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The Inner Game of Tennis, Revised Edition (平装)
by W. Timothy Gallwey
| Category:
Tennis, Sports, Strategy |
| Market price: ¥ 198.00
MSL price:
¥ 168.00
[ Shop incentives ]
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
This all-time classic on tennis goes beyond the court because it deals with the most important aspect of learning - You and how you interfere with your own progress. |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 9 items |
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Thomaz Macinger (MSL quote), Slovenia
<2006-12-31 00:00>
The main point of the book is that neither mastery nor satisfaction can be found in the playing of any game without giving some attention to your inner game. This game is played against such obstacles as lapses in concentration, nervousness, self-doubt and self-condemnation. The goal of the inner game is to overcome these obstacles which inhibit peak performance.
As my journey of a tennis coach began I started looking for more and more books on this topic. It doesn't take much searching before you find this extraordinary book. I read it in two days and many pieces of the mental puzzle finally came together.
We have to agree with him that most problems with players of any level are not technical or tactical. Even a total newbie to tennis quickly realizes that when he passes the local courts and overhears many inappropriate words and emotional outbursts.
Gallwey masterfully explains his concepts of Self1 and Self2; there is an inner dialogue in our mind - and it's usually not the friendliest one. When we learn to find harmony between both parts of our mind is when we discover the harmony in our mind - body connection.
His next very powerful concept is letting it happen vs. trying hard . It comes very counter intuitively since that what we believe that we have to do when things are not working yet. We try harder. In tennis that translates to tension, narrow awareness and emotional hitting.
I've personally discovered this fact before reading this book and called it less is more . When you learn new things in tennis whether they are a technique, tactics or movement your first tries rarely succeed. But instead of trying harder try less. Hit slower, grip your racquet lighter, move more lightly and don't try to be good or even perfect. Accept your current level and stay with it for a while. Suddenly you'll experience improvement which happens by itself.
This approach is closely tied to his final concept of non-judgment. It means seeing things as they are without adding our labels of good and bad. The biggest problem is the consequent thinking which comes after the label bad . It spreads like a virus from a bad shot to the bad stroke and then to the bad player and finally to the bad person.
If we investigate our thinking we realize that there is no logical connection between bad backhands and our inner self. And the best way of investigation of our thinking and making yourself free from these concepts is Loving what is by Byron Katie. |
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L. Smith (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
This book is simply a gem. I would highly recommend it for anyone seeking to improve their tennis game, but the scope of its content goes far, far beyond mere tennis. In fact, I picked up this book after several of my colleagues recommended it to me. As a professional musician, I find myself confronted by the same mental games Tim Gallwey brooches here. Though The Inner Game of Music was inspired and written in conjunction with Tim Gallwey several years later, I find The Inner Game of Tennis infinitely more inspiring. It is direct in its approach, highly concentrated, and easy to make the leap from tennis to any other discipline. In no uncertain terms, this book changed the way I make music, and changed my life. For anyone who, despite all your best efforts, all of your hardest "trying," still doesn't manage to get the ball over the net, hit the high note, or otherwise succeed at something because your own mental noise is getting in the way, this is the book for you. After reading this, I became engrossed with the philosophies behind Gallwey's experiences, and I continued to pursue other books in the same vein: Zen and the Art of Archery, Effortless Mastery, etc. None of them hold a candle to this one, however. It is earth-moving in its simplicity and has the power to change how you approach almost any discipline. I continue to re-read and refer to it on a regular basis. |
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S. Duncan (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
I'm in my late 30's and have been playing tennis my whole life. I'm a self-rated (USTA) solid 4.5, maybe even a low 5.0 for singles, 4.5 for doubles.
I read this book when I was 14 or 15 and it changed my tennis game first, and then it gradually impacted other areas of my life. I've just purchased this relatively new edition because I lost my original copy long ago, and also I'm teaching my daughters to play tennis now and wanted to apply the techniques for the first time as a coach.
I tend to be long-winded but I'll try to put this succinctly: Before the book, I had the shots in my arsenal but they weren't frequently surfacing in my matches. I lost many matches against players with lesser skills. After applying the lessons learned from the book, I started consistently winning against these same players, and sometimes winning against superior opponents that I should not have been able to beat.
More importantly, tennis became much more enjoyable for me, and at times even like an out of body experience during which it seemed like part of me was kicking back in my mind and just enjoying watching myself play. I never self-destruct anymore, and I generally have a feeling in tennis that there's nothing I can't accomplish when I'm feeling well.
It's not always that perfect, and sometimes my "Self 1" imposes its will on my game, but it's fairly easy to pick up on when that's happening and there are some techniques in the book for bringing myself back on track.
For competition purposes, I've been trying to find ways to merge the faith in "Self 2" that this book teaches with the strategies outlined in Brad Gilbert's book Winning Ugly, which is almost an opposite approach to the game. Anyone else out there have this challenge? My approach has been to think strategically like Brad suggests between points (i.e., employing Self 1), then try to apply Gallwey's "bounce-hit" exercise at the beginning of each point so that Self 2 takes over during actual play. I'm having mixed results with that but improving over time.
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R. Spell (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
I am the person for which this book is written. I started tennis late but being athletic quickly could play above my experience. Eventually I hit the wall, getting beat repeatedly and having the complete inability to be a human on the court. This book simply showed me what was really going on in my mind. And, more importantly, that it goes on in everyone's mind to some extent. Not being a philosophical person nor a follower of Eastern Spirituality, these very basic concepts were Greek to me. But they make certain logical sense.
