Fall Saturday Classes are Here

Stay tuned for our schedule as we return to Encanto Sports Complex. Here is our 2021 Schedule for Saturday Mornings.

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FOUR STEPS OF FLOW STATE By Laura Mitchell Wilde

F   The F stands for Frequency. Shift your frequency to be ready to access the zone aka the flow state. Your frequency will change most quickly by receiving a deep breath. Receive the inhale and allow the exhale. One breath is the beginning of leaving the state of fight or flight. A shift in your frequency is a shift in your energy field.

L The L stands for Let Go. Here, allow your mind to let go of the thoughts you no longer need that are replaying in your head. The fastest way to let go is to fill your mind with vibrant visions and colors. Often, we can leave behind our old tired out inner dialogue and upgrade our thoughts by using our imagination. Imagination is a muscle just like anything else in your body. In other words - visualize your happy place.

O The O stands for Open the Cosmic Door. Use your imagination to create a Cosmic Space. Create the Cosmic Space most suitable for you. Will yours be a cosmic arena? Or a Cosmic Writing Corner? Cosmic Sales Office? Cosmic Store? Cosmic Lab? Cosmic Operating Room? Cosmic Field? Cosmic Classroom? Cosmic Stage? Your cosmic space has a cosmic door. Once you open it - it’s a portal to your Higher Self. Here, you are in touch with the collective unconscious. Enter at your own risk! Greatness is Within!

W The W stands for Win. In other words, begin to be excellent at your craft. Visualize yourself experiencing the greatness. Once inside your cosmic space, I want you to win. Be the best at whatever you are practicing. Here, use super
human mental reps to outrageously imagine being great.

Laura M Wilde,  is a Zone Coach and Holistic Mental Performance Specialist for Elite Performers.Coach Laura is a thought leader in the field of holistic player development and holistic sports medicine. She works with elite NCAA and WNBA, NBA, NFL and MLB athletes, staff and coaches. She is also a partner with Turn2 Equity Partners. Laura works in the emerging field of Holistic Mental Performance as a quantum (mind-body) medicine practitioner, meditation coach, mental resilience and consistency specialist and is an advanced and certified practitioner of Quantum Healing Energy work. Laura teaches sports energy medicine, resilient wellness, alpha zone and intuition classes in person and on Zoom. In 2012, she created Quantum Sports Medicine and Quantum Player Development. These fields fill the gap between the quantum and western practices for athletes so that building the whole person becomes the key in player development. This way, deep-level healing becomes the greater purpose for player development and sports medicine. She is also the author of  these books: The Cosmic Athlete, Quantum Sports Medicine, Making the Team: 64 Ways to Succeed in School, Sports and Life and The Map of Your Future. Her newest book is The Power of Intuition Intelligence, written with co-author EnRico Melson, M.D. It will be released December 2020. 
Laura is a former NCAA two-sports college scholarship athlete and an NCAA Head Coach. Her big addition to the field of sports performance is in the area of epigenetic. Through her studies with a molecular biologist, Coach Laura has learned that epigenetic's markers on the DNA code affect player performance. As a practitioner in this new field of epigenetic energy medicine and other holistic healing modalities, she can help identify and release these markers to improve health and performance for athletes. She is also the Founder of CHAMPS: the Coalition of Holistic Athletic Mental Performance Specialists.

Laura Mitchell Wilde Website

Summer 2021

 

2021  Summer Class Schedule

Classes start June 7

We are holdin

 

MORNING CLASSES

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Learn to Rally (Ages 5-8)                                                                

Tuesday & Thursday

7:30-8:15 am                                       

 

 

 Orange Ball Beginner (Ages 9-10)   

Tuesday 

8:30-9:30 am     

 

Advanced Beginner/Intermediate (Ages 11-14)

Thursday  

8:30-9:30 am

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Advanced Beginner (Orange/Green Ball) Ages (9-11)

Saturday

8:30-9:30 am

 

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EVENING CLASSES

 

Green/Yellow Ball  (Ages 11-14)

Monday 

7:00-8:30 pm

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Orange Ball  (Ages 9-10)     

Thursday  

7:00-8:00 pm

Mindfulness

(SVASport , 2021)

 

Mindfulness is a practice that can help cultivate resilience as you develop the ability to be in the present moment, observing and even befriending your own experiences.  

Mindfulness has been practiced for thousands of years and nowadays modern neuroscience is demonstrating the tremendous benefits mindfulness has on brain function, immune system response, stress and pain management, and even the aging process!  (Dinoffer, 2020)  

Mindfulness is a practice that focuses on being here and now, presence and how you view stress; very closely related to the Growth Mindset/Fixed Mindset paradigms. Mindfulness can help you stay in the Growth Mindset and recognize when you need to reset from a fix mindset thought pattern.

