You are always practicing, the question is what are you practicing!

"Practice makes perfect", that statement couldn't be more true but the question is what kind of perfection are you trying to attain?  If you think about it, perfection just like beauty is on the eye of the beholder.  We all write our stories in life and in our games, the question is how neat or messy will the handwriting be?


Let me start by giving you an example.  A player runs as hard as he can, hits a very good rally forehand, and then stops to watch the ball.

What has he practiced?
1) Movement to the ball -Good
2) Hitting the forehand- Good
3) Lack of recovery- Bad



Yes, he's practiced lack of recovery.  Coaches might argue that because he hasn't recovered he's not practicing anything at all, but in fact, he has.  By not recovering, he is developing a habit of not getting back and preparing to move for the subsequent shot .  Remember this and take it to the grave, everything we do is a build up of something.  Let me say that again, EVERYTHING WE DO IS A BUILD UP OF SOMETHING.  I hope that makes that very clear.

Humans are creatures of habit.  Whatever we do we tend to do it again.  When you are training serves and are working on hitting the ball with topspin (kick serve), you are developing that habit.  The more you do, the more your brain develops the idea of that particular movement in that situation.   When you are asked to hit the kick serve, the brain will send the message to the rest of the body and you will complete the action more often than not.  This is the fundamental way that motor skills work.  Behaviors, which are psychological thinking, work the same, exact way.  Players who get upset on the court, are practicing how to get upset on the court.  Those who show up late to practices are practicing to be late.  Everything that we do, from the way we move, to the way we think, to how we hit the ball is practice for the future.

Our players are taught and trained on every action on the court.  They begin by showing up on time.  This will make sure they develop that habit.  They go through their dynamic stretching at the beginning of practice which they will do every practice and before every match.  From there, they come in and we discuss the focus of the day.  This is how we prepare them mentally.  This will be the same in matches are we discuss the strategy and goals before their competition.  During their practices they are expected and encouraged to give 100% at all times.  This is the same that we expect on the match court.  The breaks we give the players are all 1 minute and 30 seconds the same that they have during their tournament matches.  The middle of practice, our players receive a 2 minute break.  Again, this is the break that they receive in matches in between sets.  This is just a few of the behaviors that our players are required to follow which will allow them to replicate when they play their tournaments.

What can you take out of this idea?  Think about where you want your game to go.  Do you see yourself as a aggressive baseliner?  Then act like an aggressive baseliner when you play.  Don't play defense and work as a coutner-puncher, as that is not what you want.  If you want to play professional tennis, make sure you are working hard ALL the time.  Otherwise, you will be practicing how not to work.  There is no such thing as an action that doesn't matter.  Everything you do will come back in the future and show its head again.  The question is, will it be an ugly head?