The rollercoaster of respect is real. It comes, it goes and others may try to take it away from you. That’s when you need to grab it back and close the door on those people. Whether in tennis or in life, respect has an enormity of offshoots to dive into but at the end of the day it really comes down to how you respect yourself as a person and how that in turn transpires on the tennis court.
It goes without saying that the level of respect you have for yourself will in turn reflect through your performance. Whether that contributes towards an optimal performance or detracts from the potential to produce that optimal performance outcome. After all, if you don’t respect yourself to begin with how can you expect anything more of another person, let alone your opponent? The thing is, it comes down to your expectations. For example, would you talk to yourself the way you talk to your parent and/or guardian? Hopefully. Would you talk to yourself the way a potential bully speaks to you? Hopefully not.
By building a healthy relationship with yourself you’re not only empowering your performance but you’re also setting the bar — high for others who would like to be a part of your circle.
Who you surround yourself with matters. Whether they’re negative or positive, the majority will influence. And this is why it is so important for coaches to lead by example to build positive environments and to ensure their level of respect for themself is held in high esteem. After all, if you have one player/athlete or a few hundred, who you are as a person and your level of respect held — for yourself and for others, is viewable externally through your actions to how you choose to speak to yourself and others.
Leading by example is a no brainer when it comes to best coaching practices. However, the impact on the player/athlete is often forgotten. How you behave matters. How your players/athletes behave matter. And it can be given a kick-start by feeding yourself positive affirmations to simply being conscious of your behaviour. To the coaches, what example would you (currently and/or in the future) set for your child? The example you set for your players/athletes should be no less in respect to how you respect yourself and those around you.
On a broader scale, self-worth dives into how you view yourself and in turn how you allow others to speak to you and/or treat you. The same applies for respect. By having coaches conscious of this allows the player/athlete access to healthy role models that lead by example. It also keeps respect front and centre to help pave the way for these players/athletes on the importance of self-respect and how these behaviours really are influential to performance outcomes. At the end of the day it’s really simple. Look after yourself, be kind to yourself and your performance will continue along its set trajectory — steadfast in contrast to being susceptible to negative influence. Why? Because your self-respect is too high to allow it a seat at your table (metaphorically).
To learn more about Respecting Yourself: as a Coach, head on over to Beyond Top 10 Tennis and head to Episode 40. More? Catch up on our Tips over on TikTok, Twitter, Threads or Instagram for quick snippets to apply in your game, today.
