“Who Said THIS?”
“Hello again, it’s time to play one of my favorite baseball coaching games…
Who Said This?”
The rules are simple… guess who said THIS!?
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“My confidence really isn’t there right now. It’s kind of in the back of your head right before you throw it, you feel like you don’t want to throw a certain pitch in a certain location. And I just can’t think like that. I’ve got to get that out of my head, I guess.”
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That’s a good guess, Mr. Pitcher. You can’t think like that and pitch great at any level.
But what level is this guy?
A. Fearic Frank, a 12-year old getting ready for Cooperstown
B. Wayne Whiner, a high schooler
C. Mal Hal, a college pitcher
D. Scott Tochange, a big league All-star
It could be any of those, of course.
Players at all levels wrestle with the same mental game challenges.
Pitchers need to trust their stuff. Commit to a spot/target and let it fly.
Anyone can do it alone in their back yard. But when the pressure is on it’s much tougher.
The more trained you are, the mentally tougher you are, the easier it is to focus and trust.
That’s why good coaches drill their players as much as they do on mechanics and fundamentals: so that their technique holds up under pressure.
But the challenge of “pressure” is psycho-emotional, not physical. So why don’t more coaches drill their players more on the mental and emotional aspects?
Typically they don’t know how. Their coach didn’t so they don’t.
But more and more coaches are seeing it and are investing in mental game drills.
Way to go.
Doing so will not prevent players from thinking thoughts like the guy above.
But they will will make them MUCH less frequent, last much less time, and be much less difficult to change.
The answer: D. Scott Kazmir, Tampa Rays, 2008 All-star.
(That ’scott to change if the Rays want to win the division.)
Happens to the best of them. Don’t feel bad if it happens to you.
Feel bad if you don’t do anything about it.
Sincerely,
Tom
Dr. Tom Hanson
www.HansonsGym.com
p.s. Do something about it at
http://www.baseballconfidence.com/Products.html
For you Youth Coaches and Parents, watch the videos at http://www.baseballconfidence.com/Little_League_Baseball.html
p.p.s. I can’t resist commenting on Kazmir’s use of the word “you.” Go back and read the quote out loud as it is, then go back and read it again replacing the “you” and “your” with “I.” Like this…
“My confidence really isn’t there right now. It’s kind of in the back of my head right before I throw it, I feel like I don’t want to throw a certain pitch in a certain location. And I just can’t think like that. I’ve got to get that out of my head, I guess.”
What do you notice about how the statements *feel* to you while you say them?
More baseball coaching on that another time, but it has to do with taking personal responsibility.
Take it yourself here:
http://www.baseballconfidence.com/Products.html
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