#07 HABIT FOR OVERCOMING ADVERSITY

Posted on 20 September, 2016

Quote Emilio Sánchez Vicario for overcoming Adversity

By Emilio Sánchez Vicario, CEO & Founder at Sánchez-Casal Academy.

# 7 Control your breathing to find your “Actual State”, and always take your time.

Breathing is an involuntary action. We don’t consciously think about inhaling and exhaling every time we do it. But in sport, we can use certain breathing techniques voluntarily that allow us to breathe deeper and improve the oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange. These breathing techniques can be key to how well a player performs, and can even lead them to victory in competitive sports.

I have discussed it many times with Miquel Oca from our Sports Sciences department. Miquel is a fantastic climber and he has told me a story which he witnessed a while ago on one of his climbing trips.

There is a popular climbing exercise which involves facing a wall and climbing up to the top without stopping. A climber accompanying Miquel decided to attempt the exercise, but as soon as he stepped up onto the wall and started to climb, his body tensed up and his breathing suddenly quickened. He took his first step hanging from the hold, started to make his way upwards, and after two or three meters passed the rope through the first carabiner. It was then that Miquel noticed that he was very nervous: his breathing was short, he was hyperventilating then holding in his breath until the rope was firmly attached to the carabiner. He then shouted down to his friend below, who was making sure that the rope was tense and that he was hanging correctly. This same dynamic was repeated until he arrived at the top, tired and angry.

It wasn’t that it was a difficult wall – the climber was more than experienced enough to get to the top without stopping – but he didn’t manage to complete his objective.

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He then tried a second time, but in this attempt, went with a completely new method. After tying the rope and stepping onto the rock, he closed his eyes, took three deep breaths and started to climb. His movements were fluid – it didn’t look like he was trying, but dancing across the wall. He got to the first carabiner and passed the rope through. Miquel, listening to his breaths, heard that the climber was exhaling heavily as if this time, he was listening closely to his breathing. He passed the rope through and carried on upwards, his breathing always accompanying him. From time to time he let his arm fall to his side and shook it gently while he looked upwards, on to the next objective. He heard him shouting two or three times, shouts of encouragement when the hold was really complicated. He worked his way up without stopping, and he achieved his aim.

So what happened the first time he tried? What had prevented him carrying out the exercise successfully? Miquel told me that, from the very beginning, his climber friend was only thinking about what would happen if he made a mistake and fell. He stopped at the first carabiner and his frustration prevented him from being able to face up to the rest of the route. He was nervous throughout the whole exercise, he didn’t control his breathing and he didn’t use even one break to look upwards and mentally mark out the next steps that he had ahead of him in order to reach the next carabiner. The result was that his steps were unstable and he had to make a lot of effort to stop himself from falling.

It was then that I realized for the first time the great similarity between this climber’s experience and those of our players at the Academy. Firstly, the climber was too focused on his fear of falling, causing him to freeze up after his first mistake. He wasn’t able to take the time to visualize his next steps, and didn’t have any control over his breathing.

This is common in all sport, and certainly common in tennis. There are players who are dominated by the fear of winning or losing. Players who when their opponents slip ahead of them, they change completely and it’s as if all their talent has dissipated. Players, who when they mess up an easy ball they can’t stop thinking about how or why they made the mistake, and about all ‘the bad things’ that are going to happen because of their error. Players that during rest breaks just complain about how bad they are playing and the referee’s latest decisions. Simply, players who make the mistake of breathing quickly and superficially instead of controlling their breathing and focusing on their next move, end up rushing and committing errors.

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The second time he tried, the climber was able to achieve his goal. He took his time breathing and visualizing how he would face the wall in front of him. When the holds were good, he continued breathing, doing all the exercises that helped him to focus his attention and create a mental plan of his next steps. When he made mistakes, he gave himself encouragement. Throughout the whole process he matched his breathing with his steps and listened to each breath to concentrate on his movements and not on his fears. This attitude helped him to overcome his difficulties and reach his objective.

