Tennis Improvement Memo 458. 'Spatial Awareness' as a Prerequisite for Improving Tennis and Simple Ways to Train It

Yesterday's 'Tennis Improvement Memo' featured the term 'spatial awareness'.

Although this is a term I have repeated countless times in traditional Tennis Zero, this is its first appearance in a note, so I would like to go over it again.

In tennis, spatial awareness is the ability to perceive where the net and lines are without looking at them directly.

In short, it is watermelon splitting.

Watermelon splitting is a game where you don't look directly at the watermelon, but instead, while blindfolded, you accurately locate it and use a stick to smash it open.

Were you good at watermelon splitting yourself?

In tennis, for example, if a person frequently hits the ball out on a straight shot, it is suspected that their spatial awareness in the straight direction is weak.

In such a case, for example, you set a target you want to aim for in the straight direction, look at it, then spin around once near the baseline just like in watermelon splitting, and try pointing at the target in the straight direction with your eyes closed.

If you do that, your fingertip will usually be pointing outside the court where the ball goes out.

If you are a player whose short cross shots are weak, do the same thing: look at the direction you want to hit the short cross, spin around once near the baseline just like in watermelon splitting (assuming a scene where you turn around or regain your stance in tennis), and while keeping your eyes closed, point at the target set in the short cross direction, and it will be off.

The reason why you don't look directly at the direction of the straight or short cross shot is because in tennis, when you hit the ball, you look at the 'ball' instead of the course you are aiming for.

In other words, since you need to be able to recognize directions like straight or short cross without looking at them, I explained that accurate spatial awareness is required as a prerequisite that must be mastered in tennis.

If this perception is off, the better your hitting timing is, the more accurately your aim will be fixed in that off-target direction.

That is why people who always hit 10 centimeters out have this misalignment in their spatial awareness.

By the way, for those who say, 'I can see both the ball and the course when I hit!', please be careful, as your field of vision is too wide and your focus on the ball is quite weak.

That is one of the reasons why your hitting timing is off.

Spatial awareness might sound difficult, but we use this ability in our daily lives all the time.

For example, people who can touch-type on a keyboard have spatial awareness of where each character is, so they can input characters accurately while looking at the display without looking directly at the keyboard.

Alternatively, being able to pass under a low pillar without hitting your head is also a skill that can be attributed to spatial awareness.

Even so, I think traditional Japanese games are truly unique.

Whether it's watermelon splitting or Fukuwarai (a game similar to Pin the Tail on the Donkey), they were training exercises that allowed us to acquire these abilities while having fun.

Spinning tops, flipping menko cards, playing cat's cradle, or combining building blocks must have also been effective for measuring timing, perceiving space, and, above all, cultivating concentration.

It is easy for adults to start now, and it is sufficiently effective.
Or rather,if you only know it as knowledge in your head and do not 'put it into practice,' it will have no effect at all (← This is a point that cannot be emphasized enough).

If you have children, why not try working on this together?
You can train your abilities while having fun, and as a bonus, it might even strengthen the bond between parent and child.