Whether you are a pitcher, catcher, infielder outfielder, hitter, college player, high school player, club player, or association player, you’ve probably felt overwhelmed and stressed out at one point or another in your softball career. Softball stress is common, especially as you get into the older age groups where athletes have additional responsibilities outside of the game. Softball stress may occur due to internal and external pressure to succeed, the fear of failure, and meeting expectations set by coaches, parents and players themselves.
It’s most common for softball players to feel overwhelmed and stressed out when things aren’t going well. Maybe you find yourself in a hitting slump, or you are missing your corners more than usual from the mound and you’re giving up hit after hit. When things aren’t going well, it’s easy for negative thoughts and actions to spiral and for athletes to shut down mentally and physically. We all play the game to win and succeed. Having fun is also a big piece to the puzzle, especially at the younger levels, but if you struck out every at bat and your team lost every game, would you still be having fun? Probably not. Succeeding is fun, and it is something we strive for the second we lace up our cleats and step in between the lines.
The fear of failure is also common among softball players in today’s game. It’s hard for athletes to perform when they are feeling this way. Remind your athletes that we play a sport where they are going to fail way more than they will succeed. Think about it, if a hitter is batting .300 which is considered to be an outstanding batting average and one that everyone should shoot for, that means they have really only succeeded in three out of ten at bats. That hitter failed seven times out of ten at bats!
Finally, not meeting expectations set by coaches, parents, and ourselves is another reason why a softball player may experience stress. Expectations set by coaches and parents may be different than the ones we set for ourselves. Often times, elite athletes are harder on themselves than the coaches and the parents are. This is because elite athletes hold themselves to a different standard than anyone else. They are the ones who are putting in the extra work when no one else is watching. When the extra work doesn’t show or pay off, it’s common for the athlete to get down on herself. Have you ever heard the term, “own worst critic?” This occurs when players don’t live up to their own expectations.
Softball stress is common and the longer you stay in the game, the more you will experience it, no matter how hard you try to avoid it. You are going to experience internal and external pressure to succeed, you are going to fail multiple times, and you will fail to meet expectations set by coaches, parents, and yourself. Once players are able to recognize that failure is inevitable to the game of softball, that is when they will begin to succeed.
