Tennis Improvement Memo 056. Being run around, 1000-ball drills, 1000-ball rallies. The meaning behind it: a path to enlightenment!?

▶Simulating a 1000-ball rally!

You play with total abandon.

Because you aren't filtering things through your thoughts, your body moves smoothly and without hesitation.

In that sense, the grueling “being run around” drills we were forced to do in the past might have been, beyond the pretext of “testing your guts,” a form of “ascetic training” to experience the state of mind where your physical strength is drained and your thoughts come to a halt.
In baseball, it’s the 1000-swing drill.

In tennis, it’s the 1000-ball rally.

In the process,
various thoughts cross your mind. For example, for some people, it feels like this.

Once you pass 100 balls,

you get into a rhythm and both your mind and body start to loosen up. Once you pass 300 balls,
you feel anxious about how much further you have to go, but you also start to feel the synchronization between the ball and your body.
Once you pass 500 balls, your thoughts stop, and you can only see the ball. You even experience the sensation of the ball speed feeling slower.

However, once you pass 700 balls, the worry of making a mistake starts to cross your mind.

Once you finally pass 900 balls, the balance between tension and relaxation fluctuates wildly.
Upon reaching 1000,
you are released from the suffering and achieve enlightenment. Of course, a match where a rally reaches 1000 balls is

virtually non-existent. That doesn't mean it's useless, though.

▶It becomes a breeze

Suppose the maximum speed a car can reach is 180 kilometers per hour.
Just because it exceeds the speed limit set by traffic laws doesn't mean that such high output is useless.

If you can reach 180 kilometers per hour on a flat road, driving at 100 kilometers per hour becomes a breeze.
This is because engine output and vehicle stability are maintained at a high level.

According to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, it is calculated that to climb a 6 percent incline on a highway at 100 kilometers per hour in an average passenger car, you need the power to drive at 180 kilometers per hour on a flat road.

▶Play that relies on body movement emerges!

Even in tennis, if you can raise your output to a 1000-ball rally, a 10-ball rally becomes a breeze.
You can endure because you are equipped with a high standard to handle difficult situations.

I can state with certainty that if you are
“conscious” of your form, you will never achieve a 1000-ball rally.
In other words, to achieve a 1000-ball rally,
you inevitably pass through a state of thoughtlessness, so play that relies on automatic body movements emerges. And in that process, as simulated,

you will inevitably experience psychological changes where the balance between tension and relaxation fluctuates wildly.

▶Quality over quantity? Quantity over quality?

Of course, there is also the opposing approach, the argument for “quality over quantity.”
Rather than mindlessly doing volume, pursue the high quality of each and every ball.

That one ball hit with focus is more important than lazily continuing for 10 balls.

However, when you complete “volume training” like counting to 1000,
you learn with your body, so as a result, qualitative improvement is achieved.

▶English conversation: The “3000-hour wall”

I say that English conversation is also a form of “physical education” that uses the body—listening with your ears and speaking with your mouth and gestures (Reference article: The uncanny similarities between tennis and English conversation, and a “10x speed” acquisition method).

Forms like grammar that you learn as knowledge are, just like in tennis, “afterthoughts.”
More than that, it is a priority to first build a mind and body that can listen and speak without embarrassment, even if it’s just broken English.
It is said that for a working adult to acquire English conversation skills,

3000 hours are spent. To achieve that, assuming you study for 3 hours a day, almost every day,
about 3 years of volume training is required.
No one is exempt from skipping this.

If you are a fair-weather friend, you won't even be able to understand what is being said. There is a wall standing there that cannot be broken through in just half a year or a year.
Needless to say, this is even more true for tennis or baseball, where you use your body directly to play.

▶Review the old to learn the new

Tennis "being run around" drills and baseball's "1000-ball fielding practice" are sometimes mocked as hazing, and they have become less common lately.

It might be undeniable that they feel outdated.

However, there was traditional wisdom there that is missing from today's trend of prioritizing efficiency, such as cost-performance and time-performance.

Rather, by "taking the long way around," perhaps revisiting these traditional methods and learning from the past actually ends up being better for cost and time performance.

I am not trying to recommend emotional hazing disguised as coaching.

However, even if the rational reasons weren't well understood, there was definitely an experiential effect that had been passed down.

There is an unknown world that doesn't emerge from just 100 or 200-ball rallies.

▶Starting today, a new life begins again!

Saying things like "There's no way 1000 balls will last!" and not trying is being too much of a perfectionist.

No one succeeds from the very beginning.

Since it's a perfect opportunity, why not try it as a "New Year's resolution" starting this new year?

Starting today, a new life begins again!

Instant Tennis Improvement Tips TENNIS ZERO
(Tennis Zero)
https://note.com/tenniszero

For free email consultations, inquiries, feedback, or concerns, please contact
us here
tenniszero.note@gmail.com