Category Archives: Mental Game

Softball Tips: Contribute EVERY Day

Posted on by
Reply

softball tips: contribute every day

No matter what your skill or experience level, YOU bring something special to your team. There IS at least ONE thing you do better than anyone else on your team. Make it a point to give whatever it is you have each and every day. If you don’t, who will?

Truth: After EVERY game you should know that you did something to help your team that day, whether you played every pitch or none at all. If you can’t think of anything you did to help then you didn’t do your job.

EVERYONE has something to contribute!

Posted by Toby on Facebook…

There is a girl on my daughter’s HS softball team, that has not gotten into any games, even the blow out games, who cheers on her teammates all the time. The other day my daughter Melanie told me that when she hears this specific girl yell out, “Sit her down Mel!” when she has a full count on a girl it gives her such a good feeling inside and it motivates her to strike out the batter…. You are so right about every teammate can give something to the team.

I have also seen this type of situation with my own eyes: players lacking in skills finding big ways to contribute to their team.

Find a way every day.

If they can do it so can you. No excuses!

Mayweather vs Ortiz – Cheap Shots and Champions

Posted on by
69

mayweather vs ortiz

If you watched the Mayweather/Ortiz fight this past weekend, you surely have an opinion about how it ended.  While many defend Mayweather saying his blow was not at all illegal and many fault Ortiz because one of the first things you learn as a boxer is “Defend Yourself at All Times” there are some of us who still think Mayweather’s shots were cheap.

Just as the fight ended there were a ton of facebook status updates about the subject.  Here’s what I posted…

The head butt may have been dirty but true champions don’t have to match dirt for dirt.

After all the talk of the fight and people bringing up that Ortiz’s headbutt was illegal and Mayweather’s knock out punches weren’t, something else came to my mind.  I posted that too.

I have a few thoughts on that type of mentality (it’s “okay” or there’s “nothing wrong with it” so long as it’s “legal”).  First of all, “right” and “wrong” are not always defined by rules or laws.  For example, just because you “can” cleat defenders when you slide into them doesn’t mean you should always intentionally do so.  Along those lines, here is another facebook post I made the night of the fight that came as a result of comments people made on the Mayweather/Ortiz fight…

When true athletes go into competition their goal is not just to be better than that opponent on that given day but to be the best THEY can be every single day.

Whether it’s training or competition, big stakes or no stakes, millions watching or with no one watching, under ideal circumstances or under adversity, there is no difference. True athletes strive for excellence in all they do.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts!

Game Day Challenge

Posted on by
62

Softball Thought of the Week: Your Impact on Your Teammates is Often Far Greater Than You Know

softball team game dayOne thing you cannot control is how your negative vibe impacts others.  It can be one look, one word, or one action that we put out and can never get back.

While you may be able to drop it, move on and play your game, you have NO control over how others are affected by it.

One distraction from you may be enough to knock someone else’s performance just a bit off kilter and bring down their overall performance.  If you have that affect on most of the teammates who were around you when you put that vibe out, impact is exponential!

On game day especially, do your best to make sure your actions, words, decisions, etc are HELPING your team performance their best!

Athletes like to be in a particular mindset or “groove” as they go into competition.  Disrupting that “mojo” of any of your teammates before a game or during a game is not a good idea.

If you’ve ever run track or run for competition, you know how critical breaking stride or losing your form for just a split second can be.  I know because it happened to me before.  I was just ahead of another sprinter and for just a moment, I lost my form.  I did get it back, but in just that moment, she went from just behind me to just in front of me.

After I regained my stride and form, I did close some of the gap, but not enough to pass her by again.  That’s how I see disruption from inside the team environment/mojo before a game.  It might be a “small” thing that just throws the team off balance just a little, but it can be enough to alter the outcome.

So the challenge for game day is to make sure your impact on teammates and on the team is positive and improves performance!

photo credit: softball team

Are You a Real MVP?

Posted on by
68

most valuable player
The most popular topic on the Facebook FanPage this week came from this post…

A player that lifts her teammates to a higher level and helps them quickly recover from mistakes is more valuable than a player who has a stronger arm or bat but doesn’t know how to be a source from which her teammates gain confidence, positivity, and power from.

That post received 53 “likes” within days. That’s the highest yet!

Have you had the opportunity to be on a team with a player like this? Or maybe just observe one on another team?

Players with decent softball skill and this exceptional softball attitude are so much more valuable to a team than a player that has superior softball skills but no further reach.

What do I mean by reach? Dr. Tom Hanson once wrote an article that I wish I could find right now. He was talking about Derek Jeter and about how, when you’re in the room with him, you can just feel his confidence.

