- Jun 12, 2015
- 3,848
- 83
I hate the stigma attached to things like anxiety disorders. They're very common, unfortunately 
Performance anxiety
- Thread starter Nimrod
- Start date
Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch
Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.
I hate the stigma attached to things like anxiety disorders. They're very common, unfortunately
Me too and that's why I feel the need to explain it because there obviously are different levels of severity. In my daughter's case, there are certain things she doesn't like to do, like ride in elevators. So that would be 6 flights of stars in Myrtle Beach. But hey, that's good exercise, not messing up her life. But wanting to throw up for 7 innings, I'd like to help her with that.
I have a certain level of anxiety (dont know if I would call it a disorder) about some situations. Like your DD, I hate riding in elevators. I will gladly walk the stairs. I have gotten better about it as I have gotten older. I will take the elevator if necessary, just don't care for it, so it is not a paralizing fear or anything. I hate to be in large crowds. Not all situations though. I go to Cardinals, Blues games, stuff like that. More of a social situation like a crowded party really get to me, and I get nervous if someone asks me questions where I have to answer in front of a bunch of people. As a kid, I hated going out to family dinners when it came to my time to order my food, and everyone was looking at me, and listening. Weird, I know. Again, as I have gotten older, things have gotten better.
Sorry to hear your DD is struggling with this. My take on it would be more people that she has to see every day, more people she goes to school with are watching, and it adds to the pressure. Suggestions I think could help...as others have said maybe a sports psychologist to talk to. Something else that may help (again I know I am weird lol) as it helped me.....yoga. Relaxation sessions/ meditation, and yoga to calm the mind, and it is actually a good workout. Love the P90X yoga video. It will leave you laying in a pool of sweat when you are done.
Good luck to you and your dd.
Sorry to hear your DD is struggling with this. My take on it would be more people that she has to see every day, more people she goes to school with are watching, and it adds to the pressure. Suggestions I think could help...as others have said maybe a sports psychologist to talk to. Something else that may help (again I know I am weird lol) as it helped me.....yoga. Relaxation sessions/ meditation, and yoga to calm the mind, and it is actually a good workout. Love the P90X yoga video. It will leave you laying in a pool of sweat when you are done.
Good luck to you and your dd.
- Jun 21, 2012
- 74
- 0
It is time for you to start learning about Sports Psychology. There are great websites and internet places where you can begin studying the concepts without having to go for the formal training.
I am not a doctor (though I stayed at a Holiday Inn once) so I will not speculate on your DD having a disorder. What I can do is offer advice on how she can manage her softball game. It sounds like you have taken all the right steps in preparing her for HS and beyond. Great job! Now it is time to develop her mental muscle(brain) for the tasks ahead.
Start having conversations with your DD on her mental approach to the game. Here are some talking points and suggestions.
1.) Control the Controllables - She really only has control over herself. She cannot control other peoples reactions, impressions, or opinions. To worry about those things steals her ability to reach her peak performance. Our mind can only truly concentrate on one thing, so she needs to learn how to think about things she can directly control.
2.) Softball is a game of moments. Ideally it is a games of pitches. Teach her how to focus on the pitch. Softball is also a game of failures, for, on every pitch, there is a winner and a loser. The beautiful part of this is, there are so many pitches that a loss on a single pitch is not as devastating as some athletes make it seem. We will get another pitch. I use the W.I.N acronym with my players. W.I.N = What's Important Now. It helps to clear the past mistakes and focus on the present moment, or present pitch.
3.) Process over result. This is hard for many athletes. This is also hard for many coaches. The really good coaches focus on process. They are not concerned with wins because they know the wins will come from good processes. The same is true for athletes. Success will come from good processes. If we focus on the result, then we lose track of what needs to be adjusted.
