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The Power of the Mantra

by Stefan Lundgren

As a tennis coach, you sometimes face the following scenario: one of your students, who normally has a good forehand, has completely lost his stroke and you cannot find any technical explanation for it. In most cases, this occurs because the player has somehow convinced himself that his forehand is no good.

This type of scenario often appears during a match or training exercise, in which the normally very good forehand stroke fails the player. This failure initially pushes negative thoughts into the player's head, such as "it is usually okay" or "my forehand is very bad today." If the forehand fails the player again in the next match he plays, or in the next training exercise he participates in, the negative thoughts he first experienced will intensify and he will start to focus all of his concentration on his forehand. He will start to think about his forehand stroke even before he hits it. This type of problem can continue for a long period of time, and in some cases, doesn't end until a player's self-confidence has fallen to its bottom-most level, a level where every small successful achievement is a step forward.

It is of great importance that the cycle of negative thoughts be broken as quickly as possible. Most of the time, it is not enough to tell the player that their forehand is good because the player can always show the opposite on the court. The change has to come from within the player and this is when you, as a coach, can provide the power of the mantra to the player. The power of the mantra works as such: the player must continuously repeat to himself the complete opposite of his thoughts.

Using the example of the player who has lost confidence in his forehand, the coach would ask this player to repeat to himself, "I have a very good forehand," at least a hundred time a day and at the same time, write the same sentence out fifty times per day. In as little as two days, I've seen this technique work a remarkable change in the player's forehand stroke, restoring it back to its previous level.

By repeating the positive sentence over and over again to himself, the player has eliminated his negative thoughts and replaced them with positive ones. When he next enters the court, he will be thinking positively again and there will be little room for negative thoughts before he hits a forehand shot.

Mantra training is not only useful when it comes to treating weak strokes, it can also be beneficial in treating other mental issues.

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