Arm strength, cardio, weights, speed, nutrition, etc.
I think most of us will agree it takes a multi-dimentional work out and hard work ethic to be successful. Proper preparation is key.
But what about the mental aspect?
Do you or your players spend any time daily/weekly working out on becoming psychologically balanced and fit? Do you feel its necessary?
If so, to what degree?
How much time should be dedicated to this particular dynamic of the game, if any?
This subject was previously brought up in another topic and I was curious to take it a step further & ask you all what, if any, do your programs do to ensure mental stability during the season?
I know that it is a common phrase around baseball to say,...
" Be mentally prepared. Think confident. Think positive.
Believe it and achieve it ", etc. etc.....
but what I wasn't aware of, was that some baseball programs are actually setting aside time pre-season and before games, AS A TEAM , to work-out with this aspect. They actually intertwine it into their daily workouts.
My son ( HS Jr. ) and I came back from a college hitting and pitching weekend camp and one of the stations was the psychological station.
This peeked our curiousity.
I'll admit at first, I thought it was going to be some fluffy mumbo-jumbo " think positive and achieve " speech that we've all heard a million times.
It wasn't.
What amazed me was the positive effect it had on a majority of the players attending and how so many of them expressed that no one had ever really taken the time to actually practice mental stability with them individually, let alone together as a team.
At this particular college the head BB Coach has a Ph.D. in psychology and believes the importance of the mental aspect of the game. He has his players go through a series of breathing relaxation techniques before every game and has them listen to a postive mental image audio tape.
Campers got to go through the 45 minute series. This was relatively new unchartered territory for my HS Junior son. I wasn't even sure he would take it seriously.
The college Coach also has his players take a course which has a combination of lectures, group discussions, written exercises, and relaxation imagery exercises that are utilized to develop the "mental/psychological" side of the athlete. Topics such as self-awareness, motivation, commitment, goal setting, constructive thinking, and stress management are included in the class format.
The focus is to improve the athlete's ability:
* To maintain a mental calm, even in highly stressful situations.
* To develop a proper focus of attention.
* To banish negative thoughts and images, in favor of those that lead to confidence and aggressiveness.
* To balance rational thinking with intuitive thinking.
* To become more self-aware of physiological/psychological processes.
His philosophey is " live in the moment ".
Leave a bad at-bat in the past. Dont get angry or even. Leave it and start fresh.
Go up to the plate thinking with a can-do attitude.
Visualize success.
Be mentally prepared to waken yourself up if you are flat,... be able to calm yourself down if you are too hyped up.
Be in charge of your own emotions and reactions.
While talking to the college players themselves, I found that they all agreed this was a new area for them. One that they had never given alot of serious thought about and an area that they had never seriously actually practiced, before now. It was also an area that they said was " key ".
This made an impression on me.
The 45 minute session made an impresssion on my son and on a majority of the campers and their parents.
I was suprised at this and thought I'd share our experience with you all.
Mental balance and confidence are key.
How much time, if any, do we dedicate daily to reach this goal?
I'm just curious.
