O.k., remember what I said about the Lakers being down two games to none to the San Antonio Spurs? Damn if they didn’t pull it off, four straight wins over a team that had won 17 straight games. That is a prime example of ignoring short and long term history and concentrating on the present and future. It helps to have a lucky shot with .4 second left but then Tim Duncan’s shot was lucky too.

It also helps to have possibly the best NBA coach ever, Phil Jackson. I have made it a habit to track down the best teachers. I moved to Santa Fe to study with Kumar Frantzis when I studied Taiji. I went to an Alexander Technique school for two years so I could study with the best teachers when I severely injured my back. And I sent an email to Tim Gallwey, he wrote The Inner Game of Tennis, when I was looking for a tennis instructor. He directed me to Sean Brawley. Sean teaches you how to teach yourself. He may cost more but you save bigtime in the long run because you learn how to learn and you can apply this learning to anything, not just tennis. And it’s cheaper than trying to undo the bad thinking of a bad instructor.

Practice and Competition Report: practiced for 45 minutes, hit with M. for 1hr 15min.
Solutions Analysis:
1. looking for a solution to the problem of rushing my approach shot.
2. when I hit a volley, the ball goes much further if I think about putting it near the baseline. When I concentrate on proper technique only, the ball often goes into the net. Once you get into a shot, it’s way too late to think about technique, just think about where you want to ball to go and let your body take over.
Success Analysis: I hit my ground strokes very solidly.
Injury Report: I have continuing tendonitis in my knee. Time to see Andy Choi again. Sigh.