Social Approval And Your Performance
Many baseball players don’t want to let teammates, parents or coaches down, and this causes them to worry too much about what others think about their game.
For example, do you worry too much about what your coach thinks about your batting technique or about performing well to gain respect from teammates.
In his rookie season LA Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw had a difficult time finishing games after giving up a couple big hits because he felt that he was letting his team down.
“I didn’t give our team any kind of chance. It’s just not a good feeling to let your teammates down, to let everybody down,” said Kershaw after an 11-6 loss to the Brewers.
Kershaw felt that because he is the pitcher that the team depended on him to win. This caused his to start worrying what his coaches, teammates and the fans were thinking about his performance rather than focusing on his performance.
Worrying about what others are thinking or what will happen if you let down your team will not help you perform to your potential. Now with three seasons under his belt Kershaw is able to recognize the mental barrier he faced in his rookie year.
“It was kind of a snowball effect once I started to make assumptions about what others were thinking I took my head out of the game,” said Kershaw.
When you make assumptions about what others might be thinking about your game, you engage in “mind reading.”
You don’t really know what others are thinking about you.
Mind reading is just a distraction to playing your best and it can cause you to play tentatively.
“I needed to remind myself that even though pitcher is an important position, each player on the team plays an important role in your team’s success.”
You’ll have good days and bad days on the field, everybody does.
The key is not to lose confidence after a poor inning.
Find something positive from each game and move onto the next.
“If you pitch good, you can soak it in that night. You pitch badly and it’s going to hurt that night. That’s the great thing about baseball: You play every day. Tomorrow is a new day,” said Kershaw.
Don’t beat yourself up for poor pitching or a loss.
A better option is to assess what needs to improve the next game and move forward with a healthy dose of confidence.
Related Sports Psychology Articles
- Athletes Who Worry About What Others Think
- Athletes Who Worry What Their Teammates Think
- How to Manage High Expectations
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baseball is a mental game. i have good days and i have bad days. but i think about the game way to much, and i think thats why i mess up a lot. its mostly of defense i mess up on, like groundballs. any answers?
Sounds like you are over thinking you performance. I suggest that you try to react more in the field and let go of coaching yourself when you play.
I’m 14 and on my baseball team, every time someone makes an error, our coach screams and goes crazy. I believe that my team is making more errors because they are worried that they will get screamed at and because of that most of us are nervous. Any suggestions on how to deal with this?
Do you have a team captain that can talk to the coach on the players’ behalf? The captain should tell the coach that players fear making mistakes because they don’t want to get yelled at.
I know I have the tools to be a great player but my lack of confidence has dragged for a couple of years. Its funny because I think alot on the field but once a ground ball comes my way I sorta just let go. On the other hand when I go up to hit most of the times I strike myself out with my lack of confidence. Any suggestions?
Sounds like you need to take the same approach at bat as you do in the field and react to the ball instead of over thinking it.
My 11 year old son is brillant at times pitching a complete game no hitter and batting over .400 in tournaments during the summer then we get to fall baseball and everyear it’s the same cycle-he can’t seem to throw a strike, seems timid at the plate and can’t even catch an easy fly ball. What can I do to help?
Is he on a different team in the fall with different coaches and players? If so, I’ve seen this before where kids don’t want to let down others or get punished by a certain coach.
Well, this is the first time he has played with this team in fall. He left his previous team because the coach was a yeller and screamer, so we found a better fit. He did great this past summer on the team, but has had a hard time re-grouping this fall. You might have something with him not wanting to let other down.
Hi,
My Son plays he si 12yrs. old. He plays little league and travel ball. He will like to pitch, but the coaches have not giing him a chance. He can throw and he has great control. We ask the coach to gie him chance and nothing happen.
I don’t know what to think! My son feels unwanted sometimes, because he knows can help the team and they are not giving him the opportunity to do help.
If you have any advice, I would appreciated very much.
My son is 10 years old and plays on a select/travel baseball team. This is his 2nd year on the same team. He is a great baseball player however struggles with his attitude on the field. He does not like to make errors, strike out, etc. He shuts down and gets really down on himself. He is a perfectionist. His coaches as well as his dad and I have tried to help him realize striking out, errors are a part of baseball. His coaches have turned to benching him to try to change his attitude. I don’t feel this is the right move. Do you have any tips for either his coaches or us as his parents?
Punishment does not work as it will not give him the tools to deal with perfectionism and his high expectations. He needs to learn how to control his reaction to mistakes instead of being punished for it–as this can make it worse.
Patrick Cohn
p.s. Check out The Composed Sports Kid CD.
Thank you so much for your response. My next question is, how do I relay this to his coaches without having them get upset with us thinking we are trying to tell them how to coach., when they obviously don’t know how to handle him? I will definately check out the Composed Sports Kid CD, it sounds like a great tool.
Thank you!
The best option is to rely on experts to tell your message instead of you being perceived as an upset parent. Check out the resources at our Sports Parent blog and print out some articles to share with the coaches: http://www.youthsportspsychology.com/youth_sports_psychology_blog/
im 16 and im a pitcher. maybe you can help me out when i pitch if i 3-0 on a batter i will come back and stirke him out but then ill have a guy 0-2 and walk him and ill get the first two batters out right away then ill walk the next guy with twi outs i dont know why that happens to me all the time
You probably try to protect the lead and are not aggressive with your throwing when you are ahead on the count compared to when you are behind and are forced to throw strikes.
My son is 15 and plays on a travel team and his high school team. He is a very good athlete made JV baseball team Freshman year. His main position is Catcher. He has become very fearful of playing in very high competitive games. Almost to the point where he doesn’t want to go. He loves baseball and looks forward to playing but if he makes one mistake the coach yells at him and he checks out. How does he overcome these fears. Does he talk to his coach or does he run the risk of the coach reactive negatively? I would hate for him to lose interest all together because of his fears.
He should be able to talk to the coach about how he reacts after mistakes, but make sure he focused on how he feels and not the coach’s behavior when he does talk to him. Also, he can’t worry about what the coach thinks if he wants to perform freely. He has to focus 100% on each pitch and let go of what might happen.