What a 7 Year-Old Little League Baseball Player Can Teach You About Your Tennis Game

I've always been pretty good at most sports. When I was a kid I learned quickly but mostly I was athletic so that made it easier. As a result, I developed a solid understanding of and appreciation for most sporting contests. It also helped that I grew up in a "college city" (Syracuse, NY) where Syracuse University basketball, football, and lacrosse dominated your sports social calendar even if you were not a student or alumni.

I've been playing tennis since I was in grade school and my technique and core mechanics are pretty solid. Recently, I've been struggling with my tennis game (partly due to a chronic foot and shoulder injury) that has manifested into a mental battle on and off the court. To get myself back on track, I knew that I had to get to the root cause of my problems. After hours of introspection and a self-analysis of my game, I came up with a plan and 2 months ago kicked off my performance improvement journey.

Last week, one of my tennis friends commented on my game and how well I've been playing. I appreciated the compliment. She asked, "what have you been doing differently? Is it all the singles that you've been playing?" I agreed and replied, "Yes. I've been working a lot on my singles game. The thing about singles is you really have to work on all aspects of your game...in doubles I think you can get away with a little bit more." What I didn't tell her was that I've spent a lot of time thinking about and getting back to tennis basics. And that watching my seven year-old play little league baseball has helped me a lot.

Here's what he's taught me:

1. My son, "Mommy, did you win [your match] today?" Me, "No. But I played pretty well." My son, "Did you keep your eye on the ball?!"

The Lesson: I am now more aware of the fact that I get lazy with my shots and often "peek" at where I want the ball to go instead of keeping my eye on the ball through the shot. In his book, "Tennis: Play the Mental Game," author David Ranney says, "...pay attention and follow the ball all the way to [your] racket so that [you] can see the ball spinning. This is Core." You know, every time I do this my consistency and shot placement accuracy goes up and I win more points!

2. "Stop playing in the dirt!" Any parent or little league coach knows this phrase all too well. When little ones are positioned in the non-grassy areas of a baseball field, there is a lot of temptation. What young boy wouldn't want to to play in soft, sand-like dirt while they wait (sometimes forever) for the ball to be hit to them? Baseball can be a very slow game.

The Lesson: Be self-aware of your mental tendencies, patience, and tolerance levels. Your mind will wander and at times you'll loose focus during a match. It takes a lot of discipline (and practice) to bring yourself back into the present at critical times for an entire 2-3 sets of tennis. Self-awareness is the first step. The next step is to identify ways to get yourself back to the present. What works for you?

3. Go get the ball. Little league coaches use the metaphor of an alligator with young players when they learn to field ground balls. I often observe that the boys are waiting for a ground ball to get to them instead of going to get the ball and they lose time on the play.

The Lesson: Go get the ball. Take the ball on the rise. You give your opponent less time to react. I do this a lot on my service returns and find that I often hit a more aggressive shot with pace, resulting in a winner or get a defensive/short ball from my opponent on the next shot that I can put away.

4. After every game or practice, the coaches huddle with the boys to conduct a team debrief. They talk about what went well and not so well. Our team lost their game last week and one of the coaches remarked, "We're letting too many balls slip through our gloves. You guys have been playing for awhile and know better than that!" I laughed to myself because I've heard this speech before from many little league coaches. You know, these veteran players have been playing since they were 4 years old. They should know better, right? *smile*

The Lesson: Debrief after every match and practice. I now keep a journal to assess what worked well and what didn't work well for me after every match and practice. This self-awareness tool helps me think through what I need to continue to work on and what I'd like to try in my next match or in practice. I also keep reminding myself of the tennis basics. For me it's keep your eye on the ball (no peeking) and follow through (wrist to ear).

5. My little leaguer plays left field and it just so happens that the score board at our home field is behind him. In their game last week, there were lots of errors. Every time the other team would score a run, he would look at the score board and get really upset. So I walked to the fence and said, “Don’t focus on the score, it’s not over until the game is over. Just focus on what you need to do which is to get the balls that come to your side of the field and back up the 3^rd baseman.” Sounded like pretty good advice to me. *smile*

The Lesson: It’s not over until the last ball is hit and you shake hands at the net. When I play doubles I constantly remind myself to “take care of my ball (execute) and set up your partner - that’s all you can do.” In singles, I have to keep reminding myself of the same thing i.e., don’t worry about what my opponent is doing or the score, just stay focused on what kind of ball I’m getting (short, deep, slice, topspin) and what I need to do with it.

So that’s what my 7 year-old little league baseball player has taught me and little does he know he's helping me to make improvements in my tennis game. Perhaps you’ll find something here that will help you. Let me know.