This is the way the valverde system works

Thank you for your interest in the Valverde System. The System is characterized by great flexibility and tailored to players of all levels and special needs. For instance, we understand that regardless of your commitment to achieving tennis excellence, you find yourself sometimes without enough time to be totally prepared mentally. The new and improved Valverde System is organized to cover all the different critical times when you need to be focusing on improving your mental toughness: during practices, three days before and during the tournaments. It is much easier to use because it will give you different alternatives depending on your personal needs. It is also color coordinated for easy identification.

Below please find a description of how the system works. 

Players acquire the Valverde System and immediately fill out a questionnaire. This is a diagnostic tool that allows me to analyze 12 aspects of their mental skills: desire, eating habits, perception of their own potential, dedication, determination, goal setting, courage, concentration, confidence, winning attitude, pride and perspective. I send them their results with information that allows them to improve their mental toughness. For instance: if a player has difficulties with confidence or concentration, it will show in the analysis of his/her profile. The results will explain what confidence or concentration is and the steps a player needs to take to improve it.

Players immediately begin to listen to one of the 25 CD tracks in conjunction with the Light and Sound System. These tracks contain information about the building blocks to success in tennis and life. The Light and Sound System helps players to get into a deep state of mind called Theta. In this state of mind, the information is easily absorbed by our subconscious mind. This is very important because our subconscious mind controls up to 90% of our behavior and performance.

Players need to listen to CD tracks, one at a time, for 21 consecutive days. The reason for this repetition is simple: it takes 21 days for our mind to create a habit. Six of the other 25 CD tracks teach the players a powerful mental tool that allows players to increase their concentration skills and to control mind processes and automatic physiological responses such as their heart beat and pulse rate.

In the mean time, players follow the instructions found in the program and read the three books: From Flooding to Zoning, The Blue Print to Success and the e-Book: Mental Toughness is a Gift for Life witch includes several links for videos, and they also do mental exercises found in them. These exercises are designed to increase the players' awareness of their mental processes and their influence on the performance. These exercises focus on confidence and concentration building blocks and on how to deal with psychological challenges on and off the tennis court, for instance, internal or external distractions, intimidation, nervousness, performance anxiety, stress, etc. Upon completion of the mental exercises, they need to email them to me for review and feedback (one at a time).

During this process, players, coaches and parents can call or email me anytime to share information about progress, videos, specific challenges that they may be facing, or any other issues that may be important for the players' mental toughness development. In addition, I attend several junior tournaments per year where I do personal consultations with players, coaches and parents. These services are included in my one-time fee for those who are following the Valverde System.

Dr. Jorge Valverde

The Valverde Excellence Center (VEC) operates in Naples, FL, located thirty minutes from the Fort Myers International Airport and ninety minutes from the Fort Lauderdale International Airport.

My wife Iva, and I are combining our expertise, talents and passion for the game to create the unique synergy that brings out excellence in those who participate. At VEC we are working with players and their parents and coaches on all the aspects of the game to help them be totally prepared. We are working with juniors and pros for different periods of time, depending on their needs. We are working mainly on individual basis and occasionally with a very small group of players, paying attention to all the details of the game. Arrangements for visits need to be made as early as possible.

Iva Valverde's Tennis Background Information

Iva is from the Czech Republic, trained there from the age of four by Jaromir Bradler, a national team coach. She was a member of her national team, she was ranked top five as a junior in her country and top 150 in singles in ITF and top 50 in ITF doubles. She also played pro tournaments before injuring her shoulder. After that she decided to join the tennis team of the University of South Alabama (Top 15 NCAA Div. I program at the time), where she won the NCAA Division I National Championships in doubles and received All American honors two years in a row. At this university, she was coached by Joey Scrivano, currently a women's head coach at Baylor University, who also coached NCAA Div. I Singles Champion, Zuzana Zemanova. In 2005, Iva was selected The Citizen of her home city due to her outstanding career as a tennis player and she was inducted into the USA Wall of Fame in 2010. After finishing her career as a player, she was coaching juniors for 3 years in New York and Florida. Iva has been studying the Valverde System and participating with me in the evaluation and counseling of my clients since 2004. Her tennis expertise, based on her career as a player and as a coach, has significantly contributed to the service I am providing to my clients. Also, she is currently working on obtaining her certification in Maximized Nutrition to further help guide the players and their families on their journey.

