Sports Psychology
Sports Psychology is the Practical application of Psychological
Principles in a Sports setting.
The difference in the physical abilities between teams in the higher competitions is not that big. The difference comes in their mental strength.
The winning teams mental agility is stronger in tight situations and when things do not go right in the game, their ability to flush away that bad pitch, the bad throw, that bad catch, or at bat going wrong, putting that behind them and getting on with the game so they can play with a clear head is what helps to make them strong. You always have to remember when you have made a play, good or bad, it instantly becomes history and as yet there is no one on the planet that can change history. So you have to learn by it and put it away.
You can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it.
Don't believe me?
Then think of all the people with Physical disabilities that have done great things. Not only these people but people that have succeeded even with little or no money, very few facilities if any at all.
Unfortunately most athletes don't allow their minds the freedom to pursue their ultimate goals. To be mentally tough you first have to be physically tough. As fit as you possibly can or at least be at peace with your physical condition.
Being mentally tough is much harder if your physical condition repeatedly lets you down.
So what do you know about yourself ?
What is your weak points in your game?
Do you know if you have any ?
If so what are you doing to correct or improve your situation ?
How do you feel about your performance in Practice or the game.
How many of you
Turn up for practice and do as you are told and then go home not happy with one or more parts of your performance, or just think that it went OK
How many times
Have you gone up to your coaches and said “I am having trouble with this or that part of my practice can you help me with a drill or something to put it right please.
How can you know everything about your skills?
How can you know what you need to improve ?
What are you going to do to get the improvement that you need?
In professional sports they have full time analysts taking down notes of how the players are performing and then informing the coaches of their findings and the coaches adjust their practice accordingly.
Explain what you mean
Most of us cannot afford these people so we look to other means of achieving the same results as the professionals.
The way to achieve this is a PERFORMANCE JOURNAL
This is how it works;
10/10/15 Coaches Nik and Kris
Type of practice: Drills and Batting
Games
What I aim to achieve this practice or game
My performance on a scale of 1 to 5 =
What were you Happy with:
What were you not happy with;
What I need to tell my coaches;
General feelings;
ONE of the biggest problems with players are they do not want to tell their coaches of a weakness for fear of being replaced in the next game for someone else.
What you have to realise is that your improvement in your play is beneficial to all of your team and the biggest goal of your coaches is to see improvement in all of their players as individuals and as a team.
If you think about it, if all of your players are working with this journal and all are being very truthful about what they are putting in it the benefits to you as a player and to your coaches are amazing NOT telling the truth in your journal is harmful to your progression.
Explain what happens to the info
Communication is the foundation of a great team.
How many of you have Action Goals?
What are Action Goals
Action goals are goals that you set yourself that you want to achieve in your sport.
They are set out in four categories
Immediate goals = Immediately one day to one week
Short term goals = One to six months.
Mid term goals = Six months to one year
Long term goals= One year to three years.
In setting your goals you have to start with the long term goals first as this is your Final goal.
All the other goals are Process goals of how you will achieve your Final goal.
Set yourself deadlines and time frames to keep you motivated
Once you have set your goals then you have to focus on the process of how you going to accomplish them.
Make all of your goals measurable
For instance instead of saying I want to improve my batting which is not measurable, you would say;My goal is to get on base 15 times this season.
Make you goals public by telling your family, coaches and team mates what they are. Some of your goals will be for practice others for the field of play.
Action goals are great motivators, they set your mind on achieving certain levels of expertise in your sport rather than just turning up for practice and then going home.
Once you start analysing and seeing your improvement it is an incentive and you just want to do better all the time and to push yourself to higher levels
If you reach one of your early goals then reset it to a higher level to keep up the motivation to go further.
Never be satisfied to be at a certain level always
push on for more. That is what makes a great player
Goal setting is like driving your car to a certain destination.
You are focused on arriving at your final destination and you are doing everything in your power to get there, even with obstacles and diversions you never take your focus off your destination.
To reach your action goals
You have to have the same mindset which means you are flexible in your route to your goals but you never take your mind off of your destination which is to achieve and surpass your action goals.
Obstacles come in many forms
They could be an injury, sickness, coaching decisions, family crisis, work related.
So your job as an athlete is to keep your mind focused on your goals even with life's diversions.
That is why good clear positive goals are so important.
You first have to decide where you want to go with your sport
Do you want to be the best player that you can Be?
Here are some examples;
Long Term Goals
Are for one to three years
Getting International Recognition
Becoming the best player in your team
Being the mentally toughest player and a good leader
Becoming an asset to the team a regular first 9 player
Mid-term goals
Try and set two or three.
These will have a limit of 6 months to a year
Goals other than your long term goals are called Process
Goals.
Which means they are your means to reach your long term goals
For example;
Working hard and getting noticed by your coaches.
Being very competitive to gain a place in the team.
Show how quickly you can recover from making an error and getting on with the game The outcome of reaching certain goals are sometimes not within your control, They can be achieved by coaches decisions after recognising your success with your Process goals but they are still your way to reaching the top.
Short Term Goals
Are the ones that take 1 to 6 months and directly feed your
Mid-term goals. The success of these goals are very important in achieving your Midterm goals
For instance;
If you are going to be competitive to get your place on the team that you want in your Midterm goal, Here you have to have to plan what type of practice do I need to do. How will I get my fitness better. Will I do sprint training or improve my agility
Immediate Goals;
Are where you start to get to all your other goals.
For example;
To get my fitness better I will do a 5 klm run twice a week
To get more competitive I am going to lower my error rate in practice and work harder on throwing strikes.
Practicing without Action goals is like shopping without a list.
How many times have you been shopping without a list and got home to discover you have forgotten something you really wanted.
With a list you focus on specific items
With out it you are left only with chance and you do not want to go through your practice or your games relying on chance.
So now your goals are specific
And you know what you have to do to achieve them and nothing is left to luck
They will leave little to chance or imagination allowing you to fully focus on your goals.
Non Specific Goals Specific goals
I want to improve my throw. I am going to target my shoulders
I am going to play hard throws better.
I am not going to let the ball go by even if I have to catch it in my mouth
All goals have to be specific
So that you can focus on them and raise your motivation to Achieve them .
Make them challenging but not unreachable, if they are impossible to reach you will get disheartened and lose your motivation push yourself to improve.
Visiting your goals
You have to visit your goals frequently to mark down your improvement and to reaffirm that they are realistic.
They are your goals, you own them and you are the only person that is accountable for their success .
You may need to talk to your coaches if a certain drill or practice regime.
Do not focus on EGO Goals;
Like winning and fame.
Champions put all their efforts into the Mastery of their skills and their performance.
Continued Motivation has to come from within you the player
Outside motivation is very short lived.
Some athletes blame their coaches or psychologists for their lack of motivation and that is why they perform badly.
But in reality the athlete is responsible for their motivation alone
Outside motivation;
A dog chases after a biscuit very fast, the next biscuit he font run so fast after and the next one he walks to it.
Inside motivation;
But the dog that just loves to run will run after it every time whether he wants to eat it or not
Assess your motivation
To assess your motivation after every practice or game you will go to your journal and mark your performance in a scale of 1-5
1 being poor and 5 being excellent.
If you notice that your grades are 4-5 then your motivation is high.
If they are 1-2 then your motivation is low.
Start to look at why? What is happening to make you feel like that.
Is something going on in your life that might be the cause,like stress or sleeping badly?
Maybe you had an injury and it is playing on your mind that it might be still weak?
Are you eating the right food that an athlete needs to eat before competing?
Fatty or sugar filled foods will seriously affect your performance both your mental alertness causing you to make errors and lowering your motivation.
Confidence and trust in your ability to perform might be low.
So look at your motivation.
Is it based on external goals like; Ego fulfillment.
Such as money, fame, social acceptance.
Or is it based on Internal goals like; Wanting to master your skills and doing it because it makes you feel great both in your fitness and in your feeling of well being
Discipline
With discipline comes freedom so you need to discipline yourself to establish effective habits that will carry you through performing drills that are repetitious.
Performing drills over and over again until you get it right, you will need self discipline to carry you through and build your motivation.
The goal is to establish strong effective sports related habits and to make them subconscious and automatic so when you need to react quickly in the game you react in a confident effective way that will lower your error rate and raise your level of confidence and adding to your mental toughness.
I always say if you have never failed then you have never tried anything new.
After all F.a.i.l means First Attempt In Learning
At every level if you do not make errors in practice then you are not pushing yourself hard enough.
