Archive: Staying Positive
Choose to Be Optimistic
August 30, 2023At the beginning of a tennis match, you don’t actually know who will win. Based on rating or ranking, you may be able to make an educated guess as to who will emerge victorious, but there is no guarantee of that outcome. It is uncertain. How you feel about uncertainty, in tennis and in life, […]
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Momentum in Tennis
July 20, 2022Do you think momentum is a real thing in tennis? How about in other sports? I ask this question of you not as a fan, but as a player – as someone who lives through the competitive experience. Because a concept like momentum, whether you believe in it or not, comes down to how you […]
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The Necessity of Surrender for Growth
June 18, 2020The pursuit of mastery requires many things, but one of the most important is surrender, specifically, the necessity and willingness to surrender. It may sound strange, but surrender is actually necessary for victory. Now, this may be an unintuitive thought, but keep in mind what kind of surrendering we’re actually talking about. We don’t mean […]
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Why Play is Necessary and Good for Humankind
April 29, 2020Have you ever wondered just why it feels so good to participate in sport and competition? Besides being so fun and all. Well, it unsurprisingly has a lot to do with play. See, play, for all intents and purposes, is just awesome all around. It’s enjoyable, it’s liberating, it takes us outside the ‘ordinary’ world for just […]
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The Pursuit of Mastery: The Key to Happiness
April 1, 2020In this article, I’d like to address a thought many amateur athletes may have from time to time. That is what I’d like to call the “it-doesn’t-really-matter” thought. You might know just the thing I’m talking about. This is that rather seductive feeling that emerges when you’re really pushing yourself during your training sessions or […]
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Developing Coping Skills Through PERMA
March 25, 2020Living during a global pandemic certainly presents its share of challenges and stressors. How are you holding up? Admittedly, it’s not easy to be plucked out of our normal lives and placed into lockdown. We are all having to get used to different ways of doing things and taking care of ourselves. And you may […]
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The Most Important Point
March 28, 2019Note: Even though this post is written from the perspective of tennis, it applies to any sport in which the action can be broken down to the next play, the next pitch, the next possession, the next 1-on1 battle, the next move, the next moment, the next whatever. It’s always about what comes next. When […]
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Savoring Life – 50 for 50 Idea #49
December 31, 2018As 2018 winds down, it’s time to look ahead to 2019 and ways to make it a great year. Would you like to be happier in 2019? Of course, you would. So in the final 50 for 50 blog post of 2018, I want to share with you an evidence-based way of increasing your happiness […]
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Daily Inspirational Quotes – 50 for 50 Idea #31
September 21, 2018Everyone loves an profound or inspirational quote, so let me begin with one of my favorites. “People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.” -Samuel Johnson, English Author & Critic (1709-1784) That quote could probably be a blog post on its own, but I decided to use it here because […]
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50 for 50 Idea #20: Plan a trip to play your sport
May 18, 2018Whenever I travel, I like to pack my tennis racquets. In the last 20 years, I have been fortunate enough to visit many places in the United States as well as other countries. Of course, some of these trips have been for tennis competitions such as national tournaments and team events, so having my racquets […]
read more“Be Quiet!!!” – Develop a Mindset to Deal with Noise
June 2, 2015Ever find yourself wishing that someone would just be quiet while you’re performing? Recently, several people have asked me about how tennis players can deal more effectively with crowds or an unruly spectator so that performance is not affected in a negative way. In most sports, crowd noise tends to be less of a distraction […]
read more4 reasons not to get angry when you compete
April 10, 2015As a young tennis player, I had a bad temper. I didn’t like making mistakes. I didn’t like losing points. The root of my anger wasn’t a lack of emotional control, but rather because my thoughts were fixated on those mistakes and lost points, and that frustrated me greatly. If only I could be perfect […]
read moreWhat is your definition of success?
February 3, 2015This past weekend, I spoke to a group of dressage instructors/trainers at an educational conference in CT, and my topic was “How to be a Positive Coach.” While I don’t have much “street cred” in the horse world, I do have a good bit of experience and knowledge on coaching styles in both sports and […]
read more3 Things to Do When You’re Trying to Impress Your Coach
February 14, 2014It’s that time of the year in high school and college when practice for Spring sports is getting ready to start or has perhaps even just begun. It can be a nerve wracking time for some. There may be uncertainty as to whether you’ll play or where you might be in the lineup, and your […]
read more4 Things to Consider When Facing a Superior Opponent
February 4, 2014There are times in competition in which we face opponents who are better than we are. They may have a better record than us or perhaps they have more achievements. Regardless, that’s not nearly as important as how we react to the challenge of facing this opponent. In this type of matchup, our mental attitude […]
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