There is a great parallel between this climber’s experience and tennis. Our players learn to be able to control their breathing in key moments during the game, breathe deeply, and with the help of quick rest breaks, concentrate on what they are doing and in how they are going to play according to the specifics of the game and their rival. When we see them matching their breathing with their technical steps and taking the time necessary to find their “Actual State”, we know that everything is going well.

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Controlling timing and breathing are two habits which we can utilize to overcome difficult situations. If our players manage to accomplish it, they might win or they might lose, but at least they will be learning and enjoying the game. In the end, this is the key to success.

Thanks to Miquel Oca, co-author of this post.

Emilio Sánchez Vicario
CEO & Founder at Sánchez-Casal Academy

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Attention, a powerful tool for athletic performance

Posted on 13 September, 2016

By Mónica Monserrat, Psychologist at Sánchez-Casal Academy

In sport today, there is one fundamental variable for reaching sporting success which is more important than technical skills and tactics. It is the psychological process of attention: by exercising optimum control over their attention, players can obtain the best possible results in competition. Only when the player is capable of maintaining and focusing attention on the execution of a task, controlling negative thoughts and avoiding distractions, is when players perform to their best.

For this reason, much of the psychological training carried out in the Sánchez-Casal Academy is directed towards providing training in attention skills. Daily training includes exercises which specifically stimulate the different types of attention involved in playing tennis, including divided attention, sustained attention and selective attention.

Attention and athletic performance in tennis

Let’s take a look at the different types of attention in a little more detail. As Holzman (1994) indicates, attention is a complex concept that encompasses a wide variety of physiological phenomena which can be classified into:

Focused attention: based on the amount of information selected in any given moment.
Sustained attention: attention over time, i.e. the amount of time that a task can be executed for, and the consistency of the execution of that task over a period of time. It’s related to the concepts of continual performance (the task requires a continued response) or vigilance (the task requires a more spaced out response, with long periods of motor control and remaining alert).
Vigilance: is the ability to detect and respond to the occurrence of slight changes in the environment over time.
Selective attention: is the ability to focus on one specific task even in the context of stimulus from distractions or competition. It relates to the concepts of concentration (selecting and assembling all the relevant stimulation to focus on) and attentional change (the ability to be flexible with your focus depending on the demands of the task).
Divided attention: the ability to respond to two or more tasks simultaneously, or to more than one stimulus in the same task.
Alternating attention: the ability of having the mental flexibility to allow the individual to switch their attention effectively and move between tasks with different cognitive requirements.
Attentional control: the planning, regulation and checking of goal-oriented behavior.

Every sports player has a dominant style of attention, and that style depends on individual differences, the skills required by the sport they play and the activation of these skills in the athlete. It’s clear that when an athlete has a high level of activation, their dominant attentional style prevails. But when their activation level goes over the threshold, the player loses control of their attention and enters a state of panic.

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Without a doubt, in the Sánchez-Casal Academy, it has always been our intention to innovate and keep up with new challenges and new work goals, and for this reason we place special emphasis on attention on a daily basis.

Selective attention is particularly relevant to tennis. If the tennis player is capable of selecting the relevant information and ignoring irrelevant stimuli, their performance will be greatly enhanced. This is especially the case when the coach focuses the player’s attention on a specific movement. This doesn’t mean that they want the player to ignore the entire kinetic chain, but is pointing out which part they need to focus on at a particular time. Through practice, the tennis player will be able to place their full attention, voluntarily, on important aspects (looking at their rival, positioning their feet correctly), or carrying out an action which needs focused voluntary attention (like serving the ball). The more automated technical movements become, voluntary attention levels will increase, allowing the player to confront more complex situations.

In contrast, divided attention is when the individual pays attention to two or more stimuli at the same time. A tennis player should pay attention to the movements of their rival, and at the same time, prepare a technical movement of defense or attack.

It is certain that with good training in attention and problem solving abilities, a player is more likely to play a better game.

