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Article - Transitions and Downtime
Excerpt from Focused for Fastpitch by Gloria Solomon and Andrea Becker
As previously mentioned, softball invites the opportunity to have too much time to think. Much of the actual time on the field is not spent performing. This downtime allows the players to expend mental energy on uncontrollable obstacles such as weather conditions and fatigue. In addition, when transitioning from offense to defense, and defense to offense, players are faced with unique mental challenges to sustain performance consistency. If there is a long offensive inning, a player might come out of the dugout feeling flat and lacking energy as she makes the transition to defense. A player must know her distinct roles and responsibilities, both offensively and defensively, so that she can direct her attention to the demands of each role. The mentaphysical drills in this book offer players concrete mental strategies for dealing with these situations. By using these drills, players will have the ability to rise to the challenge of playing a sport that consists of short, quick bursts of activity over a long period of time.
The time immediately following a game provides a great opportunity for the coach to address the team while the competition is still fresh in everyone’s mind. This is a good time to evaluate goals. What were the team goals for that game? Did the team meet some of their goals? Which goals did they not meet? What obstacles confronted the team? What will they do differently next time? Players typically know what they did or didn’t do well during the course of a game. Instead of telling them about what they did wrong, the coach should try to focus on what they did right and what they could do better next time. An open conversation with the team allows learning, goal evaluation, and problem solving to take place. This will help prepare the players for future games. Here are some suggestions on topics to address and avoid during post-game discussions:
Dos
Acknowledge good teamwork
Allow players to bring up their own mistakes and tell them how each mistake can be corrected
Emphasize goals that were met and emphasize team mission
Reinforce the contributions of all players, including those who did not compete
Dont’s
Don’t emphasize one player over another
Don’t harangue players who make mistakes
Don’t overemphasize unmet goals
Don’t tell the team they are not good enough
Most coaches have mastered the physical components of softball; many are savvy about the tactics of smart play; but few are able to fully develop the mental qualities in their players that will help them excel. The purpose of the following seven chapters is to offer the serious coach and player the resources to learn how to “think the game” before, during, and after competition. The emphasis is on the premise of the mentaphysical approach--players will learn how to use mental skills effectively if those skills are taught simultaneously with physical skills. Figure 2.5 can be used to help coaches and players evaluate their performance for each drill that fits their position. A sample entry is listed to get started.
This is an excerpt from the book
Focused for Fastpitch by Gloria Solomon and Andrea Becker.
Copyright 1998 by Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc.
Excerpted by permission of Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL.
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