Mental Skills Training Program For The Tennis Athletes

The aim of this case is to implement a mental skills training programme for six tennis players aged between fifteen and sixteen. These athletes have been identified due to being exceptionally gifted physically and having solid techniques. The tennis club has recently produced a grand slam champion and wants to capitalise on the increased influx of young players. The athletes also enjoy pre performance routines. However these six athletes lack in the mental side of the game and get extremely anxious before and during the game. This negatively impacts their performance and results in them having a poor attentional focus. Anxiety not only affects the athletes cognitively but also behavioural aspects including one of the athletes nerves affecting her so bad that she missed easy volleys or double faulted on key points due to her hands shaking. Working hypothesis: I propose that the mental skills training for the tennis athletes will improve the athlete’s self- confidence so that cognitive anxiety is reduced so that athletes can focus their attention to important stimuli, and their somatic anxiety is seen as facilitative. Jones et al (1995) stated that viewing anxiety as facilitative leads to superior performance, whereas viewing it as debilitative leads to poor performance. The multidimensional anxiety theory states that cognitive anxiety has a negative linear relationship with performance. It states that the athlete’s attentional focus is negatively being affected as aShow MoreRelatedEssay about Mental Rehearsal Key to Improving Athlete Performance1706 Words   |  7 Pagesin mastering a skill and taking an athlete or team to the next level; imagery is equally, if not more important.† (Mallett). Many people believe that although the sport is played with the body, it is won by the mind. 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