Mónica Monserrat

Psychologist at Sánchez-Casal Academy, Barcelona

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#6 SUCCESSFUL HABIT FOR OVERCOMING ADVERSITY

Posted on 6 September, 2016

By Emilio Sánchez Vicario, CEO & Founder at Sánchez-Casal Academy.

#6 The past puts pressure on us and the future puts pressure on us; so be completely present in the present. This is your actual state from where you will be ready and excited to face challenges ahead (Emotional).

In many of my conversations with players at any level, the mention of “pressure” appears: “I felt under too much pressure”, “The pressure meant I couldn’t move”, “I completely froze under the pressure, I didn’t know what I was doing any more” … These are some of the examples of the effect of pressure, which on top of everything, usually manifests itself at the worst times, when nobody asks for it.

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DIARY OF A COACH, PART II: EDUCATING YOUR CHILDREN ¨ON TOUR¨ IN BERMUDA

Posted on 30 August, 2016

By Guillermo Celard Pérez, Professional Tennis Coach at Sánchez-Casal Academy Florida

When summer arrives and the school year ends at ESIS – the Emilio Sanchez International School based in Florida – my role as a coach continues. Our student athletes at the Sanchez-Casal Academy, along with other players, can join our Traveling Team, a year round program in which we coach and accompany players to ITF tournaments in the Caribbean, Latin America and Europe.

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Why will American players dominate the world tennis rankings soon?

Posted on 26 August, 2016

By Emilio Sánchez Vicario, CEO & Founder at Sánchez-Casal Academy.

This past January I prepared a chart for the International Coaches Institute, comparing US and Spanish tennis. Over the last 20 years, Spain has been the world’s leading country in tennis, not just in the number of top players but also prospective players to reach the top.

While I was working on the report I realized that something was changing. I was in San Francisco, sharing my views with a group of coaches, but they were quite skeptical about my explanation. The topic of my speech was the headline of this article.

Six months later my theory is starting to be proved correct, which is why I would like to share the figures found in the two charts below. On the left hand side is the ATP ranking stages, and along the top is the players aggregated by birth years. The chart highlights that:

The US has 9 very talented 17-22 year old players, with rankings from 70 to 300; Spain has none.
The US has 9 23-25 year old players in the top 300; Spain has 5.
The US has 36 players in the top 500, and so does Spain (36).
The US has 10 players between 26-29 years old in the top 300; Spain has only 5.
In one category Spain beats the US: it has 13 players over 30 years old, compared to 2 from the US.

These facts lead us to the following conclusion: while at the moment Spain is still ahead in tennis, with an aging population of players, in three to four years or maybe less, the US will surpass in all categories and become the top country in the world once again after more than 20 years.

The trend of the last ten years shows that talented players excel and make the top 100 aged 22-23, and reach their highest levels of performance aged 27-28. The present generation of American players is so powerful that with their rivalries, role models and motivation, they could break the current trend and reach the top in just one or two years. Fritz, who is already no.70 in the world, is leading the group, whilst Donaldson, Tiefoe, Opelka and Rubin are not far behind him. Most of these players come from the USTA. However, there is also a great generation of college players, like McDonald. The future is promising for American tennis. Will this entire group emulate the years of Agassi, Sampras, Chang or Courier? We’ll have an answer soon. To me, this is the best generation of the last ten years.

On the other side of the pond, Spain will have to work hard with the few candidates it has for players aged 22-24. As for the junior players, we need progress. Three of them have just reached the top 500 – will they follow in the footsteps of our great players? It’s a big challenge.

Emilio Sánchez Vicario
CEO & Founder at Sánchez-Casal Academy

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# 5 SUCCESSFUL HABIT FOR OVERCOMING ADVERSITY

Posted on 23 August, 2016

By Emilio Sánchez Vicario, CEO & Founder at Sánchez-Casal Academy.

