Elite Sports Clubs’ Post

NEW BLOG: Pick Your Junior Tennis Poison https://lnkd.in/e7pj_g_c What are you willing to tolerate on your high performance junior tennis journey? Every time I attend a high level event, kids are screaming left and right. Referees are being called to the court every 2 minutes. There are loud come on’s from some parents. Some kids are even screaming at their parents to go away and leave them alone! Code violations for unsportsmanlike behavior are being given out. You’ll see tears after matches, and heck, even during matches! And yet everywhere I look, I’ll see some form of future high level college tennis. Everyone is running at full speed, putting in full effort, asking more of themselves when they lost points, and clearly starving for progress. It’s the complete opposite of what I see at lower level tournaments. #tenniscoach #juniortennis #tennisplayer #tennis

Good speaking can lead to good tennis

Winner's Game vs. Loser's Game In the 1999 tennis book, Extraordinary Tennis for the Ordinary Tennis Player, author Simon Ramo broke down the difference between amateur and professional tennis: Amateur tennis is a Loser's Game. 80% of points are lost on unforced errors. You win by avoiding errors and waiting for your opponent to make errors. Professional tennis is a Winner's Game. 80% of points are won on incredible shots. You win by hitting incredible shots. This is an idea that extends well beyond the confines of the court into every area of life. There are two core insights here: 1. You have to know what game you're playing. There's no point trying to hit magnificent shots if you're playing a Loser's Game. You're better off keeping it simple and avoiding unforced errors. Similarly, there's no point trying to play conservatively and avoid unforced errors if you're playing a Winner's Game. You're better off trying to hit the elegant shots. 2. The game you're playing might change as the levels change. Example: Your early career years may be defined as a Loser's Game. You just need to avoid big mistakes and get the work done. Your later career years may be defined as a Winner's Game. Outsized rewards go to those who hit the magnificent shots. Three questions worth asking oneself! 1. What type of game am I playing? Am I being compensated for avoiding mistakes or for executing beautifully? 2. Is that the type of game I want to be playing based on my skillset? 3. How might the game change as I rise through the levels?

According to Simon Ramo in his book 'Extraordinary Tennis for the Ordinary Player', there's a key difference between professional tennis and amateur tennis:   - In professional tennis, you have to play to win. You go for more powerful serves, sharper angles, trickier spin, because if you don't, you make the game too easy and your opponent will punish you. - In amateur tennis, 80% of points come from unforced errors. Want to win an amateur tennis game? Keep the 140mph ace in your back pocket and just try to limit mistakes.   In other words, professional tennis is a game of winning. Amateur tennis is a game of not losing. My pet theory is that because culture disproportionately highlights games of winning (high-end sports and arts are tailormade to this, social media dramatically overrepresents the far right tail of the bell curve), we're all a little prone to overestimating a hero narrative in our own jobs.   Working across our portfolio though, it's become clear to me that our most successful leaders don't spend much time worried about how fast their metaphorical serve is. Instead, they win the game of not losing. They're relentlessly focused on things like:   - Setting clear, aligned definitions of success - Overcommunication - Demonstrating empathy for their team - Meeting with clients personally - Knowing their numbers   Does this map to what others have seen? If so, are there things you'd add to the list as focus points for highly effective leaders?

The idea: Avoiding stupidity is easier than seeking brilliance. What can tennis teach us? The motivation: A member in my leadership team started to play tennis and that motivated me to learn about Tennis, how the equipments are manufactured, tennis quiz, and my weekend reading ended with the award winning article "The Loser’s Game" by Charles Ellis. The loser's game is an article on wealth management and portfolio construction, drawing insights from amateur tennis, and how amateurs (in all walks of life) behave Professional tennis vs Amateur tennis: Professional tennis is a “Winner’s Game.” While there is some degree of skill and luck involved, the game is generally determined by the actions of the winner. Amateur tennis is an entirely different game - not in how it is played or the rules but, rather, in how it’s won. Mistakes are frequent. Balls are constantly hit into nets or out of bounds. Double faults are common. The amateur seldom beats his opponent, but he beats himself all the time! The winner in this amateur game gets a higher score than the opponent, but he gets that higher score because his opponent is losing even more points. Amateur tennis is a "Loser's Game" Key message: 1) The point is that most of us are amateurs but we refuse to believe it. In real life, we are often playing the game of the professionals - career, investments, strategy etc. 2) This misplaced assumption makes us do unforced errors and self-goals. 3) What we should do in this case, when we are the amateur, is to invert the problem - rather than trying to win, we should avoid losing till we become professionals. i.e avoiding mistakes that destroy capital, career. #tennis #criticalthinking #whatinspiresme #risks

