Mental toughness

[MJs Dad]

My DD just had her first 14 U tournament games today. She is 12yrs old and playing up. She pitched well in her first game and got a win. But she got pretty beat up in her second game tonight. She physically pitched very well but mentaly and emotionally lost it. The first batter of the game drilled the ball off the fence on the first pitch. She recovered from that pretty quickly and held them to 1 run in that inning then got three up three down the next two innings. Then in the fourth inning her team made a few errors behind her and then the wheels fell off! She ended up giving up 5 more runs before they pulled her. She was clearley upset and everyone at the park knew it by her body language. She looked like she had given up! How can you teach a 12 year old to be mentaly tougher than that? Can you teach them that or does it just develop with age and experience? Or might it never develop?

 

[Lozza]

Unfortunately this is something that really needs to develop through age and experience. Some people never get it. There's a former state pitcher in my comp who falls apart when she gets hit. Its actually quite sad to watch (and she's early to mid 20s)

One thing that I do with my younger girls is practice situations. So while they're doing pitches, I'll tell them a scenario and they then pitch to get out of it. It helps a little bit, but ultimately only experience will help with that.

 

[Jojo]

I also think it mostly needs to come from the individual. You can probably try to teach them how to redirect their negative energy and explain what their energy is doing to the team.
I agree it is sad to see a high a level pitcher fall apart because of the mental aspects. I've known several pitchers, highly dominate that do well through the first few innings. Then all you have to do is put a few bunts down watch the team struggle to have to make a good play, and before you know it, she's throwing meatballs. They lose all trust in the team and themselves.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

She probably just had her hands full, being only 12 YOs. it sounds like she did really well.

It is too bad that she had to pitch 2 games. Is she the number 1 pitcher?

Anyway, try the DVD Mental Fundamentals. You want the newest one. It will say Baseball, Softball on it. It is excellent. I know it is available on Amazon. The authors are Karl Kuehl and John Kuehl.

 

[go4fpsb]

My DD just had her first 14 U tournament games today. She is 12yrs old and playing up. She pitched well in her first game and got a win. But she got pretty beat up in her second game tonight. She physically pitched very well but mentaly and emotionally lost it. The first batter of the game drilled the ball off the fence on the first pitch. She recovered from that pretty quickly and held them to 1 run in that inning then got three up three down the next two innings. Then in the fourth inning her team made a few errors behind her and then the wheels fell off! She ended up giving up 5 more runs before they pulled her. She was clearley upset and everyone at the park knew it by her body language. She looked like she had given up! How can you teach a 12 year old to be mentaly tougher than that? Can you teach them that or does it just develop with age and experience? Or might it never develop?

MJsDad, I understand what you are dealing with, I have had some players that can quickly go negative when the game goes against them. The fact she is playing up will be a challenge so be sure she is ready for what she is going to face. I believe there is a limit to the adversity younger players can face playing older competition before it begins to hurt more than help, they also need to learn how to win. I try to stress to players they need to focus on the process rather than the outcome. When a pitcher has some errors behind them sometimes they feel they need to be perfect to get their team out of the inning. Let her know it is not a one person team, the defense has to make plays and she needs to stay with her mechanics and pitch her game. Evaluate her and reinforce her based on executing her pitches properly. Be positive but don't make excuses for her. You noted this is her first 14U game, it sounds as a 12U she did pretty darn good. I would tell her as hard as it is when she has adversity she needs to stay positive with her body language, the rest of the team feeds off of her vibe. Hopefully she has a catcher that is really positive and they have good chemistry. The catcher is so crucial to keeping a pitcher on the rails when they hit a rough patch. Good luck and if you can find a copy of "Creative Coaching" by Jerry Lynch, read it. I found it to be a great resource in coaching the athlete.

 

[sluggers]

How can you teach a 12 year old to be mentaly tougher than that? Can you teach them that or does it just develop with age and experience? Or might it never develop?

There are two parts to "mental toughness":

(A) She projects confidence to her teammates.
(B) Under pressure, she is able to execute at the top of her ability.

She has to do both. If she can't do both, she won't pitch at a high level.

Coaches detest pitchers who don't show confidence. It doesn't matter what she feels inside, it is what she shows. And, coaches detest players who don't perform at their best "when the going gets tough".

You have to tell what is expected of her. For better or worse, she has to live "in the moment". There is nothing but the pitch.

Specifically:

(1) She has chosen to be a pitcher. Therefore, she has *CHOSEN* to be at the center of the softball field with everyone looking at her on her every pitch. She either wants to do this, or she doesn't. If she doesn't want to be the center of the action, then she should play another position.
(2) Because she is at the center, she has to project confidence to her teammates. If the other team hits a HR off her (and they will), she has to look like that is exactly what she wanted. She has to smile, she has to relax, and she has to encourage her teammates *NO MATTER WHAT*.
(3) Her job is throw the best pitch she can every pitch without regard to the score. This is a really difficult concept to grasp. If she isn't making her best pitch every pitch, then she isn't performing up to her ability. It doesn't matter if she wins or loses. If she is not throwing the best pitch she can every time she touches the ball, she doesn't deserve to be pitching.