Holistic Approach

We are focusing on the interaction between all the aspects of a player's game. When working with a player, it is crucial to address all four aspects of the game as an integrated whole because they are intertwined and interdependent. All the parts of the game (physical, technical, strategic, and mental) are a cause and an effect at the same time and they all work together as a system. For example, a player is nervous before a match (mental), he/she tenses up and as a result, he/she cannot execute her strokes (technical). In another situation, a lack of strategy may be caused by lack of some shots in a player's repertoire (technical), and this lack of strategy results in high levels of anxiety (mental). This is the reason why the most effective way to develop a player is to follow a holistic approach. This is why we are taking this approach at the VEC.

Specific Goals

  • Maximizing the effectiveness of each practice. Players need to develop the discipline to set up their mind in the direction that allows them to achieve optimal performance at all times, thus maximizing the effectiveness of each practice. We will teach a routine that helps to achieve these goals.  
  • Positive attitude during the entire practice. We are teaching specific behaviors and attitudes that will allow a player to deal with adversity and to celebrate the little victories. This attitude will be reflected in his/her body language and thought patterns and his/her ability to focus on the here and now.  
  • Developing independence and responsible attitude. Tennis players who want to achieve the highest levels, need to mature at an early age and this implies the ability to make decisions effectively regardless of the challenges they face. This is possible by creating an independent and responsible attitude. We will help players to accomplish these important goals by raising their awareness levels and providing them with tools that they can use daily.  
  • Improving concentration. Focusing on the right things improves confidence and reduces pressure. We will help players become aware of their internal and external interference (noise) to optimize their concentration and provide them with the tools to achieve total focus.  
  • Building confidence. Believing in oneself is the most important characteristic of those who achieve greatness. We will help players to achieve this by teaching them about the factors that contribute to the creation of confidence and the step-by-step process to gain and maintain it.  
  • Evaluation of key factors in the player's development. Feedback and constant recognition of the different aspects of the game that players need to improve on are the keys to the effective development of a player. We will evaluate each player in order to figure out the possible causes of the player's current challenges and how these challenges affect one another. They include:
    • Footwork
    • Key strokes and specialty shots
    • Knowledge and execution of different strategies
    • Fitness, flexibility and quickness
    • Life style (nutrition, sleeping habits, organizational skills, etc.)
    • Confidence, concentration, emotional control
  • Recommending and implementing improvements. After identifying the areas that need improvement, we will suggest the needed adjustments and the reasoning behind them. Then, we will work on implementing these changes and incorporating them into the player's game.

A typical day at the VEC will include the following:

  • Six hours of on-court and off-court work. We will arrange the schedule according to each player's needs. Some players will need more time on the court than others and vice versa. However, in either case, we will provide an environment that will facilitate learning through the use of several teaching tools such as:

On-Court Work

  • Video Analysis
  • Match play simulations
  • Challenging drills
  • Concentration exercises
  • Self-awareness exercises
  • Pattern recognition drills
  • Accuracy of ball perception
  • Active visualization

Off-Court Work

  • Discussions in regard to the following:
    • Development strategies
    • Celebration of Discipline
    • Inner Confidence
    • Commitment to Excellence
  • Script writing for the production of a personalized CD. This is offered only to players who visit us for minimum of three days.

In order to accomplish the above goals, we are committed to work only with individual players. We make an exception and work with more than one player when there are more than one child in the family. Iva and I will always work closely together using our different strengths to help each player in the best way possible.

We are looking forward to helping you achieve your tennis goals.

Contact Information

Tel.: (785) 979-7490 or (785) 979 -1264
E-mail:valverdeinfo@aol.com

P. S. Make your reservations as soon as possible since availability is very limited.