How to Deal with Cheating in Junior Tennis https://lnkd.in/ehvaC2QH It’s rare for me to go through a junior tennis weekend without having to hear one of my players discuss their opponents line calls. We record almost every match, so we get to see if their opponent’s call was correct. Sometimes they were. Sometimes they weren’t. What’s always going to be the case is there’s nothing that can be done about the call. Once the call has been made, it’s done. You’ll never be able to overturn it without a referee physically present to overrule your opponent’s call. So the most important thing becomes learning how to deal with the call once it’s been made. And this is emotionally difficult. The sport is already one of the most difficult ones for kids to compete in because they’re alone on the court. No one can help them deal with situations, or calm them down. They have to do it on their own. So when you have teenage kids going through puberty, feeling like they were just cheated, it’s going to be difficult for them to keep their focus, and maintain a high level of play. Hopefully this blog can help kids, college players (yes they make their own calls too), and parents handle these unavoidable situations. #tennis #tennislife #tenniscoach #tennisplayer #tenniscoach #tennistips

Tennis is us has 4 pillars. The first pillar is easy access to tennis. Not only Bill Gates loves the methodology of "The Inner Game of Tennis". When I came to the end of my tennis coaching career to switch to marketing, Sean Brawley introduced me to "The Inner Game". Never before have I been more interested in an approach. This continues to this day. Relaxed focus. The awareness that there are two voices in our head talking to each other. Who is actually talking to whom? The miracle of the natural learning process. I could go on and on. However, I would like to emphasize two things: Last but not least, with the help of The Inner Game: Tennis is easy to learn! Tennis offers great learning experiences for the sport and for our lives. Like Bill Gates, I can only recommend the book. He wrote the introduction to the anniversary edition!

Winner's Game vs. Loser's Game In the 1999 tennis book, Extraordinary Tennis for the Ordinary Tennis Player, author Simon Ramo broke down the difference between amateur and professional tennis: Amateur tennis is a Loser's Game. 80% of points are lost on unforced errors. You win by avoiding errors and waiting for your opponent to make errors. Professional tennis is a Winner's Game. 80% of points are won on incredible shots. You win by hitting incredible shots. There are two core insights here: 1) You have to know what game you're playing: There's no point trying to hit magnificent shots if you're playing a Loser's Game. You're better off keeping it simple and avoiding unforced errors. Similarly, there's no point trying to play conservatively and avoid unforced errors if you're playing a Winner's Game. You're better off trying to hit the elegant shots. 2) The game you're playing might change as the levels change: What starts out as a Loser's Game can become a Winner's Game. For example, your early career years may be defined as a Loser's Game. You just need to avoid big mistakes and get the work done. Your later career years may be defined as a Winner's Game. Outsized rewards go to those who hit the magnificent shots. The questions I'm asking myself: What type of game am I playing? Am I being compensated for avoiding mistakes or for executing beautifully? How might the game change as I rise through the levels? Courtesy: Sahil Bloom

The article in Florida Tennis explains my vision of Tennis ProWay!

This is an idea I can't stop thinking about: Winner's Game vs. Loser's Game In the 1999 tennis book, Extraordinary Tennis for the Ordinary Tennis Player, author Simon Ramo broke down the difference between amateur and professional tennis: Amateur tennis is a Loser's Game. 80% of points are lost on unforced errors. You win by avoiding errors and waiting for your opponent to make errors. Professional tennis is a Winner's Game. 80% of points are won on incredible shots. You win by hitting incredible shots. I don't play tennis, but this is an idea that extends well beyond the confines of the court into every area of life. There are two core insights here: 1. You have to know what game you're playing. There's no point trying to hit magnificent shots if you're playing a Loser's Game. You're better off keeping it simple and avoiding unforced errors. Similarly, there's no point trying to play conservatively and avoid unforced errors if you're playing a Winner's Game. You're better off trying to hit the elegant shots. 2. The game you're playing might change as the levels change. What starts out as a Loser's Game can become a Winner's Game. Example: Your early career years may be defined as a Loser's Game. You just need to avoid big mistakes and get the work done. Your later career years may be defined as a Winner's Game. Outsized rewards go to those who hit the magnificent shots. I can't stop thinking about this idea. Ever since I came across it, I feel like I'm seeing it everywhere. Three questions I'm asking myself as a result: 1. What type of game am I playing? Am I being compensated for avoiding mistakes or for executing beautifully? 2. Is that the type of game I want to be playing based on my skillset? 3. How might the game change as I rise through the levels? Consider these questions and the idea of the Winner's Game vs. Loser's Game in the months ahead.