Frequently asked questions section two has commenced. Enjoy! Check out last week's posts for the top three FAQ!
4.) My child is complaining about (type injury here). There doesn't seem to be anything wrong (no swelling, bruising, ect.) but I can't keep my child on the court without a complaint (and/or my child avoids the court like hot lava). What should I do?
Whenever I have a kid complaining about an injury, I check for serious signs, like bruising, swelling, or discoloration. If I don't see these things, I typically have the kid go back on the court, and, nine times out of ten, they keep playing and they're fine. However, this doesn't mean that a player isn't injured if there is nothing to show. I, for example, had a knot in my shoulder that would get so inflamed that it would cause a pinched nerve, none of which you can physically see, but definitely something that I could physically feel (tingling down my arm, not feeling my fingers, massive pain in my shoulder after playing).
Injuries in tennis are hard to deal with; there has to be an intricate balance between pain tolerance and injury prevention. I say pain tolerance because tennis players will typically have niggling pains, like tendonitis, especially if they play on hard court and are growing. Imagine pounding your feet over and over on concrete, and that's what a player goes through everyday. Injury prevention means icing (or warmth for knots and tight muscles), stretching (not for five seconds), eating well and hydrating (we're talking dehydration here as an injury too), massage, ice baths, and DAYS OFF.
I know tennis is a sport where you need to be on the court as much as you can to compete. BUT, if the injury is getting in the way of your player (or you, as a player) practicing well, there is no point in practicing at all! Taking a day off may be the smartest move, but it is up to the player to keep an open line of communication with parents and coaches without feeling guilty about needing a break. A chronic injury or a worse injury can develop out of a niggling injury that will disappear with a few days of rest and active recovery.
5.) I play awesome in practice, but it doesn't carry over into matches. I get super tense and tight and I play much worse than I know I am capable of. What should I do?
There are two types of tennis players: one type plays much better in matches compared to practice because there is something on the line, and they are in a competitive atmosphere. Then, there are players that play much better practice, typically because they are looser and know that there ISN'T anything on the line!
For those who get nervous, the first step is becoming aware of this nervousness and asking for help. The first way of asking for help is simply asking, while the second is asking for some privates or additional days at camp. Let me explain:
Tenser players tend to think too much on the court. If you go out there without the confidence that you are better than the player on the other side of the net, it's practically impossible to play at your top level. Adding confidence means adding more practice. Going out there knowing you put in the work more so than the other kid does major things to your mindset and approach when you are playing.
In the meantime, think of ways you can replicate pressure in practice (adding sprints, say, if you miss a first serve, works fairly well as pressure) and try out different strategies on coping with that pressure. I always suggest what worked for me: going to the fence, focusing on breathing and counting to ten, wiping my face with a towel I always had with me, and focusing on something I could control, typically my feet. The first thing that goes when you get tense on the court is your footwork, so always focus on moving, whether it's doing some butt kicks or high knees to get you relaxed or just focusing on bending your knees when you hit the ball, footwork is always the first thing you want to focus on.