This is what is called practicing and playing within your comfort zone and if you continue working inside this zone you will never become the best player you can be.
Flushing errors
Getting back from an error as quickly as possible is one of the major keys to open the door to mental toughness.
So how can we do it ?
At the moment of making an error you need to breathe out calmly and slowly and whisper your Key Word. Your key is a word that you will always use to calm yourself down. It can be anything from Calm down or Breathe or No problem or anything that you like but it must be said quietly and calmly without any anger or anxiety then you immediately get back on track ready for the next play
We will talk a little later more about Self Talk and how it will help you concentrate.
Always remember as soon as you have done something it
becomes History and you can do nothing about it.
You always have to play in the HERE AND Now for instance I have the ball in my hand, I have got my signal from the catcher so lets get to work.
Or you are in the field with a batter in the box, you are in the ready position and you are telling yourself come on hit the ball to me.
A champion always wants the ball to come to them so they can make the out. The player that thinks it is two outs in the last inning please send the ball to someone else will never be a great player.
The future is here
The time in front of you is all new you have not been there yet so go into it with focus and concentration on the single task in front of you that you are going to perform.
This is called Tunnel vision and single tasking
As a player in the field especially in your early years you are often told “right, you go and play right field “ so out you go with the only weapons being your glove and a good arm. The ball is hit to you and suddenly you get advice shouted at you from what seems like 20 different places all telling you to play it a different way.
So, how do you get over this?
The answer is to pre-load your mind with different scenarios that could happen on this play.
For Example
1, We have a runner on one, what will I do if the ball comes to me?
2, Where will I throw the ball if it’s a ground ball…?
3, Where will I throw the ball if I catch it?
4, Where should I be if it goes to someone else to cover their throw.
So now you have prepared yourself mentally, you have actually discarded all of the outside influences and now have a clear mind of what you will do when the ball is hit and time is of the essence. The speed of your reactions to these scenarios get quicker as you get more diamond time
As your career progresses, your thoughts of this are much faster and sometimes it appears that it never happens. But it does, it becomes more instinctive. In a tight game where the next play is the game winner or loser you do take the time to mind check exactly what you are going to do, so you are thinking of nothing else. You are mono tasking.
Commitment, Concentration and Confidence allow you to have a true focus on your actions in your practice and in your game. It is the only way to blank out all of the outside influences that interfere with your success. One of the biggest problems that effect focus is ´multi-tasking´
What is multi-tasking? An example of multitasking is, you are in the batter’s box, you are thinking where am I going to hit the ball, oh I hope I don’t get struck out, yes coach I hear you, I can hear my mother in the bleachers…
Focus has to have tunnel vision, you mind has to be only on the task in hand, the pitch you are making, the catch you take, the throw to first base.
Focus is mono tasking, with it you will have a much higher success rate in all your plays. Focus is the major key to all self-improvement and becoming the player you can become.
A simple element that can hamper a player in their effort to become great is words that transmit negative thoughts.
Here are a few examples-
WISH. When a player uses the word wish, as in I wish I could get on base every time, it shifts the commitment for him\her to make the necessary effort to get on base every time to putting it on my wish list like winning the lottery.
WANT. When someone uses the word want as in “I really want to hit a home run” the mind automatically adds the negatives in the sentence. As in “I really want to hit a home run but I don’t think it will happen”
DON’T. Don’t is probably one of the worst words to use, firstly the word is a negative word, which is the opposite of what you should be thinking. For example, “I don’t want to get struck out” with this thought in your mind you are more likely to get stuck out due to the pressure you have put yourself under. The thoughts you should be having are- “I am a good batter” and I’m going to “see the ball and hit the ball”. Using the word don’t, puts you on the road to failure. For example if you tell a group of players DON’T think of the McDonald sign I would think all of them will have the big yellow M in their minds. So you see when you use the word Don’t it is instantly ignored.
Confidence is a non renewable resource which means you have to constantly keep building it up to maintain the high level of ability to play at your speed and accuracy. Where the best players differ from the rest is that they work hard to level out the ups and downs in confidence by keeping their focus on the here and now which enables them to play with the consistency needed at the top of your game
Confidence is your defense against self-doubt, the confidence you need to say “wow that pitch got away from me” rather than doubting you can throw that pitch again. The confidence to say “That ball took a nasty skip” when you miss the pick-up, rather than doubting your ability to be a good fielder. Remember if everyone was perfect there would be no game, no winners and no losers. The secret is to give 100% effort, to trust your skills and believe in yourself
Taking risks is the path to greater skills.
We have talked about working inside your comfort zone.
It will possibly make you a good solid player.
But that is not enough to make you into a great player.
To be a great player you have to take risks.
For example;
You are in the short stop position when a hard ball is hit to your position about 1.5 meters from your glove hand you take a great dive to catch the ball but miss it by 2 cm.
You think if I had moved that little earlier I could have got that.
Your coaches are saying wow that was close she nearly got that it would have been a great out.
On the other hand the solid player would have looked at it and decided it was to far away and let it go to the outfield.
Your coaches are now saying I think she would have got that.
If she had it would have stopped the runner getting to third, I think we need to fire her up a bit.
So now your position might change even possibly be replaced to give someone else a go at your position that is more aggressive and shows more confidence to take risks to push their career forward.
Risk taking has to be appropriate it must not jeopardize the
outcome of the play or game, your risks have to be in an effort to a better result.
Controllable Non controllable
Attitude Weather
Diet Wins or losses
Sleep Coaches decisions
Practice time Umpires decisions
Effort Peoples opinions
Mental Training
What your opponent does is non controllable so concentrate on your game and not theirs, that is your coaches job.
A good way to measure whether you are controlling the controllable s is to use feelings like frustration as an alarm bell.
Frustration normally means you are focusing on things that are not within your control and influence.
Positive Self Talk
What is Self Talk.
It is what you are saying to yourself after you make an error or before you carry out a task.
One of the greatest mental toughness tools is positive self talk.
When your self talk is full of anger and criticism after making an error it is difficult to bounce back to athletic success.
Did you know 5 seconds of anger can result in 30 minutes of under performing. There are three words that start with A that you must control.
Anger, Anxiety, Aggression,
The good news is that it is easy to change it into a constructive and effective mindset.
The first thing to do is to take a deep breath and let it out slowly and while letting it out say your Key Word. Always remember you cannot be angry when you are breathing out. And when is the only other time? When you are smiling.
Demonstrate
The next thing is to focus on what is relevant and necessary for you to carry out your next task.
For Instance;
You need to hit the ball for a base hit. Your focus in this case will be “See the Ball -Hit the Ball. So with your internal focus set, you relax and get on with your job.
It is not a guarantee that you will get on a base but it puts you in the best possible mindset to do so.
With your mind set on the here and now, by that I mean the present, what is happening at this very moment.
You will not get distracted by thinking about the outcome of your action.
For Instance
What if they get me out and I leave the runners on what will my coach say.
This is an uncontrollable and not worthy of your thoughts.
Three areas of Focus
If you can imagine three circles each one bigger than the next.
Inner circle and inside that inner circle you concentration is at its highest,
For Instance;
This is where you are focused on hitting the ball or the moment of making a play, you are in the immediate action.
The Medium circle is where your degree of focus is lower
For Instance;
The ball has been hit to another player and you are waiting for the pick up. This means you are a step away from the action.
The outer circle is the broadest level of focus, your focus is less intense
For Instance;
You are preparing to go to bat by putting on your gloves and looking at the field. The important thing is that although your focus level changes in intensity you are still always focused on the action and not letting outside
influences distract you from performing at your best.
Here are relevant points of focus;
Your attitude, Your practice goals, Your fitness levels,
Your diet and rest time, Your mental preparation,
Your knowledge of your sport, Your specific game plan,
The quality and amount of time at practice,
Watching film of yourself performing your sport. Yes it is a lot of YOURS that is because it is all about you.
Irrelevant points of focus
Are ones that you have no control over and have no benefit to your performance.
For instance;
Umpires decisions, The venue, The competition whether it be local or international, What other coaches think of you, Coaches decisions,
The crowd, The opinions of others. Other peoples expectations of you,
Whether it is a league game or an international final you still have to execute your tasks in the same way.
You must have the same trust and belief in your skills. After all it is those skills that have got you to the final. So many times the final stages of competitions have been lost by teams that think they have to change to win, when playing your own game is your strongest weapon.
It shows although you know of the opponents skills you are not intimidated by them. Always remember you do not have control over whether you win
What you do have control over is your performance.
