The Simple Task of Taking Responsibility

I looked at one of the women’s tennis players on my college squad recently as she just broke several school records for wins by a woman, a record that had been held for 16 years. I thought to myself, “How does this happen?” How does a young woman with aspirations to simply succeed achieve her goals on the tennis court and in the classroom effectively with all academic honors? I looked at one of my male players who graduated last year and spent his time in college playing every match, never missing a practice, while going undefeated at home. He followed that that up graduating with an outstanding portfolio of top notch academic success. How does that happen when both of these players figured out the skill of time management placing such an importance on the privilege of playing collegiate tennis and achieving such high academic success?

Why would these young men and women want to play tennis, work hard, train and then go even harder at the academics? I think it is a simple answer, but a more difficult action. The feeling you get when you work hard at something and put your heart and soul into an endeavor and then get success is an unmatched state of euphoria.

As a coach, I always talk about being laser-focused and to take responsibility for everything you can control. The best way to determine a favorable outcome is to put every statistical chance of success in your corner, even though in life, there are no guarantees.

If you wanted to be successful on the tennis court and have had only limited accomplishments, here is what you need to do. Take more responsibility! What does it really mean to take responsibility?

Say you are the type of player that practices often and believes that you are going to improve if you practice a lot. There is truth to that, but only up to a certain point. “Insanity,” as defined by Albert Einstein is “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” You practice your forehand and backhand repeatedly. Practicing these skills is great because you are reinforcing your muscle memory to remember to hit groundstrokes consistently well. However, you are not happy with the outcome. You need to change and take on the responsibility and accept Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity. You are making mental mistakes, such as losing focus and treating yourself badly on the tennis court after a failed shot attempt that you know you should make. Don’t you think it might be in your best interest to get some help and focus on the mental aspect of the game? Yet, you will sign up and take lessons and work on the strokes to insure that you are hitting the same strokes perfectly, while at the same time, are reinforcing the same things you are doing, but not addressing the real problem. Plain and simple … go see a sports psychologist and focus on really what needs to be fixed.

If your volleys are short and weak and you are getting passed often, the answer may seem simple in that you should practice your volley’s more. It makes sense and you will have to do some of that work for sure. However, you can become better at volleying if you look at the building block of the point construction, such as the approach shot being better and more penetrable, you may not be as challenged when at the net and your volley’s become easier.

Taking responsibility goes far beyond fixing certain strokes. It involves a complete look at the components of the shot and everything leading up to it. Another example is when you make too many unforced errors off your forehand. You might look at the forehand stroke itself or maybe your footwork and whole approach to the forehand has to be examined. Are you off balance? Is your point of contact off? Are you lifting your head and not watching the ball long enough?

If you want to fix it, then take full responsibility, not partial responsibility, but whole responsibility and force a dissection of the problem. Practicing the same way is not going to solve the problem by Albert Einstein’s definition that would be insanity.  How many of you would really approach the problem in the manners I describe? Accepting responsibility is that of a person who empties his glass to effectively open themselves and their mind to the unobvious solution.

Now, back to the college team … taking responsibility also involves emulating highly successful people. If your fellow tennis players are getting it done on the tennis court and in the classroom, I am willing to bet that you are not embracing those same habits. Mediocre people do not like overachievers and overachievers do not like those who are mediocre. Mediocre people tend to be jealous of those who are overachievers because they want acceptance in the club of mediocrity. An overachiever on the tennis court and in life takes responsibility for their actions and cares little about the mediocre individual. The people I described at the beginning of the article are overachievers in that they spend more time in the gym, more time on the tennis court practicing with a laser-focus strategy on their tennis ailments to gain optimal performance. They spend the extra time studying and simply outwork the others to attain and exceed the goals and the results show.

This sounds simple in that the work you put in is directly correlated to what you get out of it. In other words, taking control and accepting and taking responsibility that along with the improvements you are seeking. So you want to know the answer on how to improve? Accept responsibility and take the responsibility first and do it. Yes, it can all be that simple!