Dad, you make bad decisions when you are angry...

"Dad, you make bad decisions when you are angry... "  -Lily.
                        (This after I smacked the side of the TV 'fonzie' style to get it working.)

Ain't that the truth?.  Another one of these life/tennis parallels.

Get frustrated, get angry, holler or throw/smash something.  The TV doesn't work right, I want to to smack it. Cant hit a volley or groundstroke I have the urge is to yell about it, or worse bang/chuck my racket.   I've never totally gotten over this urge. I tend to direct against things or myself and not other people, although I'm sure they pick up on it. Nobody wants to play tennis with a hothead, and no one wants to put up with this in a any kind of relationship.  I've never struck anyone in anger... although I must admit my tennis rackets have always taken a bit of abuse and  they have built up a few frequent flyer miles with a good bird's eye view of the court.

Worst case example was this winter when Diane got her car stuck in a ditch and got out when it was running and in gear.. the VW automatically locks the doors when it's in gear and there is no way to open it.  I so wanted to take my truck and snow plow and ram the vw so far into the snowbank that we wouldn't see it again til spring if ever.... I was able to resist the (stupid) urge, but clear thinking? good decision?  not so much.
Playing singles one Sunday against one of the better players at the club. I was serving and rallying ok, but I couldn't hit a winner in the court to save my life.  I missed half a dozen overheads, not to mention putting every volley and approach shot out in the alley, net or long.  Most club players have days like this ( I played another guy weds who had the same unfortunate level of play as I had on Sunday, I just kept the ball in play until he missed )  but I just continued to force the issue and play aggressively, maybe even MORE aggressively... fueled by my anger to banging flat serves to his strong forehand side, and playing right into his steady game.  How's that working for ya??  Not so good.  I need a mechanism to not get angry about mistakes, and then to get back from the boil over point... if that's possible. The smart thing to do is let it go right away.  The Inner Game of Tennis teaches not to judge every shot as good or bad, but it happens so quickly the logic just isn't there.

  I play my best tennis when calm and focused with a bit of urgency and adrenaline coursing through my veins.   Anger does my game no good.The inner game of tennis talks about this.. and I know it.  Thursday we played doubles, and I was frustrated with my game but keeping my temper in check until I hit an obvious ace up the middle that got called out. I was able to walk it off, take a breath and let it go.  The result was a decent second serve, followed by a good first serve the next point without any anger 'banging'.  Bad calls happen, bad shots happen.. its how you react to them and remember them that matters.