The other day I met up with Mark Mitchell, head coach at St Neots TT Club and former No 6 ranked player in UK, to discuss the possibility of working together.
After a brief chat we went on the table for a knock. Mark asked me which side I would like to start on. I chose backhand as it’s the side I feel most comfortable on and it felt easy as we traded shots, going up and down the gears with pace and spin. Then, we went to the forehand and I am not sure what happened but there was definitely a feeling of self-doubt with thoughts such as, ‘oh no this is your weaker side’, and ‘you’re about to trade shots with Mark, who was England No 6’. Immediately, we started hitting, I could feel very little connection to the shot, my movement felt jerky, and the results were inconsistent, compared to my backhand. I paused for a moment to notice what was happening and I become aware of an excess of physical tension in my body. I then chose to focus on how relaxed I was playing. Fortunately, I was able to access this state quite easily, as I had trained it both on and off the table. As I trusted in simply paying attention to my level of relaxation, I started to let go of the physical tension, play with greater freedom and accuracy, and I got the enjoyment factor back too!
Self-doubt is possibly, by far the most crippling of mental interferences. Other mental interferences include fear, being overly nervous, and suffering with lapses in concentration.
Mark and I both discussed how it would be easy for a coach to miss the possible interference that could be going on in a learner’s mind, and instead to look to fix what is in front of them. So, if some kind of mental interference e.g., having to do it ‘right’ for the coach, was causing the player to be inconsistent with their contact point, or appearing off balance, or stopping their follow through, this is where a coaching intervention might be aimed. E.g., ‘Hey, Josh, see if you can hit the ball more in front’, or ‘Jo, see if you can follow through more’… resulting in the player trying hard to do this and creating only more tension….
I believe that for coaching to be effective, mental interference must be reduced in the learner and this is best done by supporting the player within a non-judgemental learning environment, where the player is helped to become more aware of their experience and trusting in their innate capacity to learn from their experience. Taking it one step further, I also believe that coaches should be aware of any mental interference that they have, as this will have an impact on the learning process too.(for another blog!)
In our training sessions, we explore ways to apply the Inner Game concepts, tools and techniques with the aim of quieting the mind so that the body can perform at it’s best.
Look Out! The Inner Game of Table Tennis sessions and camps coming soon to St Neots TT Club.