TennisOne Lessons

Creativity vs Boredom

Happy Bhalla

I have attended a few Tennis Teacher Conferences in the past year and a common suggestion among many presenters is the rapid fire changing of drills in order to keep the attention of the players. This is accompanied by statistics showing that the average attention span of an individual is so-many seconds; an alarmingly low number that is increasingly decreasing.

The question that is interesting to explore is how do we use this information? Are we as players and facilitators to cater to this downward trend of shortening attention spans by changing drills rapidly? Or should we be committed to increasing players’ abilities to focus by staying with drills longer and thereby run the risk of losing students. And what are the short-term and long-term consequences of both paths?

In order to answer these questions, we need to delve a little deeper and explore. First of all, why are people’s attention spans becoming shorter and shorter?

As a child growing up in London, we had 2 television channels and neither of them began before about 4:00pm. In addition, we had very few toys since my parents were struggling immigrants from India barely eking out a living. During the summer holidays we had over two months to occupy ourselves without the benefit of camps or other organized programs to attend and yet boredom never really happened to us. The kids in the neighborhood used to get together at the local park and play football (soccer) all day. I recall also that we made up all sorts of games and once even held a mini Olympic Games, while at other times, we simply found things to do at home by ourselves.

In stark contrast, my nieces and nephews of today have television channels galore with round the clock programming, they have countless videos available, computer games, the internet, a room full of toys, books to read, elaborate camps and other organized activities of every conceivable type and yet an often heard comment is, "I’m bored, there’s nothing to do." How can this be? What is going on here?

Before we delve deeper into the nature of boredom, let us look at its polar opposite, creativity. When we were younger there was much less stimulation and as a result we needed to be creative. We found things to do, we were proactive, had to be; there was no other choice. The most important prerequisite for creativity is space; an emptiness to be filled; a thoughtful pause before saying something.

Unfortunately, in today’s culture there seems to be no time for a thoughtful pause. Any hesitation is seen as ignorance or weakness, when in reality it is a sign of tremendous intelligence. In a culture where every minute of the day has to be structured so that we can be as "productive" as possible, there is little possibility to create empty space. Unfortunately, creativity can only happen when that empty space exists. Therein lies the dilemma. We are pushing our children into boredom through over-stimulation and simultaneously creating a situation where it is harder for them to be creative.

The key problem is the understanding of this word "productive." What does it mean to be productive? For most people, productivity is an outer phenomenon; it is measured in terms of acquiring and achieving. If I am acquiring a marketable skill by hitting tennis balls or shooting hoops then perhaps those things are productive, but if I am playing video games that, as yet, have no marketable quality, then it is perceived as "wasting" time. However, in the future, when a world-wide tour of video games arises and it becomes a lucrative and televised event, then playing video games will no longer be a "waste" of time.

Are we comfortable with this criterion of what is productive and what is not? What is the alternative? Can productivity be measured with some other criterion? Is productivity rather an inner phenomenon that is unrelated to any specific activity? How would that work and what is inner productivity? What is the relationship between inner productivity and creativity?

Inner productivity is about being present and being present allows creativity to happen. In fact, creativity can only happen when we are present because in that state we are not reacting from past experience. Instead, we respond to the situation as it appears before us, without preparation. Creativity is a spontaneous response to a certain situation and tennis provides us with unlimited opportunities for that, but only if our conscious mind is silent and we are open.

The Drill

To explore the nature of boredom, Around the World, is an ideal game to play. Just hit cross court forehands for an extended period of time. No winning, no losing no game; just hitting continuously with the intention of not missing. Follow this with backhands cross court and then your backhand down the line against your partner’s forehand down the line and then your forehand down the line against your opponent’s backhand down the line. Backhand slice can also be incorporated into the practice. You can also add movement for more advanced players by having one player hit to a particular spot with the partner alternating between hitting a forehand and a backhand. Ultimately, players can start in the center of the court and hit anywhere, but with the intention of simply keeping balls in play.

The idea is to create a situation where there is a great deal of repetition. The mind becomes bored when it sees sameness or perceives it sees sameness. The antidote to boredom is the realization that the sameness is really not sameness, it is new! No two balls are the same. No two forehands are the same. The dimensions of time and space render everything brand new no matter how often you repeat an action. This drill will make players more sensitive to the nuances of hitting a tennis ball and helps them become more present, which after all, is the art of being focused and the antidote to the feeling of boredom.

Happy Bhalla has a Masters Degree in Philosophy and Religion and has been teaching tennis for over 30 years.He has written two books and many articles over the past 10 years on the role of the mindin both the learning process and in the competitive experience.

His teaching style attempts to view students as Holistic individuals, rather than “just” tennis players.It combines his two loves. Spirituality: living with awareness; and Tennis: the pursuit of excellence. He believes “tennis is the vehicle by which we can not only learn more about ourselves, but it can also provide us with wider perspectives and ultimately a joy and peacefulness, under all circumstances, that far exceeds the temporary satisfaction that winning provides.”

He can be reached at: happybhalla@hotmail.com or www.wholistictennis.com