Happiness and State of Flow
- Written by Brian Rusche
This is an excerpt I pulled together from the work of famous Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. This is a "touchstone" document for me and I freely admit that I stitched it together from pieces of an article he wrote, and that I changed a few personal pronouns so that it reads with a bit more gender inclusion.
We tennis players look to play in "the zone." It is elusive. In life we strive to be happy. Happiness is also elusive. When important things seem so elusive, we have to ask, "Are we looking in the right places?" Csikszentmihalyi has much to say about this search. Read on.
"Happiness is not something that happens. It is not the result of good fortune or random chance. It is not something that money can buy or power command. It does not depend on outside events, but, rather, on how we interpret them. Happiness,...
Safer Play
- Written by Brian Rusche
Wouldn't you love to smack this virus with a swinging volley and send it into oblivion?
It is SO frustrating not to be on court getting exercise in about the healthiest way imaginable. Advocates of our sport are doing a good job raising their voices reminding elected officials and health experts that tennis is a non-contact sport where opponents are usually more than 50 feet away. Somehow the golf courses were opened last week. I'd like to point out that tennis players do not hang around a tee taking turns to hit a ball (a ball that is standing still, I might add).
And the USTA has published guidelines for how to make the game even safer in this era of social distancing. The whole USTA document is here. Here are excerpts:
PREPARING TO PLAY
- The USTA Medical Advisory Group highly recommends competitive players ease their way back into play...