The Ideal Performance State

Do you have players who throw their racquets and scream throughout their matches? Does one of your players give up as soon as she is broken once or twice in a set? Is one of your best hitters a choker who consistently loses to players with much weaker strokes?

Anger, tanking and choking are three of the four mental performance stages in which players may find themselves during a match. Your key, as a coach, is to help them reach the fourth – the Ideal Performance State.

Sport psychology's main guru, Dr. Jim Loehr, popularized the concept of the Ideal Performance State (IPS) and the various stages players go through to get there, in an effort to help coaches and players better deal with the stress of competition.

Before you can help your players cope with their mental demons on court, they'll need to understand what their emotions mean, in order for them to deal with them on a more subjective level.

The article goes on to discuss to various mental states a player may find himself in during a match, and how to deal with each.