Revertia
Richard Swenson wrote a book three decades ago entitled Margin.
He used a word that this very young cowboy had never heard before….revertia.
It is a Spanish word that when Americanized, means to ‘go back’ and in Swenson’s usage …to revert back to habits of old.
Tennis professionals see it frequently when a player takes a private lesson and then shows up in a drill the week after with the same old flaw seemingly overtaking the desired new habit.
My great friend Steve Campbell speaks about myelin and I searched for it online.
Myelin is a fatty substance that wraps around a neural pathway produced when a player hits a stroke a certain way thousands of times. It’s like insulation around an electrical wire.
In sports, myelin locks in existing movement patterns making them lightning fast and automatic.
No wonder revertia rears its ugly head after a private lesson. Myelinated pathways allow nerve impulses to travel 100 times faster than uninsulated ones.
To effect change in a stroke one has to out compete the established neural pathway as the old pathway will dominate unless it’s gradually discarded/unused.
So, how best to override revertia?
Meticulous, slow motion practice can help create the new neural pathway as SLOW doesn’t allow the old to jump in and take over.
The Spartak Academy in Russia is famous for producing many exceptional tennis professionals including Maria Sharapova. Juniors who begin there shadow swing for 3-6 months before ever hitting a ball. They build effective and efficient myelin coated pathways that will stand the test of time.
Even after the initial imitation phase of 3-6 months, players begin each session with shadow swings closely monitored by coaches.
One can easily see why Hank Haney found changing Charles Barkley’s golf swing such a monumental task.
The question is how many tennis and golf coaches in America have ever heard of myelin and its influence on strokes.
Question number two is how many use shadow swings to create efficient pathways?
Final thought…imagine a 5.0 parent watching a group lesson for kids that routinely begins with shadow swings monitored closely by professionals to ensure it is done soundly and slowly.
Six kids who, at that young age, have the look of future 5.0 players.
Then go to a facility one day that does not incorporate shadow swings and you’re bound to see slap happy kids and frowning 5.0 patents.
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