Regardless of the topic I’m studying when I watch video every night, one thing I notice from the best players that amateurs could use to catapult their games: The ability to remain in their soft game after someone resets during a fire-fight.
You know what I’m talking about and see it all the time … someone attacks, it goes back-n-forth for two or three shots, it then gets reset, but your buddy can’t stay calm and fires it again into the back fence or bottom of net ?.
After the ball gets reset, it’s usually time to hit the mental pause button, emotionally regroup, and repeat the slow fishing expedition. This split second of quiet can be difficult for some players to lean into and will feel the need to immediately speed it up again, but because the “attack rhythm” and opportunity is gone, it often leads to an error.
The ability to properly transition from chaos to calm comes from our commitment to playing with maximum discipline. It’s a skill that needs to be intentionally focused on each time we step on the court. Players who are the most discipline focus more on what Should be hit over what they Want to hit. They rarely fall victim to the fancy, are ok with playing boring, and revel in the fact that most of their opponents CAN’T. However you tap into it, mentally, challenge yourself to up your discipline game - it’s a guaranteed lock to find immediate improvement.
