Men's Tennis Program Philosophy

Every team in the country practices and hits thousands of tennis balls every week. So what sets UC Santa Cruz apart from all the other programs? Our strongest underlying belief is striving for excellence in everything we do. Many teams lack focus or direction and become frustrated with practice. We set specific goals and utilize our time to achieve those goals. We understand that the real competition is the battle within, not the victory or the loss. We have no control over the outcome of a match, but we can control our attitude and our state of mind. If we compete with strong desire, intensity and a love for the game, the winning will take care of itself.

Slug tennis is based upon physical, mental, and spiritual training. You use your body, mind, and heart when you play, so it is important to devote time to all three disciplines. Athletes constantly battle with negative thoughts entering their minds and many do not know how to properly deal with their emotions. We incorporate various techniques such as visualization and affirmations to ensure that our players have a positive mindset towards practice and match play. We develop strength and cardiovascular endurance through conditioning and weight training, which helps build confidence when we compete. All of our hard work, sacrifice, and discipline builds a mutual respect for one another and helps develop skills which one can only learn through being part of a team -- the Slug Tennis Team.

Every year our goal is to be National Champions. We accept the fact that we cannot control the outcome, but we certainly can control the way we approach this lofty, yet realistic goal. If we think like champions and act like champions, we will be Champions.

Jerry Lynch, Sports Psychologist, has worked with many Champions from the Chicago Bulls, to Duke University's Men's Basketball program and finally with the UC Santa Cruz's Men's Tennis program. Lynch has been working with Slug Tennis for the last five years.