The Fight Against Adversity: Resiliency and Grit

Resiliency; Noun: An Ability to Recover From or Adjust Easily to Adversity or Change

Resiliency is a critical part of our health, happiness and success in all aspects of life. The world is constantly changing - that we can be certain of. 2020 has shown us that! Being able to ride each coming wave with nimbleness, positivity and strength is a challenging skill to develop - but worth it. The best news? It can be learned. For tennis players, resilience is a key pillar for success.

According to a recent article in the New York Times, an individual’s resilience is “dictated by a combination of genetics, personal history, environment and situational context. So far, research has found the genetic part to be relatively small". You can think of resilience as a set of skills that can be, and often is, learned. Part of the skill-building comes from exposure to very difficult -- but manageable experiences.” There are numerous variations of how to train under pressure and build resilience. Adapt and overcome, evolve and survive. These are non-negotiables if you are trying to grow as a competitor.

Here are 4 keys to building resilience in your players:

1. Humility: A common denominator in all great tennis players is that they have played at a high enough level of competition to have been beaten...badly. From these moments they understand they are not invincible and the going will get tough. They know how to climb out of a dire situation, with their experience and problem-solving skills - not with emotion and ego. Accept your imperfections, embrace your opportunities.
2. Staying on the same page: It is critical for coaches and players to be reading from the same script. The energy and body language that is being expressed from the court to the players box is very influential.
3. Competitive environments: There are varieties of drills that can help with situations like this - drills where the player is immediately at a disadvantage and match play exercises where a quick shift of momentum happens in the blink of an eye.
4. Push for more learning and knowledge: Great coaches are perpetual students who inspire their students to do the same. This becomes easier when the player understands the benefits of growth, development and the power of independence, which increases self-confidence, therefore building resiliency.

For the SETS team, training coaches on how to teach resilience to their players is a passion for us. Understanding how coaches manage the on-court atmosphere and how players react to stressful situations is an acquired skill that we have honed teaching, training and developing coaches and players across the tennis pathway for the past 3 decades.

Grit; Noun: Courage and Resolve; Strength of Character

Another critical sidekick to resiliency for both on and off-court development is grit. Jon Henderson, former NFL wide receiver, said it best: “Your toughness is made up of equal parts persistence and experience. You do not so much outrun your opponents as outlast and outsmart them, and the toughest opponent of all is the one inside your head.” As a complement to resiliency, grit is the ability to rise up from challenges and use them to your benefit.

Toughness, or grit, is the ability to drag yourself from where you really are to where you need to be. Sometimes it can start as an artificial emotion, but whatever gets you on the right path to a higher level of performance can manifest into something genuine and powerful.

When times are challenging and you feel yourself on the ropes, ready to go down, remember that it is up to you on how you are going to handle it. Will you give up or stand up?