WELCOME TO OUR FREE ARTICLES, VIDEOS, AND RESOURCES
Would you like us to send our best free tips, tools, and special offers straight to your inbox?
The Crucial Strategy of Normalising Nervous Feelings
Matteo Berrettini spoke frequently about how nervous he was feeling during his US Open Quarter Final match...If you are a coach or parent its important to reflect on how you talk to you players/child about nerves? What do you recommend they do if/when nervous feelings show up?`
At Mentally Tough Tennis we recommend that you make it your highest priority to encourage your players develop the skills that allow them to be more accepting of difficult internal experiences like nerves and frustration. One great way to do this is to normalise these feelings, as opposed to encouraging your players to try to control difficult emotions (which tends to lead to not only normal levels of difficult feelings during challenging situations, but additionally worry or judgement about being nervous or frustrated).
This is a crucial shift from traditional sport psychology advice and, given Berrettini's reflections, it's obvious that his coaching/support team have done a terrific job...