We teach more than tennis here at Do It Right Sports. It is an experience of health, fun, education, challenges, and tests that make us stronger as individuals and as a community. As I learn and grow, I try to share. Come feel the experience for yourself.
Robert
The Advanced Tennis Diagnostic Center in Raleigh has been open for several months now. We have our tools almost complete to integrate Dartfish video and Boomer results.
There are many things that one can do to have good mental health. The four that I try to teach all of my students are; Write in a journal and read it from time to time, Have a good support system(Family, Friends, Church friends (people who are learning and believing the same things you do)), Find some time alone to think about life, truth, your goals and direction, and last reflect on the past, present and future daily.When a person reads the scriptures they can see and hear from the past, as they study, live and learn, daily, they partake of the present, and as they hope and dream of the goals they have, they get a glimpse of the future. Stay mentally healthy by keeping these things in balance in your life. Don’t get stuck anywhere too long so you can continually grow and be of greater worth to those around you.
The physical body is an area of importance because it is the part of us that actually performs the things we think. We are what we eat, as strong as we work, limited by our lack of understanding and preparation. Did you know that it takes the average body 6 weeks to learn a new motor skill. How many us give up after the first try because our body couldn’t do it the first week of trying. Here is something to think about why are most lessons 6 weeks or longer.
Every body has a spirit inside. It can see things that the natural eye can’t see, hear things the physical ear can’t hear, but more importantly when the body is tuned with the spirit the individual’s potential becomes limitless. Get to know your spirit so that you can control your mind and body more efficiently and effectively.
The Family is the integral unit of a society. A place where values are first learned and the place where most sacrifices are made for the creating of each individual. The family usually has the most influence on the outcome of any individual. The cool part of a family is that it is always changing and every family is as different as the individuals they create.
The society we live in also has a great deal to do with the outcome of an individual. It is an avenue that can influence the values of an individual or family and change the direction or product of the individual. It is said that strong families make for a strong society but remember it is the entire village that raises a child. As athletes we have many opportunities to interact with all the communities around our sports and can influence those communities as to their support or lack of support for our sport endeavors. Our impact can be as small as our immediate family to future generations. It can be on our local club or world wide. Influence is a tool used daily try with all your might to stand for truth and what is right in all that you do. Do not succumb to bad influences that you know are wrong or are not true. Think before you act and do your best to research things before you jump in. Look up the city you are traveling to for your sporting event. Get to know something about the community before you visit. It will make getting to know others easier if you know something about them.
This is where the rubber meets the road. The truths we learn in this life will directly influence where we stand, how far we can go. and what we are able to do. Know this; we are here to gain knowledge so that we can function better, faster, calmer, happier in any environment in which we travel. With an education you have an opportunity to become wise, and a good influence on others. As tennis players we travel in many parts of the world and into many cultures and communities. It is important that we learn how to get along with others but at the same time stay obedient to the laws we know to be true. Seek after universal truths. So that you can be successful at anything you endeavor.
The financial portion of our lives contributes the fruit to support and sustain the individual, the family and the community. Our work/career, provides the products we need and want to make this life comfortable for us and others. Remember there are many types of fruits some are more valuable than others, but remember the same fruit may be more valuable in someone else’s hands. Be careful most people get out of balance because of this one area and it affects all the other areas.
Law of Obedience is the ability to do what one is told from what ever source one may choose. There are laws that govern all things. When a law is given, there is usually a blessing for compliance as well as a punishment for non-compliance. Obedience is the law that is used to introduce us to new things and to help us learn wisdom in a controlled and hopefully a safe environment. Obedience is usually started in the home with loving parents. If you know of the law or not, it does not matter the rules that govern the law still exist. Doing the things that fulfil the laws that exist is obedience. In all sports there are rules that help avoid confusion and help protect players. Most sports players do not know all the rules before they start playing a sport. They just go and try it to see if they can do what others are doing and they soon find out that they are hurting or are hurt before they can ever perfect the game. I have seen many players lose the chance to finish their season just because of a weekend football game or a fun garage pick-up basketball game. Learn to be Obedient and you will be able to be good enough to make your own rules and laws someday by being the best at the game. I taught a student a drill to build his hand eye concentration after doing what I told him everyday, he mastered that drill and then was able to add a twist to the drill that was even harder to perfect but challenged even the author of the original drill.
Law of Sacrifice is the ability to give of one’s self for a greater return yet to be achieved. Sacrifice is the ability to surrender, give up, permit injury to, or destroy for the sake of something of greater value. To be stronger one must give up some sitting time to do exercises. To be faster one must practice running and maybe even lift weights.