Focus on the Process not the result
Putting all your focus on the present moment, the here and now is the single most important time for you as a competitor.
When you are focused on the present this gives you the opportunity to focus totally on your performance and the process of what you are doing. Focusing on the past or future will strongly inhibit your ability to perform in the here and now.
Opening the door to poor focus and low concentration levels resulting in errors and a bad performance.
So how can you stay in the present moment.
Start in practice by listening to every word your coach says to you before starting a drill, not just picking up on key words.
When you go to perform the drill think clearly of the elements needed to carry out that drill correctly.
If it is a new drill to you, do it slowly with good mechanics and as you become more in tune with it, then speed it up.
Once you have finished the drill and are moving on to the next one evaluate your performance to see what you need to change for you to carry it out better. If the drill involved other players
Tell them that you think you can do that drill better and in their opinion what could you change for the better performance.
If a coaches were watching you, ask the same question to them when they have a spare moment to talk to you. At the end of practice it is a thing to add to your practice journal. When you go into the next drill keep the same mindset, forget about the last drill and concentrate on the here and now.
How can you tell if you are concentrating on the here and now.
Here is an exercise that you can do.
Take a photo of you playing softball, study it carefully.
Look at your face and think about what you could have been thinking at the time when the photo was taken.
Look at your glove, your feet positioning, Think about the moment when it was taken, was it a hot day, Think about the diamond was it a good day for you. In saying that; was it a good day for you, everyday you are playing softball is a good day.
If you can do this without interruption then you are focusing on the here and now.
Bringing awareness to your internal state
Paying attention to your breathing, relaxing your muscle tension
How clearly you are thinking about the process of what you are going to do?
Bring your Psychical and Mental sensations to a balance.
Start by positioning your feet in a balanced position so your body feels centered and in harmony with your relaxed but ready state. This has to be used in practices so you can perfect it for the game
Focus will eliminate pressure and stress.
You probably feel pressure in most every practice and in every competition and you assume that it is part of competing in sport.
Well I can tell you that you are wrong.
Pressure only lives inside your imagination.
Pressure only exists inside your mind.
Situations are not pressure filled in themselves, it is how you view them.
How you focus on the situation will enhance it with pressure or not.
For Instance;
Bottom of the seventh with two outs and you can score the winning run will you feel pressure.
Why what is the difference from your hit in the first inning?
Will you feel that if you do not score that you have let the team down? So
Lets look at it from a different side. If the team had fielded better and scored more runs you would not be in this position that you are in now. So did the team let you down by putting you in this position. No It is called the process of the game
You and your team have focused on your performances then this is the result of the process, as I have said before you do not have control of the result.
Physical Feelings
Have you ever felt an increased heart rate or knots in your
stomach and tightening of your muscles before a game starts or just before you go up for your turn at bat.
The chances are you are focusing on irrelevant details that have nothing to do with your performance. But even these feelings can be used to your advantage. Think about your increased heart rate as alertness and tell yourself “Yes come on I am ready,Lets do it” changing negative thought into positive ones.
So what comes first ?
The negative thoughts or the physical feelings?
The answer is the negative thoughts causing the physical responses. These feelings will only get bigger unless you start to think of the process not the outcome.
Centering your mind
On your performance and not the distractions that are around you.
How to train your mind.
Focus on your balance and a good swing.
Concentrate your mind on See the ball Hit the ball.
When you focus on the process you are creating a positive mindset and state of readiness for the job in hand and the rest of the competition.
Stress management.
Taking good deep calm breaths to relax you and to set your focus on the task in hand. By managing your breathing you will relieve your muscles of unnecessary tension enabling them to operate smoothly.
Smoothness in your mechanics is more likely to result in success
Where tension can only result in failure or under performance.
Thinking about the outcome has the most damaging effect on your performance. It is also the hardest obstacle for you to get over.
Always plan to be the best
You always play to be the best otherwise why go to the game.
But it must not be the biggest thought in your head when you are performing.
At first glance focusing on the outcome of a game makes sense as it is how every game or athletic success is measured
One team wins and the other loses. This is always thrown at you everywhere you look. In the papers on television on the radio.
But it lacks information of effort or strategy or mental toughness
So when you are bombarded by wins and loses it comes as no surprise that it is a focal point when competing.
Remember.
You can play or perform at your very best and still get beaten by a better or stronger opponent.
You can also play not very well and still manage a win.
If you focus on the process the outcome will look after itself.
Becoming over emotional is also a problem.
Getting over emotional will also cloud your ability to focus.
You can become angry or nervous or even excited.
Anger can be triggered easily.
For Instance;
An umpires ruling that you feel was wrong after failing at bat.
You can get nervous because of a big crowd or being intimidated by an opponents history of being hard to beat.
Error Management
Take time out to analyse how you deal with errors or adversity
Ask Yourself.
Do you make an error and immediately take responsibility for it then clear your mind and get on with the game.
The throw to first scenario Other peoples errors
How do you deal with other peoples errors?
Do you take it to the dugout?
If you do how fair is that?
Having an emotional reaction towards a decision or error is acceptable as long as it don't spiral out of control and ruin your game and the game of your teammates.
Emotional responses must not alter your game.
Good controllers are taking a step back from the action.
If you are a pitcher turn your back on the batter and go to the edge of your circle, take control and return to the pitching rubber. Always make sure the game has come to a stop before turning your back on the batter.
Once you have returned to the rubber, take your signal from the catcher and pitch the ball. Having a key word or saying is also a key to refocus and concentration on the controllables
Team huddles must be controlled by support not stress.
Create consistent an solid routines to get your focus and concentration where it needs to be.
Whether you are pitching , catching or in the other parts of the diamond.
Learning to deal with decisions that are beyond your control.
For Instance.
Umpires rulings on the game, Coaches Decisions
When your coach pulls you from the game, if you are mentally weak you will possibly think why did the coach pull me from the game I hadn't made any errors.
When the ball came to me I made the plays and then he replaced me with Cindy and she is not better than me.
If you are Mentally strong you will run to the baseline and high five your replacement and wish her/him a good game
Then high five your coach and be satisfied with your performance and cheer on your team from the dug out.
Teamwork is more about we and less about me.
I can never tell you enough that your athletic performance is influenced by your control over the controllable and realising the un-importance of the Non controllable.
For example;
Fans, umpires decisions, the weather, condition of the diamond.
Remember and visualise the last time that you lost your focus after an error or event on the diamond.
What did you do and how did you feel?
Plan how to change the outcome of the event or error.
So the next time you are in this situation you accept it and move on.
Always remember the only mistake you can make is not learning from an error.
If you see your opponent getting upset at a decision or situations use it to your advantage and get the ball into play as soon as you can.
Seeing other players in this situation will remind you not to get in this situation yourself and make you feel good knowing that you can take control of these events.
Prepare Prepare Prepare
Benjamin Franklin once said; If you fail to prepare then prepare to fail.
The more prepared you are for practice and games the better you will be at keeping up a high level of focus.
Make sure you know your role in the team so that you are mentally prepared for what is to come.
Remember your key words like;
loosen up, focus, calm down, relax,OK lets get on with it, See the ball, Hit the ball. Make sure you always say your key words as you are breathing out.
The more you see yourself as a player the easier it is to take up the role and play with confidence.
Relax in the way that suits you,Use Imagery
What is Imagery.
Always focus your attention on your Performance
Using your mind to see yourself in a certain successful situation. As you get older you tend to lose the power of Imagery so it has to be trained to make it possible for you to use it in your senior years as an athlete.
Do you remember when you were younger when your birthday was the next day and you knew that your big present was a bicycle? That night you would go to bed and close your eyes and see your riding your new bike down a familiar road with the wind in your hair, waving to your friends. And that night you would see yourself riding that bike in great detail and the taste of your birthday cake still in your mouth, That is Imagery.
The difference between Visualisation and Imagery.
If you close your eyes and think about your National flag, you see it clearly That is Visualisation.
If you close your eyes and see yourself on the Diamond. You are at bat and you feel the dirt moving beneath your feet as you get yourself ready to hit, feel the warm of the sun on your face and the smell of newly cut grass that is Imagery. Imagery is far more powerful than Visualisation and it can take longer to perfect, but the results are incredible.
So how do you start to learn Imagery
When you start it is easier to begin in a quiet place with little or no distractions so your concentration can be focused on the subject of your imagery.
