“There are more players that have the talent to be the best in the world than there are winners,” says Timothy Gallwey, the author of several books about the mental side of tennis, golf, and other pursuits. “One way of looking at it is that winners get in their own way less. They interfere with the raw expression of talent less. And to do that, first they win the war against fear, against doubt, against insecurity—which are no minor victories.”

via The New Science of Triumph – Newsweek.

Tim Gallwey, who wrote “The Inner Game of Tennis,” said athletes such as Henin and Clijsters who devote their lives to sports starting as youngsters often have to get away from the game to regain control of their lives.Gallwey, 72, who was captain of Harvard University's tennis team in the 1959-60 season, said such athletes have a psychological advantage when they return from retirement.

“They’ve had time to step back out of the normal disciplines and grinds of any sport,” he said in a phone interview. “They get to come back with renewed energy and self-determination. Instead of something they have to do as a pro, it’s something they want to do. I admire them, because they’re going back with eyes open.”

via Henin Makes Australian Open Final on Own Terms – NewsFlash – MassLive.com.

Getting in the zone either happens by chance, on any given day and there aren’t really any events that trigger it. It just happens. Sometimes you do everything right to prepare and have the worst day on court. Other days it feels like you’re not ready and then all of a sudden it clicks.

There are certain ways to trick your body, or rather your mind into helping you get into the zone. Mostly its about thinking about one thing and letting the body do other things by itself. I don’t wanna make this post long, so I’ll make a quick suggestion. Buy and read the book Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey. Amazing book and will answer many of the questions you have.

via Controlling when youre “in the zone” – Talk Tennis.

On offense, Carroll is known for using an aggressive, nonconservative play-calling that is open to trick plays as well as “going for it” on 4th down instead of punting the ball away.[57] <#cite_note-ESPN080907-56>  Because of his aggressive style, the USC Band has given him the nickname “Big Balls Pete.” At football games, when Pete Carroll decides to go for it on 4th down, the USC band will start a chant of “Big Balls Pete” that carries over to the students section and the alumni.[58] <#cite_note-LAT082607a-57>[59] <#cite_note-LAT102207-58> [5] <#cite_note-Esq09-4>
On defense, Carroll favors a bend-but-don’t-break scheme of preventing the big plays: allowing opposing teams to get small yardage but trying to keep the plays in front of his defenders.[60] <#cite_note-LAT092207-59>
Carroll draws coaching inspiration from the 1974 book The Inner Game of Tennis, by tennis coach W. Timothy Gallwey </wiki/W._Timothy_Gallwey> , which he picked up as graduate student at the University of the Pacific; he summarizes the philosophy he took from the book as “all about clearing the clutter in the interactions between your conscious and subconscious mind” enabled “Through superior practice and a clear approach. Focus, clarity and belief in yourself are what allows you to express your ability without discursive thoughts and concerns.”[61] <#cite_note-LAT082607-60>  He wrote a foreword </wiki/Foreword> for a later edition, noting that athletes “must clear their minds of all confusion and earn the ability to let themselves play freely.”[22] <#cite_note-NYT110208-21>  He also cites influences frompsychologists </wiki/Psychologist>  Abraham Maslow </wiki/Abraham_Maslow>  andCarl Jung </wiki/Carl_Jung> , Buddhist </wiki/Buddhism>  meditation</wiki/Meditation>  master Chögyam Trungpa </wiki/Ch%C3%B6gyam_Trungpa>  andZen </wiki/Zen>  master D. T. Suzuki </wiki/D._T._Suzuki> .[5] <#cite_note-Esq09-4>

“I remember the time I first won a tennis match against my father,” says Tim Gallwey, author of the classic book The Inner Game of Tennis. Gallwey’s father had promised him a new racket if he won. Gallwey was 13 at the time, and had been playing in state tournaments. During the match, he was torn between wanting to win a new racket and not wanting to beat his father. When he won, he felt regret and compassion for his dad, who’d just been defeated by his own son, but was also elated by victory, glowing with a sense that his abilities had reached a new height. “That sense of self-worth is very precious,” says Gallwey.

Can brain training help you in the real world? Definitely! Tennis Coach Timothy Gallwey has argued for years that you will do better at learning even a sport such as tennis if you become conscious of how your mind naturally learns. The same principle applies to most domains of experiences.

The human consciousness is the awareness of oneself as a being that thinks and learns. Consider the difference between your consciousness and its closest relation, emotional awareness. Since the time of Freud (who lived from 1856 to 1939), we as a society have become skilled interpreters of how dreams, fears, conflicts and emotional attachment affect our experiences and actions. In spite of our high level of emotional awareness, few of us achieve a high level of mind consciousness. Otherwise educated and sophisticated people have virtually no awareness of how they solve problems, discover ideas, assimilate and manage information, or adapt to change.

Is it is important to develop your mental prowess? A human mind is an instrument of enormous power. The similarities between the workings of your mind and the mind of a major scientist (such as Einstein) or a revolutionary thinker (such as Freud) are great, while the differences are subtle. To make the most effective use of your mind, you need to be aware of what it does as you think and learn. Strange as it may seem, you only have to learn to use the ability the mind that you already possess. That is why mind consciousness is such a powerful asset. With the right techniques, you can train your mind and improve your memory and accelerate your learning.

You can never totally be the master of your mind any more than you could ever totally be the master of your body, but you can guide it. Your heart keeps beating, your lungs keep breathing, your ears keep hearing, and the rest of our body keeps working, for the most part, whether you tell it to or not. In the same way, your mind keeps assimilating information and reinterpreting your experience. But neither are you obliged to let your mind master you. Think in terms of the analogy with your body. You can tell your eyes where o look and your feet where to step. With exercise you can influence how far you can run, and with training you can even affect how rapidly your heart beats. With memory training, if you observe your mind and understand it, it will exceed your expectations. If you continually train your mind with the right memory techniques, it will serve you well in years to come.

With subtle change in your observation skills, you can guide your own learning in the same kind of way that a government regulates a country’s economy. Economists offer methods for the government to avoid both an over heated inflationary economy and economic depression. They track business cycles and prescribe remedies to contain the excesses that could derail economic growth at any point.

Your mind goes through learning cycles in the same way that the economy goes through business cycles. If you understand the cyclical patterns of your own mind, you will be able to keep the growth of your own mind magic on trick as well.

Can brain training help you in the real world? Definitely! Tennis Coach Timothy Gallwey has argued for years that you will do better at learning even a sport such as tennis if you become conscious of how your mind naturally learns. The same principle applies to most domains of experiences.

Adapting to life in the information age will in essence be no different from adapting to any other dramatic change in living conditions. Futurists such as Alvin Toffler and business experts such as Peter Drucker tell us that power in the information age will come increasingly from the mind. That can mean only one thing, in the future, even more than before, you will have to rely on your own natural ability That should not be cause for alarm. Your natural ability is entirely adequate as long as you are skillful in putting it to good use.

I can still remember my mom driving me to the match. I was working through all the ideas I could to get ready for the match. I remember as we warmed up trying to focus on the patterns that the ball stripes made as it was coming over the net at me. (A Gallwey exercise) During the match, at some critical moments, when things could’ve gone either way, I remember returning to that exercise. Trying to focus on the patterns of the spinning ball. I still use this “focus” exercise all the time.

Read the rest of this great story and rediscover The Inner Game of Tennis on the pages of Alive Tribe.
and [A crossposting from uber.la]