3 WAYS TO TAKE MAXIMUM ADVANTAGE OF COVID-19

Are you looking for a way to improve your tennis in a big way? I mean making huge fundamental improvements to your game almost overnight? Sounds too good to be true but it's possible, particularly in light of the global epidemic we are all feeling the effects of now. 

It seems that something called Post Trauma Growth may be the solution in your quest to become better at anything, significantly better!  

As the term suggests, it's a  period of growth that occurs after you experience a significant trauma in your life.

We're all feeling the effects of COVID-19. Some are affected more than others financially, while many are also affected physically. Some have lost friends or family to the virus, and literally, millions of people have lost their jobs and are out of work, uncertain about their future job prospects and in providing for their loved ones. 

Make no mistake, these are traumatic times for many millions of people across the globe.

The world has faced trauma's on a scale like this before. The Great World Wars of 1914-18, and 1939-45, plunged the entire world into bitter conflict, whereby millions of people died fighting to retain their freedom and the freedom of the generations to follow. Dire times indeed.

There have also been other epidemics. The great plague that swept London in 1665 killed a quarter of London's population. 

Within the general population, there will be some people who will thrive post-COVID-19 and others who will succumb to the weight of their problems. But tennis players are not normal people. We live in a world where adversity is normal, it's what we expect in every match, and we have developed tremendous resolve and the skills to navigate problems and to find ways to win. 

So how do we use trauma and adversity associated with the present COVID-19?  

 

1. SERIOUSLY CHALLENGE YOUR PRESENT UNDERSTANDING

What COVID-19 has shown us is that shit happens, and that life, in general, is extremely unpredictable. Acknowledge the possibility that your earlier perceptions about your tennis could in fact be not helping or even completely wrong.

We can't presume that what we believed to be true before, is in fact true anymore. But rather than that being a bad thing, I believe that it's empowering and even life-changing.

The beliefs you hold onto in your tennis may be just the things that need to be reassessed and perhaps reset in order to get your game to the next level. If you are stuck at #10 in the rankings in your province, state, or country pre-COVID-19, would it not make sense that to resume doing the same things based on the same assumptions would not help you improve your rankings any more than they did previously?

These changes can occur all over your game, but you've got to be ruthless with yourself, all those things you believed to be true about your game, and the way you prepared for matches, played matches and analyzed the results may need to change.

This is an unprecedented opportunity to reset your tennis game. You're not starting again, you're taking everything you were doing pre-COVID-19 and looking for ways to improve it.

2. OVERWHELM YOUR CAPACITY TO COPE

Any improvement you gain from Post Traumatic Growth will come from the fact that you have been overwhelmed by a situation to such an extent that you can do one of two things, give up, or find a better way!

That's quite a sobering thought. Not so many people can take the death of a loved one, or the loss of their job, and not only find their way out of the dark tunnel but even create a positive outcome from the situation. Most people will succumb to negativity and resort to blaming other outside factors for their situation.

The reality is that we can thrive if we stay positive.

The key understanding here is that with adversity comes clarity... but only if you allow adversity to be your guide and learn to embrace it

In tennis terms, you need to put yourself "up against the wall" at every opportunity. That means subjecting yourself to high levels of pressure, quick decision making, and a realistic match-play environment as often as possible. Overwhelm yourself with these factors to the point that you almost can't cope with them. That's when the learning and the adaption begins. so long as you stay positive and are prepared to learn.

3. DESTROY YOUR ILLUSIONS OF SAFE OUTCOMES

Safe outcomes don't exist in tennis. You win, or you lose, you are good enough to win, or you are not.  If your are in a "safe outcomes" mindset you are probably losing matches you should be winning.

This means that the really successful tennis players, the ones that keep winning, have been able to create a "take no prisoners" mindset. There was only winning.

Again, to know what works in matches and what doesn't, you will have to put yourself under similar pressure as happens in a real match and be ruthless with your analysis of what you need to improve on. You can not give yourself the luxury of imagining a safe outcome (not losing) in your practice session nor your matches. Put yourself "in front of a gun"!

Marat Safin became the number 1 male player in the world in 2000. His sister Dinara Safina also became the number 1 female player in the world a few years later. They are the only brother and sister duo in tennis to have both achieved the number 1 rankings. That's an amazing feat. Wouldn't it be interesting to see what sort of background they came out of, and what motivated them both to be so successful?

I witnessed their family dynamic several times. I was present at tournaments they played in and where their mother was present. It was ugly!

To say that their mother was demanding would be the understatement of the year. Her presence at courtside during matches something to behold, she kept up a constant barrage of insults and criticism that kept Dinara in tears for most of her matches. Nothing was ever going to be good enough. It was ugly and it was personal.

I have seen this type of parent succeed in taking their child(ren) to the top often. It never has a good outcome after the player retires, usually, the parent and child relationship is destroyed beyond repair, but during their time playing competitively, the player achieves amazing results.

I put this down to the player not having "Safe Outcomes", meaning each match is a battle with severe outcomes attached to losing or not playing well. there is only winning and winning well.

Safe outcomes include a mindset such as  "I can see the improvement in my game, even though I lost today". and "My opponent was much older, bigger, and stronger than me". To the Safin family, that type of mindset didn't exist.

To a father that has lost his job and doesn't know where money will come from to feed his family, or a family suffering a bereavement, there are no safe outcomes either. 

Improving our tennis through post-trauma growth is certainly tough. But it's a real thing and we can, however, learn an important takeaway from the phenomenon, which is;

What doesn't kill us can only make us stronger, so long as you stay positive and adapt