TennisOne Lessons
Do
You Think Like a Winner?
by Jim McLennan, Senior Editor, TennisONE (Former President, USPTA, Northern
California), and Carol Blackman
This questionnaire measures your mental toughness. Once you've filled out
the questionnaire, you should have a more precise idea of what part of the
mental game of tennis you need to work on. TennisONE will feature several
columns analyzing each section of the questionnaire.
Do You Think Like a Winner?:
Competitors' Questionnaire
How it Works
Answer the following questions truthfully.
Score each question from 1 to 5:
1 = rarely
2 = seldom
3 = sometime
4 = often
5 = always
Positive Expectation - Self Confidence
1. I really believe in myself as a competitor. _______
2. My confidence is unshakeable. _______
3. I see myself as a winner. _______
4. 1 enjoy big matches & important situations. _______
5. I expect success. _______
6. I perform to the upper limits of my ability. _______
Total _______
Crisis Management - Arousal Control
7. I can manage feelings of anger or frustration. _______
8. As the pressure mounts I play to win. _______
9. 1 don't get nervous or afraid in a match. _______
10. Mistakes don't bum me out. _______
11. I am a cool, calm and collected competitor. _______
12. As the pressure mounts I am inspired to do my best. _______
Total _______
Attention Control - Focus
13. I can control the level of my concentration. _______
14. I concentrate well in any situation. _______
15. 1 don't care what spectators might be thinking. _______
16. 1 easily forget errors and lost opportunities. _______
17. As the match grows tighter my concentration improves. _______
18. I can easily block out interfering thoughts & feelings. _______
Total _______
Attribution Control - Learned Optimism
19. Prior to most matches I expect to play well. _______
20. I focus on remedies rather than causes when losing. _______
21. I expect to become a better tennis player. _______
22. I feel there are no limits to what I can learn. _______
23. I am challenged by new skills and situations. _______
24. I can cope with difficult strategic situations. _______
Total _______
Total your score for each section separately. A score of 25 to 30 is excellent,
19 to 24 adequate, and scores below 19 suggest areas for improvement.
General Background on Questionnaire
Sport psychology has firmly entered the realm of both professional and amateur
sports. It was evident that Dan Jansen was applying positive imaging when
he fought off all the negative press and produced his incredible performance
to win the speed skating gold medal. The positive visualization Jack Nicklaus
performs prior to his final round successes has been studied and can be
copied by players of nearly any individual sport. And certainly, all the
tennis magazines routinely include sports psychology columns within their
pages.
Sport psychology concerns getting the most from a player's skills, allowing
each athlete to perform in the zone. Everyone agrees that tennis is, at
times, a mental game. But how can find about your mental abilities? How
can you learn to control you moods and expectations? Most importantly, how
can you actually improve your mental game?
"Do You Think Like a Winner?: the Competitors' Questionnaire"
is an interactive tool that allows you to understand how you perform in
the crunch. It will pinpoint both your strengths and weaknesses. And,
it provides a vehicle for you to improve those areas that need work.
The questionnaire measures you mental abilities in four key areas: Positive
Expectation, Crisis Management, Attention Control, and Attribution Control.
Take a moment and answer each question truthfully. Try and recall how you
felt in recent match, and the more important occasion the better. The questions
describe actual feelings that you may have had, and detail specific circumstances
that actually occur in match play. It is important to be honest, for it
will be obvious what each "correct" answer would be.
After you have answered all the questions, total the scores in each section.
Then and only then should you proceed to the following explanation of each
category.
For analysis of your score on questions 1-6, go to Jim McLennan's Positive
Expectation. For analysis on questions 7-12, go to Crisis
Management, and for analysis on questions 19-24, go to Attribution
Control (the last column will be posted next week).
Copyright 1993 "Competitors' Questionnaire," by Jim McLennan and
Carol Blackman. All rights reserved 1993.
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