Over the years I have learned a great deal about the mental game of softball and how it impacts the way we play the game. Now the percentages vary but one theory is pretty well accepted: There are some days when you feel great and your play great, let’s say 20% of the games you play. There are also some days that you feel awful and your play is in the same neighborhood, let’s say about 20% of the games you play. Which means that the majority of the days you play you feel somewhere between great and horrible.
These days are the days that determine whether you are a good player or not.
What you do with the vast majority of days where you start somewhere in the middle ground between feeling great and horrible will go a long way to determine what kind of career you are likely to have. Where the mental game is so important is that it allows us to have the skills that allow us to manage these days and push our performance into a higher level. Mental game skills allow players to manage these days and make choices that allow them to play much better.
Players who invest in their mental game, positive thinking, visualization, confidence building and many other things that help them control the way they play have many fewer bad days because they have the skills to pick their game up when they are feeling low.
Invest in your mental game and good things will happen. I promise!
