Salon Backstage Talk 029: It's natural to forget. The brain isn't designed that way

▶ Am I 'stupid' because I forget advice?

When I focus on my swing, I forget my footwork.

When I focus on my footwork, I forget my swing.

People often convince themselves, 'That's why I'm stupid!', but it is natural to forget.

You cannot be conscious of both.

You are playing an 'impossible game' from the start.

If you think about your hands, you can't think about your feet; if you think about your feet, you can't think about your axis; if you think about your axis, you can't think about your shoulder turn; and if you think about your shoulder turn, you can't think about your open stance.

Because people assume others are 'doing it properly,' they get depressed and lose confidence because they can't do it themselves.

▶ Don't fall into the 'This is academic!' trap

It's like misunderstanding that good tennis players are good because they know the names of grips and consciously switch between them depending on the situation.

Pros don't even know the names of the grips, and they aren't conscious of switching them (Related article: "If you follow conventional tennis instruction, you'll stumble from the first day you start tennis").

Whether it's good or bad, after retiring, they act as if to say, 'This is academic!', learning and teaching grip names they didn't even know when they were active players (Related article: "'Improve tremendously'").

▶ Grips are just whatever. That's an impossible game, you're checkmated

Grips are just changed intuitively, randomly, with a 'feeling like this.'

No, it doesn't even rise to the level of being conscious of 'a feeling like this.'

And that is the correct answer.

Trying to consciously change your grip during play is an 'impossible game.'

Tennis has become very difficult because amateurs try to do things that are harder than what the pros do.

If you keep doing that, you are already 'checkmated.'

Conversely, if you stop playing that 'impossible game' and play more simply, intuitively, and as you feel, tennis is much easier (Related article: "Why is Sanma Akashiya good at tennis? (Subtitle: The power of imagery residing in 'May my wishes disappear')").

▶ Because you cut up the swing, it becomes choppy

You don't need to be conscious of body turn, loading, pronation, or circular whatever.

Furthermore, please forget about the takeback, forward swing, impact, and follow-through that are considered the basics of a swing.

It is too complex to be conscious of those things on a court where balls are flying back and forth.

They are nothing more than 'after-the-fact' labels applied to parts of a single, continuous swing (related article: All technical advice is 'after-the-fact' (How to find your own treasure)).

Because you break it down into parts, it doesn't connect smoothly.

▶ What grip do you use to fan yourself with a paper fan?

Because you think about your grip, you start to worry about slight discomfort.

When you fan yourself, you don't think about whether you're using an Eastern grip to direct the breeze toward yourself or a Western grip to direct it toward someone else, do you?

Some might think, 'Tennis isn't as simple as a paper fan, so if you don't think about it properly, you won't succeed!' but it's actually the opposite.

Because tennis is complex and not as simple as a paper fan, if you think about it, you will only make it work even less well.

A golf instruction book by a foreign author candidly revealed an episode where they said, 'If you're putting food into your mouth, you can succeed 100% of the time without thinking about it, but the moment you become conscious of how your hand moves, you miss your mouth!' This is not a joke; it really happens (related article: Even handling chopsticks becomes difficult when you 'think' about it...).

In tennis terms, grown adults end up 'swinging and missing' (related article: The 'swing and miss' serve problem occurs).

▶ The true value of 'instruction without teaching,' 'classes without teaching,' and 'education without teaching'

In tennis, the more you pay attention and the more you try to be conscious of things, the more complex and difficult it becomes, which is why you stop succeeding.