building confidence?

[freddyj522]

does anyone have suggestions on an activity/video/drill/game/whatever that I can use with my team to help express the importance of being confident in softball or anything else for that matter. I have a couple of girls on my team(middle school) that really struggle with confidence. one of them is a pitcher and she is pretty good but is way to quick to get down on herself once she throws a bad pitch. and of course that tends to snowball. one other girl is struggling in the field(left field) although she has all the skills to be a solid outfielder. the last girl really becomes her own worst enemy at the plate after making an out. things like, "oh i suck" and "why do i even bother". thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[redhotcoach]

I own Sue Enquist's Mental Toughness Training dvd. We watch that a few times per year. It is a few years old so might be hard to find.
We have watched this series of Enquist videos on youtube, here is part 1 of 5:


And finally in the mental training section on here I have a thread :"Toilets, bricks, fish hooks and pride" That is the title of a book by Brian Cain...the top sports psych in softball and baseball right now. Go to his side...great advice and free podcasts.

Here is a link to his site. A good place to start on there is the blog section...great free articles and podcasts.
http://briancain.com

Good luck! It WILL change everything!

 

[freddyj522]

thanks for the post. very helpful.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

The word sucks really sets me off. My son says that it means stinks, but I told him that I know what it means. If you want to say stinks, then say stinks. Some people come down on themselves because they think that others are critical of them.

Most pitchers are perfectionists. I tell them, to act like that is the pitch that they meant to throw. There are times to throw a ball and a batter may swing, anyway.

 

[starsnuffer]

Most pitchers are perfectionists. I tell them, to act like that is the pitch that they meant to throw. There are times to throw a ball and a batter may swing, anyway.

That is so true, Amy.

My daughter and went to a small session that Sue Enquist did a few months ago and she said the same thing. She pulled a 11 yo pitcher out of an audience of 50 because she was the only one brave enough to actually raise her hand when asked, "who cries when you're having a bad game". Coach Enquist went on at some length about confidence, talking about how the only pitch that matters is the next pitch, being able to have a short memory, ect, but the thing that stood out the most was when she told this kid (and everyone present) that the next time they gave up a big hit, to turn to their infield and say (with authority), "That's on me, I hit her bat." The 11yo pitcher had to say this a few times until Sue was happy with her confidence and the kid was beaming the rest of the evening.

I've always told my pitching students that the defense will play exactly as good as the pitchers attitude. The best thing they can do when SS makes an error is to turn to the SS and say something like, "That's alright babe, next one is coming right back to you, you got it", and then proceed to throw an inside drop just a little bit fat. I never thought to extend this to the pitchers mistakes, but it makes sense to me. Perfectionists make awful pitchers. . . unfortunately most kids that become pitchers are perfectionists and we spend so much time trying to break them of the habit.

-W

 

[SoftSocDad]

Strong fathers raise strong, confident daughters. I believe in letting kids be in charge of their feelings and emotions, but I do not believe in allowing kids to outwardly display self-loathing.

There is a fine line in sports or anything else when dealing with perfectionists, but adults should encourage young people to appreciate their best efforts, even when those efforts result in failure.

 

[KCM]

My daughter sounds exactly like your pitcher. She has over come it though. It took many Daddy - Daughter talks and even had to pull in our female head coach to talk to her and even her pitching coach. Majority of all pitchers are perfectionists and they are their worse enemy. I relate some of my life experiences of failing to my daughter with a tie to pitching. I shoot skeet as a hobby but for competition against other shooters. She has seen me be perfect and she has seen me not be able to hit the broad side of barn if I was leaning on it. You must press on and think every move through before you actually step up to pitch.

Praise, praise, praise when it is all going good and even a little ugly. They will over come and realize mistakes happen.

 

[Rooster's Dad]

I just asked the Director of Sports Performance at Stanford for a recomendation on a book about mental performance in athletics and was told to give "Mind Gym" by Gary Mack a try. I just purchased it the other day but haven't read it yet.

 

[PEPPERS]

IMO confidence has to be earned, by that I mean teaching the kids the correct way to throw, catch, field grounders and pop ups swing mechanics and then make them practice the correct mechanics until they show up in practice and games. Once they prove to themselves they have the correct mechanics and are successful using them you will see their confidence grow.

One thing to remember a softball season is a marathon and not a 50 yard dash,

 

[starsnuffer]

If you're in the Chicago area, check out Tori Nyberg and her Elevate Performance Counseling. She was a pitcher for Stanford before going on to coaching at Northwestern for a good stretch. My daughter attended a 2 day workshop she did specific to pitchers and mental strength, and both of us can't say enough good things about it.

-W