- May 21, 2008
- 27
- 0
I have a girl who is moving up to 12U next year and she's good player, very trainable, all the physical abilities and an all around good kid. While I know she is still very young she has devolved an issue with self-confidence and mental toughness.
Performance problems seem to come up randomly, but when it happens she doesn't just suffer from performance loss, it's more like a break-down. She plays on the corners and is a pitcher, too. She pitches almost daily with a 50 mph fast ball, has a good change-up and she's working on a drop ball. When pitching practice to her teammates they really struggle to hit off her.
The problems arise mainly at the plate and on the rubber during some games. She can go from pitching a very intimidating pregame warm-up to a first inning disaster, with walk after walk until she's pulled...sometimes without finishing the 1st. inning.
At the plate she has good mechanics and crushes balls during cage sessions and live pitching, but during many games lately she gets really stiff and cannot connect, usually slow to fire... at best hitting weak grounders but drawing way to many strike outs or getting lucky with walks.
There are times when she seems to feel less pressure because she's had great games this year. Pitching to win state, pitching the first game at Nationals, to win. She also had two homers early this season and seemd to be more soild at the plate early on this year....so I can't figure it out.
What do I do? I have tried positive imagery, breathing exercises, stress loading, along with plenty of opportunity, and playing time. I am running out of ideas. She has put way too much time and effort into the sport she dearly loves to wash out at what is just the beginning.
I know that much has been written on the subject of mental toughness for sports but I would love some recommended reading and / or exercises for the both of us. This is a setback but I really hope with time and the correct approach it will be overcome. Advice please, thank you.
Performance problems seem to come up randomly, but when it happens she doesn't just suffer from performance loss, it's more like a break-down. She plays on the corners and is a pitcher, too. She pitches almost daily with a 50 mph fast ball, has a good change-up and she's working on a drop ball. When pitching practice to her teammates they really struggle to hit off her.
The problems arise mainly at the plate and on the rubber during some games. She can go from pitching a very intimidating pregame warm-up to a first inning disaster, with walk after walk until she's pulled...sometimes without finishing the 1st. inning.
At the plate she has good mechanics and crushes balls during cage sessions and live pitching, but during many games lately she gets really stiff and cannot connect, usually slow to fire... at best hitting weak grounders but drawing way to many strike outs or getting lucky with walks.
There are times when she seems to feel less pressure because she's had great games this year. Pitching to win state, pitching the first game at Nationals, to win. She also had two homers early this season and seemd to be more soild at the plate early on this year....so I can't figure it out.
What do I do? I have tried positive imagery, breathing exercises, stress loading, along with plenty of opportunity, and playing time. I am running out of ideas. She has put way too much time and effort into the sport she dearly loves to wash out at what is just the beginning.
I know that much has been written on the subject of mental toughness for sports but I would love some recommended reading and / or exercises for the both of us. This is a setback but I really hope with time and the correct approach it will be overcome. Advice please, thank you.