We all wish we had the natural talent and athleticism to be the best. Unfortunately that is not how it works for most of the world and for most high school aspiring athletes. Even the best athletes have to learn how to win. The message is the always the same, have the confidence in your ability and do the things you can do to make yourself successful and your team successful. As coaches we are helping raise young adults and so when they graduate and move on if they are confident in their skills and abilities then we have done our job, sports is merely the avenue to get them there.
The message never changes, control your attitude, your effort and preparation. When athletes give 110% in each area then they will have the confidence when they step into competition because you have prepared and worked for this moment. This feeling of confidence is from off season work, outworking teammates and pushing each other at practice. Putting in extra time when people least expect it. We do this because we want to win and athletes have to learn how to win. Winning does not just happen it takes time and effort. Teenage athletes see the glitz and the glamour of professional athletics, they see the result of hard work, sweat and failure.
My athletes are successful when they focus on the process in whatever sport. My baseball team hears me say "win the pitch" all we can control is what are we doing on the next pitch. Hitters work the count, pitchers get ahead, runners and defenders know the situation and what should you do. If we as a team win pitches then we put ourselves in an opportunity to win At Bats (AB's) if we win AB's then we will win innings and when we win innings we win games. This approach of breaking it down gives teenagers more structure to the game. This does a couple things, it helps them keep perspective on the task at hand and it helps to slow the game down and let it come to them.
The message of win pitches has proven to be rather successful because it has given my players the confidence to work counts, earning walks and getting base hits. We have been more productive with two strikes, two out RBI's and ultimately fewer runners are being stranded.
My team is young, I love coaching this level because as athletes enter high school they typically have not had to outwork another team because of the level of play, when they learn this and are able to apply it then I know that the results will follow. The earlier they learn this the better as they will have more opportunity to apply it. When they experience this they start to gain confidence and then some will breed it in teammates and now leadership starts to manifest.
By keeping athletes focused on the process we give them a better chance to be successful and give them an understanding of the attitude and effort that it takes to win. Putting them in situations where they can be successful, will give them the chance to gain more confidence in themselves that they can then take into the world as young adults when they leave your program. Continue to focus on the process and the results will take care of themselves. Give your athletes a chance to be confident in their ability and all, players, coaches and parents will benefit.
