Q
: At the USPTA National Convention you spoke about how tennis players can learn to meet their physical and psychological needs through tennis. I enjoyed the lecture. Please explain the model on which you based your lecture.
A: Books have been written attempting to answer a question like this, but I will try to provide a brief explanation of how the concept works.
All of us have needs, both physiological and psychological. The physiological needs include sleep, nutrition, water and rest. The psychological needs include safety, shelter, belonging, love, recognition, self-esteem and self-actualization.
Anyone who took Psych. 101 in college learned Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Jim Loehr, Pat Etcheberry and I have expanded that model slightly and we use it in our Mentally Tough Corporate Training Program (of which tennis plays a significant role).
The most basic human need is to expend and recover energy. That is the need of any member of the animal kingdom. Because of our lifestyles, we recover energy when we have time. The realm of sport can help any person learn to recover energy more effectively. Tennis is no exception. In fact, because tennis is an interval sport of constant stress and recovery, it may be the best example in all of sport.
All of us are aware that performance goals, such as effort, risk, attitude and percentage of first serves, are much more effective than outcome goals like winning and ranking. However, tennis can serve as a great example of how psychological needs can be met.
How many times has a young player left the game too early? How many juniors want to "play up" for the wrong reasons, but cite improved competition as the reason? Self-esteem is a need that often is overlooked in all sports by parents and coaches. When a child is troubled or overly concerned with winning or rankings, a common phrase is "tough it out!" However, we always must try to observe how the player is looking at the sport. If the player has a low self-esteem relative to tennis, she will be in a prematch state of feeling inadequate (or at least questioning herself). That affects her perception of everything around her, which in turn affects (usually in a negative way) how well she can access the Ideal Performance State. From here, the ability to compete in a match often is poor.
However, if players can learn to get their psychological needs met through tennis (not in spite of tennis), the results for our sport could be tremendous. For example, if players truly believe that playing the game hard and well is paramount, and that winning (or losing) takes care of itself, a loss will have lithe effect on self-esteem. If a player's self-esteem is high, there is a feeling of adequacy before the match. All perceptions are improved and the athlete has a great chance to achieve the Ideal Performance State Then the athlete will win more often because she is not afraid of taking risks or of putting herself on the line.
Any sport could claim to do what I have just explained – why shouldn't tennis be the leader? We have the capabilities to do this. Our problem is that we are a win/lose society and public opinion is that our sport puts too much pressure on young athletes. I do not feel it is the sport. The leaders in the sport, including all of us in the USPTA, need to change the public's perception about the health benefits of tennis. Each of us must play a major role in accomplishing this task.
