obbay
Banned
DD (15) is an excellent ballplayer when relaxed. when nervous/tense, not as good. she is susceptible to letting things get in her head and "unravel her sweater".
This was apparent at tryouts last night. it was a tryout for her team as well as a team below and a team above (Gold). she is guaranteed a spot on her existing team and the Gold coach has been saying all summer that he wants to get her on the Gold team next year. Her Team's coach wanted them to show up at tryouts as a practice before our last scheduled tournament this weekend. so when she told me she was nervous I tried to downplay it, reminding her it's not really a tryout, just a type of practice and the coaches all know her and aren't going to throw out what they already know based on what she does tonight.
she was going to be there with players on her team plus some others she doesn't know as well and a couple of "popular" girls who evicted her from their social circle a year or two ago. It was Hazy, hot and humid, which doesn't help either.
The director was mad at his Gold team so he started right in yelling at everyone so that may have increased tensions a bit. they did IF, OF and hitting. While I was watching everyone, I wasn't particularly impressed with her play. her teammates rose to the occasion and shined for the most part, while she looked good except that she couldn't hold onto the ball in the IF and couldn't hit. that last part was especially hard because she has been doing tee work every night and she has been peppering the 200' fence. last night with coach pitch was crap IF ground balls, IF pop ups and can-o-corns to the OF. her teammates noticed and told her she looked incredibly tense at bat, not like usual.
So the big question: How can you help a girl develop confidence and/or maintain confidence in times of stress? (unlike the famous quote, she DOES need to play well to feel good about herself)
This was apparent at tryouts last night. it was a tryout for her team as well as a team below and a team above (Gold). she is guaranteed a spot on her existing team and the Gold coach has been saying all summer that he wants to get her on the Gold team next year. Her Team's coach wanted them to show up at tryouts as a practice before our last scheduled tournament this weekend. so when she told me she was nervous I tried to downplay it, reminding her it's not really a tryout, just a type of practice and the coaches all know her and aren't going to throw out what they already know based on what she does tonight.
she was going to be there with players on her team plus some others she doesn't know as well and a couple of "popular" girls who evicted her from their social circle a year or two ago. It was Hazy, hot and humid, which doesn't help either.
The director was mad at his Gold team so he started right in yelling at everyone so that may have increased tensions a bit. they did IF, OF and hitting. While I was watching everyone, I wasn't particularly impressed with her play. her teammates rose to the occasion and shined for the most part, while she looked good except that she couldn't hold onto the ball in the IF and couldn't hit. that last part was especially hard because she has been doing tee work every night and she has been peppering the 200' fence. last night with coach pitch was crap IF ground balls, IF pop ups and can-o-corns to the OF. her teammates noticed and told her she looked incredibly tense at bat, not like usual.
So the big question: How can you help a girl develop confidence and/or maintain confidence in times of stress? (unlike the famous quote, she DOES need to play well to feel good about herself)
Last edited: