Understanding Your Personal Needs – Story from the book "Smart Tennis: How to Play and Win the Mental Game"

In John F. Murray, Ph.D.'s book "Smart Tennis: How to Play and Win the Mental Game," the story of Jack Patterson serves as a powerful illustration of how understanding personal needs can transform both athletic performance and overall life satisfaction.

     Understanding Your Personal Needs: The Story of Jack Patterson

     Jack Patterson, a commercial real estate agent in his late twenties, had a real drive to excel. Introduced to tennis by one of his clients, he knew right away that he wanted to become the best player he possibly could. He took lessons on technique and read everything he could get his hands on about the sport. After four years, however, he felt as if he’d come about as close to his personal potential in tennis as he could get. Although he could hold his own against many of the individuals he played regularly with, he was starting to feel unchallenged by the sport. He knew he wasn’t the player he had once believed he could be, but he didn’t know how he could get any better. That’s when he met Marcia Alexander, a sport psychologist with a background as a tennis teaching professional. 

After hitting with Marcia one afternoon, she asked him a question that eventually changed his approach to tennis-and his life outside the sport as well. Her simple question was: “Jack, what do you really know about yourself?”

     Three months later Jack was a different person both on court and off court. Using a simple paper and pencil test that Marcia provided, Jack got some insight into his personal strengths and weaknesses. Jack discovered that some of the things he knew about himself but had never really examined before were verified by Marcia’s assessment. He also discovered that there were some areas in his life that he’d never known about himself, but upon reflection, he realized that they were accurate. For example, Jack scored low on the subscale that measured general confidence. When he saw that score and listened to Marcia’s interpretation, he thought there must be some mistake. He was one of the most confident people he knew. He was bright, energetic, and had a good career. Why shouldn’t he feel confident?

     After some reflection, Jack took a better look at himself and realized that most of the time it wasn’t feelings and thoughts of future success that drove him forward in his work, in tennis, and in life generally-it was feelings and thoughts of avoiding failure. “Just don’t lose!” was his usual battle cry before a match. And that’s the way he played: overheads that he could smash easily where hit with low power to push them into a safe place on his opponent’s side of the net, second serves were practically hit sidearm to guide them carefully into the service court, and defensive lob was his usual answer to an opponent rushing the net. Jack had wondered why he played so much freely -with so much more flow-when he had big lead, or even when he felt hopelessly behind in a match. As Marcia helped him see, in those cases the outcome of the match was pretty much decided. He had nothing to lose!

     Jack marveled at his newfound insight. With Marcia’s help, he began experimenting with ways to create positive feelings of confidence and flow from variety of earlier experiences. Combined with his awareness of some other strengths and weaknesses, Jack was able to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and slowly become a better tennis player. Much to his amazement, he also found that there was some transfer from the court to his career and life in general. He began to look difficult situations as opportunities and to concentrate on approaching success instead of avoiding failure. By getting to know himself better, Jack identified areas where he could make changes in the way he perceived stress. Learning about himself was the first step Jack took to become a better player… and a better person.

Tennis helped Jack grow in many areas of his life. What excites you the most about tennis? It is competing, staying fit, or just challenging yourself to become your very best?  Whatever your interest, you are definitely not alone. Tennis is a passion for millions all over the world. Whether you play for a living or merely to live for the chance to play , you owe it to yourself to become the best smartest tennis player imaginable . The challenges of tennis for the beginner are just thrilling as those for the world-class champion.

     The benefits of tennis are endless. It only takes an hour to achieve a body wrenching workout and total release from stress. It stretches your intellectual capacity and imagination while strengthening your bones and muscles. It also a very social sport and can be started at almost any age and played forever.