HyperActivate

It came up during a couple of private lessons this week. The idea had come up many times over the years, but had never surfaced under quite the same name. Players were struggling, as they do, with general competency. These weren't new players who have yet to form good habits, but players among our highest ranked and most experienced. I was hearing the same self-reviews; "Why can't I hit a ball?" Or the old standard, "you suck, you should quit tennis." And of course I heard "what's wrong with you?"

The solution was neither new, nor groundbreaking, but came up in a new way. The solution was to return to the basics that got the player this far. The solution was to stop searching for a highly refined and newly discovered technique that was holding them back, and to focus intensely on the very basic fundamental skills that was the foundation of their play. We decided to call it "Hyper Activate Basic Fundamentals". HABF - not exactly a clever or even useful anagram, but I'm tired of anagrams anyway. Instead, it's a very functional and efficient repair for a lot of top players in general malaise. When the players mentioned stopped searching and groping for explanations for their failures, and LASER FOCUSED their attention on basic fundamentals, did a miracle happen? No. There was no instant brilliance nor magic cure, but rather a slow and steady return to competence. Along with that return to decent play, came a calmness, a reduction of panic and frustration, and improved results. It is worth mentioning the "pink elephant effect' here (if you don't know what that is, ask me) By honing their focus in on those basic fundamentals, they stopped focusing on their failures and shortcomings, and allowed themselves to perform at a level they were capable of.

What are those fundamentals? Nothing groundbreaking, but all critical to technical success:

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1- Watch the ball. Not just see it at contact, a task hard enough for most players - but to TRACK the flight of the ball. To see it from the opponents' contact and visually track it all the way to their own string bed. All the while reading and reacting to all the information that comes with sharp focus.

2- Move your feet. A split and 3. Not just adjusting steps, a great part to any repair, but to have your eyes, that are taking in all this information, communicate with your feet - improving reaction time, balance, alignment to the ball, etc

3- Outwork the ball. Do more, in terms of movement and effort, to get to the right position at contact, than the ball did.

4- Stay in the moment. Though not as technical as the first three, try to stop dwelling on failures and errors of the past. Deal only with the ball you are playing, and when you strike it, take all focus to the next ball.

5- Margins. Again, though arguably more tactical than technical, the use of margins when targeting is crucial to raising the success rate, and therefore positively affecting the player's mindset during competition. This snowball effect becomes, the better I play, the better I play, Duh.

The key to this rather obvious and simplistic approach, however, is not the basic fundamental part. It is the Hyper Activation part. Top players minds can become filled with lofty concepts, technical jargon, and clever game plans( you can partially blame us coaches). They can forget, or paralyze themselves from the very core skills upon which they built their game. By sharply re-focusing on some of these basics, one at a time (please), they can often bring themselves back to technical competency. This brings them to a state where they can play and compete without harsh self- judgement; and it's accompanying lack of performance.

So, when you are in a deep struggle with basic play, HABF. As you get your concentration back to what to do, instead of "what's wrong?" , your results will reflect that new focus.