The engine sputters and dies. The weary, rusty wheels
forcefully push themselves to their limit, shaking with tension and weight from
the heavy weight of the old, sad engine. This isn’t the little engine that
thought “I think I can.” This is the weary engine that has had enough. Welcome
to the burn out world.
Yes, a bit of a gloomy start to the usually cheerful blog
you find here at Seminole HP tennis. But, still an important topic that touches
junior players and professional players all the time; burn out does not
discriminate. Something that is important to define right off the bat is the
difference between burn out and tiredness. Yes, everyone is going to feel
tired. Most competitive tennis players rarely go a day without playing through
some sort of pain, whether it be simply sore muscles or tendonitis or more dilapidating
injures like stress factures or nerve impingement. Often one of the most
resilient of athletes, tennis players have to deal with no offseason; while the
basketball team is resting, we’re still on the court. Time for football? Still
time for tennis. So, it’s easy to see how, much like the engine analogy in the
beginning, a tennis player can grow weary, of, well, tennis. Burn out is
completely different from tiredness. It is a more mental aspect of tennis that
comes with being on the court day in and day out. Sometimes burn out strikes
when you play too often; your body gives in and so does your mentality.
Sometimes burn out strikes with tournament losses and wins. You can feel burnt
out if you feel like your working hard on the court but the results are not
translating yet. Sometimes everything outside of tennis affects you, bringing
you into a tailspin of emotion.
Burn out is tough, but you are tougher. It takes a team of
support to get out of it, though. Family support, coach support, and most importantly,
self-support, helps you get into tennis again and out of the burn out stage.
Oftentimes the best remedy to burn out is rest. Finding something different in
the game also helps; play with a new partner—go to a tournament alone to gain
perspective as to how much your support system does behind the sidelines to
help you with your game. Focus on
the positives (hard to do, and easy to say, I know), and slowly but surely, the
wheels on the train will start to churn with their normal power and strength as
before.
Remember, your emotions are the slave to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions (Elizabeth Gilbert).
