In Part 2 of this series I discussed the creation of a Performance Evaluation System, a way to compare a current performance to an ideal performance from the past using Visualization. This comparison allows you to determine, quickly, whether or not you are on the right track to your best performances every day. As an example, if you know what your ideal energy state is for performing your best, and you do a quick system check before you start your match by comparing how you feel in this current moment to what you felt like when you performed your best, you can quickly determine what your next move is – either maintain, pump up or calm down.
Being in the constant state of awareness is a practiced skill until it becomes automatic. So, how can you get to a place where you are, more often than not, right here in the present, simple, rituals and routines. For the purposes of this discussion, I will define a ritual as an action that is taken repetitively. To illustrate this, make a short list right now of things you do in the morning to get ready for work, school or play. My list looks something like this – turn off the alarm, brush my teeth, get dressed, have breakfast, pack my lunch, etc. Well, there it is a list of rituals. So then, what is a routine? A routine, as I define it, is the linking of several rituals in a specific order that is repeated over and over. That’s it. Once you look at it like this you will quickly realize that you have many such rituals and routines that get you through your daily life.
The key to establishing performance rituals and routines is first to identify what you are currently doing and determine if that is effectively and consistently helping you achieve your best performances every day – if it is, great, keep doing it. If you don’t currently have a specific performance routine here are a couple of ideas to get you started.
First, identify the two distinct time periods that you need to manage during point play – live play (while actively engaged in playing the point) and what you do after the end of one point and the beginning of the next. Next, have you ever looked at what you do between points? You should. Start there. List out what you do from the time one point ends and the next begins. You have 25 seconds between each point, how do you use each second? This is the first step to creating a successful routine.
Now that you have a list of rituals that you do between points, determine the order in which the rituals occur most consistently. What you do not know yet, is whether or not you have the right rituals and whether or not they are in the right order. This is the fun part, you get to use the Experimental Method described in Part 1 of this series to determine, by trial and error, what works best for you.
For more ideas you should go online and look up some of the best players in the world and see what they do. Just because a particular ritual works for a professional player doesn’t mean it will work for you, however, it will give you more ideas to consider. If you take for instance, Rafael Nadal’s famous hair behind the ear slide or underwear adjustment tug, these might not work for you but will give you some food for thought and something different to try. A more common ritual is the bouncing of the ball prior serving. Djokovic bounces the ball many times before settling in to play the point. Other players will bounce a fewer number of times. The number is up to you. The point is that by repeating the same rituals over and over exactly the same way in a particular order, helps to keep your mind where it needs to be to play your best. That is, it keeps your mind in the present moment, and if your routines are strong enough it is virtually impossible for outside, distractive, thoughts to creep in and distract you. Not get out there and try it out.
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For more information about Mental Performance, contact Scott Del Mastro, M.A. at Club Med Academies – 772-323-0625 or www.clubmedacademies.com
