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As a coach, I want you to succeed. I want you to push yourselves and improve. I want you to love this game and come back to it time and time again. But first, I want you to be happy.

This is not just softball to me; this is life. When I ask you to tell me what makes a great player, I’m sure I would hear things like savvy base running, a strong throw, quick feet, and hand-eye coordination. But the characteristics I believe truly matter go much deeper than mere physical qualities and abilities. I think great athletes possess qualities like courage, persistence, selflessness, and patience.

Throughout my entire career, I’ve always heard that softball is an escape. But I never truly understood the essence of that statement until a few years ago when I was working as an instructional aide in elementary schools. I had just moved to a new city where I didn’t know many people, my romantic life was a bit rough, my graduate program was working me to the bone, and I was trying my best to adapt to living in a large city. Emotionally, I was struggling to get by on a day-to-day basis. At first, going to work was tough. I truly enjoyed my job, but I could feel myself going through the motions. I was physically there, but my mind was always wandering off somewhere else.

Watching my students fully immerse themselves in the daily joys of being a third grader made me realize that I should be doing just that with them. For Pete’s sake, my job consisted of hanging out with eight-year-old kids, coloring, and playing games. It was an amazing job to have. It was hard at first to really let go of life outside of work, but with practice, I was able to fully enjoy myself every day.

We miss so many of life’s wonderful moments by worrying about the past or future instead of living in the present. When I found myself doing this at work, I would make myself recite three to five things that were in my immediate present. Things like, “It’s a beautiful day outside, we are playing balloon volleyball, and I’m coloring in third grade again.” It shifted my focus back to what I was doing, got me out of my head, and allowed me to simply live in the moment.

I didn’t recognize its importance at the time, but softball is what got me through every speed bump I hit from ages 8 to 22. The game was always something that was there for me.

It was a place where I could forget the world and dive into the reality of improving as a player and becoming successful in a game I loved. The satisfaction of working hard, improving, developing relationships, and being a part of something bigger than myself allowed me to establish a healthy sense of self-worth. It was my escape and saving grace when the world got tough. It reinforced the notion that even when life gets tough, there’s always a piece of it worth fighting for, always something to enjoy.

With that said, here on this field, I want you to develop into the people you want to be. I want you to take this time to be selfish. Shut out the rest of the world and better yourself here.

Quote of the Day:

“The wins and losses will fade away, but the friendships and memories will last a lifetime.”

We’ve all heard the saying, “It’s the little things in life that matter.” This statement couldn’t be more true for sport. The words coaches choose to use with their athletes can make the ultimate difference in how an athlete performs, and even how much they enjoy their sport.

Imagine you are on a basketball court waiting for practice to start. Your coach starts practice by saying, “Go ahead and take ten shots”. What does your mind’s eye see? A player standing at the freethrow line taking a few shots to warm up maybe? Now imagine If that basketball coach had said, “Go ahead and take 10 swishes”. Now what image do you get in your head? I happen to see shot after shot swishing through the bottom of the net.

The words coaches use can instantly shape the way an athlete’s mind views the task at hand. By using keywords like “swish”, it immediately increases their focus by directing the mind to concentrate on a precise desirable outcome. The mind automatically visualizes a ball swishing through a net which will actually help the player perform more successfully. Imagery is a popular sport psychology tactic that consists of a mental rehearsal through visualization. It’s been proven to be effective in improving sport performance at every level of sport, from novice to expert. Instructing athletes to “swish” the ball prompts the mind to do just this, visualize the outcome.

Most coaches, without thinking, constantly tell their athletes “Nice play”. I prefer to comment on my athlete’s effort. Here’s why: Telling an athlete you loved their effort rather than commenting on the outcome, puts the athlete in full control of their performance. They now understand that what you are looking for is hard work. Hard work trumps a clean play any day in my book. Talented athletes can slack off at a practice and still have the chance to perform well. By rewarding the effort the athlete put in, you can reinforce the importance of working hard and improving skills no matter what skill level the athlete is currently at. You can also compliment the athlete on what specific mechanic they did well so they know how to be consistently successful.

As a coach choosing your words wisely can make a world of difference to your athletes.  Take into consideration the following sentence that was said by a coach after a 11-0 run rule victory. “ I just wanted to say sorry to you younger kids who didn’t get into the game; we didn’t score enough runs early enough to get you in”. This statement makes those younger girls feel as if they aren’t good enough to play unless the team is ahead by a bunch of runs. It implies that the coach doesn’t trust their talents to keep the game within reach. Instead the coach could say, “I just wanted to say sorry to you younger girls who didn’t get in the game, due to the high amount of runs scored the game ended in 5 innings and I didn’t have enough time to get you guys in.” The difference here is immense, especially in the minds of high school athletes.

