By Sherry Benz
Self Talk
Have you ever struggled on the court? Said things like “I can’t hit a backhand today!”, Where did my first serve go?”, “My feet are like Velcro!” I have!
Self-talk is a running monologue and consists of the things we say to ourselves both consciously and unconsciously. You might not be aware that you are doing it, by you almost certainly are. Sometimes, it works to talk through something step-by-step and other times we say things that are more hurtful than helpful.
Studies have found that positive self-talk can help immensely with performance and learning. For athletes and people who engage in sports, positive self-talk can help them stay engaged and have fun. Positive thinkers have better coping strategies when faced with challenges and it boosts self-confidence because it helps us to believe we are capable of success.
Our brains are hardwired to remember negative experiences over those that are positive. Practicing effective strategies to turn negative self-talk into positive self-talk has proven successful. Here are some tips to help:
Negative self-talk/Positive self-talk
· It’s too radical a change? / Let’s take a chance
· I’m not going to get any better at this. / I’ll give it another try.
· I’ve never done this before. / It’s an opportunity to learn something new.
· It’s too complicated. / I’ll tackle it from another angle.
· I’m don’t have time for this. / I wasn’t able to fit it into my schedule, but I can re-examine my priorities.
Remember this rule: Don’t say anything to yourself that you wouldn’t say to someone else!
Men’s/Women’s rainout results: The Men’s B round robin draw was a nail biter! Results were not certain until the last match was played.
· 1st Place: Rick Tedeski/Gerhard Ringel, 2nd place Tim Keys/Abe Chen, 3rd place Marty Funcell/Don Clark, 4th place Randy Shaw/Sheng Chen.
· Women’s B: 3rd place winner: Tad Pierce/Nancy Domingo
· Men’s 80+ 1st place: Martin Hoek/Jay Desai, 2nd place: Bob Semple/Chuck Moss