# 5 Set goals that are achievable and realistic. (Mental)

When we speak of challenges and achievements in sports, we tend to fix on the stories and anecdotes which have the sporting elite at their heart. Great deeds that are accomplished with clear goals turn the most well-known athletes into legends, almost heroes. But sport is also full of smaller-sized heroes, young athletes who work every day for what they want, and who are also great examples of success. Why can it not be in training that people work on the values and habits that translate the skills learnt in competitive sport to the real world?

The main character of this story is an alpine skier. I met him when I was ten years old and I was already set on going to the Olympic Games and being like Bode Miller. What child doesn’t dream of competing, in whatever sport they play, and winning? Our skier was in his last year of Alevín. The following year he started to participate in official federate competitions – an important step for any athlete.

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In that moment, the expectations of our skier were high, and the season started well. He finished several races in a good position – in the first 10. But half way through the season he had an accident during a race and from that point onwards, his season made a turn for the worse. He lost self-confidence, in every new race he tried to recuperate his position in the ranking, but probably because his style was forced, and he was taking too many risks, he fell in ALL of the races in the rest of the season! He knew that the next year was important. He was part of a competitive club and they “demanded” results.

This is the point at which to reflect and create realistic and achievable goals.

In the following season, his objective is simple: “not to fall”, and to finish all the races without worrying about his final position. The underlying aim was to recuperate his self-confidence and to find what we would call in other sports “his game”. This could look like an easy objective from the outside, but is it really easy for a 11-12 year old boy? Everyone wants to step up onto the podium, and focusing on a “modest” objective can be seen as giving up on victory, even more so in highly-pressured environments. It’s vital to make mature and well-guided decisions. The . in this regard.

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But clearly, his objective didn’t end there. The upcoming year was when he should be unleashing his potential. His objective was to qualify for his country’s national competitions, and for this, he needed to be in the top 14 of his regional ranking.

At the end of the second year, our skier took stock. They’d been difficult years, working through a period of maturity during which the character, personality, and particularly hormones, were rebelling against everything. It’s the moment when one begins to doubt the advice of parents, trainers, even oneself. But the rigor of the sport and its values made it possible for a child who was 13 years old to have a mature plan, based on calculated efforts both in work, and in discipline.

The evaluation was a good one: the objective of the first year, “cross the finish line”, achieved. Second objective, “qualify for the National Cup”, achieved, even if he didn’t manage to stay in until the end of the competition.

This was the moment to set out the next challenge, knowing that the following year would be tough, as he would be competing against runners up to 2 years older than him. Time to get back to planning a realistic objective: to remain in the top 30. He worked hard throughout the season, making an extra effort to train another day during the week as well as the weekend, which also involved making an extra effort academically to keep up with school work. What happened at the end of the season? It was a year in which he’d experimented with rapid physical growth, found it difficult to channel strength and lost some coordination. He finished in position 40 of the ranking.

Here ends the story of our young skier. Is he doing ok? Can we say that he’s a good skier? Is he a good sportsman? In this case, it’s very clear that setting achievable goals is helping him to keep going in a highly competitive environment. If he had set his mind on finishing in the first positions, the frustration would have probably ended up overcoming him. How many young boys and girls give up the sport they play because the demand is too much in relation to the reward? How many abandon sport because they don’t achieve what is expected of them? In a period of growth (pre-adolescence and adolescence) that is particularly difficult, our young boy has clear objectives and has assumed an admirable attitude in the face of difficulties: resilience, efforts, the ability to overcome adversity.

Is this not the real lesson that the majority of young sports players carry with them for the rest of their lives? Focusing on achievable and realistic objectives will help them to persist in their efforts. It’s our duty as the coaches and parents of children who play competitive sport to accompany, guide and motivate them.

Very few young sports players will become professionals. Very few of them will be Olympians, or even will be selected for their country’s national competitions, but their efforts is what makes them great sports players.

Emilio Sánchez Vicario
CEO & Founder at Sánchez-Casal Academy

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Children, fruit and vegetables

Posted on 16 August, 2016

By Sergi Bonillo, Food and Beverage manager at Academia Sánchez-Casal, Barcelona.

