Reflect on the state of mind of a player who is said to be "hot" or
"on his game." Is he thinking about how he should hit each shot?
Is he thinking at all? Listen to the phrases commonly used to de-
scribe aplayerathis best: "He'soutof his mind"; "He's playing over
his head"; "He's unconscious"; "He doesn't know what he's doing."1
The common factor in each of these descriptions is what might be
called "mindlessness." There seems to be an intuitive sense that the
mind is transcended-or at least in part rendered inoperative. Ath-
letes in most sports use similar phrases, and the best of them know
that their peak performance never comes when they're thinking
about it.
Clearly, to play unconsciously does not mean to play without
consciousness. That would be quite difficult! In fact, someone
playing "out of his mind" is more aware of the ball, the court, and,
when necessary, his opponent. But he is not aware of giving him-
self a lot of instructions, thinking about how to hit the ball, how to
correct past mistakes or how to repeat what he just did. He is
conscious, but not thinking, not over-trying. A player in this state
knows where he wants the ball to go, but he doesn't have to "try
hard" to send it there. It just seems to happen-and often with more
accuracy then he could have hoped for. The player seems to be im-
mersed in a flow of action which requires his energy, yet results
in greater power and accuracy. The "hot streak" usually con-
tinues until he starts thinking about it and tries to maintain it; as
soon as he attempts to exercise control, he loses it.
Psst...
Do you want to get language learning tips and resources every week or two? Join our mailing list to receive new ways to improve your language learning in your inbox!
Join the listEnglish Audio Request
|
286
Words
/
1 Recordings
/
1 Comments
|
Recordings
-
the inner game of tennis ( recorded by
Pokes
),
American
Download
Unlock
Corrected Textmore↓Reflect on the state of mind of a player who is said to be "hot" or "on his game." Is he thinking about how he should hit each shot? Is he thinking at all?
Listen to the phrases commonly used to describe a player at his best:
"He's out of his mind"
"He's playing over his head"
"He's unconscious"
"He doesn't know what he's doing."
The common factor in each of these descriptions is what might be called "mindlessness." There seems to be an intuitive sense that the mind is transcended, or at least in part rendered inoperative. Athletes in most sports use similar phrases, and the best of them know that their peak performance never comes when they're thinking about it.
Clearly, to play unconsciously does not mean to play without consciousness. That would be quite difficult! In fact, someone playing "out of his mind" is more aware of the ball, the court, and when necessary, his opponent. But he is not aware of giving himself a lot of instructions, thinking about how to hit the ball, how to correct past mistakes or how to repeat what he just did. He is conscious, but not thinking, not over-trying. A player in this state knows where he wants the ball to go, but he doesn't have to "try hard" to send it there. It just seems to happen, and often with more accuracy then he could have hoped for. The player seems to be immersed in a flow of action which requires his energy, yet results in greater power and accuracy. The "hot streak" usually continues until he starts thinking about it and tries to maintain it. As soon as he attempts to exercise control, he loses it.
Comments
You can use our built-in RhinoRecorder to record from within your browser, or you may also use the form to upload an audio file for this Audio Request.
Don't have audio recording software? We recommend Audacity. It's free and easy to use.
I corrected some of the sentence phrasing to make the paragraphs look more like something we would find in English text.