Tennis Meditations
Today’s Throwback Meditation: What Is a ‘Good Player?’
A tennis pal of mine recently said he‘s looking for matches with “good players.” That got me wondering: How do I define ‘good player?’ Is it —
Someone who could or should beat me?
Someone with solid or enviable technique?
…
Today’s Meditation: The Pleasures of Public Confession
I recently started teaching tennis at a nearby adult-getaway tennis camp. I'm feeling my way into the work, and I've noted some good things and some bad things about my level. I know the game and I have, I believe, an interesting take on it…
TODAY’S MEDITATION: ALL TANGLED UP IN SELF-ESTEEM
When I play a match against someone whose game I'm familiar with, I go out with expectations.
"I should beat this guy two and three."
"I'll be lucky if I get to four and four."
And so on.
It's my version of what Gambling World calls…
Today’s Meditation: Enlightenment and the Zone (Our Many-Storied House)
I had a pretty wild vision the other night. I was listening to a brain-entrainment program from IAwake Technologies, and as it was doing its thing, feeding my hemispheres with specialized brainwaves, an immensely clear understanding announced…
TODAY’S MEDITATION: HEART OF DARKNESS
I had a bad day at the tennis office yesterday morning — and it felt great.
I’ve been working on playing more freely when I compete. You may recognize yourself in this: I tend to get tight and play conservatively in matches. When I do…
TODAY’S MEDITATION: FLOW, ENTRAINMENT AND TIER 2 COACHING
You're probably familiar with the standard operating procedure for tennis clinics. If it's for beginners, the teacher feeds balls, keeps the energy level high, and — if they're doing their job — provides individual feedback. With more advanced…
TODAY’S MEDITATION: A TRIBE CALLED TENNIS
I’m not a big Facebook fan — in fact, I’ve avoided it with a passion for much of the last decade. It was my love of tennis, along with the desire to share my views about the game, that inspired me to grit my teeth and cross the line that…
TODAY’S MEDITATION: THE LITTLE THINGS
Christian Eubanks in a 6'7" beanpole out of Georgia Tech who's been an ATP second-stringer since he turned pro in 2017. He always had a big game and all the tools, but he was the sort of player you'd see at Challenger events and the qualies…
Today’s Meditation: Overcoming Happy Head
I learned about a specialized form of chiropractic medicine recently. It focuses on the C1 vertebra, which is the one closest to the skull, and it's called Atlas Orthogonal because, well:
Orthogonal is a synonym for perpendicular — unless…
TODAY’S MEDITATION: YOUR IMAGINARY ALLIES
When I go for a drop shot in a match, I invariably undercook some and hit them into the net. That‘s a double sin to me — I should at least make my opponent hit it.
When I feed a ball between points to the doubles player who’s at the…
TODAY’S MEDITATION: TIER ONE AND TIER TWO (PAYING ATTENTION TO ATTENTION)
The vast majority of teaching pros focus on two things — technique and strategy. These are essential, needless to say — you can't play good tennis without them.
That being said, I see a hole in the standard approach, and it's a big and…
Today’s Meditation: Your Strength Is Your Weakness
When I was sixteen years old, I played a fourteen-year-old named Harold Solomon. You may recognize the name. He’s the semi-famous moonballer who got to number five in the world. He was just a kid then, as I was, and he was newly back to the…
Today’s Meditation: A Wormhole in Tennis
In past meditations, I've written about the all-important moment of not-knowing. This is when we've set up to hit our shot and have committed to our swing. Will it succeed or will it fail? Will the gods smile when we find out how we've done?…
Today’s Meditation: The Heart of the Matter
I got some shocking news the other day.
I've always felt supremely healthy — invulnerable, almost. For years now, I've had no serious physical issues. At the age of 73, I felt healthy enough to start seeing a longevity doctor who helps…
Today’s Meditation: Strategy and Survival
You‘re playing a match that you’ve gone into with a clear strategy. The competition sucks you in and when you emerge from the vortex, you realize that as things got hotter, you totally forgot about your strategy.
Sound familiar? Hell,…
Today’s Meditation: A Marriage Proposal
It's been a long time coming — I'm not a guy who's good at commitment. But now, at last, my time has come. I know when I've found The One, and so I'm dropping onto one knee.
"Tennis, will you marry me?"
I've finally come to realize that…
Today’s Meditation: A Moment of Sobriety
I had a moment of sobriety over the weekend — a moment of tennis sobriety. What do I mean by this? Well, I understand the term 'moment of sobriety' to mean that the addict has a moment where they see with luminous clarity what they've been…
Today’s Meditation: Tennis and Response-ability
I'm a bit weird. When someone communicates to me, I try to respond immediately. This is partly self-protective — I don't want to carry the stress of having to remember to get back to them — but the more important consideration is that anything…
Today’s Meditation: The Rhythm Method
Among other things, tennis is a dance — and it’s a dance that starts with the feet. Like many people, I tend to forget this. I focus on the ball coming at me, getting into position for it, and striking it well and correctly. That’s all…
TODAY’S MEDITATION: IN PRAISE OF MICRO-TENNIS
'Micro-tennis?' Micro-tennis????
Yup! Or, as it's usually known, short court.
I've become a huge fan of starting off with short court. I find that I play much better when I spend a few minutes hitting the ball gently, focusing on things…
Site News
Amazon Is On Board!
Since we launched Tennis for Good a week ago or so, we've added six new retail partners. Many of the names will probably be new to you. One of them surely isn't — it's Amazon! We are now an affiliate partner of this online marketing giant.What…
Greetings!
Welcome to the soft launch of the Tennis for Good website! Please feel free to explore the pages, kick the virtual tires ... and provide feedback!
In the weeks and months ahead, we'll be expanding our network of retail partners, evolving…
Looking for Volunteers! And Retail Partners …
As Tennis for Good gets off the ground, I find myself with a basic decision. Do we want to build out in the old-fashioned way in which we, the project's owners, build something privately and then, once it's reached what we deem to be a ready-to-reveal…
New Retail Partner!
We've launched our Health & Wellness category with Winston Wellbeing, an enormous supplement supermarket that offers over 16,000 products from over 250 vendors, including many who only sell through professionals. Names like Pure Encapsulations,…