Most children and teenagers don’t eat the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables. Children should eat approximately 5 portions of fruit and vegetables every day. How can we make sure our children are eating the right amount?

Presenting dishes in a fun way and using a range of bright colors will make the plate look attractive to your children.

Make sure that your children can find a piece of fruit easily when they are at home. Put different colored fruits in a bowl, in a highly visible place and within easy reach. If they can see and find fruit, they are much more likely to eat it.

Vegetables can be a great ingredient in the dishes which children often like: pasta, sandwiches and pizzas. They can also be a good accompaniment to meat and fish dishes.

Get your children to participate in their diet. Go shopping together at the supermarket, encourage them to take part in the preparation of meals. As human beings, children place the most value on the things they can identify with.

Juices and milkshakes are a quick, healthy and natural way to eat fruit, and of course also increase fluid intake. As a dessert or afternoon snack, juices and milkshakes are an easy way of providing your child with a high amount of fiber, 0% fat and more of the vital vitamins and minerals required for growth and health.

What benefits can be found in fruit and vegetables?

Carotenoids, which the body transforms into vitamin A.
Vitamin C (vitamin C loses its properties when heated – eat raw vegetables in salads instead).
Folate (or folic acid) is one of the B vitamins present in green leafy vegetables. It is vital for the immune system, in creating new blood components, and in the formation of genetic material.
Fruit and vegetables contain almost no sodium, and instead are very rich in potassium (people with hypertension should eat a lot of vegetables).
Fruit and vegetables contain iron, but our bodies find iron difficult to extract. To help encourage the absorption of iron, eat some acidic fruit for dessert.
The high content of soluble fiber is very beneficial for the intestines and helps to regulate intestinal activity.
Beta carotene and its great antioxidant power neutralize free radicals generated when practicing sport.
The mineral content is fundamental to replacing the minerals lost through sweating while practicing sport.
High water content hydrates the body and produces diuretic effects.

Fruit and vegetables are the best way of providing our immune system with the tools to fight against pathogens and viruses.

In the Sánchez-Casal Academy, we provide salad buffets with a wide range of fresh vegetables, every day. The vegetables we use are organic, meaning they have a better taste and texture, and contain no trace of the processed and treated chemical pesticides found in non-organic produce.

Vegetables and fruits are your defenses, the pillars of your health.

Sergi Bonillo
Food and Beverage manager at Academia Sánchez-Casal Barcelona

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#4 Succesful Habit for Overcoming Adversity

Posted on 9 August, 2016

By Emilio Sánchez Vicario, CEO and Founder at Sánchez-Casal Academy.

#4 Focus on your tools to go towards a goal; never focus on the result (Mental).

Tennis is an individual sport where the most important aim is to win. To win points, a tournament, a ranking, a round, a game… It’s a sport in which, from a very young age, the players are focused on winning, not losing, having more or less points, getting into a tournament or not, getting a better ranking. In short, at all ages, the focus is clearly on the result.

And of course, it’s very important to win, stand out, and be one of the best. It’s important for self-esteem, self-confidence and to stimulate the motivation to continue working and learning every day. But there are huge risks if we only focus on the result, and if our environment only demands the result from us. “You played against this person a month ago and you should win again”, or “You can’t lose this match, they are two years younger than you!”, or “You haven’t got into the Master because there’s another player with two more points than you”.

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At all stages of training, when the player is consolidating their technical, tactical, physical and mental framework, the principal objective should never be the result. “What do you want me to think about if not winning?” someone asked me once. There’s another type of motivation which helps to strengthen trust, self-esteem and motivation, and moreover, provides a lot more emotional stability. It is the motivation oriented around work, around a task. Something which depends on you 100%, and that you can achieve just by making an effort with daily tasks. This approach will help you to achieve the most you possibly can in any given situation, and if you’re level is high enough that day, even win the game you’re playing!

