How-to-get-into-the-zone
maurice101 asked 5 years ago
In training I can at times get into a focused relaxed state where the ball seems to actually slow down, I see the contact point, i do not rush and my stroke quality goes up 20%. I believe this is called in the zone. I looked at a few links from google and this seems a current hot topic of sports psychology.
Do you have any tips on how to get into the zone and how to maintain this state of effortless play. Also how to disrupt your opponent if he is in the zone.
bravehorsie answered 5 years ago
Bump! Great question! One of the possible hints I’ve heard is avoiding focusing on the score result and focus on every the instead!
bravehorsie answered 5 years ago
Bump! Great question! One of the possible hints I’ve heard is avoiding focusing on the score result and focus on every the instead!
Dan Academy Coach answered 5 years ago
Hey guys,
I agree a great question. Have you watched all the videos in our psychology section we cover many topics around how to reach a state of flow, or in the zone: https://tabletennisdailyacademy.com/videos-category/psychological/
When you are training or playing a match try to only focus on 1 or 2 things, this will help you reach into the zone. It’s about not allowing external factors to enter into your brain when you are playing. For example, your about to serve and you think, “what am I have for dinner this evening”. The key thing is to focus on your tactics and your breathing. Keep an eye on your opponent of course but you will only find the zone when your brain is not getting distracted. Me and Tom will make a video on this in one of our upcoming videos to explain more 🙂
A way to maintain this state is to keep calm and control your breathing. Watch this podcast: https://tabletennisdailyacademy.com/podcasts/podcast-7-5-mental-toughness-tips/
We go into great detail about arousal levels.
maurice101 answered 5 years ago
I think as you stated in your answer, the state of arousal is one key. I need to be relaxed to have any chance of being in the zone. I have been trying to focus on the ball a lot more in training and this seems to help. Between points take some deep breaths as you recommend and tell my self an affirmation to really focus on the ball. Experimenting with tapping an acupuncture point too. EFT.
