How To Trigger Confidence After A Mistake A TYPICAL HITTER STORY... 3 PITCHERS... 5 WHAT DOESN T WORK AND WHY... 7 THE REAL SOLUTION...

Transcription

1

2 A TYPICAL HITTER STORY... 3 PITCHERS... 5 WHAT DOESN T WORK AND WHY... 7 THE REAL SOLUTION... 9 HERE S THE START OF WHAT TO DO: GET YOUR REPS IN! ELIMINATING NERVOUSNESS AND TIMID PLAY SPECIAL NOTE TO PARENTS AND COACHES OF PLAYERS: CONCLUSION

3 Jim, a 13 year old baseball player has finally made the top select team in his city. (This story could be about a teen girl in softball just the same). He lives, eats, and breathes baseball following his favorite stars in the MLB and College. His dream is to play for U of Florida like his hero David Eckstein whom he got to meet at a baseball camp last year. Jim has everything going for him - power, speed, lightning reflexes and a great eye for hitting that he has used to practice for uncountable hours since he started specializing in baseball recently. In scrimmage games, Jim is amazing and nobody can strike him out as he consistently make solid contact no matter who is pitching. 3

4 During games, however, it can go two ways for Jim: 1. He gets a hit or hits the ball hard his first 2 at bats, and then he continues to crush it the rest of the game and he swings just like he does in the cages and practice. This is why he made the team. or 2. He strikes out on his first 1 or 2 at bats and then it seems like he turns into a different player. His normally powerful swing disappears and he looks like a completely different player at the plate with a timid stance and weak swing. His coaches remark that they can see his body language is completely off. His parents notice how he slaps the side of his head when he comes to the bench after these at bats and they can visibly see the inner turmoil he struggles with. Game over for Jim s hitting that day. When asked by his coach or his Dad what happens to him in scenario #2 above, he says things like: I can t hit this guy or My swing is messed up and other such excuses but the bottom line is his confidence in his ability to hit has tanked. 4

5 How To Trigger Confidence After A Mistake This happens to pitchers too but in a slightly more subtle way and is harder to see I worked with a Varsity H.S. softball pitcher, let s call her Amy, who was being scouted by 3 D-1 colleges when she went to pitch in a showcase. Amy, seeing the scouts in the stands as she took the mound, began to tense up. Now, that had happened in other important games when the pressure was on, but she always was able to settle down after a couple pitches and get to the task at hand. but not this time. She walked her first batter struggling with control and accuracy and to make the story short, after walking 2 more batters and giving up a hit, her confidence was toast and it went downhill from there before she was pulled. 5

6 That day created an acute injury to her psyche. She carried it around like baggage and it affected her pitching confidence and therefore command of her pitches for 2 months! That is, until she trained on mental toughness with me, came back strong and ended up getting that ivy league full ride scholarship. Probably a more common confidence problem for pitchers is when they get a few hits on them, then they change their pitching strategy thinking I can t tell you how many baseball/softball coaches have told me how this has cost the team wins. And all because of a temporary loss of confidence. 6

7 Confidence at the plate and on the mound is everything to a baseball/softball player! Keep it, and perform to potential. Lose it, and the ability to execute practiced skills and think strategically gets destroyed. And what if it starts to turn into a slump for hitters or significant lack of velocity or control for pitchers? What s the solution for all the Jims (and Amys) out there? How does a baseball/softball player get their confidence back after having a terrible at bat or inning on the mound? Great players and coaches say to just accept the fact that baseball/softball is a game of mistakes and that 3 or 4 out of 10 successes is doing great as a hitter. And for pitchers, just telling them they have 8 players behind them and to trust them isn t going to cut it. They also tell their players simple quips like: You just have to believe in yourself. Take nice deep breaths and have positive self talk. Just play in the present moment. One pitch at a time. etc. It all goes in one ear and out the other and nothing changes when the same choke happens the next time. Why? 7