For women a special place can be your bedroom so close your eyes and imagine you are entering your bedroom,as you enter look from the left side of your room and get an image of everything that is there. For example the furniture and what is on it, but take your time and try and see everything on it from your hair brush to every item of cosmetics to furry toys. For men it is probably the inside of your car seeing the accessories you have put on it and how much they cost or special person in your life or place,Or an event.
Or imagine how you prepare for a game from putting on your uniform to sitting in the dug out getting all your gear ready.
If you can do this you are Visualising and on the road to Imagery
The first thing you have to do to get effective imagery is to get all the facts about your subject.
For example
You think of the diamond and you see it, a very familiar place.
But you do not actually feel it, you cannot feel yourself in the dugout with your team all pumped up for the game or smell the freshly cut grass or the heat from the sun on your face, or the smelly socks and trainers unless you see, hear and sense and remember all of these facts when you are there.
Or something very simple, if I asked you to think about your shower at home you would probably look at me and think “well it is a normal shower”
What you need to think is how it felt with the hot water on your skin and the smell of your shower gel or soap and how you felt so cosy with a bath towel wrapped around you afterwards. How you felt relaxed and a great sense of well being.
You see to use Imagery you need all the facts so that you can see them and sense them in your mind .
By now you are either thinking I am a little crazy or you are thinking what has this got to do with playing my sport.
OK
The next time you go to practice or to a game take a little time just to sit there and look around you and see and smell everything that is happening in the practice or game area. You will enjoy it more and it also helps you to think how great it is to be there.
Look at a photo or film of you playing your sport.
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF
Where was it?
What were you doing?
How did you feel?
What was the weather like?
Was it a good day for you?
What were you thinking at the time?
What happened after the photo was taken?
Total Recall
If you can recall all of these facts you can start on getting Mental Toughness in your practice and in your game but also in your life.
The more you look at film or photos of yourself playing your game in a successful situation the easier you find it to become Mentally Tough. Always recall everything involved in the photo or film, close your eyes and relive it.
If you can do this you are using Imagery
Although doing this at first it takes a little while with more and more practice you will be able to do it in seconds before you go to the field or see yourself hitting that perfect ball just before you go to the batters box which will help you to relax and focus only on what you have to do at that moment. Self talk. What is Self Talk
Whether you realise it or not you are constantly using Self Talk when you are performing in a sport or doing challenging things in your life.
Self -Talk affects your performance in a physical and measurable way
For every thought you have there is a corresponding emotion which will
directly affect your performance
For instance
In your normal working life you might be going to park in a supermarket car park and you see what seems like the only clear spot left and there is another car approaching and you say to yourself 'No No No don't go in there I want it' this is self talk in your normal life.
As with most things there is a positive and a negative in self talk. The positive self-talk is to say :OK there will be another parking spot somewhere else. The negative Self-talk will be getting you in a rage and calling the other driver bad names and even when you find another parking spot you will still be angry and short tempered.
The most important thing is to have positive self talk as often as possible both in your sport and in your life.
Telling the difference in between the two is the most important thing.
Positive self talk
Are messages you send yourself that help you to build your confidence to carry out whatever process you are about to perform
For Instance
I know I can do this.
I am a good batter
I can steal, I am fast on the bases.
All of these things will give you excitement and bring relaxation to your muscles
Negative self talk
I don't know if I can do this.
I really need to do better this time.
I am going to find it hard hitting this pitcher.
All of these comments will put your mind in doubt as to whether you can do what is needed. Making you nervous and your muscles
tighten.
Self talk is very powerful
This means you can harness the power of your own thoughts to improve your performance both on the field of play and in your every day life.
Your self talk will directly affect the way you feel and the way you act in any given situation so it is very important to engage in positive self talk as much as you can to maximise your performance in every situation.
Self talk to avoid
I don't do well at this.
I don't want to let the team down.
I have to do better this time.
These thoughts will drain your self confidence and bring tension into your muscles lowering your success rate dramatically.
The crowds or even your teammates can amplify the feelings in you as they cheer when you do well and say nothing or worse when you underperform. But relying on crowd or teammates reaction is not good for your inner strength so it is better not to take a lot of notice of it, if it is negative.
Don't shout in your own ear
The only way that you can have positive self talk is when you breathe calmly and talk to yourself positively.
It starts by using your Key word or phrase For instance;Breathe calm down. OK lets do this. See the ball, Hit the ball.
Now you are calm with relaxed muscles and ready to do what is needed.
You can only be angry if you permit it.
Anger is like any other emotion, it will come out if you permit it.
For instance
You are standing around with a group of people and somebody says something about someone and they all laugh. But you think it was a cruel thing to say so you don't laugh.
You will only laugh with your permission you see.
Again
You are looking to park your car in a free space and someone turns in front of you and takes it. You can shout and get angry or you can say Grrrr lets find another one. You see the situation hasn't changed, you still have to find somewhere else to park so being angry is not going to change it.
Driving around angry will cloud your judgment the same as going into bat angry and tense or going to catch a ball angry and tense will lower your chances of success.
Believing in yourself and trusting your abilities is the road to success.
Confidence is your defense against self-doubt, the confidence you need to say “wow that pitch got away from me” rather than doubting you can throw that pitch again. The confidence to say “That ball took a nasty skip” when you miss the pick-up, rather than doubting your ability to be a good fielder. Remember if everyone was perfect there would be no game, no winners and no losers. The secret is to give 100% effort, to trust your skills and believe in yourself.
I have had many players say to me why can I perform well in practice and not on the diamond in the game.
Almost without exception it is the outside influences of the opposing team, the crowd, and the pressure you put on yourself that lowers your belief in yourself and put doubt in your skills. Other peoples self-talk can also affect your actions.
Here is a story that shows just that:
A batter is in the box with a count of 1 and 1, the batter swings at the next pitch which is well outside. After which hits the ground with the bat and shouts ( I am such an ass!!!!.At this time everybody is laughing except the batter. With this in mind the pitcher sends down a perfect strike and the batter who is still in rage misses it. Not only has that batter failed this time at bat but has set the fail emotion for the rest of the game.
Every thought you have and you have many more than you realise is linked to a physical consequence Such as your heart rate, breathing rate, and can affect your muscle tension as well.
Your thoughts can also adjust the amount of stress hormones that your body releases. Hormones such as Adrenalin and Cortisol.
Cortisol is released from the adrenal gland during times of stress, in small amounts it can actually help your performance by lowering your sensitivity to pain, it can improve your memory and give you a burst of energy. But prolonged high levels of Cortisol in the bloodstream can have negative results,like high blood pressure and slow down your reactions
Pressure only exists if you permit it.
Players often suffer from Fear. The fear of losing, the fear of not being able to perform well in front of family or friends, the fear of what your coach will say if you under-perform, the fear of being dropped from the team,
So, what is fear? How can we control it? The true definition of fear is; an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger. So why do we let it control us?
Specific pain or danger? What pain can come from making an error? The pain of realising you are not perfect? But no one ever said you were did they?
Danger? What danger could you possibly be in? The danger of you being taken off the field that would be very rare on just one error. Fear is let in by you as a player, you have control over this. How do you have control over fear? Well here is an example.
You are pitching the last inning of the championship final. You have two down and a runner on three, the call is 3 and 2, and you have to throw a strike. You have all this on your mind and your heart is pounding like a hammer in your chest. You are consumed by fear and in this state of mind; the likelihood of you throwing a strike is remote!
Is this the real situation for you at this time? No! As a pitcher you have to look at the real situation which is your catcher has signaled an inside low strike, and that is what you will do. You have done it a thousand times before, and you will do it again no problem. Your mind should be mono tasking, so you can carry out that one pitch that is being asked of you.
All the other things are outside influences that have already happened that got you to this point. “Unchangeable history” So centering your mind on the single task in front of you will make you successful.
To combat fear you have to face it head on, if you try to sidestep it when you are relaxed it will come at you again. This will lower your power to beat it and sometimes diminish your ability to deal with it completely.
Give the example of the child who is scared of the dark
The advantages of positive self-talk are muscle relaxation, Confidence and composure.
Always remember Don't shout in your own ear all your positive self-talk has to be calming not containing anger or frustration.
How many times have you heard a coach shout to their players:
CONCENTRATE,FOCUS.
Concentration and focus cannot be ordered like a Pizza or a burger it has to come from within the player with their confidence and their trust in their skills.
In order to keep track of how your self-talk is working for you it is very important to keep your practice and game journal up to date and by making sure that you put down your feelings at the time.
How can you categorise how you feel? Here as some categories:
Perfectionism
Believing that you have to be perfect all the time and that mistakes are unacceptable.
