📖 Story of the Week
Imagine a perfect snowy Minnesota winter day: plenty of snow, not too cold, and just right for sledding.
You go to the biggest hill you can find, grab your fastest toboggan, and make a fresh set of tracks in the new powder.
Once you reach the bottom, you quickly head back to the top, eager to go for another ride.
At the summit, you find your original set of tracks, place your sled back in the lanes, and race down your newly created path once again.
Since you’ve already gone down this path once before, the tracks are deeper and more ingrained in the snow. As a result, the sled shoots straight as an arrow—faster than the first time.
Back to the top yet again, your sled effortlessly finds the now well-worn tracks, and down you race once more, gaining more speed than ever as the compressed snow has created a superhighway leading you rapidly to your destination.
Now you might be wondering: what do sledding and negative self-talk have in common?
To find the answer, we need to consult a brain scientist.
🧠 Neuroplasticity
In 1949, Canadian neuropsychologist Donald Hebb popularized a relatively unknown field at the time called neuroplasticity, which explores the brain’s incredible ability to actively change itself according to outside stimuli.
In his book The Organization of Behavior, he illustrated a principle that became known as Hebb’s Law: a theory describing how connections between neurons strengthen when they are repeatedly active at the same time.
As Hebb famously said, “Neurons that fire together, wire together.” He observed that this process is a fundamental mechanism for learning and memory formation.
Today, we also know that these neural connections are further reinforced through myelin plasticity, which enhances the speed and efficiency of neural signaling the more an act is rehearsed.
📣 Words Matter
If you’ve connected the dots, you’ll see that words do matter, because our brains can physically change according to the stimuli they are presented with.
When you repeat negative phrases such as “I can’t hit a serve” or “My backhand is terrible,” you’re actually training your brain to rehearse the mistakes.
The repetition of these mantras deepens the brain’s neural connections and, just like a sled racing down a hill, these tracks become more efficient, faster, and entrenched.
But not all is lost!
Neuroplasticity is a double-edged sword. If you train yourself to engage in thought-stopping and reframe the negative into the positive, you can use the power of your brain to your advantage.
🎥 Be Kind, Rewind
One exercise I find useful is helping students slow down and reword their negative inner voice in a positive way.
When a teachable moment arises on court and I hear a student voicing frustration, I don’t berate them for their outburst. Instead, I help them discover a more productive response.
I call this the Be Kind, Rewind approach.
- Pause the action. This reduces the emotional charge of the situation, allowing the player to think more analytically.
- Review the statement. Look at the negative comment and identify the frustration.
- Reframe it. Replace it with a constructive, positive statement.
Examples:
- “I can’t hit a forehand!” → “I need to hit with more topspin to improve my consistency.”
- “My serve stinks.” → “I’m going to hit a slice serve to improve my first-serve percentage.”
- “I can’t play tennis.” → “Move your feet and hit with margin to bigger areas of the court.”
Rephrasing the negative into the positive provides players with a clear, actionable step to improve performance in the very next point.
This exercise works off-court as well. Ask players to write down 5–10 common phrases they struggle with, and then rewrite them in positive language.
The more players practice this, the more positive adaptations you’ll see in both their mindset and their on-court demeanor.
Visualize a Better Way
Another powerful tool to rewire the negative inner voice is visualization.
Tip: For those new to visualization, it helps to find a quiet spot free from distractions so you can focus fully on the image you’re creating.
The key is to make the mental picture as detailed and vivid as possible, filling it with emotions and sensations that bring the memory to life.
As a junior player, I used visualization to overcome my serving struggles.
Before each serve, I pictured the ball leaving my racquet perfectly and landing in the exact spot I intended.
This mental routine gave me confidence, smoothed out my motion, and added clarity to my tactical sequences.
🎾 Match Point
While it’s normal to get frustrated on court, those feelings don’t have to control you.
By harnessing the power of neuroplasticity, you can rewire your brain through simple practices that revolutionize both your success and your enjoyment of tennis.
My challenge to you this week: Monitor your self-talk. Find those teachable moments where you can pause, rewind, and rewrite your story.
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See you next week!
