Aiming your shots!

TOM’S ONLINE TENNIS LESSON - Aiming your shots

How would you like to be able to aim your shots and have the ball go where you're aiming! We'll, I have the solution! It's not a quick fix solution, but a solution that can probably cut your learning time in half. It's the missing link! O.K. here it is, this may shock you so you may want to sit down. If you want to aim your shot better you're going to have to think about aiming it! You may be thinking...that's it! Yep, that's it! Do you know how many players do not think about aiming their shot, but just hit the ball with the hope that it will go somewhere over the net. As one of my players once retorted when I questioned her if she was aiming the ball or not. She said "I am aiming it. I want the ball to go...that way!" As she pointed somewhere over the net.

Now, if you're a C player this is not a bad idea, but if you're a B3 player or higher you need to begin practicing thinking about aiming your shot. Notice I said practice thinking. The key here is thinking. During practice you must begin practicing the correct thought process of aiming the ball. Each time you're about to hit a ball think about where you want to aim it. At first this will feel awkward because you're not used to it, but with repetition thinking where you want to aim the ball will become very natural. In fact, eventually if you do enough repetition the correct thought will pop into your mind automatically. This brings me to the pop principle.

The pop principle is something I use extensively in my teaching methods. It goes like this. If you repeat a thought (like aiming a ball) enough times over and over again for weeks and months, eventually that thought will automatically pop into your mind at the right time. To learn a physical skill you must repeat that skill over and over again. Well, the same is true for the thinking. You must repeat a thought over and over again until you learn it.

The next time you're practicing try some repetition of thought. Begin by thinking about where you're going to aim your shot. Do this enough times and presto someday it will amaze you by popping into your mind all by itself. The pop principle works...use it!

Your tennis pro,

Tom Veneziano