Hi, first of all I would like to say hello to everyone in the group,
and secondly, I hope to be travelling from Inverness in Scotland to
Florida in January 2003, and I will be looking to work with tennis
players (and indeed other sports people) to allow them to use
hypnosis to help with concentration and confidence when playing their
game of tennis. Here is a copy of a thesis I wrote on the subject.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR QUERIES ABOUT MY WORK, THEN PLEASE
CONTACT ME AT mail@... , THANKS

HYPNOSIS COULD HELP TO IMPROVE YOUR TENNIS

By Scottish Professional Hypnotist, Scott Burke MBAThH (Hons) MWFHyp
(Hons)


MANY tennis players will spend a small fortune on tennis books,
coaching, videos, etc. but, as most players would agree, the game of
tennis is won or lost, not on the court, but in the mind.


During my tour of USA and Canada 2002/2003 I will be offering my
skills to help tennis players vastly improve their game.

Some people when they think of hypnosis, they think of the comedy
stage shows. Here, I will explain how hypnosis can be used to help
improve your tennis.

Imagine the scene. Jimmy Connors, final set. He needs to win one
point to win the tournament. The crowd are yelling, his opponent
tries to psyche him out, and yet Connors bounces the ball, serves,
volleys and wins the point as if the crowd wasn't even there, and in
his mind, they never were. Watch Connors videos to see this in
action.

What Connors would sometimes do if presented with such a situation
would be to visualise his own home court, perhaps at a local club,
and then superimpose this in his imagination over what was actually
before him. In other words, he would take out any distractions that
were before him in his mind. Connors (and indeed many others) used
hypnosis techniques to help improve his game from good to excellent,
which, in his case, meant the difference from winning a few thousand
dollars to winning millions of dollars, sponsorship and all the rest.

As a professional hypnotist, let me assure you of three things.
Firstly, hypnosis is a totally natural state, a wonderfully relaxed
state between waking and sleeping. Secondly, because of this, all
hypnosis is actually self-hypnosis, and the third point is that
nobody may be hypnotized against their will. The people we see in
stage hypnotists' shows are self-selected. Generally, 10% of the
population make excellent subjects for hypnosis, and it is within
this 10% that you will find the people used for stage hypnosis.

About 10% of the population are not suitable, but 80% of people can
achieve hypnosis, with practice.

What I would do when working with a tennis player would be to teach
him or her hypnosis. We would then work on what aspects of their
game they wish to improve, but, of course we have to make these
objectives realistic.

The main problem with the amateur player is that they don't think
about all the options. Instead they go out and hit the ball as hard
as they can. They don't plan a strategy for the game.

Amateurs may think that they can concentrate on their game, but in
most cases the can't. However, I can help with this.

Why? Well, as a sports hypnotist, I will help the tennis player play
each shot clearly in his/her mind so that when they do it for real,
they will be 100% confident in playing the right stroke, everytime.
Think of it this way, I believe there is very little difference in
ability for the top 1,000 players in world players. The fundamental
difference is in their mental approach, and as a trained
professional, let me assure you by working with me, your game will
significantly improve.

Of course to improve your tennis you still also need the underpinning
knowledge that a professional will give you, but this, coupled with
hypnosis, will make you a more accomplished player all round.

The main ingredient for successful hypnosis is the willing co-
operation of the subject. It has nothing to do with mystic or
magic. Proper hypnotherapeutic work should be undertaken only by
professional hypnotherapists, psychologists, or medically-trained
persons.

Hypnotherapy can also help, of course, with positive thinking, and in
that respect has been shown to improve sporting performance. If you
wish to discuss hypnosis for tennis improvement, or any other matter
concerning hypnosis or hypnotherapy you can contact me on Tel: +44
1463 223807 or email scotthypno@...