Dramatising
Turning a small error into a major event.
All or Nothing thinking
Not leaving any room for middle ground, things are all good or all bad.
Personalising
Believing that what others say and do are somehow connected to you.
Blaming
Holding other people responsible for your feelings.
Sport is always fair
Thinking that sport is always fair and equal at all times.
Generalising
Thinking it is always going to be like that because it happened once.
Fortune telling
Thinking you know how it is supposed happen or be.
Results only
Believing that your self worth is based on your success.
If your negative self-talk falls into any of these categories during your sport or your day to day life then you can start by eradicating them to support your positive outlook.
If negative thoughts enter your mind you have to say to yourself: this not me I am not going to think this way.
You can also be helped by your teammates and your coaches if they hear you say something negative. They can say a” a” a” that's negative and by turning it into a bit of fun it will help you a lot as avoiding tension in this situation is really helpful.
This is when you need to use your keyword that you have chosen to get yourself back on track with your focus and concentration.
Some players do not use a keyword but they wear an elastic band on their wrist and when they want to get back on track they pull it and let it go.
This is not for the fainthearted as it does hurt a little depending on how hard you pull it.
There are three ways to correct these negative thoughts.
Countering, re-framing and affirming.
Countering a negative thought.
Example:
I don't think I will ever make the team.
Counter it with why I have as much chance as anyone else on the bench.
Re-framing
You have an old painting that you did years ago rolled up in a drawer.
You take it and put it in a real nice frame and it looks completely different and really good which makes you happy.
The same can be said about your thoughts in your head.
Example:
You have been into bat twice and not hit the ball, you think I am never going to hit this.
OK I have not hit yet but keep calm and it will come.
Re-framing is probably the quickest way to change your reaction to a situation because it takes less thought to simply turn it on its head.
Affirming:
Takes a lot longer to do as you have to take your negative thought and reaffirm your focus on the positive but it can take different ways to succeed. Firstly you may have to write it down if it is a thought that enters your head frequently. You may also have to write down the solution and read it regularly to get it to stick in your mind.
Once you have identified a weak spot in your game you have to practice it on a regular basis so that you can trust your mechanics and focus purely on the process of the game.
I can, I will succeed.
To succeed in more than just on instance or one game you will need to sustain a positive thought pattern throughout your practice and your life. To be a positive player you need also to be a positive person
It is necessary to establish positive thoughts and a solid practice regime which can only be done by repetition and dedication to your own performance.
Perfectionism is one of the biggest problems for a player.
Always look for improvement but being Perfect is not possible. You will make errors, learn from them and move on that is how you improve.
To be a champion you first have to lose and learn from it.
Creating your Mental Recovery Routine
You have to do the same thing with your Mental recovery as you do with all your practice drills. When you make an error in practice you have to use your keyword or what you use to refocus so that you can return to positive practice as soon as possible as you will want to in the game.
Some batters pick up some dirt,golfers pick up some grass etc,etc.
In practice when you make an error think of why that error occurred and try and correct it. After all the hard work should be done in practice to give you the necessary confidence in your performance in the game.
In softball you do not always have a lot of time to regain your focus, for example in the batters box between swings unlike in tennis you have all the time between points, so your recovery routine not only needs to be powerful it also needs to be quick.
The quickest way back to recovery is cue words like Focus, Relax, Calm down, No problem, or what ever words can get you back on track. You will need to find what words work best for you so experimenting with different words and phrases until you find out what works best for you.
The most important thing is to use your words of recovery in practice when you make an error because you need to bounce back quickly in
practice so that you can continue on well and also get your recovery system firmly in-place for a rapid reaction in the game.
Remember the key to success is repetition to get strong in every part of your game and the mental side of your game is very important.
5 seconds of anger can result in 30 minutes of under-performance. If you do not have a good mental recovery routine it will look and feel like you have dealt with the with the emotional problem but at the then the slightest sign of a problem you are back at being angry.
Once you have your cue words working for you one of the best ways to cement it into your mind is to write your cue words or phrase on the front of your practice/game journal in big letters so when you are getting ready in the dugout you can see them and start your event off in the right mind-frame. It will also help you in your normal everyday life if you think about this calming regime when you go to bed or when something happens during your normal day that you find annoying.
Mental recovery routines are like a parachute, they slow things down so you hit the ground gently after a difficult moment in the game.
Performance Journals
We talked earlier about Performance Journals and how to use them.
In your Mental training they are a very powerful weapon to have.
As a player you have so many aspects of your game you have to focus on.
Everything from your nutrition and sleeping habits to concentration on your practice techniques and training.
Using your Performance Journal for sorting out what works for you what doesn't and what is helpful and what isn't can make a bit difference in how effective your practice and your game become.
Looking at your results of your practice performance will give you the best possible feed back of what areas you need to concentrate more effort on to improve your overall game.
Your performance journal doesn't need to be anything fancy or grossly over organised, what it needs to be is something that you have put down notes in so that you can return to it to help organise your practice and
game strategy. It is the only way to track your performance statistics and observations in. You can go to coach and discuss what you have in your journal to see if it is possible for you to work on some of your weak points or areas that you have concerns about.
One thing to remember is that if all of your teammates are using their journals correctly and discussing it with your coach then your coach has a very powerful overview of the team and what it needs to do to go forward.
For example if you go to your coach and have concerns about your drag bunt and two or three of your teammates have the same problem then the
coach can see a weakness in his team that he needs to address.
Be truthful now.
How many of you have gone to practice and have not done particularly great at one thing in practice and not told the coach that you were struggling with it. I do not want you to put your hand up to this I just want
you to think about it. I do not mean that you completely got it wrong what I mean is if someone asked you how did it go you would say OK rather than yes it was good.
That is the difference between Going to Practice and Practicing
So how can you make this Journal work for you.
These are a few things that most people put in their journals.
It may seem like a lot of work to you and why should you bother but think about it.
Are you the best player you can be.
Why do the best players and athletes in the world do it?
What is stopping you being the best player you can be?
If it is necessary for the worlds best to do it what makes you better than them?
OK so after thinking about that here is a useful list of some of the things that help the best players succeed. List daily goals and objectives and whether they were realised.
Make a list of strategies that you would like to do in practice.
Write down your your self-talk words to use during practice and games.
List things that you could have done differently of better in games and practices.
You have to tailor it for your needs because you are unique and this is all about you.
The best way to get the most out of your journal is to use it before and after practices and games. To look at it first to refresh yourself on your goals for the day and afterwards to write down the results and what you rated your days performance at.
The possibilities and advantages to your improvement are endless.
Start using a performance journal today
Practicing your Positive Imagery
Now you have your journal all ready for your physical side of your performance. It is a good time to practice Positive Imagery.
For example:Seeing yourself perform well, feeling good about yourself
both physically and mentally,Enjoying the day and the excitement of the event you are going to.
Here are the optimal times to practice.
Getting dressed in practice gear, on the way to practice or game.
Or driving back home. Before bed in those moments when you are
winding down, This is how you set a strong positive foundation for your performance.
Time management verses Task management
This is a very important issue both for players and coaching staff.
Time management is based on maximising how you spent your time that you have available and getting as much activity into that time period as
you can. So you allocate hours you have available and priorities your activities to suit. Time management is about staying disciplined to the way you spend your time. For example you have batting drills on a Tuesday night for two hours but only carry out two thirds of the drills in the allocated time. The next time you have is allocated for fielding drills.
The importance was to carryout all of these batting drills so the importance was not the time you spent but carrying out all of the drills.
Task Management is a based on the fact that time management is not an efficient way to spend your time.
Time management does not take into account how difficult the players may have found the drills or how much tuition the coaches had to give.
Task Management focus is on completing important objectives not to allocate time to them. Which means you will not rush through drills that are important, you will also keep the drills up to a high standard and be sure of all of your players getting enough time on this important task.
So instead of allocating two hours for batting you will allocate all the time it takes to get it right.
Life's Values
Having values is very important to every athlete both in their chosen sport and in their everyday lives. Your values are your guiding principles in life as they determine what is important to you and what you stand for.
Life's values determine how important something is that you want to achieve. It will determine how dedicated you are and how disciplined you are going to be to achieve it. This is why it is so important for you to make sure you know what your values are.
Here are some examples of important values in sport.
Staying committed to be fit for your sport.
Being committed to keep learning as much as you can about your sport.
Valuing a good eye for detail.
Being committed to your team.
Maximising your strengths and minimising your weaknesses.
