For a lot of young ballplayers, they will fall short of their abilities & potential because they hold the assumption that their talent is what’s keeping them from getting to the next level.
To an extent, that's true. Talent is a prequisite for playing at a high level, but once you're there and have master the fundamentals, the deciding factor is the mental game.
More specifcally, mental toughness and the ability to compete with confidence.
How To Develop Mental Toughness.
Mental toughness is for many players, the missing link to becoming a complete package.
So many fall short or fail to reach their trust potential because they are letting aspects of the game that are beyond their control affect their perspective, mentality, and ultimately their performance.
Fortunately, mental toughness is a skill that can be taught, learned, and developed. It requires zero talent.
Only a willingness & commitment to step out of one's comfort zone.
Here are some ways to reinforce mental toughness.
Learn To Bounce Back Quickly w/ Game-Ready-Presence.
Often times, we miss opportunities to be successful on the field because our mind is stuck in the past. The previous strikeout, bad call by the ump, negative feedback from the coach, or error.
When we learn how to bounce back quickly by being "game-ready-present", we learn a skill that all elite players have.
The ability to bounce back quickly. Eventually, we learn to love adversity.
Play With Intent.
do we know we can hit or do we hoping we can hit? Are we swinging to do damage or to not miss?
Are we playing win or not lose?Big, big difference.Napoleon Bonaparte said that the moral is to the physical as three to one. In other words, the emotion and presence you bring to the field will dictate how far your physical abilities will carry you.
Use Reframes.
In baseball, there’s no such thing as good or bad. Good or bad is a result of your interpretation. When you go 0-4, you have a choice to interpret it as proof you suck. Or an opportunity to learn and get better.
An injury could be a major setback or a chance to reset priorities and heal.
A bad coach could be a burden or a reminder to be so good you can’t be ignored.
My favorite reframe when I was playing was to think that each at-bat we’re I didn’t get on, was just one at-bat closer to one where I did.
Fail quickly. Fail often. Learn from your mistakes.
Use a reframe.
Be Challenged On Each Pitch.
You can’t take pitches off if you want to be an elite player. Being challenged on each pitch is about being a great competitor.
How you decide to play this game today will define you tomorrow.
When you’ve proven to yourself that you’re leaving it out on the field each day, eventually what you will find is confidence.
This is the type of confidence that stays when you’ve hit adversity because it’s "confidence" you earned.
Forget Hitting For Power
When we try hitting the ball far, we tend to get big with the swing. we begin to collapse the back-side too early, bar the lead arm, lung, and end up pulling balls we have no business pulling.
When we try hitting the ball hard, we stay within ourselves. We attack the inner-half of the ball which creates back-spin and carry.
All of a sudden, we’re letting the travel a tik deeper in the zone, and now we’re driving the ball hard to all parts of the field.
Forget hitting the ball far. Hit the ball hard.
Train Your Baseball Vision
Based on user surveys, 95% of hitters training in Applied Vision Baseball have said they feel MORE confident & are more consistent in recognizing & reacting to high-velocity fastballs & hard breaking balls.