8 It s all good advice, but it s not enough. The reason the typical advice doesn t work for some players is simply because it doesn t go deep enough into the player s inner mind so that the response becomes automatic (similar to muscle memory for skills). Just like physical skills development, for the mental responses we want in competition, you must first have the correct drill or training exercise. Those typical inspirational social media quotes from great athletes and coaches miss the mark when we re talking about a teen or pre-teen player. Second, you must get in your reps. I don t need to tell you the value of reps for physical skills do I? It s the same for the mental game and it applies not only to sports, but to life. 8

9 The solution is to prevent this type of thing from happening the next time a player makes a mistake or doesn t perform well. Because it s going to happen again and you know it! Every baseball/softball hitter is going to strike out and in crucial situations. Every baseball/softball pitcher is going to get hit hard or lose control especially under pressure. You can t afford to lose your confidence when these things happen! And yet, very few young players do anything about it except suffer for it. Always remember this: That goes for training on your physical game fundamentals AND your mental game fundamentals - just the same. Far too many people ask me things like: Craig, what do I do when I ve lost my confidence in a game? My answer is, What you should be asking me is: Craig, what can I do to stop losing my confidence in a game? THAT I can train you on and is the real solution! 9

10 1. Start a confidence journal and write out a list of all the reasons why you CAN be confident. The list will have such things as - a. Because I have skills - write down a letter to yourself about your skills b. Because I have been confident before. List the games when you were confident, especially if you were confident BEFORE the game. c. Because these people have told me I m good or that I have a good swing or curveball or any other such praise from outside sources like coaches and teammates. List what they have said to or about you. SPECIFICS! d. Any stats that prove you re good or have been good in the past. e. A tracking of your performances from your practice and scrimmage games where you play like you know you can. For example - Today, I went 2 for 4 with my outs both being hard contact. Today, I stuck with coaches pitching strategy for the entire game and even though I only got 2 strikeouts, the opposing team only scored Once a day, take 5 minutes before you go to bed and read your confidence journal. Bring up those confident feelings all over again in your body. Re-live those past times when you really were confident and felt it like being confident was your absolute truth at the time. 10

11 3. Get in bed, close your eyes and imagine yourself having just struck out (for batters) or just got shelled (for pitchers. You know it s going to happen, right? and focus on those feelings you just generated. As you fall asleep, repeat to yourself this phrase that you will bring with you to the actual game: (you can come up with a different phrase about confidence if you want) 4. Imagine yourself playing with that confidence WITH the knowledge that you just choked...and then coming back to perform your best! Nobody does this but it is SO effective! 11

12 This is what I call - Pre-living success. One of my main mental toughness principles is: What does this mean for triggering the confident state? It means to condition the response you want so that it occurs automatically when in certain situations. Think about this The last time you received some physical skills instruction, whether it was for fielding, swinging, pitching mechanics, or whatever, did you expect to be able to use this new instruction automatically at game time without ever practicing what you just learned? 12

13 No! Of course not. You took that lesson and you practiced it. You drilled it. You thought about it, right? And then, at some point, it became automatic and you didn t have to think about it anymore and you went on to work on some other part of your game. And you did the same thing with the next skill to improve your game, right?! Learn > practice > drill > adjust > mastery So, you have to do the SAME thing with mental skills like the one I just taught you. Mental skills are no different than physical skills and what holds players back more than anything is thinking that a mental skill is a one-time simple lesson. WRONG! You have to do this exercise a few times, at least, just like a new physical skill you are learning! Don t expect that you are going to solve a lack of confidence in the game by just reading this article and expecting to be magically confident the next time things don t go well on the field. Nobody does this the way I teach it here. Coaches all tell you to visualize hitting home runs and see yourself winning the championship and other such basic techniques, none of which will help you when your confidence has left you because you just blew it. Chokes and mistakes happen to EVERY baseball/softball player on planet earth. It will happen to you. But, you have been taking yourself out of the game when your team needs you to finish strong. Time to stop doing that! One very important point to make this even more powerful: **You have to get specific about the game time scenarios and train your body and mind to do what you want AT THE TIME you want it to do it during the game all in advance of the game! and you want to mentally train yourself with repetition - JUST LIKE YOU DO FOR PHYSICAL SKILLS. Very few baseball/softball players, especially younger ones will actually follow through and do this. Those that do, will have a huge edge. The rest will continue to fall apart after strikeouts and pitchers losing control, and they will think that all they have to do is practice more, work harder, or take more lessons and instruction...and nothing will change. Why won t it change? Because it s an inner mind issue and they don t go away easily. Don t be one of those. You should be working on this as much as you do your physical workouts and training like weight lifting and cardio. 13

