An activity I enjoy doing

Show us and activity you enjoy doing.

Tell us how you think it contribute to your personal Tell us how you think it contribute to your personal

and professional development.

Silvia Alonso Gómez

IE MBA Application

November 25, 2014

Madrid, Spain

TENNISTENNIS“A way of life”

Sports have always been essential in my life.

Since my chilhood I have practiced most of them

(swimming, skiing, surfing, running, paddle,

mountain climbing, scuba diving, … etc)

competing also in every category.competing also in every category.

But my real passion came at 8 years old when I

started to play TENNIS.

Tennis in my life as…

Tennis

Player

Tennis

Instructor

Tennis Player(1990 - 2001)

Tennis Player

I played tennis at professional level for

11 years.

I started at age 8 and, only one year

later, I had already won several city

championships in the juvenile category.championships in the juvenile category.

Since then, tennis became a part of me.

Regional championships and trainings

also began to multiply and my

continuous improvement in the ranking

kept motivating me every day.

Championships & Trainings

Tennis is one of the few sports without breaks in the

season .

Training planning and carrying it out efficiently

were the fundamental bases of my activity.

Principle based on PERIODIZATION:

• Determine training cycles

• Avoid overtraining

• Work and rest

• Combine training

• Deciding when to be at 100%

INSTRUCTOR(1996 - 2002)

Making my big dream real

During my professional

period I obtained the

official tittle of tennis

instructor.

“Every great dream begins

with a dreamer”

instructor.

For several years, I

combined tennis classes

with my own training,

and even, the beginning

of my academic career.

It was a very rewarding and exciting time

in my personal and academic life.

My own

Tennis Classes

Exercise sequences

were classified into

different levels

depending on their

degree of complexity:degree of complexity:

Solid Base of Learning

Initial learning was

based primarily on:

Make lesson interactive and fun

� Teach how to toss, catch, roll, bounce

and move

� New skills learned and allow kids to� New skills learned and allow kids to

work together

� Set quantitive goals

� Every activity has a purpose

� Keep competition cooperative and as

a part of the group

Determine what the

kids need to do to be

able to move up

� Skills based� Skills based

� Programs must flow seamlessly

into one another

� Make sure this is well

communicated to kids

� No exceptions A logical

progression

But..

Why tennis?

How

does it contribute to my personal

and professional development?

Personal Satisfaction

Health Activity

For me it is more than a great

way to stay active.

It delivers me physical,

mental and emotional gains.

And also engages my mind

and body at the same time.

I feel more confident,

healthier, less stressed and

more socially interactive.

LONGER AND HAPPIER LIFE

Always provides me…

I always love what I do and feel passion for it.

Passion is energy.

Championship,

victory,

passion

and preparation!!!

Motivation is what passion needs in

order to give birth to success.

Being passionate about something I

just need that single push, that smalljust need that single push, that small

encouragement. And once I am

motivated, I become even more

passionate, engage myself in action,

thus making success inevitable.

Motivation, Passion

and Success

Success

Success is no accident.

It is hard work, perseverance,

learning, sacrifice and most of

all, love for what you are doing

or learning to do.

“I always work with a goal and this is to

improve as a player and a person.

That, finally, is the most important thing of all”

RAFAEL NADAL

Sacrifice CapacityEffortDiscipline

I always push myself again and again and

make a total effort.

Talent is never enough. With few exceptions

the best players are the hardest workers.the best players are the hardest workers.

No excuses, without self-discipline, success

is impossible.

Believing in myself makes me a winner right

there.

AND

DETERMINATIONJust keep going.

Everybody gets better if they

keep at it.

Persistence has changed me

failure into extraordinary

achievement.

Determination

Determination is crucial for talent

development.

It helps me define and decide my

goals as well as find the resolve to

see those goals achieved.

For me the simplest form of

determination is sheer willfulness.

It is the will to work hard and to

work smart.

With high level determination I

have high level motivation and

self-discipline.

I set my goals

high, and don’t

stop till I get there

Precision Concentration

Each stroke requires maximum

concentration and precision.

The key CONCENTRATION is to

have my mind on the here and

now, I mean, focus on the

present in a productive way.

Tennis is a sport of PRECISION.

My eyes fixed on the ball and

without losing sight of it to

reach my goal.

Always oriented to an objective..

Confidence

Most tennis players experience

lack of confidence sooner or later

in their tennis journey.

This feeling affects our shots,

movement and decision making

process.

Being confident I can successfully

overcome a task ahead of me. I usually dig deep to find and face my fears.

