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From Denny Tincher:
Many things in softball are outside of your control, but there is one thing that you can always control. Top college coaches repeatedly tell me that it is one thing they want most in a recruit. It has many names. You may call it composure, an intense competitive nature, mental toughness, or sheer determination. Last week, in Part 1, we discussed the importance of the mental part of your game. This week we promised to talk about a few ways to develop mental toughness.
1-Find success first, then step up the competition. Too many kids believe that playing at a higher level makes them better. That is very true, but often we see pitchers getting hammered because they are over their heads. They need to gain confidence and to gradually progress to higher levels. Do not put her in an environment where she does not have the luxury of working on new pitches for fear of making a mistake. Nor should you allow her to stay at a level where she is not challenged. Each kid is different. Read her carefully and allow her to move upward when she is ready. For hitters and fielders, they need to be put in pressure situations. Often players who are playing ?over their heads? do not get into the toughest games or get to bat in the top of the lineup. Make sure she is getting experience at crunch time.
2-Prepare better. Recently we were doing a full assessment on a kid and found that her mental game was very weak. We assessed her practice habits. She just went out and pitched every day without a particular purpose. Some kids think that taking 100 swings a day will make them better hitters. Practice plans should be very specific and they should have measurable goals. They should be designed to test every part of your game, expose your weaknesses, and include ways to eliminate those weaknesses. Players should walk into games feeling that they have practiced every situation, dealt with every weakness, and with the confidence that they can handle anything that comes their way. Great players work harder, smarter, and longer. The more you invest in something, the harder you will fight to keep it.
3-Practice failure. Find your weakness and practice until it is your strength. If you cannot hit the inside pitch, find someone who can help you make that your best location. If your backhand is weak when fielding, take ten times as many grounders to that side until it is second nature. If, as a pitcher, you cannot seem to finish hitter when she has two strikes, mentally put yourself in that situation dozens of times each day and practice getting a little extra zip or movement on the ball. Ask your coach to let you pitch live in practice and start every batter with a 3-2 count. If you can?t focus under pressure, have your entire team come out and stand beside you and scream every time you pitch. Find ways to create the toughest situations you can ever face in a real game and practice them until the doubt is gone.
4-Be aware of how you communicate with yourself. Having physical skills is just a part of success. Most players do not realize how much of their game is dictated by intrapersonal communication. There are great articles available online, so exercise your mind as much as your body. Also, be very aware of how you carry yourself. One of my pitchers is like a daughter to me. She had the skills, but I noticed that she looked down a lot, and nervously glanced around between pitches. We put in a few rules. Chin up, shoulders back, the face should never change, develop a specific routine, and only look at the catcher and batter between pitches. Not only did she perform better, but batters began to show discomfort. Her team picked up on it and played better behind her.
5-Study winners. Kids like to compare themselves to people around them. I tell my students they should emulate the best to ever play the game. You cannot compare yourself to those around you because few of them will perform at the level necessary to accomplish your goals. The reality is this: The odds of a pitcher getting to throw on the D1 level are about 300-to-1. The odds of being a starter on a good D-1 team are around 900-to-1. You must prepare yourself in ways nobody around you will understand if you are going to accomplish dreams they cannot envision. In other words, compare yourself to those atop the NCAA record books and begin to close that gap.
In the past two years I have seen over 60 of my students accept D1 offers. It is not because I have 18,000 students. We have been fortunate to attract a lot of the right kind of students. They challenge me to push them harder and to find new ways to make them better. They see failure as feedback they need to correct their course. They never doubt themselves, but at the same time they always feel they can get better. They know exactly where they want to go and, even though they may make corrections in the course at times, they refuse to believe anything can stop them from the eventual goal. That is the kind of intense competitive nature that coaches constantly seek in players at any level.
Many things in softball are outside of your control, but there is one thing that you can always control. Top college coaches repeatedly tell me that it is one thing they want most in a recruit. It has many names. You may call it composure, an intense competitive nature, mental toughness, or sheer determination. Last week, in Part 1, we discussed the importance of the mental part of your game. This week we promised to talk about a few ways to develop mental toughness.
1-Find success first, then step up the competition. Too many kids believe that playing at a higher level makes them better. That is very true, but often we see pitchers getting hammered because they are over their heads. They need to gain confidence and to gradually progress to higher levels. Do not put her in an environment where she does not have the luxury of working on new pitches for fear of making a mistake. Nor should you allow her to stay at a level where she is not challenged. Each kid is different. Read her carefully and allow her to move upward when she is ready. For hitters and fielders, they need to be put in pressure situations. Often players who are playing ?over their heads? do not get into the toughest games or get to bat in the top of the lineup. Make sure she is getting experience at crunch time.
2-Prepare better. Recently we were doing a full assessment on a kid and found that her mental game was very weak. We assessed her practice habits. She just went out and pitched every day without a particular purpose. Some kids think that taking 100 swings a day will make them better hitters. Practice plans should be very specific and they should have measurable goals. They should be designed to test every part of your game, expose your weaknesses, and include ways to eliminate those weaknesses. Players should walk into games feeling that they have practiced every situation, dealt with every weakness, and with the confidence that they can handle anything that comes their way. Great players work harder, smarter, and longer. The more you invest in something, the harder you will fight to keep it.
3-Practice failure. Find your weakness and practice until it is your strength. If you cannot hit the inside pitch, find someone who can help you make that your best location. If your backhand is weak when fielding, take ten times as many grounders to that side until it is second nature. If, as a pitcher, you cannot seem to finish hitter when she has two strikes, mentally put yourself in that situation dozens of times each day and practice getting a little extra zip or movement on the ball. Ask your coach to let you pitch live in practice and start every batter with a 3-2 count. If you can?t focus under pressure, have your entire team come out and stand beside you and scream every time you pitch. Find ways to create the toughest situations you can ever face in a real game and practice them until the doubt is gone.
4-Be aware of how you communicate with yourself. Having physical skills is just a part of success. Most players do not realize how much of their game is dictated by intrapersonal communication. There are great articles available online, so exercise your mind as much as your body. Also, be very aware of how you carry yourself. One of my pitchers is like a daughter to me. She had the skills, but I noticed that she looked down a lot, and nervously glanced around between pitches. We put in a few rules. Chin up, shoulders back, the face should never change, develop a specific routine, and only look at the catcher and batter between pitches. Not only did she perform better, but batters began to show discomfort. Her team picked up on it and played better behind her.
5-Study winners. Kids like to compare themselves to people around them. I tell my students they should emulate the best to ever play the game. You cannot compare yourself to those around you because few of them will perform at the level necessary to accomplish your goals. The reality is this: The odds of a pitcher getting to throw on the D1 level are about 300-to-1. The odds of being a starter on a good D-1 team are around 900-to-1. You must prepare yourself in ways nobody around you will understand if you are going to accomplish dreams they cannot envision. In other words, compare yourself to those atop the NCAA record books and begin to close that gap.
In the past two years I have seen over 60 of my students accept D1 offers. It is not because I have 18,000 students. We have been fortunate to attract a lot of the right kind of students. They challenge me to push them harder and to find new ways to make them better. They see failure as feedback they need to correct their course. They never doubt themselves, but at the same time they always feel they can get better. They know exactly where they want to go and, even though they may make corrections in the course at times, they refuse to believe anything can stop them from the eventual goal. That is the kind of intense competitive nature that coaches constantly seek in players at any level.
