A combination of the Covid19 virus, ensuing lockdowns and the Netflix hit series, The Queen’s Gambit[1] has led to an upsurge of interest in chess. Would-be grandmasters have been glued to their computers playing opponents half a world away.
But why am I telling you this? It’s because chess has a lot to tell us about playing tennis.
In Part 1, we learnt about Samantha doing the seemingly impossible by learning two skills at once. Somehow, after practising a topspin backhand, she could then hit a more difficult topspin forehand which she couldn’t previously do. And all without further instruction or practice.
Can you really learn two skills at once? It might sound impossible but the answer is yes. And to show you, we’ll look at someone learning to play table tennis. We’ll then move on to how you too can learn two skills at once in all sorts of endeavours, not just sport.
Remember our experiment from Part 1?
We had two equal groups of untrained wine drinkers and they all tasted a particular wine.
While one group wrote a description of the wine, the other group did a crossword.
Okay. I’m not saying you should have a few glasses before a game.
What I am saying is if you know what helps you be better at Wine Tasting – and why – you’ll know what sort of practice and training to do so you get the best results in a game.
Let’s look at an experiment to show you what we mean.[1]
We’ve all experienced it.
You’ve got a thundering and relentless forehand when you’re practising. But when you’re playing a real game, it disappears.
But what’s this? It comes back when you’re practising again.
What’s going on? And what can you do about it?
Want to return serve like Roger Federer? Is this even possible? Or has Federer just got a natural talent.
If it’s natural talent, you’re probably out of luck if you didn’t receive a good share of return-of-serve genes.
But is it really your genes or is it something else that’s holding you back from being the champion you deserve to be?