Finals day ...

Finals day, a long awaited day that you hope you are going to be there for. Gladly, we were. Jean had the semi- final and the final today. Taking the experience from yesterday and bringing it to today before the match I discussed mental strategies of what to do, and what to remember to do. One thing I learnt whilst being at this tournament is to make sure you are not overloading the player with information but giving a small amount of information so they can still stay focused on the task in hand. In addition ensuring the warm up is personally tailored for that person. For example some people may need a long warm up and want one other may not want or need a long warm up and play better when they don't. Its all about routine. After winning in the semi final it became apparent that the mental side of Jaedan's game needed to be addressed. For this match, we told her to make a real effort to take her time in between serves and show no bad attitude on court as this gives an advantage to your opponent and referees can also give you point penalties for bad behavior and racket abuse. I the final a huge difference was shown in her game and he standard of play was also raised. Once Jaedan had finished we went to watch 11- year old Daniel. Daniel was in the semi final of doubles this was a 2 hour match so of course mentally and physically testing. Unfortunately he lost however what we are trying to teach him his to also keep his calm on court and to learn from any mistake you make.