Understanding Mental Imagery: Part 2

[johnyandell]

Let's get your thoughts on Archie Dan Smith's article, "Understanding Mental Imagery: Part 2"

[jeffreycounts]

Nice to see there is research that backs up what John has been onto since his book "Visual Tennis", and his work with McEnroe and other pros. Hard to believe that the magical role of visualization in learning and performance remains largely in the shadows of tennis instruction. But so be it. That's why we have Tennisplayer! This series is wonderful.

From my personal experience with both my kids playing tennis, never once has their tennis instruction had anything other than "verbal tips" to guide them. No kinesthetic guidance. And certainly no visual models or even still images. I have had to provide all that for them. But it does seem unfair to parents who don't know better to be forking up money only to have their kids learn through vague, ambiguous verbal instruction with typically unfortunate results.

[archiedan]

In writing my book, I was amazed at how much good research there is related to the use of imagery in sports, including specifically related to tennis. It is consistently effective in so many ways!

Again, to your point: Why is this not being taught??? If you are interested, my book has lots of referenced research detailed related to all this

Also a big ‘shout out’ to John Yandell for being one of the early leaders in trying to emphasize the importance of Imagery! He intuitively ‘Got it’! .... even before the research starting coming in to back I it all up. Well done John Yandell!

[jeffreycounts]

If you are interested, my book has lots of referenced research detailed related to all this

I just ordered your book. Looking forward to reading it!

On a side note, when Bianca Andreescu won the US Open this year, the commentators mentioned multiple times how she has spent years visualizing based on her mother's influence (starting from 12 years old). This mirrors your reference to Chris and how she prepared for matches. Nice article about Bianca and visualization here:
https://www.wtatennis.com/news/%E2%8...-wells-success