Now, as a Daddy, you have responsibilities also.

(1) You do not have the luxury of getting upset or showing emotion during the game. You have to sit (or stand) and not express yourself during the game. It is torture. if you don't, she will pick up on your emotions.
(2) You have to *OBJECTIVELY* evaluate her performance and give her feedback after the game on a pitch by pitch basis.
The evaluation has to be based on clearly understood and definable criteria. e.g. (a) did she determine the umpire's strike zone? (b) was her pitch location good? (c) did she pitch correctly to the batters (e.g., on 0-2, did she throw a pitch outside the strike zone?) (d) did she adapt as the game changed?
(4) Evaluate her inning by inning *AFTER THE GAME*. That way, the focus goes from "winning" to "the inning". After a while, evaluate her "batter by batter".


TRUE STORY: My DD lost a "big game" in HS by making an error on a throw to 1B. She was really down on herself. One of the teachers at her HS won a world series game as a relief pitcher. He has the ring to prove it. Anyway, he told her, "When you are on the mound, there is only the catcher's mitt and the ball. Nothing else exists." That is the essence of pitching. The pitcher always throws the best pitch she can. That is all she can do. That is all she can ever do.

 

[MJs Dad]

Sluggers, thanks for some really great advise.

 

[MJs Dad]

Update:
I listened to the great advice I recieved on this wonderful web site. I also had my DD spend some time with a really talented local high school pitcher who explained how she handles herself on the mound. She played her first games today since her melt down and kicked butt! I was like watching a different person! After she gave up a rocket to the outfeild and her team had a string of errors that left the bases loaded with only one out and a two run lead I thought here we go again! But instead of falling apart she smiled at the next batter and struck out the next two batters like a champ. I don't think I ever been prouder!!!!!!

 

[softball_chic_12]

go4fpsb, i understand when u say it's not a one person defense. i'm 14 and a pitcher. i'm not top-notch in my area, but i do what i can. i, luckily, have learned to accept that i'm not going to be perfect on the mound. i know other girls will hit what i throw. and I know that my team will make errors at times. it's human nature. we can't all be perfect. but i'd be lying if i said that i don't get upset. if i throw a pitch and the batter hits it and my fielders can't field it: fine. but when this happens for most of the game it's frustrating. so then the thought does get in my head that i have to throw a perfect game in order for us to win because i have lost confindence in my team. the other day my team was playing against a decent team. my team has a lot of potential. we had a good chance to beat them. i started out catching. by the 3rd inning our pitcher was getting tired. and she was already recovering from popping her knee out a few weeks earlier. keeping my teammates health in mind i went to the coach and told him that she was getting tired and that she even admitted it to me. the next inning he pulled her off of the mound and put her at 3rd. he put me in pitching. i pitched a pretty good game. the other team did get hits off of me and my team's outfielders couldn't field anything. we lost the game 17-7. a few days later at school rumors were going around that my fellow teammates were saying i was the reason we lost the game. what was i supposed to do? let the 1st pitcher keep going and possibly end up hurting herself even more? or just suffer a lost? i went with the latter. my team obviously didn't see it that way. so i understand when you say it's not a one person defense, but if your team doesn't help you and then blames it on you.....it usually is a one person defense.

 

[WiZ]

There are two parts to "mental toughness":

(A) She projects confidence to her teammates.
(B) Under pressure, she is able to execute at the top of her ability.

She has to do both. If she can't do both, she won't pitch at a high level.

Coaches detest pitchers who don't show confidence. It doesn't matter what she feels inside, it is what she shows. And, coaches detest players who don't perform at their best "when the going gets tough".

You have to tell what is expected of her. For better or worse, she has to live "in the moment". There is nothing but the pitch.

Specifically:

(1) She has chosen to be a pitcher. Therefore, she has *CHOSEN* to be at the center of the softball field with everyone looking at her on her every pitch. She either wants to do this, or she doesn't. If she doesn't want to be the center of the action, then she should play another position.
(2) Because she is at the center, she has to project confidence to her teammates. If the other team hits a HR off her (and they will), she has to look like that is exactly what she wanted. She has to smile, she has to relax, and she has to encourage her teammates *NO MATTER WHAT*.
(3) Her job is throw the best pitch she can every pitch without regard to the score. This is a really difficult concept to grasp. If she isn't making her best pitch every pitch, then she isn't performing up to her ability. It doesn't matter if she wins or loses. If she is not throwing the best pitch she can every time she touches the ball, she doesn't deserve to be pitching.

Not sure if you got this somewhere or if it was "off the cuff" but this is VERY good motivational speach material full of facs and truths. Thank you for this and I will be passing this along to my pitching staff.