Not so different from a tennis match, is it? What do you do when you double fault on set point? Or choke on that fore hand at 5-all in the tie-breaker? The beauty of these practices is that you can work on them now and be ready to rock and roll when you and your students get back out on the court! (Dinoffer, 2020)  

Basically, mindfulness helps players by looking at their game more objectively by activating specific brain regions (see figure below and chart at conclusion). Moreover, the practice might improve stress response perception by inhibiting connections between memory and fear processing brain centers. (SVASport, 2021)

Rather than be intimidated by failure, a player who practices mindfulness might gently acknowledge the failure and move on. Decreased fear perception might also allow the player to better incorporate successful adjustments because, well, they aren’t afraid of trying something new. (SVASport, 2021)

To incorporate mindfulness into your day, the first step is to just be conscious of your breath. Every conscious breath is a meditation (McDonald, Darnell, 2018). When you feel aroused, pause, take a breath, hold it, and release. We just RESET. 

For further self study www.sva-sport.com  or 

Kalindi Dinoffer. Resilience and Connection in Uncertain Times  (July/August 2020 PTR Tennis Pro/Pro Tennis)

Teaching Meaningful Work in Youth Tennis: A Contemplation

Kids finding meaning in their work is a life long skill. We try to help kids cultivate meaningful practice so they can see a connection between effort and reward. In effort, it is important to teach the students to make it look good, regardless of the outcome. Teach them to "be friends with the ball" or see how little muscle they can use and still get the ball over the net. We are teaching the student to be effortless and to be aware of their movements. When a student knows they look good regardless of the outcome, they build confidence. Repeated movements that look good over time build strong neuro pathways. Strong neuro pathways build success. The more time spent being aware of "looking good", which is our mantra for the kids to check their follow through and other stroke dynamics, the child will have more and more growth. As the child shows growth and improvement their confidence grows and they see a relationship between effort and reward. They also start to develop a new attitude. An attitude where it is not how many matches I win or how many times I hit the ball over the net, but one where they develop a love for the feel of the movement and the practice itself. The work becomes fulfilling and work that is fulfilling is meaningful. That is the real goal, to create a meaningful practice for kids. One where they begin to find joy in the effort and time put in regardless of how hard it is. They still do it because they have developed a love and they can make it look good so they can inspire themselves. When they inspire themselves, they become contagious and that inspiration spreads to others. 

Uncommon in 2020

 We have finished our first month of 2021. I use that month to reflect on what the previous year was like. Like so many of us, we saw 2020 start out so well and then at the beginning of the spring, boom, lessons were canceled. Not just lessons, but almost everything. What were we going to do? We were so thankful that we lived by some uncommon principles that allowed us to stay afloat. We made the decision to focus on 2020 as building a tennis family and creating connection. We ended up being able to use our other location for some summer lessons and weekday lessons for our after school programs. We had always felt that we were not going to promote ourselves, but let the student and the  work they put in be what promotes 10s Kidz. In the middle of the summer, we had the opportunity to have some t-shirts made. I felt the timing was right. Another opportunity to create connection. This has been a hard year, but a fruitful year, watching so many of our students do things that were uncommon. Students who are total beginners get offered sponsorships and ambassadors of tennis products. Seeing students participate in tennis play opportunities for the first time. These would be the NET tournaments. Seeing students connect with friends they have not seen because of remote learning.  This was an uncommon year, a different year, but sometimes when you are uncommon, that is when great things happen. Thank you for your support, your commitment, and your presence each and every day. 

Skill Based Learning vs. Knowledge Based Learning

Think back to when you were in school or maybe your last business meeting or conference. When we went to learn something, how was it presented? How many of us can say that the presenter just stood up front and talked to us?  We acquired a ton of knowledge, but not the skills to use it. Something we strive to focus on at 10sKidz is Skill Based Learning. That is a fancy buzzword for learning through the process. Since this is a way I try to live my life, I feel that is the best way to teach our students. As we

often say, "One of the best ways to master a skill is to teach it to someone else." I learned that from my International Relations Professor at UWEC my freshmen year of college. 

Skill based learning is where we focus on teaching a skill, like the forehand, but the student may have only one thing they are focused on doing. So when they are in a cooperative game, they are focused on that part of the skill. Something that we do to help our students focus more on the process is take away the focus of the end result. When students play, they are not playing to win. The score just tells where they are in their game and when they reach the final point, it just says, the game is over. Their goal is to keep playing until the game stops. 

Another way we teach students to focus on the process and not the result is to always make it look good, even if you miss. You see, everyone misses in tennis. Make the stroke look good, develop the movement, let that movement inspire you and those watching. To help student's work through the process and get over the fear of the result, we teach our students to get good at starting over. Tennis is a game of starting over. After each point, you start over.  The real fun is how long you can keep starting over until the game stops. We like to say the best part of the game is when we are playing not when some one wins or loses, that means the game is done. 

Let me make a guarantee, that if you teach effective and efficient technique and focus on the process, you will see players make gains they never thought they could. They develop such a focused mind-body connection that their skills become a part of them and they will love the feel of the ball on the strings. 

