The Roosevelt Rough Riders won the Hawaii High School OIA Softball Championship this past weekend.  Congratulations to Coach Okamura and his staff and of course, to the girls!  Roosevelt showed an excellent display of teamwork with everyone contributing something.  Apparently they also worked very hard this season in their training (I’ve heard rumors of tire flipping and sled dragging – and a player made reference to “all that running”) and it showed.

Congratulations Roosevelt!

In addition to all the hard work Roosevelt did, I think their success is also attributed to their approach. There was something Coach Clay said in the newspaper article about their championship win that caught my eye.  It was a topic I had wanted to talk about, but didn’t really know how to go about it or explain it well.  Hopefully by referencing this article, it will help, so I’m going to try.

In the article, Coach Clay said, “To be honest, we didn’t really think about (an approach to Mililani’s lineup),” Roosevelt coach Clay Okamura said. “Mililani is a mean team, take nothing away from them. But we didn’t think about (them), we were more concerned about what we had to do.” That’s a big part of why they won.

Too often we focus on our opponent. The pitcher has a great change up.  Their batters can hit the ball.  They’re great at putting down the bunt.  They’re aggressive on the bases.  Watch for the rise ball…etc, etc, etc.  Not that it’s wrong to know your opponent, but I think it’s a mistake for them to be your primary focus.

What about YOU and what you CAN do? When you go into a game thinking primarily of all these things your opponent CAN do what happens when you start to see it in the game.  You see that great change up the pitcher has working.  You see them being aggressive on the base paths.  You see them getting great hits.  All they need to do is show any of those things a few times and you start thinking, “Oh man, there’s that change up of hers” or “Gosh, they really are fast on the bases” or “Yup, they sure can hit the ball a ton.”  What does that do for your confidence or your view of the game?  It only affirms your “beliefs” in what the other team CAN do, probably starts to discourage you or at least plants seeds of doubt about your team’s chance at success, and only makes the other team more of a formidable opponent.

And since you’ve been so focused on them, when your team gets a great hit here or there or your pitcher makes some great pitches or when your team makes a great defensive play, you almost don’t even “see” it because you’re too busy seeing all the great things the other team can do.

But what if you hadn’t been so focused on your opponent.  Yes, be aware of the threats they may throw and you and be ready for them, but focus on your team, what you CAN do and what YOUR STRENGTHS are. Then when your team gets a good hit or two, you think, “See, we CAN hit this pitcher” – it builds on your confidence to be successful in the game even more.  When you focus on knowing that your defense is strong and can make plays and then you see it start (just start) to happen in the game, again, it only builds your confidence and re-affirms your belief in your team’s ability to get the job done on defense.  And while all this is going on, since you haven’t put much focus on the other team, you probably aren’t thinking so much about the things they are doing in the game.  Yes, they may get a hit here or there or they may make a great play on defense or their pitcher may make great pitches throughout the game, but if you’re focused on your team and what you CAN and ARE doing, I think you’re a whole lot more likely to be successful and play closer to your full potential.

PERFORMANCE = POTENTIAL – INTERFERENCE

Dr. Tom Hanson talks about performance in terms of the formula PERFORMANCE = POTENTIAL – INTERFERENCE.  I think focus on the other team strengths is interference that takes away from your potential and lessens your performance.

I mean, let’s get real here for a minute.  If you’re playing a tough team they ARE going to hit the ball, they ARE going to make good defensive plays, their pitcher probably WILL get some of your batters.  It’s all a part of what makes them a worthy opponent. If you’re going to allow those things to discourage you, then you’re probably going to get discouraged real quick because those things WILL happen in the game.  Focus less on them and more on you because your performance is the only one you can do anything about.