Sports and the Ego - The Inner Game of Tennis
An athlete who attends my meditation for athletes meet-up recommended The Inner Game of Tennis, saying that it relates to what I’m teaching and that Sever Kerr reads it every offseason. The book grabbed my attention within the first few pages, and I found myself highlighting and taking notes on almost every page. It’s a book that requires slow, careful reading, because each chapter is packed full of useful concepts that require reflection to fully understand.
So, to fully internalize the material, I need to go back through it and write about the content that sparked my interest. This will be the first in a series of posts about the book. While it’s centered around tennis, the content can be applied to any sport, and will benefit any athlete or coach.
The concept of “the ego” - the part of our mind concerned with the “I” or “me” - is consistent across many spiritual traditions. The ego concentrates on what will happen in the future, and regrets what has happened in the past. It judges ourselves and others, and wants to achieve status and recognition, and then protect the status once it’s been achieved.
The aim of many spiritual traditions is ego transcendence - to experience life, and consciousness in the present moment, free of self-centered concerns. Our best moments occur when we’re lost in experience and the present moment. A mountain biker riding down a steep trail isn’t worried about the past or future, she’s completely lost in what’s happening now. The same is true during intense exercise, creative work, love-making, or appreciating great music or art - and it’s the principal aim of a meditation practice. Neuroscientists have identified the default mode network as the part of the brain associated with the ego, and many studies have shown that meditation quiets this part of the brain.
In The Inner Game of Tennis, Gallwey argues that the aim of sports should also be to transcend the ego, rather than gratify it, and that the best performances and the most enjoyable experiences come when ego is reduced. To conceptualize what it means to play free of ego, Gallwey distinguishes between “Self 1” and “Self 2”. Self 1 is the constant chatter that vibrates through an athlete’s mind, and Self 1 is tense and nervous, typically obsessed with winning, or not losing, and gaining status. Self 1 tries to manufacture confidence, and to coerce the body into proper movements.
Self 2 is the mind without ego, when an athlete plays freely, in a state of flow, without thinking. Developing the inner game is learning to quiet Self 1, and trust in Self 2, in both training and performance. Gallwey writes: “We have arrived at a key point: it is the constant ‘thinking’ activity of Self 1, the ego-mind, which causes interference with the natural capabilities of Self 2. Harmony between the two selves exists when this mind is quiet and focused. Only then can peak performance be reached.”
Intuitively I’ve always known that I play better when I’m not thinking too much about how I’m playing. My most enjoyable moments in sports, and my best performances, have come when I’ve been “In the zone”, without thinking or even “trying,” when the game unfolds on its own, and I’m merely a part of the action.
But I’ve also noticed that the harder I try to achieve this state of mind, the less likely it is to happen. My ego is doing the trying, and the desired flow states come only when the ego is quiet. Trying to get rid of the ego by thinking more about it is adding to the problem - like trying to clean up a coffee spill with more coffee. When speaking to other athletes, I can speak about what this desired flow state is like, but I haven’t been able to explain how to cultivate it. Gallwey asks the question I’ve been trying to answer for years:
“But can one learn to play ‘out of his mind’ on purpose?”
He thinks there’s an answer:
“How can you be consciously unconscious? It sounds like a contradiction in terms; yet this state can be achieved. Perhaps a better way to describe the player who is ‘unconscious’ is by saying that his mind is so concentrated, so focused, that it is still. It becomes one with what the body is doing, and the unconscious or automatic functions are working without interference from thoughts. The concentrated mind has no room for thinking how well the body is doing, much less of the how-to’s of the doing. When a player is in this state, there is little to interfere with the full expression of his potential to perform, learn and enjoy.”
The secret of quieting the mind in sports is developing concentration and non-judgmental awareness. Instead of trying to think your way into a positive mindstate, you practice focusing your mind on the present moment. In other words, less is more. Gallwey again:
“In short, ‘getting it together’ requires slowing the mind. Quieting the mind means less thinking, calculating, judging, worrying, fearing, hoping, trying, regretting, controlling, jittering or distracting.”
And Gallwey gives practical advice on how to do this on the tennis court. For instance, he encourages his students to pay attention to the seams on the ball as it bounces and floats through the air. Placing attention on something tangible allows a player to quiet the mind, allowing Self 2 to take over. As I began practicing meditation and bringing it to the court, I applied this strategy. I focused on how my feet felt on the floor, or how the ball felt in my hands, which allowed my mind to rest in the present moment. Gallwey goes deeper into the nuances of developing his “inner game” methods, which I’ll explore in further posts.
When we accept Gallwey’s premise, playing sports becomes an inner journey of ego transcendence. And, as he points out, there are many advantages to viewing sports this way:
“The development of inner skills is required, but it is interesting to note that if, while learning tennis, you begin to learn how to focus your attention and how to trust in yourself, you have learned something far more valuable than how to hit a forceful backhand. The backhand can be used to advantage only on a tennis court, but the skill of mastering the art of effortless concentration is invaluable in whatever you set your mind to.”