| The Coach's Corner / Inner Arrogance |
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I watched as the coach gave his rousing “pep talk” to his team. “A winner never quits and a quitter never wins”. “This is the big game. I want each of you to give 110%”. “ Leave it all on the field. Physical toughness isn't enough. You must be mentally tough” Nice bunch of cliches but you shouldn't play at 110%. Just make the play as you have 1000 times before. You don't play better by trying harder, you play worse! Mental toughness is, believing that you will make the play without heroic effort. I refer to it as “inner arrogance”. Mental toughness is not concerning yourself with those things over which you have no control. Understanding everyone makes errors and putting a misplay behind you and not letting it effect the next play. Mental toughness is, understanding you can't control the coach's decisions but that when you get a chance to perform you will be successful because you have the inner arrogance that believes that you don't have to make an heroic effort to succeed. Mental toughness is being disciplined enough to go 0-4 but realize that you had 3 quality ABS and that is all you can control and that you are not in a slump. Mental toughness is understanding that if the stud makes his pitches you will not be very successful but that eventually he will make a mistake and that you must not try to do too much with it but just execute a quality swing. Baseball is a game of failure. Just fail 2 out of 3 times at the plate for your career and you will end up in the Hall Of Fame but you failed 2 out of 3 times, can you deal with it? ARod is arguably the greatest player to ever play the game. He had an off year by his standards (.290, 33 HRs, 117 RBIs) a couple of years ago and an even worse post season. The brutal NY media and unknowledgeable fans were piling on pressure. Is he mentally tough enough to withstand the pressure? Can he find that “inner arrogance”? Well look at his stats last year. Your young ballplayer isn't ARod but he knows when he booted it. He knows when he failed at the plate. Will he develop that “inner arrogance” to know that he doesn't have to fall victim to attempting to use heroic effort to succeed? If he participates in a “home training program”, the effort he puts in will help him to develop that “inner arrogance”. He will have EARNED the right to succeed. Empower your young ballplayers with that “inner arrogance” that comes from EARNING the right to succeed. Yours In Baseball THE COACH www.tipsfromthecoach.com ARCHIVES
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Youth Sports Video
Gas Lites
Today in 1991, Houston QB
David Klingler sets NCAA
record with 6 touchdown
passes in the 2nd quarter
as the Cougars clobbered
Louisiana Tech 73-3.