Being both competitive with sportsmanship.
The willingness to prepare and compete with integrity.
Always be willing to share your knowledge.
A key to being a great athlete and a good person is to have good values.
Your values in your sport will determine who will want to train you.
Someone with low values on their practice will attract a coach with equally low values.
Only when you possess high work ethics and high values will you then become the player that is inside of you.
This is a small list of values
Hard work Passion
Continuous Learning
Fitness Integrity
Discipline
Attention to detail
Your willingness to keep these values will determine whether you become the athlete you deserve to be.
Once you have realised where your values lye you can then start to move on to setting your priorities.
Why do I Set Priorities?
If you fail to set priorities then everything holds the same importance, as you know that is not so in sport.
Without setting Priorities you will not be able to distinguished which goals hold more importance than the other so you will have little or no direction to take your practice in.
As a player you will always have areas in which you need to improve so what you will have to do is find out what is needed and then priorities your practice regime so you can focus on your weaker areas.
For Example:
Both skill and fitness is very important in your overall performance.
You may have good mechanics and skills but might not achieve the level of success that you thought you should of.
The realisation of this is that your lower than ideal fitness level let you down.
So now your priorities will have to change from repetitious mechanical
drills to more fitness drills.
By having priorities you are able to recognise and adapt very quickly to what is needed for you to progress to the next level.
Without this in place you probably would be dissatisfied with your performance but look for something or someone to blame.
Of course there are also some very important priorities that you as a person will have to priorities into your life and into your sport. It can be
sometimes a very difficult task to get right and unfortunately a lot of good players never reach their ultimate skill level because of life's priorities.
Here are some of life's problems that you will need to Priorities.
Spiritual,health physical and mental,Family,Social life,Money,Career,
Schooling
Its quite a list isn't it and when you write them all down they look impossible to fit in. This is where you will have to be your best at
prioritising. But we all do it and the longer you are in the sport the more expert you become at juggling all of these important factor of your lives.
Remember the player that gives up the chance to go out with their friends to get a burger in favour of extra practice has the makings of a champion.
Give examples of Prioritising in sport.
People often say that they just do not have the time when asked to do something routine or extra.
Well ask them to carry out this simple task.
Take 168 which is the hours in a week and catagorise your hours.
Sleeping, attending practice,School or classes,Working,Eating,Personal hygiene, Playing on your phone, Television, Internet, Films, Socialising.
Add to the list anything I have left out and then subtract it from your 168.you may start to look at your life differently.
To make your task management a way of life you will need to enlist some of your friends and family to help you with it.
Tell them what you are trying to achieve so they have a complete idea and understanding of what is needed of them.
Winning Ways
Some coaches will argue about which routine is good and which routine is bad.
The important thing is how effective are they. Some are not effective because of the players skill level does not match the level of the routine or simply that it is not the best at this time.
Routine drills are the foundation of muscle memory and easier access to focus and concentration. The greatest champions of the world have achieved this honour by having great routines in their lives. This enables them to consistently perform at a high level every time.
You will be measured in your sport by how dedicated you are to practice.
Because the results of that will determine how high you go in your sport.
You always have to be prepared to do that extra bit.
Top players work as hard in the off season as they do in season that is what keeps them sharp and on top of their game.
Another mark of a dedicated player is they are always the first to arrive and always the last to leave. Players will turn up early to warm up so they can have more time practicing in the allowed time.
The more times you can go through the basics of your mechanics the more likely you are to succeed on a regular basis.
Working hard on your skills and feeling the rush when it goes right is a great motivator for you as a player to push harder to reach your ultimate goals.
You will have to endure the pain of practice and the fatigue of long games to reach the championship level. But this must not be mistaken for working through an injury, as working through an injury is both stupid and harmful and I would never recommend it.
It may not be popular with non sports people but single-mindedness is a great asset to have when pursuing the top. You always have to remember this is all about you and your one shot at being great, you will not get another youth in your lifetime if you do not do it now you will never do it at all, Believe me there is nothing sadder than hearing someone say if only I had worked harder who knows what could have been.
When you are not working, watching films of great games will also help you on your path to success, All the athletes in the world look at loads of films of their given sport. It gives you the chance to look at the finer details of your game and watching how the champions do it is something for you to try and attain.
Routine drills have a primary role to help you to become more focused so that you can perform more effectively. Routines will allow you to keep your mind on the task in front of you and not let you get distracted by outside influences.
What you do in Practice is What you will take to the game.
Having solid practice regimes is the road to success.
Forward Planning
Planning before a practice and a game is very important for you as a player. Planning in three ways, Firstly Mentally, Secondly Physically,and Thirdly Materially.
Mentally you will need to prepare to go to practice and work hard on your ground work. So you need to focus on your concentration to remedy any shortfalls that you have in that area.
Psychically you will need to warm up well and stretch all those muscles you need for ground work carefully.
Materially What will you need to take and wear to make your practice go smoothly. You will need the equipment for the job and the right safety equipment.
Do not change your eating habits before a practice or game.
For example
If you normally eat breakfast then eat your normal breakfast. The last thing you need or want is your body to realise you haven't eaten and go into starvation mode to save the nutrition that you already have.
When this happens your body slows down your metabolism and will make you sluggish during the day.
You are going to put your body into a demanding situation and it will need fuel to fire you up.
It is also vital to your performance to drink at least 0.5-1 litre of water one hour before practice or a game.
Always try and arrive for the event in a relaxed but excited mood.
Take control or your emotions so when needed you can calm yourself down or pump yourself and focus and concentrate when ever necessary.
Use your self-talk with your key words to keep control.
It is equally important to calm yourself down properly after the event as it before it. Warm down exercises and calming your mind to reflect on the event and possibly discuss what is going to be needed for the next outing.
Remember to fill out your Performance Journal before you leave the field
Handling Pressure
The first thing you have to realise is what is Pressure and where does it come from.
There are not many guarantees in sport but the one thing you can rely on is the presence of pressure. The better you are in handling pressure the further you will go in your sport. Throwing that third strike in the last bat of a final or catching the last out or batting in the winning run, all of the situations is filled with pressure.
Champions have learn t how to play under pressure and how to control it.
Pressure is anxiety not Fear
Pressure is simply anxiety and nervousness that you feel in an important situation.
Pressure comes from within you not from the outside. Outside is a situation that you are reacting to. The way you react to the outside is the form it will take on the inside. No two people are the same so what works for one might not work for another in the way you handle it.
You all have to find your own way of dealing with it although with the help of sports psychologists it can be made a much easier path.
If you are experiencing negativity in a certain situation then you are the cause and so you are the solution.
It is sometimes hard to tell if you are letting pressure in when you are in the heat of the moment but there are signs that you can recognise to help you. Muscle stiffness, increased heart rate,feeling jittery,shallow
breathing, feeling a little sick. These are all the psychical symptoms
There are of course mental symptoms as well like, lack of focus, worry, the thought of failure, thinking of what others will think if it goes wrong.
Thinking of what happened last time in this situation.
And then we have Emotional problems like Anxiety, fear,nervousness,panic,stress, irritation.
Your behavioral patterns can also change like rushing around, short tempered. How many times have you heard someone say :Oh don't talk to him while he is like this he likes to be left alone;
This is a big symptom of Pressure which the player is the cause and the cure, only when they want help will they get it and move on as a better player.
The longer you leave any of these symptoms go the harder they are to deal with.
Everyone has grown into pressure and the root cause of many of the problems is your EGO. Yes it is!!!!!!!! it is the fear of failure and what people will think of you.
You have moved away from your normal animal instincts to a sensitive person. But if you want to succeed you have to toughen up.
When you were little and you wanted to learn to swim all you cared about was getting in the water and having a go and as soon as you managed one stroke you just wanted to do more.
You didn't care who was watching you in fact you encouraged it by calling out to your parents “Look at me I am swimming” failure was not a worry, disappointing anyone was not a worry, you just wanted to do it and that is how you have to look at your sport. You love it and you want to just play. Of course there will be better people than you and there will also be worse but that is the thrill of competition and that is why we do it.
Caring about your own performance by knowing you went out and did your best and not caring about other peoples expectations will remove at least half of the symptoms I have already named.
In sport you will only be remembered by your last action.
For example
People will talk about you getting struck out in your last at bat and would have forgotten the home run you got in the last game. People are very here and now and that is how you need to play your game.
Standing facing the pitcher with the ball in her hand and not thinking about the last time you faced her.