Fostering motivation which focuses around achievable tasks also helps to manage and control stress caused by the game, tournament or circumstances. After years of playing competitive sports, little boys and girls suppress large amounts of stress – they have to live up to a lot of expectations and promises to their families on a personal, and economic, level. This means that there are many boys and girls who aren’t actually enjoying what they are doing.

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The iconic tennis player Bjorn Borg has a son who is a stand out tennis player for his age in Sweden, who he often accompanies to tournaments. Borg recently commented in an interview: “When we were playing tennis there were some parents who were too involved, but today it’s insane, it’s shocking”. He went on to say: “I think it’s because there’s a lot of money in tennis, you can see the children who don’t want to play. It’s as if the parents are pushing them to do something that they don’t want to do”.

The environment, the system or the circumstances – such as being the son or daughter of a great champion – can create additional tension. This tension often stops you from being able to enjoy yourself, can destabilise you and cause you to underperform.

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Creating tasks to follow, objectives to fight for, will help you to manage all these situations.

And as I commented earlier, focusing your energy on these objectives won’t just help to centralize your concentration on the things which only depend on you, but will also help you to focus your attention onto something manageable and achievable.

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Focusing your motivation towards a goal which then leads to a result, instead of heading straight for the result itself, is a habit which will allow you to overcome any adversity you might come across on the way.

Emilio Sánchez Vicario
CEO and Fonder at Sánchez-Casal Academy

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Why Tennis?

Posted on 2 August, 2016

By Jose Luis Soto Rojas, Coach at Sánchez Casal Academy, Florida.

As time moves forward it is getting more common for parents to make their kids practice at least one sport in order to prevent them from spending hours in front of a tv or a computer. However, sometimes they do not know which one to choose.

Often, if the kid is not very athletic as a child or has not been introduced to any sport yet, it is complicated for the parents to decide on a sport for him. In this article I would like to use my personal experience to help those aforementioned parents who do not know which sport to choose for their kids and familiarize them with my sport, tennis.

My name is Jose Luis Soto Rojas, I am 24 years old and I have been playing tennis since I was old enough to hold a racquet in my hand without dropping it. Even though I call it a hate/love relationship, tennis has become a very important part of my life, which I personally consider a lifestyle rather than just a sport or a hobby.

I am very confident that without tennis in my life I would not be the person I am today.

The characteristics of tennis are very particular, regardless of the level or category: amateur, professional, juniors… It is a very challenging sport to learn, as it requires a good physical condition, considerable speed of reaction and coordination, hawk vision, and patience… A LOT OF PATIENCE. Beginners, kids or adults, all are required to get familiar with timing, footwork, strokes, motions, and ball speed through repetition and patience.

Repetition and patience will teach them the First Lesson: “They will have to put effort and time in order to achieve a goal” (Jack L. Groppel, Ph. D.). At the beginning this will help them to hit the basic strokes in tennis (forehand, backhand, volleys, smash, and serve) with a good timing. This is not an easy task, but if they achieve proper execution, they will have already learnt a key life lesson: nothing in life will come easy and without the preceding hard effort.

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If your kids start getting to a better level and you let them compete, regardless of the type of competition, from local tournaments to regional or national competition. The contest as a whole will already start making your kids experience some situations that other kids will never face while laying on the couch or playing in team sports. It will teach them values such as the satisfaction and the reward of victory and that there will be always someone better than you.

Another important factor that tennis competition provides the kids with is that they are a team of one player, not even your coach is allowed to talk to you while the match is happening. If one day you are not feeling well, or your strokes are not working like they have before.. you do not have another player in the bench to substitute you. You BY YOURSELF have to deal with that situation and try to find solutions in order to “fix the problem”, and win the match. This does not come early, it all depends on the kid, who can take shorter or longer time to achieve it. In my case it took longer than I would have wanted to, but I ,with the help of my parents, tried to be patient and perseverant. This process is not easy at all. Not everyone in the tennis world achieves success on this and many people I knew, who used to practice and compete with me ended up quitting the sport.

