Post-traumatic tennis disorder (PTTD) is not a real disorder but it is a known name for what tennis players refer to as trauma from their junior tennis career. ‘PTTD’ is most often experienced by adult players that grew up playing serious competitive junior tennis. The true definition of post-traumatic stress disorder is "an anxiety disorder that develops following frightening or stressful life events.” PTSD is characterized by intense fear, helplessness, stress, and avoidance. How does this relate to tennis? A child growing up with overly burdened parental involvement is almost guaranteed to lose their true love and enjoyment of the game. If every waking moment is focused on the results of their performance, the child will inevitably experience fear, helplessness, extreme anxiety, low self-worth, self-blame coupled with depression. What do the parents truly want for their children? Every parent wants their child to grow up to be healthy and happy. The parent is most likely thinking that they are doing the best thing for their child by pushing them. The issue is when the parent and child begin to have power struggles and the child feels that they can only be loved if they win.
How many athletes make it to the pro level? If they do, was it worth losing their well-being and healthy emotional development? Just because you see a player on the television set with a world ranking, does that mean that they are well-developed and happy individuals? Many pro athletes struggle with the mental demons of their childhood sports experience. This is not just an issue with professional players.
Players with ‘PTTD’ can be envious of the tennis player that became involved in a game later in life because their enjoyment for the sport does not have the past issues of competitive junior tennis play. This does not mean that competitive junior tennis play is a bad thing. In fact, competition at a young age can be quite a learning experience as long as it is not attached to feeling accepted, loved or that their worth is only a result of winning. The book that I recently wrote called "iZone Formula” explains what happens to the brain when these thoughts enter our minds. In the case of ‘PTTD’, the thought is anxiety and fear of competition trigger the stress response of the brain thus triggering avoidance of the very game that you were supposed to be enjoying. The "iZone Formula” is an easy read with 20+ videos and is available for purchase in the Houstonian Tennis Shop and at The Shop at The Houstonian.
Mike May
Racquet Sports Director