Train your mind to train your body

  What is visualization? How can we use this technique to produce better results? And what are the benefits? To get answers to all these questions, I had an opportunity to interview a special guest and a very dear friend of mine, Tom Ford. About Tom Ford- Tom has been the under 19 European squash number one. He has played numerous professional squash tournaments and has won many of them. He has traveled all around the world to train budding squash athletes. Tom has always been very passionate and interested about the mental side of the game, a common interest which lead us to connect with each other a few years ago. I could not have asked for a better guest to discuss on this topic, than Tom Ford. Below is the interview- Amit- Hi Tom. Tom- Hi Amit, thanks for inviting me on. Amit- today we have invited you to discuss about visualization. Thank you so much for being here with us. So my first question to you Tom- what exactly is visualization?  Tom- Sure, we need to und...

  Which came first- the chicken or the egg? The answer to whether an athlete is ready for competition, is equally tricky. Should I play tournaments when I am ready or do I play to get ready ?   This question has many amateur athletes and sport parents confused. “Am I of the level where I can enter into competition?” “Should I send my child for tournaments?” “I don’t want to put any additional pressure on my child” are common thoughts which come to an amateur athlete's or a sport parent's mind. In this blog, we will try and analyse various dimensions of playing tournaments and eventually have a clearer picture on the above question. I was recently watching a 13 year old practice while chatting with his father. The child is being coached by someone else but as I share a good relation with his father I suggested he starts playing serious tournaments. The father replied that “he is still not ready”. On this I narrated a very interesting true story to him. There was a young b...

A coach has a huge impact on an athlete’s life. If the athlete is a child, chances are that he listens more to his coach than to his own parents. Choosing the right coach with a right attitude for those early sporting days for your child is extremely important. The coach will have visible effects on not only to your child’s sporting skills, but his overall personality. He will teach your child on how to be a good human being. So, what are the qualities which we should watch out for in a coach, what are the must haves? Let me give a few pointers for parents to help them take that decision. According to me, when starting a sport there are three qualities which a good coach must possess- 1) Walks the talk Your child will look up to his coach for almost everything. The way he talks, behaves, plays, eats, drinks, everything. For the child, his coach is nothing less than a superhero. If I want my student to follow something, I do not always say it to him. I just do it myself and the child le...