Consulting and Acupuncture for Tennis Players

James Hanlon has played tennis his whole life, and although he’s been an Acupuncture Physician now for over 20 years, he’s still working with tennis players. Previous to this last 20 years of practicing the healing art of Eastern Medicine, he’d played competitive tennis and had 20 years of experience in the tennis business. James wore many hats over the years and worked with amateurs to professionals, country clubs to academies, local tournaments to grand slams. His duties were mostly centered around player management and coaching with an emphasis on mental toughness & sport psychology.

Jim was fortunate to work with many ATP and WTA players over the years, like Wayne Odesnick, Mario & Edwardo Rincon, Maya Kidowaki, Nana Miyagi, and more….

“Tennis was really good to me, I got to play all over the world and work with players of different levels from so many different countries – it’s been quite the education. It’s amazing how many people truly love the sport of tennis, and now I’m working with them in just a different capacity.”

When asked about what connects the acupuncture with the coaching from earlier in his life Hanlon said, “I was always a much better coach than player. Towards the end of the 90’s I was doing performance training with different kinds of athletes –  sport psychology and mental toughness for the athlete to access their potentials more efficiently and consistently. What’s beautiful now is I’m treating sports injuries and pain with the athletes that come in(tennis players, triathletes, cyclists, volleyball players, runners, motorcycle racers etc.) yet most of them have mental & emotional issues around their pain – and with how they’re performing. The Eastern Medicine offers an incredibly deep perspective of the human condition and this translates well into addressing the pressures people feel competing in sports – at any level. Blending East and West as an approach to Sport Psychology produces some really amazing results.”

“Sometimes the athlete, or their coach, come to me for the sport psychology initially, yet may end up using the acupuncture or herbal medicine as part of their program, either as an additional recovery strategy or to access the athletes potentials and functional capacity under pressure. Other times they come to me for a sport related injury, and later end up using me as a consultant or assistant coach to optimize the player’s performance.”