His confidence just flows out of him into his surroundings, and therefore, to the people around him as well.

Some players have this effect. Their enthusiasm, confidence, and positive attitude spills over into anything near them.

Other players, while highly talented, do not have this effect.

It’s like everything is bottled up inside them. They perform great, but no none of their teammates can feed off them or “get their juice.”  There’s nothing flowing out of them into their surroundings to feed off of.

While these players may perform at a high level, they do not elevate the game of those around them.

Real MVPs however…

  • effectively uplift their teammates
  • elevate the game of those around them
  • are a source of confidence, strength, resilience, and positivity that others can draw from
  • make the game easier and more enjoyable to play
  • draw so much enjoyment from simply playing the game their positive “can-do” attitude becomes infectious

Some people refer to this as the “it” factor.  For MVP’s, whatever “it” is…

IT’s in their words and how they say it
IT’s in their every action and every move
IT’s not only when things are going well, but ALL the time
IT’s simply part of who they are

When they infect the rest of the team with their confidence and belief in the team, their team is practically unstoppable!

Seriously, when a team is unified under a common blanket of confidence – watch out!

A player that can bring that to the table every game, to me, brings so much more value than one that can hit a homerun in every game.

What do you think?

Softball Quote of the Week: Scoreboards, Value, and You

Posted on by
91

enoughThis concept of “Enough” has come up several times in various areas of my life over the past several weeks.  One example was this great article over at SoftballPerformance.com which talks about this very concept.

Since this topic of “Enough” seems to keep popping up, I decided to post something about it on the AAF Facebook Page.

People seems to like it well enough and some have asked if they can share it with others.  Of course, I have no problem with that, so long as you remember to mention where you got it from. ;)

So feel free to share this Softball Quote of the Week with your team this week…

Whether you win or lose, you really won’t be much different, as a person, than you were 2 hours ago.

Never allow the scoreboard to dictate your self worth!

It’s a highly unreliable and completely irrelevant indicator of your true value as a human being.

Really, a couple of hours doesn’t completely change your life. Maybe you’ll learn a few lessons. Maybe it does give you a different perspective on things.

What you choose to do with your experience may very well change your life.

The win or the loss in and of itself does not do that.  You do. The win or the loss does not suddenly make you amazing if you weren’t before nor does it make you worth less than you were before.

Never tie your self worth to the outcome of your performance or of a game. Your true friends and your loved ones don’t love you any more or less because you did or did not hit a ball, because you did or did not make an error, or because you did or did not win a game.

Who you are as a person, as a human being, is not at all correlated with outcomes on the field.

7 Success Thoughts of the Week

Posted on by
3

success tips for softball

The past week has been crazy to say the least.  Big challenges, lots of emotions, unexpected events and so much more.  I didn’t have much time to write, but I did take some notes.  Here is some of what I’ve been able to take away from this week of challenge and change…

1.  The LAST thing you need to be doing when standing up for something you believe in is worrying about what other people think – ESPECIALLY when those people have NO clue about what’s really going on.

Been there, done that, and slapped “stupid” across my own head for being foolish enough to take advice from uninformed/misinformed/under-in…formed “know-it-alls” (aka idiots). Lesson learned…not making that mistake twice. :)

2.  Don’t let the opinions of others pull you away from your core values. Especially if those people have never been anywhere near your shoes nor the path you’re on! Stand strong!

3.  Saddens me to see that some people think so little of themselves, when STRANGERS say, “You don’t deserve to have all that” they BELIEVE it!

4.  When you work your butt off for what you have & earn every bit of it, you have NO reason to feel guilty for having more than others.

5.  There’s no way things ever work out in your favor if you decide beforehand that you have no chance.

6.  After all the blood, sweat, & tears you put in to what you’re fighting for, you’re gonna let someone else tell you you can’t win before you even finish the battle? Give it your best shot! You’ll never win if you give up before you even try.

7.  Never EVER sacrifice your long term vision for short term gain or just because it’s the easier, less painful thing to do now. More often than not the easy choice now is NOT the best decision long term.

Vision and Keeping Yourself Out of an 11% Hole

Posted on by
4

Vison, Softball Success, and the 11% hole…

What?  You’re probably wondering what the heck I’m talking about.  What’s an 11% hole and what does it have to do with vision and softball?

Listen to this softball audio on vision and why it’s so key, then you’ll understand…

So what do you think?

Did this vision clip make you go, “Hmmm…?”

Do you see why vision is so key in daily motivation and in softball success?

Have you ever put yourself in an 11% hole?

Will you ever do it again?

Do you even have a vision for softball? Or is it time to get started on one?

What did you think about the thoughts I shared on vision? Do you agree? Have you even thought about this concept before?

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think…