# @mytenniscoaching on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DbvdF3CDi2S
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/68734222-mytenniscoaching-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/da5c5213fc.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-08-07T14:00:01.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Steve Whelan | International Tennis Coach Developer (@mytenniscoaching) — https://gondola.cc/mytenniscoaching

## Caption

An uncomfortable truth for coaches & educators …..psychological skills do not exist separately from the situations in which players must use them.

Yet tennis coaching regularly decouples confidence, focus, emotional regulation and decision-making from the game itself.

Players practise breathing techniques away from competition.

They discuss confidence in a classroom.

They complete concentration exercises without an opponent, score, uncertainty or meaningful consequences.

Then we expect those “mental skills” to transfer seamlessly into competition.

But a player’s thoughts, emotions and actions emerge through their ongoing relationship with the environment.

Confidence is not simply something stored inside the player’s head. It is shaped by what they perceive, what they believe they can do and the opportunities for action available in that moment.

The same player can appear confident in a predictable drill and uncertain during a match because the demands, and therefore the player–environment relationship have changed.

If we want players to regulate themselves under pressure, practice must contain something worth regulating:

An opponent.
A score.
Uncertainty.
Consequences.
Meaningful decisions.

This does not mean psychological support is irrelevant. It means it should be integrated into representative practice rather than treated as a separate mental add-on.

Stop asking only:

“What is happening inside the player’s head?”

Start asking:

“What is the player’s head currently inside of?”

The environment is not background noise. It is part of the explanation.

Follow mytenniscoaching for evidence-based coach education.

#TennisCoaching #CoachEducation #SportsPsychology #EcologicalDynamics #EcologicalPsychology

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- **Likes:** 11
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## Tags

ecologicaldynamics, coacheducation, sportspsychology, ecologicalpsychology, tenniscoaching

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