I’ve noticed a common thread among the athletes I’ve had the pleasure of coaching over the past year. Most of them have this fear, or inability, to slow a skill down and adjust in the midst of their mechanics. For instance, the other night I had my team running agility patterns on ladders. Some of the footwork patterns are a little tricky; a few of my girls were having a hard time finding the rhythm. Over and over, my assistant coach and I advised them to slow down, learn the pattern, and not worry about speed. We were looking for quality, not quantity. Even with that instruction, all my girls sped through the ladder, missing sections, and tangling the ladder around their feet.
They are so focused on the outcome and the pace of their teammates around them that they won’t take the time to adjust and learn the skill correctly. Instead, they strive merely to “keep up” with everyone else. It wasn’t until I physically stood beside them and wouldn’t let them go any faster than I was going that they were willing to slow down and talk themselves through the pattern.
This same pattern presents itself when I’m giving pitching lessons. My pitchers are more concerned with throwing strikes than properly executing the mechanics. When we are working on making adjustments, their focus is on the speed and accuracy of the pitch. They don’t allow themselves to be vulnerable and change their movements, which may, in turn, negatively impact their performance — at least for the moment. I’ve spoken to all of my athletes about this, and I haven’t quite gotten to the bottom of what causes it, but I have a few theories that I believe all converge to create this insecurity of not being good enough.
Social Media: Social media has played a huge role in how our athletes view themselves. Their self-confidence is built around how many likes their pictures receive or how many followers they have. They live, eat, sleep, and breathe this superficial culture every day; it constantly reinforces the idea that they are in competition with everyone around them all the time. They must look “good” or “pretty” in order to be accepted socially by their peers. I believe this attitude has carried over to the ball field. I asked my pitcher the other night why she was unwilling to make an adjustment and possibly let the ball go sailing over the catcher’s head. Her response: “There’s a lot of people watching me, and I don’t want them to think that I’m not good.”
Lack of trust in the process: I believe that sometimes athletes struggle to change their swing or mechanics because they simply don’t believe that it will make them better in the long run. Yes, their performance may suffer for a couple of pitches, or a couple of days, or even a week, but if they make the adjustment, it WILL make them better in the long run.
The athletes I’m working with don’t seem to understand this process; they view failure as a negative all the time, even when it’s helping to improve their mechanical game. I think it also comes down to trusting your coaches — trusting that even if your performance suffers momentarily, your coach’s adjustments will improve your performance over time.
Insecurity: Vulnerability is something that isn’t embraced in our society. In fact, it’s shamed most of the time. It makes sense that our athletes aren’t willing to be vulnerable during practice. They aren’t willing to drop their guard and try something that may make them look “silly” or different. They want to be “on” all the time.
It’s imperative for our athletes to be comfortable trying new things. They need to trust the process of taking three steps back if it means they get to leap four steps forward.
One Game, One Love. 