Over thinking the situation instead of just playing it
Choking under Pressure
Choking under pressure is in simple terms,Taking a simple task or situation and over analysing it. This can result in you not being able to carry the task out as well as you wanted or possibly not at all.
For example:
You are the lead off batter in the box, the count is 3 and 2
The next pitch comes down is a borderline strike, You watch it down and bat it out for a single.
The last at bat with the winning run on third, you come up to bat and you go 3 and 2. Thoughts going through your mind are: I must not strike out now, I have to keep the ball down, What will the team think of me if I lose this game, The coach will go mad at me if I don't score this run, Oh no
what a time for my parents to be here, I got to look good. How will I face my friends if I miss this opportunity.
Choking occurs not only in the amateur areas of sport but at the highest world class levels in all sports. If you participate in any kind of sport then you will at sometime be in the choking position. How well you deal with
the pressure will determine how often choking will occur.
Remembering about choking in an earlier situation will cross your mind when the pressure is on. But by reminding yourself you are playing in the Here and Now and this is a new ballgame you can refocus on the task in front of you. This may all seem a little dull but I am not saying don't feel the excitement and the buzz of being out in front of the crowd playing in the game that you love. What I am saying is you have to harness the stress
and enjoy the excitement.
Handle Pressure Like a Professional
A great basketball Coach called John Wooden was asked What qualities do you look for in a player.
He answered Poise. Poise is the ability to be yourself in stressful
moments during competition. It means being the most natural version of yourself, free from pressures.
Which is possibly one of the best ways of describing what is needed to deal with stress/ pressure.
If you look at your sporting situation like the perimeter is kind of faded,
The playing arena that you are in has sharp vision and you see everything.
The outside is still there but not important to you at this time. The arena you are in is bright and clear and this is what you are focusing on.
You are in the Here and Now with tunnel vision and single-mindedness.
You are not afraid of the pitcher you are going to simply See the Ball-Hit the Ball.
You see there is no emotion about this task you are simply going to get it done, this is how all professionals do it.
When you are in the competitive arena you must always focus on your strengths and see yourself performing well. Use Imagery to help you.
You must never focus on your weaknesses that is only for the practice ground.
Technical Preparation
Never warm up in practice or before a game without using your best form and mechanics. The last thing you want to do is go into the game with a bad warm-up in your mind.
Remember your muscle memory will remember your last swing, so when you are in the warm up circle if you swing make sure your mechanics are smooth and accurate because the next time you swing will be at the pitch.
It is Impossible to Practice one way and Play Another
Failure is Part of Sport
Losing a point or a game or a championship is inevitable. It will definitely happen to you at sometime in your sporting career.
Basketball player Michael Jordan once said “Before you can become a Champion you first have to learn to lose” If you are obsessed about not losing the chances are you will lose because of the pressure you have put on yourself.
Lets first point out what is Losing. It is not winning a game or title. It does not mean you are a Loser.
It means the better team or person won on the day.
A Loser is someone that will never win anything or amount to anything in their lifetime because they DO NOT want to. That is NOT you.
So how can you be Mentally Tough and still not win.
Firstly we have to remember about the game process which you have no control over. You can go to a game and be your absolute best and not win
Or you can go and play what you would describe as badly and still win.
That is the Process of the game.
If you get defeated by a better team or person you have to look at it objectively.
For Example:
In what areas was the other team stronger
In what areas were they weaker and we never took advantage of them.
In what areas do I need to make stronger to defeat them next time.
Losing is a learning experience, it is what can make you even stronger and Mentally tougher than your opponents.
When you were in a loss situation how were you feeling? Was your breathing fast or erratic. Were your muscles tighter than usual.
Were you in a panic to arrive there, Did you warm-up properly.
These are things that you need to write in your journal for comparison to your winning games.
One thing to remember. An error only becomes a mistake if you do not learn from it.
Every game you play you should learn something from it, to make you better,stronger. It wasn't just a game, it was a learning experience.
Remember the things that are important to your game, leave the rest to History.
So you see you didn't lose because you learnt something, you just didn't win. You didn't fail. Because you played your best against a stronger opponent.
Many people will know the name Babe Ruth.
You will know that he scored 714 home runs in his career.
But do you know he got struck out 1330 times and his batting ave was .342. so getting struck out 1330 times does that make him a loser?
No of course not. Everything in your mental strength is how you look at a situation and how you can make it work for you.
Babe Ruth is recognised as one of the best baseball players in history.
So if your batting average is anywhere near .342 you can be compared with the worlds best.
Comparing yourself with the best in the world can also harm you if you are trying to hit their targets to make yourself feel good about yourself.
For instance;
If your target is to pitch as well as Cat Osterman but you are not even close Remember she pitched over 3000 innings in top competition. How many have you pitched? Everyone has game Icons they would love to be like but you must be realistic. Look at the comparisons between your sport and theirs, How many games you play etc.
Getting over a slump
A slump is Big effort with Little results
A slump can occur in rising stars as well top players.
In rising stars they will see a big improvement with practice and so their own expectations of what they should do at a game will be high.
However if they under-perform at the game in their opinion, they immediately start to put pressure on themselves to perform better, along with that pressure comes anxiety and stress which together will make it impossible for any performance to improve.
As with the rising star the top players experience the same problems from putting possibly months of great performances in then suddenly not hitting the spot. In a lot of cases the both categories of player will start looking for excuses for the bad performance rather than looking for the reason behind them, this will often turn into self doubt of their ability to do the tasks they have to do in the arena of their sport.
So how can we turn this around
For the new player in a lot of cases it can be simply that they never knew or understood how many outside influences would affect their mental toughness and in turn their performance. So that is a good place to start.
That is why it is so important when training young players in any sport to teach them the benefits of mental toughness and explaining to them how it feels to perform in front of an audience some of which will be family and friends willing you to win and some will be from the opponents side willing you to lose.
For the more experienced players
The more experienced players, generally their problems are in a totally different place.
With a player that has a track record of high performances the errors in their games come with high emotions such as anger, frustration and even embarrassment. THE EGO FACTOR can be hard to overcome.
What every good player has in their skilled performance is good mechanics and these good mechanics are the foundation of their success.
Most people think that a slump starts at the time when a batter gets struck out or has a bad performance in the batters box, But that is not true.
So where did it start?
A slump can start when a batter instead of getting a good clean hit on a perfect strike fouls it out. Then on the next pitch makes a base hit and gets on base. So the easy hit that was fouled is forgotten.
You see what can come along with great skills is complacency.
How it works is that to perform well you need to be relaxed.
Over a period of time you have gone out relaxed and waited for the pitch you wanted and put it in the field, NO PROBLEM. But gradually you have gone out seen the pitch and fouled it, but on another pitch you hit and get on base. Your response to this in the dugout is “Wow I thought that pitcher was going to get me that time” and you have a laugh about it as it doesn't really seem to matter because you still got on base.
The fouling of pitches can continue maybe now you foul twice and then get on a base but already a little doubt is getting in your mind and you are beginning to change your positive self talk to a more negative one, like
I really have to concentrate more,I have got to get hold of the ball and stop fouling it.
This is how the poison of anxiety and tension gets into your game
On this slippery road you will end up not getting on the bases or getting struck out.
A big problem with being successful is looking at your weak points so much and working so hard to improve them that you never visit the fundamentals of your mechanics in your strong points that has made you successful. There must always be a balance.
The slump is here now
What to do about it?
One the biggest mistakes is to go into the batting cages and bang away at buckets of balls. The most proven way to get out of a slump in an experienced player is to go back to basics. Breakdown all the elements of your performance from when you first step into the batters box to the contact with the ball and swing through.
You cannot rely on your own judgment in these circumstances as there will be a problem with the Perception Gap,
The Perception Gap is the difference between what you think you are doing and what you are actually doing.
For example.
You are in the batters box and I tell you not to let your rear leg bend so much and you say It is not bent coach. Then I show you a picture of you in the batters box with a bent leg. Oh I see It really did not feel like I was doing that.
You can use videos and digital cameras to see what is going wrong with your performance and with the help of your coaches to breakdown the elements of your swing or the mechanics of your pitch or your fielding you can start to eradicate the problem areas to return to good form.
Yes slumps can and will occur in all the aspects of the game not just batting.
To see yourself perform with good form. Become a good batter in practice will help to fill your performance with confidence again and heighten your mental toughness to a level where you will regain your focus in your tasks to be successful again.
If you always look for perfect performances in your sport you WILL at sometime experience a slump because it is not obtainable.
