It's great to see professional athletes recognizing the mental battle that goes on between their ears. In this situation it's tennis pro John Isner. Yet, I can only imagine how he could have been helped throughout his junior, college and young professional career to change some of his failures into successes.
"As a professional athlete, you want to feel so strong and impervious to everything, but that wasn't the case for me and I let him know that," Isner told me in Houston at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships last month. "I let him know what I was feeling in the big moments. I let him know sometimes how scared I was." "I'd find myself seizing up, not freeing up," Isner said. "And just wanting to win so badly that I didn't want to go after it myself, I was a little afraid of that. With how I'm built, it's the absolute wrong thing to do. When other players get nervous and get tight, say, be it a Nadal, a Djokovic, a Murray -- they can rely on their wheels. I can't. I'd just find myself hoping my opponent would miss. I knew what was holding me up was myself."
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I discuss a quote from Tim Grover's book Relentless. He highlights how important mental training and toughness in and external to sport is.
Congratulations to GSP athlete Alok Mehta, who won gold at the India racquetball qualifiers this weekend! He will be representing India at the International Racquetball Federation - IRF World Championships in Colombia later this summer. Alok is also one of the most decorated athletes in the history of the IRF Senior World Championships. Congrats Alok!
My wife and I have really enjoyed hosting professional racquetball athlete Marie Renee Rodriguez for the past 10 days. We spent a considerable amount of time working on developing a training program, practicing weight lifting, spending time on the court, discussing strategy, practicing emotional control, and analyzing her game. It was a busy period but we both gained much from the experience. Be sure to click on her name and keep up to date with her career progress!
Have you ever thought about buying a fitness tracker (accelerometer) such as a Fitbit but didn't know which one to buy? Dr. Shelley Holden and I recently wrote a short article on what things you should consider when making the decision. The publisher has made this article free to the first 50 people who click on this link. If you have specific questions about fitness trackers, please send me a message. I'd be happy to answer any questions.
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