Martial arts carries as integral components time-honored principles of personal mastery and athletic performance. Tennis, the sport for a lifetime, has much to learn from accepting and adhering to basic martial arts fundamentals, not only physically and technically but also personally, emotionally, and psychologically. Examining martial arts sheds light on common denominators of athletic performance, which transfer and apply to every sport.
An athlete cannot fulfill his potential without focusing on the full panoply of fundamentals: physically tangible and the psychologically and emotionally intangible. Mastering tennis requires completely committing to each and every fundamental, including those that improve attitude and learning skills.
Mastering each fundamental represents a journey into improvement and excellence not only for tennis and martial arts as specific disciplines but also for overall personal fulfillment and mastery in life.
Embrace a learning mind-set and look for the opportunity to learn from everything. Learn purposefully and with discipline. Stay in the present and focus on what is happening now. Dispense with your ego and go with the flow, fearing nothing. Stay calm and relaxed as the moment is the only thing. Feel yin and yang, flow and force. Breathe fully, relaxing in the present without the self, without fear, and with the mind and body as one. Be ready. Look to the greatest threat. Move from the ground, staying balanced. Set up, and use the earths power to stroke from the ground, driving and rotating through the legs, hips, core, shoulders, arm, and racket.
Mastering these fundamentals unlocks the power of action, unleashing the fulfilling power of the self. Paradoxically, dispensing with the selfs ego leads to self-actualization and fulfillment. Learn and master these fundamentals and youll not only become a much better tennis player; youll become a better learner, performer, and athlete. Much more importantly, youll become a better person.
Mengenai Pengarang
John Nelson has coached the University of Hawaii men’s tennis team since 2003, having previously coached at San Diego State, UC Davis, and Cal State Hayward. Nelson takes pride in player development, working to develop his players mentally, physically, and technically, nurturing their development and challenging them. John has coached multiple national individual collegiate champions and has won a national NCAA team championship. Nelson earned undergraduate degrees from Canada College and Cal State Hayward, where he was an NCAA tennis All-American, and a Masters degree in education from Stanford University. He is a USPTA member and former Intercollegiate Tennis Association board member. John has a third degree black belt in Jujitsu and has also studied Judo, Aikido, Kali, Shotokan Karate, and Taekwondo, and uses martial arts skills in tennis. An avid low handicap golfer, Nelson resides in Honolulu, Hawaii with his wife, Carol.
Mark Beede is a USPTA, PTR, and ATPCA certified tennis coach, manager, and educator. Born and raised in Maine, Beede received his undergraduate degree from Brandeis University and law degree from the University of Maine School of Law. After practicing law Mark changed careers to tennis, moving to Hawaii to work with the USTAHawaii Pacific section and the Hawaii Pacific Tennis Foundation. Beede then moved to Istanbul, Turkey, to serve as director of coaching education and special projects at an international tennis academy for professional players and elite juniors. Sensei Tennis is Beedes second book, after publishing From Go to Pro, A Playing and Coaching Manual for the Aspiring Tennis Player (and Parents)- Developing the Elite Tennis Player. Beede is married, and has a grown daughter and two grandchildren. Now based in Hawaii, Mark loves to travel the world as an observer, tourist, consultant, and promoter for tennis, the sport for a lifetime.