The high performer

This is a message of love. I hope it comes across this way. Buddhists say that there are three poisons that produce suffering: greed, hatred and ignorance. I have seen and experienced suffering in tennis more than once, in myself and also in the families that bring kids into this sport with very high expectations. However, I believe that with knowledge and wisdom we have a better chance to avoid unnecessary suffering.

One of the fundamental attributes of performing at the highest level is the sense of autonomy and responsibility that a high performer acquires throughout their development.
The journey to get to that level of maturity is a long one and it takes a whole environment and a team of people to help a young athlete to develop their best self and the necessary autonomy to be self reliant. Development is not a linear logical process - it takes time, motivation and effort to learn basic things such as practicing with the correct quality and intensity. Spending time on the court or having more private attention is not always the solution, since kids very often are not prepared to absorb or implement the information they are receiving in a more complex setting.

It all comes to what the ultimate goal is. Be a great player or be a great human that plays great tennis. I want, as a coach, to do what I think is the right thing for the young players and for me the goal is to help them to get inspiration, so they learn to love what they do in order to develop the most of their potential as an athlete and as a human being. It is about the journey inside.
Quick results can be achieved with hard imposed discipline. To develop a happy person that achieves greatness takes a lot more than that. It takes passion and passion comes from the inside. I believe that the challenge is to find the spark inside to light up the dreams. Dreams produce the energy to pursue big goals and there is where the intensity comes from. If that energy comes from outside in form of fear, the player never learns to ignite their own source.
In training the goal is to achieve good intensity and motivation. For how long? That will vary over the weeks, stages, age, etc.
The word “Authority” comes from the latin “Augeo” and one of its meanings is helping somebody to grow. And in order to help a kid to grow two things are necessary: “love and wisdom”.

Together with nature or genetics, nurture or environment have the power to both, enhance or diminish the capacity to develop high performance. Success will be determined by how we create an internal and an environmental climate that supports the interaction between the athlete, their natural skills and the environment they are exposed to. So one of the monumental tasks is our skills to align coaches, families and training environment towards a common goal.

Evolve Your Game!