“The most difficult
aspect of baseball is concentration. Being able
to put everything out of your mind while standing at the
plate is not easy”, Cal Ripken Jr., retired Baltimore
Orioles infielder and future hall of famer.
Concentration is defined as the
direction of attention to a single object. Concentration
is easiest when our confidence is highest. When a ballplayer
is going well and his confidence is high, he or she experiences
a tremendous ability to concentrate on the task at hand.
The ball looks larger when being thrown by the pitcher.
The ground balls seem to be hit with easy hops for fielding.
Everything seems to come easy and the athlete’s game just
flows. But, when confidence is low for a ballplayer
even the easiest task can seem very difficult and the
athlete’s concentration wanders.
The good new
about concentration is that it’s a skill that can be learned
and improved. The first step is to be able to understand
and identify when distracting thoughts are present and
knowing if they are internally or externally generated.
The externally generated thoughts can be referred to as
uncontrolable elements. Quite often you may hear
young ballplayers complain about such things as the weather,
the field conditions, the lighting, what the fans are
saying, what the other team is saying, the umpires calls,
etc. All these things are uncontrollable and
in many situations are the same for both teams.
Therefore, the ballplayer must accept these things as
uncontrollable and move his or her efforts towards concentrating
on the things he or she can control. These are things
such as our pre-game routines, playing with enthusiasm,
running hard on every ball hit, listening and watching
coaches for signs and instruction. All of these
things are in the control of the individual player and
will have a greater impact on a player’s performance than
if the player was able to change one of the uncontrollable
items they might be focusing on.
Internally generated
distraction often comes from negative thoughts or negative
self-talk. When a player starts to experience difficulty
or what some outside the game of baseball might see as
failure, a player's self confidence starts to diminish
and can continue on a downward spiral with the addition
of reinforcing negative self-talk. It is easy to
get discouraged playing a game that was designed to produce
statistically poor results according to how we typically
measure success outside of baseball. Failure is part of
the game of baseball and those who understand it, but
don’t concede to it will have the best chance at succeeding
over the long run. If you strike out, get thrown
out, miss a ground ball, throw a wild pitch, drop a fly
ball, or any other thing that happens even to Major Leaguers,
make an adjustment and move on. Your most important
at bat will be your next at bat. Your most important
ground ball will be your next ground ball, and so on and
so on. Learn from the present, but look forward
to the future.
One of the key
elements to concentration in the game of baseball is always
knowing where the ball is and what your responsibility
is to the ball when you come in contact with it.
If this sounds abstract, maybe it is. But if you’re on
base, always know where the ball is and who has it.
If you’re at bat, always know where the ball is and what
you are looking for and trying to do with a ball thrown
in the strike zone. If you are playing defense,
know where the ball is at all times before and after each
pitch is thrown, so you know where to play, where to back
up throws, and where to throw the ball when it comes to
you, etc. Focus your thoughts on the ball
and the rest of the game around you will not be as distracting.
Wear your mental
CAP.
Concentration
Attitude
Preparation
Get
the look...look DEAD RED
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