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SAMPLE ARTICLE: 2008 Vol. 2, No. 1       To order this issue, click here       To return to sample articles, click here. HALF-BRAIN ATHLETES Not very efficient, but easily the most common by Brian Stammer Focus, not on the ball, but on a large area in front of you, and you have the essence of what it takes to play tennis in the zone, according to Denver, Colorado-based tennis pro Scott Ford, producer of the video and companion e-book titled "Welcome to the Zone." Ford, who began studying the zone about 30 years ago, is now director of Areté-Sports.com, a website that teaches athletes—through progressions in lessons and workshops—how to play tennis in the zone. According to Ford, it's all about causing the human operating system to perform at its maximum potential on the tennis court. The problem is that conventional coaching wisdom—to focus on the ball or to keep your eyes on the ball—does not allow the brain, the eyes and the body to operate at their maximum potential. "Playing tennis in the zone has long been considered the ultimate experience in the game," says Ford. "It is also considered somewhat of a mystery; a chance encounter with human excellence that seemingly defies explanation." From his decades of research, Ford was able to develop a framework for understanding the zone, and teaching techniques for getting into and staying in the zone. It's about fundamental relationships between the eyes, the brain and the body, and engaging all three to the fullest extent possible: Relationship #1: Eyes and brain How we transmit visual information through the eyes and input that data into the brain. Relationship #2: Brain and body How the brain processes the information received and transmits it to the body. Most people are aware of the two hemispheres of the brain; the dominant, analytical left side on the one hand, and the subordinate, creative right side on the other hand. More recently, clinical neurologists have clarified that the left brain focuses on detail, while the right brain focuses on the broad, background picture. One side of the brain thinks and sees in wide-angle, while the other side zooms in on the detail. Half-Brain Tennis Ford describes half-brain tennis as the normal game most of us play with a normal state of consciousness and a normal level of performance. Visually, this normal game uses a centrally-focused visual input. And, cognitively, it uses the dominant left side of the brain. Ford says the normal state of consciousness we experience everyday as humans is created by an unbalanced use of our brain; what he calls an asymmetrical cognitive pattern. It is unbalanced because one hemisphere of the brain dominates the cognitive process due to our centrally-focused visual input. "Translated to the tennis court," Ford says, "this means that when you play tennis in your normal state of consciousness, you are playing tennis in an asymmetrical or half-brain dominant cognitive state. Half-brain tennis. Not a very efficient way to play the game of tennis, but easily the most common." Whole-Brain Tennis Ford explains that changing your cognitive process to engage both sides of the brain requires a change in your visual input pattern; a greater peripheral awareness. One of Ford's techniques to teach athletes how to change their visual input pattern on the court is to use an imaginary window as they play. Adopting this new visual approach helps to balance our brain processing, he says. "It effectively creates a symmetrical cognitive pattern. A whole-brain state. And with this whole-brain state comes it’s accompanying altered state of consciousness." "Translated to tennis, this means that the altered state of consciousness you experience when you play tennis in the zone is a symmetrical or whole-brain cognitive state. Whole-brain tennis. Not the most common way to play the game of tennis, but easily the most efficient." Conclusion "In the end," says Ford, "it all starts with how you configure your visual input pattern on the tennis court, or the baseball field, or any other field of competition involving movement, countermovement and contact. When you think about it, that takes in a lot of territory. There’s not much out there that doesn’t involve movement versus countermovement. "Any sport in which you have to visually measure the direction and speed of a moving object is a sport in which these measurements can be made using an input pattern that promotes cognitive asymmetry or an input pattern that promotes cognitive symmetry." "Cognitive asymmetry locks you into normal performance, while cognitive symmetry locks you into the zone." Brian Stammer is editor of SportsVision Magazine. He may be reached at: info@sportsvisionmagazine.com