As a coach, the words you say matter. It’s the smallest thing, but it makes the biggest impact.

Quote of the Day:

“It’s the little things that matter most”

I got the opportunity to spend a couple days with a JV softball team up in Sacramento this past season. I got to observe two practices and a game. I was taken aback by the passion, drive, and enthusiasm these girls have for their sport.

As a freshman in high school I played varsity ball and I never got to experience the JV level. These girls don’t have dreams of playing in college; they aren’t obsessed with beating out the girl next to them to get a look from a college coach. These girls just simply love the game. They love to play and want to spend as many minutes on the field as they can. They eat up coaching and ask for more of it when they don’t get enough. Their sole desire is to improve. Every ounce of their mental capacity is focused on the task at hand. They are supportive of each other to a fault. No matter how unsuccessful a teammate is performing they are genuinely supportive. They are patient, kind, and extremely encouraging. This is the atmosphere I’ve been striving to instill in my teams for years. They really accept every player for who they are and aren’t judgmental of their skill level. They just want everyone to try their hardest all the time, and they do! They work hard without a peep from their coaches, it’s all them all the time.

It was an amazing display of a mastery climate created by the players themselves.

My biggest question is why? Why has this atmosphere been so effortlessly created on this team? I think the answer lies in the research of Carol Dweck; the difference between the growth and capacity mindset. Individuals who posses the growth mindset are constantly looking to improve, they believe that with hard work anybody can improve at anything. These people welcome failure, and challenges, because they are opportunities to learn and grow. Capacity mindset is a whole different ball game. These folks believe that abilities are set. You either have it or you don’t, there isn’t any real opportunity for immense improvement. These people avoid failure at all costs, they are constantly trying to put themselves in situations where they can show off their talents because they need to prove themselves. They need to reaffirm their abilities to others consistently because there is no room for improvement.

Without the pressure of having to prove themselves to a college coach, the JV girls are able to embrace failure and focus on learning and developing their talents. Where as the varsity girls get caught up in always trying to look the best so college coaches don’t notice their flaws or weaknesses.

Winning the NCS Championship my senior year of high school

This is a pretty broad statement; all varsity athletes have a capacity mindset and all JV athletes have a growth mindset. That’s not exactly what I’m saying. I’m inferring that maybe because most varsity athletes have been talented since they were kids, they may have been referred to as “natural athletes”. Well, as a natural athlete, the talent you have isn’t something you worked for, therefore you aren’t in control of improving it. However, athletes who weren’t always the greatest, probably weren’t ever told this, and they learned from a young age that they were going to have to work hard to be able to play ball at a competitive level. They learned that hard work and repetition lead to improvement.
Although I made varsity as a freshman, I was never considered a “natural athlete”. In fact, most thought I would never play in college. I had to work really hard for the successes that came my way. Looking back, I’m thankful that I didn’t have “natural talent”, it made me take control of my ability and push my way to the top. It’s something that still impacts my life today; I may not be the best at what I do, but I am constantly looking for opportunities to learn and better myself. Where I am today is just a starting point, I am in full control of developing my abilities to get to the top of my field.

Quote of the day:

“Don’t tell me how talented you are. Tell me how hard you work” Artur Rubenstein

I really do believe the saying “early bird gets the worm”. I have noticed that the best of the best get there first. Weather it be a teacher, an employee, or an athlete; the ones who get their first, or early, are usually the ones who do the best work. I’ve also noticed in myself that when I get up early and start my day, I feel the best. I am productive and inspired. There is something about that early morning silence. It’s energizing, empowering, and encouraging.

Have you ever been the first person to do something? Or have you witnessed someone else stepping outside of the box and trying something new for the first time? I have been in both of these situations, and something I heard recently really rings true. People who do things first get noticed. In fact our culture has a slu of terms to describe these people; trend-setters, leaders, or entrepreneurs.

Take 10 minutes to do something that will help you become great before you start your day. Jim Brogan urges his clients and athletes to shoot “swishes” before school in the morning. Prime yourself by putting your mind in a productive mindset. This will jump start your day and keep you on the path to success.

So what do I do for my 10 minutes of greatness in the morning? Every morning as I am getting ready for work I watch a Ted Talk. These talks inspire me and help me to add new aspects to my sport psychology lessons.

Taking ten minutes everyday, preferably in the morning, is a great way for athletes to begin the process of improving their mental game. Whether it’s ten minutes of imagery to improve their visualization skills and improve their performance. Or practicing their concentration skills by doing simple focus drills. It could be ten minutes of devising plans of how to deal with adverse situations; how are you going to react if you don’t have your best stuff at practice today?

What can you do before you start your day? It only takes ten minutes.

Quote of the day:

“Excellence is a learned skill”