Training tennis, growing people, building values

In tennis, personal values play a very important role (see Djokovic’s disqualification from the US Open ...). Values are the rules of the game of life; they define us as a person, they are our DNA, they give us a unique identity and mark our behaviours and decisions and can also affect performance.

It is very difficult for a tennis player who does not have PASSION to stay in the sport for many years and have the COMMITMENT needed to improve. It would also be impossible to improve without the necessary HUMILITY needed to listen to the coach who tells them what they need to correct... Not to mention what happens if you are NOT RESPONSIBLE for your academic studies, schedules, breaks, food, training and equipment…

Talent can bring you closer to the door of success but it is certainly the EFFORT that makes you cross the threshold and when things get complicated, what would become of us if we did not have the PERSISTENCE to overcome a difficulty, such as an injury? And what about the motivation to try to be better each and every day; the spirit of OVERCOMING.

Tennis is individual yes, but players also train in a group, so they must also be SOCIAL. Competition can bring out the best but also the worst of us, but there will never be any excuse for not acting with RESPECT, towards the opponent, our family, the umpires, the facilities, the equipment and of course, the coach.

It is immensely gratifying for the club's coaches to see that we have created a positive impact on  tennis players, watching them improve but above all seeing how they grow up to be good people, GENEROUS with others and fully trained to face life's challenges. .

It is easy to find academies where “values” are boasted about, as they are all the rage, but how many of these academies really work on them? As a player, psychologist and coach I have been to many clubs and academies and I can say that the coaches of BTA have the temperament and skill to teach more than tennis. 

The BTA philosophy is to bring the values onto the court, to work on them in an experiential way and what happens on and off the court is a reflection of an involved and dedicated academy who cares about the development of its players.

Methodology: 10 months, 10 values; from September to July; we introduce players to 1 value each month, then we choose the actions that define this value and finally the coaches will propose and choose which player of the Academy represents this value.

The prize: simply the satisfaction of being chosen as a benchmark of a value and the opportunity to explain their story through our social media.   

Oriol Mercadé and Mar Mainetti, Sport Psychologists from “The Mental Point” working at BTA