Staying Focused During Practice
Keeping practice interesting is a big challenge for professional players that spend as much as eight hours a day practicing and playing ball. It’s also a challenge for amateur players who practice more than two hours at a time.
When you are bored with practice, you don’t feel challenged enough.
This can lead to less than optimal concentration, which can cause ineffective practice.
What can you do if you feel bored?
If you become bored during practice take a 15-minute break to relax and clear your mind. Put down the bat or mitt, relax, and have something to eat or drink.
To keep practice interesting and exciting, practice goals are important.
Set goals to challenge yourself during batting practice.
For example, you can challenge yourself to hit 7 out of 10 solid shots. Imagine yourself in a game situation and try to hit the ball in play 7 of 10 tries. Play an entire 9 innings in batting practice. The more “games” you can play to make practice interesting, the better your focus. Reward yourself for meeting your practice goals.
Creating competition in practice is another great way to keep the fun and excitement in practice.
Be creative with your practice, challenge yourself or play a game with a friend. Have a batting contest with a friend or teammate. One game I like is “call your shot.” Two players are needed to play this game. Each person takes 10 pitches. One person starts by calling his shot such as hard line drive down the center. The other player calls the next pitch and you alternate until you finish the 10 shots.
Next time you get bored and lose focus, try the “two-minute drill.”
The goal of this drill is to sharply focus attention on practice for just two minutes. I know you can focus for two minutes! See how keenly you can focus for those two minutes. When the two minutes are over you can relax and space out if you want.
The goal is to practice with focus and intensity for short periods. Short bursts of intense focus with periods of rest or inactivity is better than practicing with 50% focus for the entire practice. What you will find is that you can stretch it out to four or five minutes instead of just two minutes at a time.
Related Sports Psychology Articles
- How to Use Your Mind to Practice
- Integrating Mental Training Into Practice
- Taking Practice Confidence To Games
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