Do You Get in Your Own Way on The Field?
When you get in your own way, you lose trust in your abilities.
Trust allows you to let your skills happen, without thinking too hard about “how to” perform the skill.
When you lose trust, you might think too much about your technique overloading your mind with too many thoughts. You might guide or steer your batting swing. You might over analyze your mistake and try to fix it during a game. Without trust, you’re tense, perform tentatively and try too hard.
Jacoby Ellsbury, fielder for the Red Sox, understands the importance of trust in competition.
“You don’t want to overanalyze some things. You can think too much out there, and a lot of times I just want to go out there and react but at the same time you need to — the biggest thing is feeling comfortable out there, and feeling confident. When you’re confident I think you let your talent, your abilities show on the field.”
You let your talent and abilities show on the field by trusting in yourself.
The key is to set aside your practice mindset when you compete.
When you’re in the practice mindset, you over analyze your mistakes, think too much and focus on your technique. You want to use your trusting mindset in competition, where your skills are automatic and you’re just reacting to the ball.
To help you switch to a trusting mindset in competition, you’ll want to create a competitive environment in practice. Play scrimmages with other teams to help improve your trust. You can also go through your pitching or batting routine to simulate competition.
You’ll also want to visualize or feel a good swing rather than relying on verbal commands to help you perform your best.
Your baseball psychology tip is to get out of your own way.
Let your skills happen in competition, just like in practice. Use your practice to help you trust in your skills in competition.
Related Sports Psychology Articles
- The Mental Battle: Get Out of Your Own Way
- What are your biggest fears as a baseball or softball player?
- Knowing Your Why and Motivation
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