Mental preparation

Filippo Rotunno Asked 13 years ago

Dear Jeff and Alois

Can you explain why there are days when everything works. You can feel it from the moment that you start knocking at the table. You have the desire and the urge to compete and you know that your performance, regardless of the result, will hit the top of your capabalities.

There are instead other days when your body does not want to be there. Your mind says that you will lose and you cannot hit your bread and butter shots. You give away silly points by unforced arrors or freindly returns for your opponent to exploit. I have tried eating less, not eating at all, drinking strong coffee, motivating myself with songs but all to no avail. A kind of apathy and lethargy set in and there is nothing to change the pattern. So much so that I have started beleiving in the biorhythms theory i.e. that on certain days one side of you just does not perform. 

Any wonderful advice from either or both of you? It must have occurred to you too.

Kind regards

Filippo 

Alois Rosario Answered 13 years ago

Hi Filippo,

Tis is a very big question and if I had the outright answer to it I would be a very rich man!

I think it is important to accept that some days will be better than others.  You can work on some simple things like making sure your preparation is correct.  This means going through a routine that you know works for you.

You also need to take time during the games to get yourself into a good frame of mind by either calming yourself down or hyping yourself up to a level that you know that you play well at.

This comes with a lot of experience and heartache.

Find things that work for you and try to stick with them and then also accept that somedays things just don't work out. 

Take a look at other questions in our Ask the Coach section on Mental Preparation for some other ideas.