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This leads me to the Second Lesson: with the years everyone will have to face a lot of problems and obstacles that life will put on your way, some people will get upset and panic, while other will try to invest that time on finding solutions to the problem. Only the second group will suceed.

Deepening my analysis of tennis as a lifestyle and a provider of many important tools for the future, this sport helps you focus your whole mind in the task you are about to do.

In tennis competition, you must be highly focused point after point, and must be consistent on doing it, as if you lose concentration for a minute, you may get your serve broken or may lose an important game that can cost you the whole match.

This specific point helped me get through my years in middle-school, high-school and college. I was a very impatient kid and it was hard for me to sit down on a chair and focus in order to do my homework or study the chapters I needed in order to do well in the exam. Thanks to tennis, my concentration improved to the point of helping me keep myself sitting on a desk for as long as needed and give my hundred percent until I finished my task, usually to learn all the content of my next exam.

This leads me to the Third Lesson your kids can learn from tennis: maintain yourself focused on a task and while doing it, give your hundred percent in order to succeed

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Furthermore, I would like to mention what for me is the most important weapon that tennis can teach you: How to deal with pressure.

For me, PRESSURE is a key aspect that is involved in the confrontation of several life issues. Young people who do not play sports and still do not have job probably ignore why I believe it is key. Pressure is a state of your mind that makes you shake, prevents you from thinking clearly, and makes you take easy and wrong decisions unless you are able to control it.

From my experience, pressure is one the toughest situations to control in a tennis match. Sometimes this reaction leads the player to freak-out and accelerate the heartbeat. It is something that even experienced players have to confront to win a match point and many end up losing the match. Pressure has a significant role even with the top players in the ATP (association of tennis professionals) and WTA (women tennis association).

As I mentioned before, pressure is a very tough situation to deal with, and sometimes not even the experience can save you. But of course, with the years it will be easier to face it and beat it. The situation in tennis is that the only one who can control the pressure or be consumed by it is yourself.

Implementing another case, if in a soccer match there are certain key moments such as a foul or a penalty kick in order to win the match, there is only one out of the eleven players that shoots it, there is only one player that takes the pressure. The difference is that in tennis there is no way to skip it, inside the tennis court there’s me, myself and I.

The Fourth Lesson that the kids will learn and use in the future for their daily problems or in their jobs thanks to tennis competition, is to be able to perform at their best under pressure.

For example, if for any reason your boss in the company is having you under a lot of pressure on achieving a certain number of sales in a period of time or under the possible penalty of earning less money. It is said that athletes are better prepared to handle this kind of situation than people who haven’t competed before. Moreover, single sports like tennis have a huge advantage against the teams sports in this particular matter.

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Besides all these benefits, tennis also provides a large quantity of health advantages. The USTA (www.usta.com) website has a page called “Sport Science” that you can refer to to consult all the health benefits tennis has to offer. Here, I will mention the most important ones:

1- People who participate in tennis 3 hours per week (at moderately vigorous intensity) cut their risk of death in half from any cause, according to physician Ralph Paffenbarger who studied over 10,000 people over a period of 20 years.

2- Tennis players scored higher in vigor, optimism and self-esteem while scoring lower in depression, anger, confusion, anxiety and tension than other athletes and non-athletes according to Dr. Joan Finn and colleagues at Southern Connecticut State University.

3- Since tennis requires alertness and tactical thinking, it may generate new connections between nerves in the brain and thus promote a lifetime of continuing development of the brain, reported scientists at the University of Illinois.

4- Tennis outperforms golf, inline skating and most other sports in developing positive personality characteristics according to Dr. Jim Gavin, author of The Exercise Habit.

5- Competitive tennis burns more calories than aerobics, inline skating, or cycling, according to studies on caloric expenditures.