Law of Hope is the ability to seek or cherish a desire with anticipation. Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one’s life. Hope is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best. Hopefulness is somewhat different from optimism in that hope is an emotional state, whereas optimism is a conclusion reached through a deliberate thought pattern that leads to a positive attitude. In Christian theology, hope is one of the three theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity), which are spiritual gifts of God. In contrast to the above, it is not a physical emotion but a spiritual grace. Hope is distinct from positive thinking, which refers to a therapeutic or systematic process used in psychology for reversing pessimism. The term false hope refers to a hope based entirely around a lie or non-truth.
Law of Faith is the ability to have a firm belief in something for which there is no proof. Faith is the ability to have a firm belief in something for which there is no proof. Warning: be careful what you believe in. Belief in things that are always true is standing up for good and uplifting. Belief in things that are false or partially true usually leads to evil or harm. When a law is given, there is usually a blessing for compliance as well as a punishment for non-compliance. Faith is the law that jump starts us and allows us to do anything and everything we do.
Law of Love is the ability to be warm and attached, enthusiastic, or devoted, unselfish, loyal, benevolent and concerned for the good of the endeavor or person. Love is any of a number of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection and attachment. The word love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure to intense interpersonal attraction. The word love is both a verb and a noun. Love is not a single feeling but an emotion built from two or more feelings. Anything vital to us creates more than one feeling, and we also have feelings about our feelings (and thoughts about our feelings). This diversity of uses and meanings, combined with the complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, even compared to other emotional states. As for tennis, love means nothing, this is why Tennis players have to have charity and do so many charities.
Law of Gravity is a fundamental physical force that is responsible for interactions which occur because of mass between particles, between aggregations of matter (What goes up must come down as long as it is heavier than the mass it is going through).
We add value to our preparation by gaining knowledge and adding the understanding that the things we do have causes and affects that grow the further they get away from us. This is potential.
To add value to our concentration we need to identify the tasks we have direct control over, those we have indirect control over, and try to stay focused on each task in a timely manner. This is control.
To add value to our timing we need to understand synergy and how the bring together of the individual pieces on time creates something greater than the sum of all the individual parts. This is power.
To add value to visualization try to see all one thousands words in ever picture and then make our pictures into moving pictures. This allows you to be best and most efficient person you can be.
The Four Keys To Success are expressed in the PCTV Acronym. PC’s and TV’s have the greatest potential for influencing the learning, skills, abilities and habits of the human race. These tools have the ability to use more of the human senses short of actual experience. The sights and the sounds being the two major senses invoke feelings followed by touch, which we are starting to use with joy sticks, jumping and running mats, car pedals and steering wheels that all can be attached to the computer or TV to simulate different experiences.
Preparation , Concentration, Timing and Visualization are the keys that make anybody successful at anything. As you go through this site you will find the definitions of these keys and links to sites that discuss the keys for different areas of discipline (Tennis, Cooking, Creating Web Sites etc). This site will concentrate on principles, but it must be understood that these principles apply to all walks of life.
Visualization Is the ability to create a mental image. Visualization is the master key. It is the key that ties all the other keys together. It is the key that is both the beginning and the end. Our minds really work in pictures. I am sure you have heard the saying a picture is worth a thousand words. And so it is with visualization, it allows you to do more than one thing at a time. The clearer the picture the easier your task becomes. If you have ever seen how a movie is made, you know that it is just picture after picture with the very slightest change from frame to frame. If you can visualize your task, activity , or project in a movie in your head the better performer you will be at the job you are trying to accomplish. If you want to do the job even better see yourself actually doing it before you start than go into concentration mode focusing on the things you have control of and add timing so that you end up with a picture perfect job.
Visualization is the key that allows us to work with our subconscious mind allowing us to do more than one thing at a time. This happens by allowing the body to use muscle memory and automatic system responses to work in our favor while our conscious mind works on concentration.
The purpose of visualization is to allow you, your family, the team, the organization, the community, the country, the world etc. to be more fluid in the environment you are working in. A well seen vision should allow you the ability to move as smooth as possible while being as fast as the fastest, as slow as the slowest, as strong as the strongest, as weak as the weakest. Visualization is the key that makes something a part of you. It will allow you to be the best there is and the most successful you can be, as long as you have built your vision using these four keys to success.