Stop thinking, clearing my mind and looking

to enter the zone.

NO worrying thoughts to disrupt my

concentration. NO emotions like fear

and anxiety to lower my performance.

But…

how??I believe I can do it and I go forward decisively

focused on what needs to be done.

Initiative & Responsability

Competition

Without initiative the match is lost.

We always have to take it with security and

confidence in ourselves in order not to miss

any opportunity.

CompetitionWhat to do to

compete well?

- Follow a plan

- Control the game

- Exploit weaknesses of the opponent

- Get and keep up the pace of the match

- Take the initiative

Is the process of motivating and helping others to work enthusiastically to

achieve the objectives. To grow or develop my leadership skills, I need:

� ASSESMENT

I need to know what my strengths and weaknesses are, what I am good at,

and what I need to develop. This is an honest and open look at myself.

THE

LEADERSHIP

CHALLENGE

and what I need to develop. This is an honest and open look at myself.

� CHALLENGE

I need to be able to step out of my comfort zone and overcome a hurdle

that is difficult, yet attainable.

� SUPPORT

I need to get support from my colleagues and organization.

•My colleagues need to play several roles (counselor, cheerleader,

reinforcer, mentor, and/or coach.

•My organization needs to provide rewards and recognition, time and

resources.

Tennis is a sport of patience, of

calm, of waiting your opportunity

and finally as your skills improve,

so will your performance.

Never lose patience. When thingsNever lose patience. When things

go wrong, it is important to keep

the pace of the match.

The key: Do not lose too many

consecutive points.

CONTROL DIFFICULT SITUATIONSControl Difficult Situations

When we are in a bad situation,

we must go slowly, breathe, relax

and focus.

The “time” of the match should be

slowed down to rethink our plan.slowed down to rethink our plan.

A match is very long, there is

always time to rectify and get back

into it.

Ambition

What makes me always win is the ambition and desire to fight every day.

Inside ambition lies the idea of personal achievement.

It is necessary to believe in a healthy ambition and not in an excessive one.

This means to be happy with oneself and have the drive to fulfill new goals

every time.

When you don’t have that illusion and ambitions to do other things appear, it

will be the moment to do those other things.

ACCEPTING MISTAKES

Everyone misess but the most important is to reactevery mistake you make.

Accepting Mistakes

Work towards your goal keeping in mind what you learned from your last mistake, but also understanding that this is a new opportunity for success.

-> RECOGNIZE IT, ADMIT IT, LEARN FROM IT AND FORGET IT.

How?

Encourages interaction,

communication and

teamwork

It is Social

Teamwork is essential to build a winning team.

Together we achieve more.

In our team, we all had a clear goal, a results-

driven structure, competent team members, an

unified commitment and collaborative climate to

achieve always the best results.

This also allowed me to meet great professionals.

Teamwork

Tennis teaches life lessons

We, as tennis players, develop a work

ethic, learn sportsmanship, accept

responsibility, manage mistakes,

enhance discipline, learn to compete

cope with pressure and adversity,

Learning and Performance

cope with pressure and adversity,

develop healthy habits and learn

teamwork among others.

“Always learning and improving”

Hard training, teaching classes and my

academic studies forced me to manage

time in a completely efficient manner.

CLAY COURT

Tennis forces me to accept and adapt to any

environment with flexibility.

It implies a continuous adaptation to change and

change is always unpredictible:

• There are variety of responses

• Exciting/ dissapointing results

Adaptability to the Environment

GRASS COURT

CEMENT COURT

• Exciting/ dissapointing results

It is also always necessary:

� Respond to the change

� Be an agent of change

� Rearrange my priorities

� Handle properly multiple demands

� Adapt responses and tactics to the changing

circumstances

� Flexible view of events

Strategic and Analytical Thinking

Tennis requires alertness, tactical thinking and problem solving.

To be able to analyze the current state of play and set a strategic plan (tactical)

are two fundamental keys to provide high performance responses in situations

of high competitive stress.

How to bring strategic thinking into practice?:How to bring strategic thinking into practice?:

� Play point by point without thinking on the scoreboard

� Focus only on seeing the ball

� Do not think about anything, not to analyze

� Enjoy the match celebrating the points you win and forget those that are

lost

� Focus perfectly on the point of contact

� Strategic thinking leads to perspective

� Long term planning leads to position

� Tactical planning leads to performance.

And…

Thanks!

Never give up!

Failure and rejection are only the first step to succeeding.

Thanks!