Having said all that, I'm still not sure exactly what I need to do for a complete change. I know I need to stop the Self 1 and 2 conflicts occurring in my mind and I need to concentrate on minor things like breathing rather than let my mind wander to failure. But how I will be able to apply this is still somewhat of a quandary as I am so regimented in my approach. One thing is for sure, I need to make the attempt.
Overall, I recommend this book highly whether a tennis player or not to look at your activity from a totally different light. To me the most compelling statement is that this book was written due to a "dumped" volley on match point to win the Boys National Championship. Having "dumped" and choked many points on a much lower level, I can understand the inspiration for the book. Read this book for a different perspective.
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
This is one of the pioneering books that brought about the field known as sports psychology.
A great self-help book, in my opinion, because it has an action plan you can follow. Basically, it will help you achieve total self-confidence if you don't already have it. The author talks about each person having a self1 and a self2. The former is your conscious ego and the latter is your potential. Self-confidence comes when we suppress self1 and allow the excellence in self2 to come out. We should trust ourselves to do what we want to do because everything we need is in self2. It is when we allow self1 to judge, we doubt ourselves. An important concept in getting rid of self1 is the art of being able to focus. If we focus on the here and now, this place and time, self2 will have a better chance to perform. How many times have we start to wonder about our cat or our past mistakes or day-dream how nice it is for something to happen when what we should be doing is to focus on the task at hand. In a way, self1 and self2 are similar to the conscious and subconscious mind. Whichever way you choose to believe is not what's important. What is important is that by conceptualizing this way, the complexity is reduced, and results can be produced quickly. How else can humans conceptualize confidence? Confidence without doubt, is nothing. Just like you cannot have hot without cold or fast without slow.
Lastly, we should cherish competition and our opponents. Our opponents are not our enemies but can be viewed as obstacles that allow us to grow and become better at what we do. Humans love to accomplish great things because they like to test their limits. Although this is fine, those who set out to overcome an obstacle should find out if the result they get is what they really want before they go about trying to overcome the obstacle. |
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Bruce Contant (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
This book is very well written and easy to read. The author uses intelligent wording/language and teaches through interesting stories. If you are a player who is easily frustrated you should read this book to help you calm your mind when you play tennis. Even a player who is normally quiet should use this book as a tool to stay even more focused. Don't be thrown off the author's laiser faire attitude towards winning tennis games; the real kick is in the last couple chapters when he talks about why it's important to win. Great book, I will read it again. |
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A reader (MSL quote), UK
<2006-12-31 00:00>
This book has had a very positive impact on my life. I have suffered with concentration problems for all my life and was recently diagnosed with ADD. I was always told at school that i was intelligent but didn’t "try hard enough" and that’s why I was failing. But funnily enough trying hard seemed to make things worse for me. My difficulties have led me to being fired from several jobs due to lapses of attention. After reading this book I have been putting the ideas in to practice through the medium of chess (I am an expert level player) and have noticed an improved ability to focus my mind. I hope now to move forward in life and repair my shattered self esteem and gain confidence to take on new challenges. This is a great self help book! |
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Courtland Carpenter (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
I bought the hardcover version of the book shortly after its release, because I saw a film on the author. He taught a class that consisted of people, who had "never" played the game. In 20 minutes, they were hitting 20 shot rallies. Its great to philosophize on the "Inner Game", the "Zen" of tennis, but it doesn't help you play immediately. Swallowing the philosophy may be harder for some than the usual "practice makes perfect", learning curve for most sports. Therefore, Gallwey took a different approach. He observed the students swinging at the ball, asked them not to worry about hitting it. Instead, he had them tell him if it was rising, or falling, when they swung at it. Later, in another drill, he asked them to call bounce, exactly when it hit the court, and yell hit, when they struck it. Amazingly, these simple techniques had complete novices, consistently returning shots.
I had always liked the Eastern philosophies, but had rarely seen them applied, so well that they could be easily incorporated, in training for a sport. I even made up some of my own drills for playing back yard basketball, and improved my free throw shooting, by over 40 percent! What the drills accomplish is to maintain the focus, that the trained player sometimes takes years to master, in just a few minutes. If you "have" to call rising or falling, you "have" to look closely at the ball. You have to look "precisely" to call the bounce, and you will naturally be "in position" when you hit it.
A good deal of this book tells how Tim discovered the Inner Game, and how it applies to all facets of life. How doubt, and fear can cause you to tighten up, when it's not necessary. He wrote a follow-up book called, "Inner Tennis: Playing the Game". The follow-up book covered the techniques in more detail, and can help you develop a very polished game, with precious little practice. Most of these techniques become common sense, once you see the reasoning behind them.
I think there are a number of "Inner Game" titles out there, one of the most popular being on golf, since it's such a mental game anyway. If you've ever half-consciously tossed a paper wad, or a pop can, into the trash from 20 feet, you know the inner game. The techniques in this book allow you to repeat that sort of skill, to trust yourself, and your own mental coordination. It works! Before you buy the book try out one of the drills I mentioned. Hit a tennis ball with someone, or just off a backboard. You'll become a true believer fast! |
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Kama Rasmussen (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
This book is pretty popular in the music world, actually. I'm a pianist, and my teacher highly recommended (mandated)) that I read it immediately after I had a memory slip or two during a performance. I was analyzing and concentrating too much on the wrong things. I put off reading it for a while because I felt I didn't have time with practicing and school. huge mistake! Once I read it, though, it changed my performance within DAYS, and I became really stable and won my last major competition after a terrible senior year. It answered ALL the questions I've had for years! Read it, take its insight to heart, and read between the lines again. It's one of the best psychology books I've ever read! |
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1 Total 1 pages 9 items |
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