14 By the way, what if you could be just as calm and cool at the plate or on the mound in a game situation as you do in practice or meaningless games with nothing on the line? YOU CAN! It s totally do-able and what I ve been teaching for years now with great success with these principles and strategies. But Craig you might ask, Nervousness is a physical issue, not a mental issue my body literally tenses up when I m under pressure in the game no matter what I think. Yep, I get that. And that is why your typical advice given by coaches doesn t work for you. It doesn t go to the source of the problem. You can Think positive all you want and your body will keep tensing up during pressured times or when you go against a tough opponent. 14

15 Most mental trainers work on fixing the symptom with advice such as mindfulness and deep breathing etc. Those things can certainly help but for most people, especially teens and pre-teens it s no more than a band aid, at best. You ve got to go to the control mechanism of your nervous system which is part of your mental/emotional game.you ve got to go deeper. That s where I go. That s how my work is unique. I don t really have to tell you that having confidence in your skills is what allows your body to follow through with the skills you have, do I? You know that s true because you have confidence in practice and scrimmage games don t you? And you play lights out there, don t you? Well, what if you could bring that practice/scrimmage game confidence over to the real game CONSISTENTLY? Now, I just gave you a mental hack to shortcut the process of changing your nervous system for a specific situation. (I ve got plenty more of these quick fixes). But, If you want to create confidence CONSISTENTLY for your entire game, even your entire life, I have developed a systematic process from working with 2,000 athletes worldwide in person and tens of thousands more online for that. Check it out here: Baseball/Softball Mental Toughness 15

16 It all starts with this foundational concept: This means, that you will perform to your potential when you eliminate the interference. If you aren t playing your absolute best, AT ANY TIME, it s because of some kind of interference. There s 2 kinds of interference: 1. Physical. This is like an injury or something wrong with your body. Example - A pitcher with a torn rotator cuff will not be able to perform to potential, correct? But I don t deal with physical interference, that s for your doctors and athletic trainers to help you with. 2. Mental/Emotional. ALL OTHER INTERFERENCE falls into this category. If you are not playing your game the way YOU KNOW YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO, and your body is not injured or sick, then Mental Toughness is where you need to go to fix that problem. Period. Look, you can work harder, condition yourself better, spend more time practicing all you want but it s not going to change the fact that you aren t bringing your trained and practiced skills to a competitive game. All you will be doing is improving your potential, which is good, but worthless if it doesn t show up in the game. 16

17 Does your youth player s confidence fall apart in the game after making an error or striking out, or pitchers giving up walks/hrs in crucial situations? scared to death to go against tough opponents and you can see it in their body language? too hard on themselves after games? Perfectionist to a fault? been told by coach that they need to be more aggressive out there? EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY, do you want your kid to learn powerful life skills through this fantastic sport of baseball/softball? How to focus How to self motivate How to build confidence How to use courage and conquer nerves How to eliminate the fear of failure and rejection How to have a resilient, never-give-up attitude for life Baseball/Softball Mental Toughness training program Your kid may or may not get a college scholarship or become pro, but they WILL LEARN something and create lifelong beliefs from their baseball/softball and other sports experiences. Good or bad. Count on it. 17

18 Mental Toughness = Focused, Confident, Determined, Resilient especially under pressure. How much better would you play if you had that? How would your life off the field improve today? How much happier would your future life be with a success mindset installed permanently? Let s do this, Craig 18