As I’ve mentioned previously, one of my favorite athletic mental coaches is Dr. Patrick Cohn of Peak Sports Performance. Dr. Cohn is a sports psychologist out of Orlando Florida.
He’s always teaching on mental toughness – as well as the techniques athletes can use to grasp it.
What improves a baseball player’s ability to turn his performance around in the middle of a game? This is the topic that Dr. Cohn addresses in this article.
Some excerpts…
Memories
Multiple mental factors affect an athlete’s ability to turn around a game, such as perspective, emotions, focus, and thoughts…
One mental factor often overlooked is the role of memories. Memories can be your friend or foe and shape how you respond in the middle of a game.
Memories flow in and out of your mind throughout a game. Sometimes, you are aware of those memories, while other times, those memories are just below our conscious awareness.
The memories we grab on set into motion a series of mental and physical reactions that affect how you perform during a game.
A Real World Example
Let’s set the stage… Your team is down two runs in the ninth inning. Earlier in the game, you were fooled on several off-speed pitches and struck out twice. Now you are at the plate with the game on the line, bases loaded, and two outs.
At this point, thoughts and images fill your head. Memories of striking out preoccupy your mind. You remember how embarrassed you were chasing balls out of the strike zone.
You are afraid of “failing” again. You think, “I’m going to be the reason we lose.” You feel so much pressure that you are a bundle of nerves at the plate. You have difficulty getting a good read on the ball and can’t focus on the pitch.
This is a similar experience of a player who responded to our Softball and Baseball Mental Toughness Survey:
“How can I continue to stay focused after a bad at-bat or several errors that could cause my team to lose? I feel I am unable to keep composure and confidence in these situations.”
Do you see how memories affect confidence and composure? You are thinking about striking out. You remember past errors. If you grab onto different memories, you will perform better.
How about thinking about the time you made the clutch hit in a game and drove in a couple of runs? Or the game you bounced back after an error to make a tremendous play on the field.
For More
I’d invite you to read the entire piece here…
