:

And you don't even need to have the same goal, you know, like there might be a couple of people on the team that are like, I just like these people and that's okay, but how are you working and working towards what you want and getting fulfilled by your participation on the team, you know? And so it a lot of times there's there's there can be so much drama with, oh, well, they're playing the, you know, the the certain people get all these matches and other people don't get very many, or the lines, oh, I'm playing line three again, or you know, it there can be so much drama, and it's really about removing that. And those are all just thoughts that we're having of, oh, I'm not good enough, or oh, they think they're better. It's removing that, and then you can all achieve your goals together, even if they're slightly different. And so, yeah, but I agree with you being open about what your thoughts are and understanding them, sharing them, supporting each other and whatever you guys want to achieve as a team, it's super, super powerful. I like that.

Carolyn:

Oh, this is also good. I I also just wanted to mention um Christine sometimes says little things that help you a lot and you don't realize it. So I when I spoke with you, Christine, I had just lost a match where I was up five zero in the second set and I lost the match. And I remember talking to you about it because I was so upset that I had gotten up and then had lost the match. And you you had told me, well, how great is it that you were up five zero in a match? And I remember thinking, that's such a great point. I had never thought about that. I was just thinking about I need to quit adult recreational tennis because I blew this so badly. Right.

Erin:

Yeah, you know, it's her lower brain goes gets big.

Carolyn:

Yeah, it does, right? You're like out, it grows, especially in singles, not so much in doubles, but in singles, it is coming out.

Christine:

Right. I think it's punching you in the face. Yeah. Yes, yeah, and it's more just recognizing that. It's you know, you had five great games in a row. How awesome is that, you know? And I think for you in that situation, too, when other people are starting to come back, which what's happening is that they're relaxing, thinking, resigned that they're gonna lose, they start playing better naturally. It happens, it happens all the time, and people creep back in, and then suddenly your brain is chirping at you. And but it's not, it's not recognizing that, hey, I just did a great thing. And so what? If they're coming back, they're coming back. But it's it's just because your brain is shifting and their brain is shifting, they're relaxing, you're getting tight, all of a sudden, you know, there's these expectations. So many things can go on in our brain, and it's that would be a perfect example of okay, this is a yellow ball. I get to hit this ball. How fun is that? You know, that's what but it's hard when you're in the middle of it, and you're like, why are you so stupid? And why are you, you know, why can't you just hit the ball? I was up a set and four love in a match. This is what I would consider the worst match I've ever played. A singles set and for love, winning easily, and the same thing that you, Carolyn. Suddenly, she didn't do anything different. I just suddenly I couldn't serve in the box. I couldn't hit any ball in the box. I wasn't even trying anything special. I just went off the rails. This was before I was a coach. I could have sure used my coaching back then. Ended up losing this match. I think it was a match I needed to win. I needed one match to win at this specific tournament in order to make it to the state championships in Texas. It's a big deal. Tournaments are a big deal there. Lost this match, and I was beside myself. I was just like, I don't know how I did that. And today I would look at it and just say, you know, it happens. It happens. But hopefully I would have my thoughts better and check that hopefully I could prevent it from happening, but I won't always be able to do that. And then knowing that I'm gonna be okay no matter what, it goes back to that. And not let myself feel disappointed. But it happens to all of us, I promise.

Carolyn:

Thanks again to Christine for being on the podcast. We have one more episode with Christine where she will give mental tips for doubles. If you'd like to contact Christine, we've included her information in our show notes. Thanks so much for listening and hope to see you on the court soon.