Hitting
On Deck Preparation
Softball Coach
As with the Mental Preparation,
your On Deck Prep is vital to your success.
Here you have several things to do and a very short time
to do it.
This means there is Zero Time for chatting with fans
in the stands.
Your coach may have a few words of advice or encouragement,
but then you must put your mind at ease and block out all outside distractions.
This is not unlike going into your room and closing the
door when you just want to be alone.
During this time take some slow swings just to remind
your muscles the way you want them to perform, then go to several quick
ones, to limber up.
Take that one last look in your mind at the ball coming
in and you swinging and hitting it.
When you are able to convince yourself that you can do
it, you will be able to do it.
This is now the time, right before you get up there,
to think of something to relax you, something you are able to relate to.
Some of our girls even think of something funny that
happened to them sometime before.
Basically you want to think of
something that will settle your nervous tension.
Most on deck batters think about
the score and what will happen if they strike out or letting the team down
if they don't do good.
This type of thinking will only
add to increased tension and make for a very stiff batter.
This is not good !!!!!
Did you ever seem to notice that when you get a decent
lead, everyone on your team seems to do so much better?
The hits come easier, the fielding becomes more aggressive
and the errors just disappear.
Is this because you are just having a good game, or maybe
the other team isn't good?
It is usually neither, yes you are having a good game
because your nervous tension is gone, you are less fearful of making a
mistake, your muscles are loose and you are HAVING FUN.
When you are having fun you are RELAXED
All in all it is the Seasoned and Well Rounded Player
who is able to stay relaxed in the heat of the most intense game. She is
the one that has been able to train her mind to put her fears and anxieties
away.
I am sure you have all heard of the old saying,
"She folded under the pressure"
Nothing could be more TRUE
Stop and think about it-----------------------------
Get rid of the pressure and you will always do better.
Coaches and Parents are usually the Biggest
Problems when it comes to increasing pressure.
We have all either seen, played
for one, or may even have one around on your current team.
Just recently we have encountered
one of the "Classic Cases"
A Head Coach's wife and the mother
of one of the players, constantly complaining to the coaches in the dugout
as to why they are doing one thing or another--During a Game--,
Standing behind the dugout yelling
at the players, "Come on, you are swinging like a rusty gate, Hit the_____Ball."
This has gotten so bad that even
some of the girls have stepped out of the batter's box and told her to
shut up.
This mother actually thinks she
is doing the girls good and the Head Coach does nothing to stop her.
This is so very wrong------and
the team's record reflects the players tensions and anxieties for they
have not won a single tournament game yet.
We have seen this from the youngest
age group all the way through college level.
Coaches
Always remember that players do need structure, discipline,
motivation and must be pushed in practice to perform to the best of their
ability.
All players, repeat, ALL PLAYERS make errors at one time
or another and there is a right way and a wrong way to deal with it.
Screaming, yelling and humiliating them in front of the
fans is definitely the wrong way.
Putting pressure on the girl when she is on deck will
only force her to do worse.
Not only that, but it puts a great deal of stress on
the other players.
You may not think so, but it does---stress is a Cancer
that will eat your team apart within seconds-----seconds
Parents when you say things to your daughter when she
is up to bat, these words will definitely reach her ears and will do nothing
to help her.
Have you ever said things like, move up in the box, widen
your stance, snap your wrists, don't hitch?
This only makes her more self conscious at a time when
she should be very relaxed and try to rely on muscle memory.
You may think you are doing her good, but you are only
causing her more harm than good.
Beside the fact when you are in the bleachers, you are
not her coach and she should only be listening to her coach. Her coach
may tell her to be doing something different in order to try to help her
and you may only be confusing her.
You put her in a very awkward position, she wants to
please her coach and also wants to please you and now you have put enormous
pressure on her.
Pressure she does not need in the Batters Box or in the
On Deck Circle.
We will cover more of this on another page.
Mental
Preparation Proper
Swing Mechanics Practice
Hitting Drills
Bcak
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