4.) Give her a baseline. If you have ever gone on a vacation and returned home, there is that sense of calming when you finally arrive home. "There is no place like home." saying came from that. In athletics, the great athletes know how to calm themselves to perform. They know how to get into the "zone". This zone is produced by having rituals and procedures that athletes don't deviate from. Some call them superstitions, but in reality, they are how athletes cope with the tasks at hand. Teaching your DD how to cope can be a difficult thing. We can preach all day, or we can give them something physical and mental to do, to create that comfortable feeling of coming home.
Basic rituals are how she prepares for her at-bat. Does she grab her batting gloves before her helmet? What does she say to herself in the batters box? Does she take a deep breath before stepping into the box? And after every pitch? Watch the college batters and you will see 95% of them will take a deep breath, look at their bat, say something to themselves, and then step into the box to hit. They do this every pitch. What do they say? "See it, Hit it, Have fun on the Run", or "Attack the Ball", or something along those lines. Never anything mechanical. You will also note that college coaches never ever say anything about mechanics to their batters in the box. If you think during the pitch about mechanics, you are not going to hit the ball well.
5.) Give her the 24 hour rule. After a loss, my players have until Midnight to think about the game and its results. After that, we don't bring it up again. We focus right back on our processes.
6.) Lastly, this is such a great game. We have the opportunity to teach young girls how to become strong women. We teach them how to cope with frustration and be successful, we teach them how to deal with failure and be successful, and we teach them how to conquer pressure and be successful. At the end of the day, your DD is going to be a stronger girl/woman then those who don't get to experience this fantastic game. Every day she puts her cleats on, is another day for her to be great. Teach her how to enjoy these moments and cherish the simple things, like team work, friends, family, and the sweat smell of dirt and sweat.
I am not a doctor (though I stayed at a Holiday Inn once) so I will not speculate on your DD having a disorder. What I can do is offer advice on how she can manage her softball game. It sounds like you have taken all the right steps in preparing her for HS and beyond. Great job! Now it is time to develop her mental muscle(brain) for the tasks ahead.
Start having conversations with your DD on her mental approach to the game. Here are some talking points and suggestions.
1.) Control the Controllables - She really only has control over herself. She cannot control other peoples reactions, impressions, or opinions. To worry about those things steals her ability to reach her peak performance. Our mind can only truly concentrate on one thing, so she needs to learn how to think about things she can directly control.
2.) Softball is a game of moments. Ideally it is a games of pitches. Teach her how to focus on the pitch. Softball is also a game of failures, for, on every pitch, there is a winner and a loser. The beautiful part of this is, there are so many pitches that a loss on a single pitch is not as devastating as some athletes make it seem. We will get another pitch. I use the W.I.N acronym with my players. W.I.N = What's Important Now. It helps to clear the past mistakes and focus on the present moment, or present pitch.
3.) Process over result. This is hard for many athletes. This is also hard for many coaches. The really good coaches focus on process. They are not concerned with wins because they know the wins will come from good processes. The same is true for athletes. Success will come from good processes. If we focus on the result, then we lose track of what needs to be adjusted.
4.) Give her a baseline. If you have ever gone on a vacation and returned home, there is that sense of calming when you finally arrive home. "There is no place like home." saying came from that. In athletics, the great athletes know how to calm themselves to perform. They know how to get into the "zone". This zone is produced by having rituals and procedures that athletes don't deviate from. Some call them superstitions, but in reality, they are how athletes cope with the tasks at hand. Teaching your DD how to cope can be a difficult thing. We can preach all day, or we can give them something physical and mental to do, to create that comfortable feeling of coming home.
Basic rituals are how she prepares for her at-bat. Does she grab her batting gloves before her helmet? What does she say to herself in the batters box? Does she take a deep breath before stepping into the box? And after every pitch? Watch the college batters and you will see 95% of them will take a deep breath, look at their bat, say something to themselves, and then step into the box to hit. They do this every pitch. What do they say? "See it, Hit it, Have fun on the Run", or "Attack the Ball", or something along those lines. Never anything mechanical. You will also note that college coaches never ever say anything about mechanics to their batters in the box. If you think during the pitch about mechanics, you are not going to hit the ball well.
