Emotion Racket for Conor Final

 

(Queue up Emotional Rescue by the Stones)

Hey, Coach Conor Casey here. I want to discuss the importance of understanding the role emotions play in tennis.

High Emotional Intelligence, or EQ, as the cool kids say, is essential for navigating the emotional rollercoaster of tennis life.

Doesn't matter how long you've been playing. If you have competed for any time at any level, there’s a lot of emotions swirling around a tennis court, some good (lawn mower) and some not so good (racket toss, the agonizing lousy luck of a let cord)

In the past, if you wanted to learn about your emotions, you would consult an Emotion Wheel.

(pics of emotion wheels)


 



Yeah, that’s a bit much

Let’s Lose the Emotion Wheel

And bring in the First Ball To Last Emotion Racket.

Check it out. This is the prototype, the demo tape. Babolat or Yonex, are you there? Great marketing opportunity!!

But let’s project onto the bed of a racket all the emotions tennis players experience throughout their playing days..

Why is this important?

(It’s just Emotion by the Bee Gees.. Kinda like the Bee Gees..)

(Incredulous)…No Maurice, its not just emotion..

The racket narrows it down, focusing solely on the core emotions tennis players frequently engage with.

So how does this work?

So, let’s start with our goal and work outwards. And what better place to start than dead center, the sweet spot (Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith)

Zero in on the center of the racket and click on Flow. The goal for our entire tennis emotional life is flow. Flow has a few names. Famous Sports psychologist Jim Loehr called it the IPS, or Ideal performance state.

There was a famous book called Flow by renowned psychologist

(mumble his Name) err, the big MC..called it FLOW.

Some call it zoning, being in the zone. On my block, we called it treeing.

You wanna feel the flow? Click on that Thing!!

FBTL breaks it all down, 

(I'll get you better image! sorry)

 


 

 

 



 

Here is what we have for FLOW.. What it is, what it feels like, sounds like, looks like How we can trigger it and most importantly how do we manage or sustain it (More Flow, More Flow)

FLOW is like the perfect storm when it all comes together... But we can't get to FLOW without managing all these other emotions surrounding our Sweet Spot (see that, pretty clever huh? Irene Cara... What A Feelin

Just around FLOW are all the empowering emotions that make up FLOW like Focus, Determined, Confident, Passionate… each one by themselves still a solid hit and Important to understand and sustain (Second That Emotion song)

Outside that circle, we start getting into the mishit/shank territory. Anxious, Angry, Overwhelmed, Frustrated…We don't want to be here. The emotion racket will help you navigate you away from these troubling emotions and back toward the sweet spot..

And god forbid if we're in the Whiff zone.. That’s a MayDay, MayDay, SOS!!!. Take two weeks off, quit the game, put the rackets up on Ebay, sell the membership, and take up Pickleball emergency.

But this is how emotional intelligence works.. Performance enhancing as well as life enhancing.

Listen, you're not alone in feeling like you do... REM Everybody Hurts

But we don't go to the Emotion Racket occasionally or only before significant events. Make this part of your daily routine. Jack up your EQ. Understand your emotions. I promise you that in a matter of a few months, you will easily handle situations that used to baffle and flummox you.

Coach Conor Casey, signing off.

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