Constant pressure on yourself to be perfect will make you anxious and stressed at the first signs of a possible failure.
All the best champions in the world have had to go through failure either to win or to be their best. It is how they handle it that makes them great and the very same goes for everybody at all skill levels in all sports.
The other aspect of your recovery to good performance is living and practicing in the Here and Now.
The here and now process is to get your mind focused on what you are doing at this very moment. Concentrating on your drills and practice now not what happened a month ago. Do not over-think the drills or the task you are going to perform just try and do it naturally and calmly.
One of the biggest hurdles you have to get over is forgetting about what has gone before, as I have said many times before it is history and you cannot change history you can only control your way forward and that has to be done with a clear mind-frame to go onto better things.
Some helpful facts to get you on the road to good performances.
Thinking in the here and now
Relaxing your muscles through stretching
Breathing in a controlled manner deep and calm.
Positive thoughts about the task you are about to do.
Focus on the process not the result.
Set yourself small daily goals that you can easily achieve.
Do not over think the task in hand.
Communication
Player to Coach Effective Timing
Player to Player Attitude
Coach to Player Sincerity and Clarity
On the Field Body Language
In the Dugout Excited but Functional
Your team and player discipline which is the backbone of any successful team works its best with good communication. How you put across what you want your players and team to do will determine how well your team will function in the practice ground and on the field of play.
Where does your discipline start?
I like it to start with a dress code for practice and especially on the field of play. I think every club should have their players go to practice looking the same as each other even if it is only the same top or tee-shirt.
Why?
Firstly it makes every player whether they be new or old feel part of the team and have equality with each other. I can remember turning up for a new team when I was young and asking the coach when will I get a team shirt like all the others at practice.
He said to me when you have earned it. Any coach who says that to any player really shouldn't be in the job. Every time I missed a ball or made a slight error I could see that shirt getting further away from me.
The pressure to do well was enormous for me as a player just to make the grade to wear a team shirt for practice.
So you see I could not relax and therefore not give my best to my practice.
As I have said many times before being able to relax enables you to focus.
Now we have started down the road to good discipline we now have to show the players how their discipline is so important to a successful career
It starts by turning up early for practice so the coaching team can go over what their targets are for the period and to make it possible for you to start off relaxed instead of hurrying to get your shoes on because everyone else is ready to start.
When carrying out all the warm up drills maintaining good mechanics throughout is important not only for your discipline but also to get the best out of the drill. Your attention to detail of every warm up and drill will make carrying out the task in the game that much easier.
Always remember
What you do in Practice is what you take to the Game
Practice does NOT make Perfect
Perfect practice Does
Player to Coach Communication
It is very important for players to be able to talk to their coaches about most anything and for them to know that you are approachable.
For a player to reach out to a coach they must always have it clear in their heads first what they want to say so there can be no misunderstandings and there is nothing worse than approaching your coach and just ending up babbling because you forgot all what you wanted to say.
You may have something very important to say to your coach, It could be something personal or it could be what your findings are from your Performance journal or it could be asking if you can get more diamond time. All of which is important and need to be discussed but if you do not time it right then the chances are you will not get (a) the full attention of the coach or (b) the answer that you wanted.
For Instance
As a result of something happening at practice and the first opportunity you have to talk to the coach is at the game and you walk up to him while he is sorting out the line up he will probably acknowledge your conversation but not give it his full attention.
So the result of your communication will not be very effective.
Timing is everything, Alternatively you walk up to your coach and him if he can spare you some time after the game as there is something of importance that you would like to discuss with him.
The likely hood of this is he will say of course come and see me after the game. At this time you will get his full attention and consideration.
As a player always remember do not be afraid to communicate as no one can read your mind.
Player To Player
This is a very important part of the team and doing it the right way can bring fantastic results, but on the other side of the coin if you do it wrong it can destroy the team.
Dugout communication has to be done with little aggression and always be done positively as negativity in the dugout can bring the team down in an important situation in the game or bring doubt in their capabilities to win the game or at least get that important out.
Communication from player to player is often carried out not with speech but with signals and body language.
For instance
A catcher will signal what pitch she wants from the pitcher, she will also signal the infield that she is going to throw down a base runner.
Along with that she will have a number of signals to the outfield to cover the throw.
Body language from player to player can also be defective and have an adverse effect.
Example
Shortstop throws to first base for an out and is a little off target, First-base misses the the ball and the runner is safe.
Shortstop lifts her hands up in frustration and turns to go back to her position.
The shortstop is annoyed with herself but the first base player sees her lift her arms up and turns around thinking that she is upset with you, the game carries on and the next time the shortstop gets the ball you are saying to yourself I really have to get this one, I do not want to upset her any further
So you see body language can be miss interpreted and so when you make an error you must take responsibility for it straight away and before you return to the play. This is simply done by looking at first base player and tapping your chest and putting your hand up to show you are acknowledging it was your bad throw that caused the problem.
When players are talking among themselves they always have to be aware that other players might not be finding the game situation as easy to handle as you do. Noticing a teammate is a little quiet and asking them are they OK and helping to boost their morale is a very important part of being part of a team.
Coach to Player Sincerity and Clarity
Coaching players can for some coaches be a balancing act between being in charge and being friendly.
This is a big mistake made by a lot of coaches. As a coach your format of your instruction has to be firm and positive so people will see that you mean what you say and from that be confident in your methods. As you spend more time with your squad they will see that you want everything done well and also that you like a bit fun along the way. Discipline is now working for you and the squad and a mutual respect is formed.
There will be a special bond between players and the coach so there is no need for friendship to get in the way of decision making and your players will see that your decisions are for the team which is at the end of the day the most important thing of all.
When you are a coach and a player wants to talk to you about something that they feel is important you have to show that you are not just listening but you ARE interested in what they have to say. Player feed back to a coach is a vitally important source of communication.
When you are talking to a player you must remember your body language is very important to make the player believe you are interested and to also show that you are listening.
Standing and listening to your player with your arms crossed will show that you just want them to finish what they are saying quickly so you can get on with what you were doing and give the player a sense of disinterest in what they are telling you.
So sometimes nodding your head and giving a little smile of two will show that you are interested and that you care about what they are saying.
Putting your hand on a players shoulder is another way to show that you care especially if they are talking to you about some personal matter.
Putting your hand behind their neck is acceptable but putting your arm around them is far too familiar and should be avoided The parents of the player may also take exception to this so this situation so do not put yourself in this position.
Coaches on the field will often shout at their players as they become base-runners. Often shouting (come on come on come on) when you were a little slow on your lead off and then when you get tagged just before the base they throw their arms up in the air.
HEY coach I know you are disappointed but have you forgotten how it feels to get tagged out and you and all the rest of the team has seen your gestures of disappointment. MAN that is a long run back to the dugout.
Your communication through your body language is probably the most powerful on the field of play and when you murder all the confidence a player has like that how will you get that player to bounce back to their best in the rest of the game?
Another way to communicate badly as a coach is when you have a batter in the box and they foul out a hit or miss it and you go into this full batters swing with the legs and hips and the swing from the third base coaching box. WAKE UP coach you should have covered this in practice and if you didn't then it is your failing not the players.
You should be able to shout out OK Sammy be calm do it like you did in practice.
From the batters point of view you are going into this great mechanics display of how to hit the ball making all the people there think you do not know how to bat, WOW thanks for that.
More importantly your actions are telling the pitcher of their inexperience in the box and give them more confidence to throw off speed to get them out.
As a coach if you cannot say something Positive then don't say anything at all.
Good coaching will require you to find a positive in everything and a point to work on.
For instance
A batter not doing at all well in practice while you are watching them.
You say OK we will have to put in work in this area to get your level up.
Result one shattered player.
OR you could say Your footwork is really coming on so lets work a bit on your swing.
Result one happy player.
First scenario the player goes home and tells their parents the coach thinks your batting sucks.
Second scenario the player goes home and tells their parents Coach said my footwork is coming on so now we are going to work on my swing.
Always weigh up what the cost is of what you say and think about it did it cost you anything with scenario two?
As a coach try and stay away from outwardly showing your emotions to your team and equally important to the opposing team as you do not want them to think that they got you rattled.
Try and make decisions with no emotion, for instance the line up and when a player comes to you and asks why they have been put lower down the order you can simply say it the stats we go on.
As you know you are only as good as your last action
My Coaches Pledge
Inside every player is the best player they can be
My job as your coach is to find that player and
bring them out.
Your job as a player is to want to find that player
as much as I do.
Coach Ricky 1984
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