Let's talk about external distractions that influence default behaviours !
How about internal uncertainty that leads to doubt or disconnect !
How do we connect our external positive learnings to our internal self drive ?
Andre Agassi, one of the best all time tennis players clearly admits he hated tennis and had no purpose until he had his own kids. Winning matches wasn't enough and now he supports education from his sporting career and has a deeper connection to sport. This gives him the chance to now feel there is a much greater purpose behind what he can impact on a daily basis and also the wins are so much more than just another title and so much simpler.
Watching a lot of junior matches I see a lot of uncertainty in decision making and disconnecting from our best tennis towards relying on our secondary plays due to panic. Many of the top ATP & WTA players have a base primary game style, then have secondary and sometimes even a third game style able to be used against different opponents. The difference is that when hit key times in the match they do everything they can to play their primary game style as their base not their secondary unless forced to.
External learnings can be negative or positive. These can lead to default personality defects or to motivating self drive. For example is a parent after a match tells the child what he should have could have or would have done straight after a match it impacts a negative response mechanism. On the other hand if the child was told one positive outcome of the match he will tend to want to explore this further. Data tells us that players personalities and default mechanisms determine why a player plays a certain game style but also why they choose to make decisions from fear or trust and play their primary best game style or choose to play a secondary " losing " game style.
What does this mean to Parents, Athletes, Coaches or Community sport lovers ?
Tips
1. Educate those around you to know what you need that impacts you in a positive way. Choose your team.
2. Get to know what your personality is, what is your primary game right now and any default mechanisms that you have and create a safe space to explore this further.
3. Understand that everyone has a reason about why they enjoy sport, play sport or what impact or challenge it can be for them. What is yours ?