Warning: Visualization is the key that if not used properly makes things an obsession or can put your life out of balance. It is very important that you create visions and pictures for all aspects of your life. If you neglect your pictures in any one area of your life you will become what I call out of balance. When a person is out of balance. more times than not they are also unhappy or unsatisfied. So when you create any job / project or task using these keys of success remember to see the whole picture (mental, spiritual, physical, family, social, financial and educational), so that you are not only great but in harmony with thy self, family, community, country, world and universe.
Timing is the bringing together those things that give you control of the activity you are concentrating on.
Some people see timing as luck being in the right place at the right time. For successful people it is more like a schedule and as for those of you that are religious all things are done in the Lords own due time. In sports the difference between winning and losing is decided by seconds. One second sooner on the jump, means an interception. One second sooner set to shoot, avoids a blocked shot in basketball.
The purpose of timing is to add power to your task, activity or project. A well timed activity makes the difference on the power and influence you have in any given situation. It will allow you to be the best there is and the most successful you can be, as long as you have timed everything using these four keys to success.
Have you ever heard a joke where the person had no timing for the punch line, or it was told to the wrong group in the wrong city ( bad timing). Movies are made by cutting milliseconds to create certain emotions or views at just the right time. For example have you every seen a horror movie that wasn’t scary, it was actually funny and not scary, even though they did the same things as most horror films but they changed the timing of the lights or left out the anticipation or they show too much too soon.
Timing gives you power by bring together the things you control with the things you want to influence in the right order to create a reaction that is fairly predictable to accomplish the desired results.
Concentration is the ability to stay focused on what it is you are doing. Concentration or lack there of, is where most mistakes and errors occur in any given endeavor. The human mind is easily distracted unless it is well trained. The other area where concentration is hurt is via preparation most people do not know what it is they are suppose to focus on. When I teach tennis and ask a player what it is that they focus on, they come up with any number answers and few identify the correct one due to lack of knowledge or research. “Watching the ball to the point of contact.” It is the only place that you have control or potential of control over that ball.
Another reason that concentration suffers is that many people have a talent, muscle memory, contacts, tricks or habits that just make them successful because they are able to accomplish something just a little better or a lot better than the competition. The mind works in pictures but many people miss translate those pictures by trying to consciously control their actions there by they miss a few of the control factors required to be successful at the endeavor. Many people do not have to concentrate on walking because there are just so many directions you can go with your feet. That doesn’t mean that you won’t step in the dog droppings if you are not watching where you are walking.
The key to success in concentration is to know what it is you are doing and stay focused on the control point and timing of those points in your endeavor. Just now a lady broke a glass because someone scared her (broke her concentration) by slamming a door closed. The better your concentration on the correct points of control the more successful you will be. There will be fewer errors than the competition or in life itself.
Tennis is an example. Tennis is a sport for a life time. Tennis is one of the few sports that you can train in, play and continue to learn about from age 3 years to 90 years old. You can play competitively or socially. Few players in any sport however take the time and the money to learn and play injury free. To do so would take all the fun out of it (so they think). Yet it is a goal we hope to pass on to all of our students. We do not only teach the things specific to a sport but we all so teach the things that are common for all sports / professional careers. So come join us as we learn line upon line, precept upon percept, concepts and theories, truths and fallacies.
Preparation Is the ability to see what it takes to do something and gather everything necessary together to be ready to actually do it.
Preparation can be as simple as seeing yourself doing something, or a written well studied plan dictating the environment, every action, very second, and every contingency. As Hannibal says on the A team (a TV show), “I love it when a plan comes together.” If you are religious God the Father created all things spiritually before manifesting them physically here on the earth.
The purpose of a plan or preparation is to allow you, your family, the team, the organization, the community, the country, the world etc. to be prepared for anything in the environment you are working on. A well thought out plan should allow you the ability to move as fast as the fastest, as slow as the slowest, as strong as the strongest, as weak as the weakest. It will allow you to be the best there is and the most successful you can be, as long as you have planned using these four keys to success.
As in life there are different degrees of glory, so there are different levels of planning. I like to look at planning on 4 different levels: The Big Picture (all major aspects of life), Long term (100 or 200 year plan), Short Term (any of many plans 1 hour, day, week, month, year, or 5, 10, 20 year plans) and Immediate detailed (intricate details for doing whatever correctly).
Every great plan identifies the: environment, scope, purpose, focus, timing, vision and contingencies. In order to make a plan worth anything it must also identify the; cost, sacrifices, hope, faith, goal, and love that is required to accomplish the task.