Happy Fall!!!!

 

Shift in Learning

Something that I have noticed over the past 10 years is how youth tennis has changed or has it?  Something that we see now is more skill based lessons using a games based approach. Yes, we always want to have fluency and rote where we teach technique, but lessons have moved more to a cooperative games based format. It used to be that we would stand in a line, hit a forehand, a backhand, run up for a volley. Then we might practice our serve and then play.  Now we are seeing more cooperative learning strategies to help kids learn skills and apply their technique in context. 

"Long gone are the days of coaches barking orders and saying overused and empty phrases like “see the ball hit the strings” and passing that off as high-level learning." (Kalindi Dinhoffer, 2020)

Very few players can actually learn with auditory commands alone. It just doesn’t stick. And, when the player does kind of get it, they aren’t learning optimally. This where kinesthetic learning comes in. Kinesthetic learning is all about the feel of the game.  Something we are always encouraging is for the students to love the feel of the ball on the strings. If they can love the feel of the ball hitting the strings, that becomes a reason to keep playing. We want our students to remember how each stroke feels and when it felt good. That is why you will often hear us say, make it look good, make the finish look good, you may inspire yourself. How you finish helps with balance. We emphasize learning to be friends with the ball as 

Most players can recall, with excitement, when they finally figured out a certain shot or concept that had been giving them trouble. Kinesthetic learning is creates emotional involvement. .Students want to play more, be present, and stick with the game longer when they’re experiencing kinesthetic learning.

Fall Classes Starting this Week!

 Welcome back everyone! I hope you have been able to get used to your new school schedules. It is September and that means after school tennis classes and cooler temperatures. Anything under 110 is considered cooler.  This September we will start with some classes at our North Phoenix Baptist location until Encanto Sports Complex reopens and we are able to set up our classes through the City of Phoenix. 

Schedule and Registration
We have several offerings
Starting Tuesday 9/8
Learn to Rally Level 1
5:45-6:15 pm

Starting Thursday 9/10
Learn to Rally Level 2
4:30-5:30 pm
Green Ball (Ages 11-14)
5:45-6:45 pm

Starting Monday 9/14 (New Time)
***Three week class
Orange Ball for Beginner/Advanced Beginner
Ages 9-12 (Consolidated class)
5:45-6:45 pm

Build Your Immune System, it is a Muscle Too!

Something we promote in our classes for kids is the importance of keeping our immune system strong. At no time is that more important than when there is something going around that is contagious. As tennis players we tend to get a lot of overuse to muscles and joints. We can reduce this by eating more foods or supplements that are high in antioxidants, vitamin c, and vitamin e. I write this to you today because Blue Cross just left something in my inbox that talks about what we teach. Yes, a health insurance company pushing something other than pharmaceuticals. Here is the article.

Eat well to keep your immune system strong.

By now, chances are you know the advice on protecting yourself and others from the coronavirus: Keep your distance. Wear a mask. Wash your hands. And so on.

But here's one bit of advice to think about too: Eat healthy foods.

Eating nutritiously has always been a way to stay healthy. A healthy diet strengthens your immune system, and a strong immune system helps protect you from illness. While no single food or diet can prevent illness, eating healthy can help your body prevent, fight, and recover from infections during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What does healthy eating look like?

Of course, it's best to keep your immune system healthy all the time, not just when a virus is going around. That means focusing on a well-balanced diet filled with nutritious foods including fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, these nutrients can help strengthen your immune system:
 

Probiotics. These good bacteria can be found in cultured dairy products such as yogurt.

Protein. This may be especially helpful in healing and recovery. You can find this in plant and animal products such as milk, eggs, beef, chicken, fish, nuts, beans, and seeds.

Vitamin A. This helps regulate the immune system and protect against infections. Look for it in sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, spinach, eggs, and milk or cereal fortified with vitamin A.

Vitamin C. Look for this in citrus fruits. It helps the immune system by increasing the amount of antibodies in your system.

Vitamin D. Find it in fatty fish and eggs, as well as drinks fortified with vitamin D.

Vitamin E. This works as an antioxidant. Antioxidants decrease inflammation. Find vitamin E in fortified cereals, sunflower seeds, vegetable oils, and peanut butter.

Zinc. This may help wounds heal. You can find it in wheat germ, beans, and tofu, but zinc is best absorbed from animal sources such as beef and fish.

The best way to get the nutrients your immune system needs is to include a wide variety of healthy foods in your diet. That's usually a better option than a supplement. Overloading on specific nutrients won't give your immune system a super boost. In fact, taking too much of some of them can actually do more harm than good.

Take an all-around approach
Eating nutritious foods is just one way to strengthen your immune system. Other good habits include:

• Getting a good amount of sleep each night

• Being active every day

• Maintaining a healthy weight

• Coping with stress and anxiety in healthy ways, like deep breathing and exercise