An Act of Confidence

I ran across a little gem today in John Mill's column, Tennis Anyone? at the Tennisserver.com: Confidence.

Of course, as Bill Tilden said, every missed shot tends to erode confidence, and every great shot tends to build it. But we aren't completely at the mercy of fate in this department.

Confidence, like other virtues (such as courage, fortitude, faithfulness, etc.) are developed by simply practising them. I forget where I read this long ago, but it was excellent psychological advice for the average person. Courage, or any other virtue, isn't in your genes. If you want to be a courageous person, act as though you are.

Act like a courageous person. Make the courageous choices. It's a simple CHOICE.

And you will know it when you are courageous.

It's the same with confidence: make the confident choices. John gives a great example.

Most players hit balls so "off center" because as the ball gets nearer to the contact point the average player will allow doubt to enter the picture and try to look where they want to hit the ball.

That little choice you make, to look away at where you want the ball to go, is a choice to NOT be confident about that.

Make the other choice instead. Mills says that he thinks once a player masters the habit of staying focused on the point of contact, they become confident players.

Right. It's an act of confidence. Just as you become courageous by performing acts of courage, you become confident by performing acts of confidence. In other words, your own actions affect you, and you are, in large part, what your own actions and choices have made you.

Read the rest. And then here's more at Operation Doubles about keeping focused on the point of contact.

Technorati Tags: tennis tennis instruction