5.) Give her the 24 hour rule. After a loss, my players have until Midnight to think about the game and its results. After that, we don't bring it up again. We focus right back on our processes.
6.) Lastly, this is such a great game. We have the opportunity to teach young girls how to become strong women. We teach them how to cope with frustration and be successful, we teach them how to deal with failure and be successful, and we teach them how to conquer pressure and be successful. At the end of the day, your DD is going to be a stronger girl/woman then those who don't get to experience this fantastic game. Every day she puts her cleats on, is another day for her to be great. Teach her how to enjoy these moments and cherish the simple things, like team work, friends, family, and the sweat smell of dirt and sweat.
Sometimes the anxiety comes from not being in total control. Players have to understand what they have control over and what they do not.
My DD is so calm before games, you'd think she was in barbiturates.
DD#2 is kinda that way... She doesn't seem to let anything bother her and there have been coaches that actually thought she did not care... So it can be good and bad...
I have coached many that struggle with anxiety... Some were parental induced... Some probably had an actual problem... and Some were just teenage girls... As someone mentioned above, there is plenty out there on sports psychology but one thing that I found that worked more than anything else was support of the team and getting them to understand that there are 8 to 11 other players on the team that have each others collective backs...
My DD 3 has had some nasty issues on the mound. Seriously, she would stop breathing.
Both her PC and the coaches for her former TB team wanted her to slow down her delivery.
Her former TB coaches had her take one or two deep breaths on the mound. It helped a LOT.
From other input I've gotten, both from DD and esp. her former coaches (who once coached her in rec ball, and often coached against her in rec ball), DD 3 had none of those issues in rec ball. She was cool as a cucumber. Same with warming up. Just game time---
I think there were a couple of other issues. Some of it was confidence in her teammates to back her up, or lack thereof.
On her old team, one time the #2 pitcher was out for a tournament. That put all the pressure on DD 3. That was the worst pitching I've seen her do all year. When the #2 pitcher was around, DD 3 pitched MUCH better. One tournament DD 3 pitched all but 2 innings, but at least she knew she had good backup.
Also, it depended on the errors. When the fielding was bad (most of the time), DD 3 was under a lot of pressure. When the fielding was good, she was calm and cool. The better the fielding, the more confidence she had on the mound, and the better the pitching. Got some shut-outs.
When her backup pitcher, a great fielder when not pitching, along with 2 of her old team's better fielders, switched teams, DD 3 switched with them. Nothing against the coaches on the other team, but we knew DD 3 would do better on a team with 2 good starters and 2 good relievers, instead of being on a team where she would be the only good pitcher, and sloppy fielding.
Both her PC and the coaches for her former TB team wanted her to slow down her delivery.
Her former TB coaches had her take one or two deep breaths on the mound. It helped a LOT.
From other input I've gotten, both from DD and esp. her former coaches (who once coached her in rec ball, and often coached against her in rec ball), DD 3 had none of those issues in rec ball. She was cool as a cucumber. Same with warming up. Just game time---
I think there were a couple of other issues. Some of it was confidence in her teammates to back her up, or lack thereof.
On her old team, one time the #2 pitcher was out for a tournament. That put all the pressure on DD 3. That was the worst pitching I've seen her do all year. When the #2 pitcher was around, DD 3 pitched MUCH better. One tournament DD 3 pitched all but 2 innings, but at least she knew she had good backup.
Also, it depended on the errors. When the fielding was bad (most of the time), DD 3 was under a lot of pressure. When the fielding was good, she was calm and cool. The better the fielding, the more confidence she had on the mound, and the better the pitching. Got some shut-outs.
When her backup pitcher, a great fielder when not pitching, along with 2 of her old team's better fielders, switched teams, DD 3 switched with them. Nothing against the coaches on the other team, but we knew DD 3 would do better on a team with 2 good starters and 2 good relievers, instead of being on a team where she would be the only good pitcher, and sloppy fielding.
Similar threads