Summarizing my argument, tennis is a very peculiar sport that may not only keep your kids in the healthy lifestyle every parent would like, but can make the people who practice it learn about many situations that they will be handling in real life, thus, it definitely helps people improve their life experience as a whole. A time goes by, tennis makes the player stronger as a human being, and it makes him be more mature in order to confront obstacles and problems that get on his way.

Tennis gives the player a more self-confidence in a way that not many other sports do.

So if you have kids and are looking for the perfect sport not only to maintain your kid in a healthy lifestyle but also to give him a lot of tools for the future I strongly recommend you to introduce your kid to Tennis.

Jose Luis Soto Rojas
Coach at Sánchez Casal Acdemy, Florida

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# 3 Successful Habit for Overcoming Adversity

Posted on 26 July, 2016

By Emilio Sánchez Vicario, CEO & Founder at Sánchez-Casal Academy.

# 3 Work on short, mid and long terms goals (Mental).

August is here and our players are beginning to return to our academies in Naples, Barcelona or Nanjing. The professionals we work with are going to find us full of energy and excitement, and looking forward to going back to hard work after playing a several tournaments plus going on some well-earned holidays with the family. School also starts again. Everything is prepared. Everyone is prepared.

Some new faces, lots of old ones. We start organising the new season. New challenges, new adversities, and excitement about the next important tournaments: Eddi Herr, Little Mo, Orange Bowl and ITFs.

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We have to give shape to these dreams and passions for everything to work. For the players, as well as the academy professionals, this means working hard to reach our goals. They know, and we know, that they can be achieved; they have, and we have, plenty of personal experience of how working hard and planning carefully always produces results. Always.

Let’s go one at a time. Each player has a new project, something to be excited about. Eugenio, Jake, Lucas, Cameron, Victoria, River… All of them individually write down what they want to achieve this season: what they want to concentrate on, what they want to fight for every day on the court. How to get in the right position to take a shot while running, how to hit the ball on the second serve or improve your reaction time when energy levels are low, and do your schoolwork when it’s the time to do so…

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There isn’t a better way to prepare yourself for a new challenge and anticipate any adversities that might appear than by creating objectives. It’s one of the most powerful mental training tools that exists, and there are a wealth of benefits:

– Creating objectives helps us to stay focused every day we’re training on the court. You already know what you need to work towards, instead of doing things for the sake of it.

“My objective for today is to concentrate on my technique on the first serve, and work on my breathing.”

– Objectives help us to stay motivated. Knowing that you have a daily path ready to follow, not only will you feel better, but you’ll end up closer to the final goal. A purpose.

“If in these three months I try to work as hard as I can on the objectives that I’ve formulated with my trainer, I’ll be able to play at the Orange Bowl in the best condition possible.”

– We are able to manage our time better – one of the greatest strengths to have.

“I know that if I do my homework in the time I’ve set aside to do it, then I’ll be free to relax, watch a movie or spend time with my friends.”

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– Our energy levels will be better. Then you’ll be able dedicate your energy to specific daily challenges.

“Knowing that I have some goals to reach for next month, some for six months’ time and some for the end of the season, means that every day I can focus my energy on my goal in the moment, without thinking about what else I could be doing, thinking too far ahead or about what I’ve forgotten to do.”

– It’ll help to prevent stress. If you know your path, and you have a plan, the tools and organisation, your uncertainty will only decrease.

“I’m less worried, knowing that if I follow the plan I’ve drawn up, I’ll be able to play to the best of my ability at the IFTs at the beginning of the year in South America.”

– Our confidence will be based on the tasks you work towards every day, which depends according to the person. This provides a lot of stability.

“I’m very proud of myself, I’m achieving what my trainer and I had set out in our plan, only with daily efforts.”

All of these goals, whether they’re short-term, medium-term or long-term, mean that if you follow the steps according to plan, when the time arrives you’ll be as prepared as possible. We’ll have given shape and structure to our excitement and energy, which if weren’t channelled well, would prove to be a great difficulty instead of a great help.

Emilio Sánchez Vicario
CEO & Founder at Sánchez-Casal Academy

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