Nervous

Question
I have a problem. When I play baseball with my friends, family etc. I don't get nervous, but when i go to a tryout or play for a baseball team, I turn into a nervous wreck and play horrible. Making mistakes I know I can avoid. while I'm playing in the field its constantly me thinking "what if i drrop the flyball, miss the groundball and it rolls to the fence." I fear failure before it even happens.

I know I'm a lot better then this. i really want to show those guys that say I suck, I'm really good. But instead of using the anger for help, i end up not using it all because the nervousness has me always thinking of failure.

Its funny when i have no pressure I do great, no matter how hard i try to stop it come a tryout or game time it controls me like it wants me to fail on purpose. any help would be good to overcome this.

Answer
Hello Luis

I see a lot of people in my office who are in similar situations.  They do great when there's no pressure, but under pressure they don't perform to their potential.  The MOST IMPORTANT thing for you to understand is that success IS INSIDE of you, because you CAN perform the skills.  That means you CAN succeed, you just need to learn to make pressure your friend.  

The first thing for you to do is change your language.  When you are thinking the "what if I mess up" then you are heading right for it.  What you need to do is get in the habit, through practicing it, of saying things like I'm catching this ball, this grounder is mine, etc.  I've helped a lot of players improve just by doing this.  It helps you shift your focus from negative to positive.  Remember, you already HAVE the skills, you need to put them into your head in a positive way.

Another thing that can really help you is mental training.  Here is a tool that I teach lots of players.

Sit down, relax, take five slow deep breaths, then picture or imagine playing a really great game.  You are catching the flyball and fielding the groundball easily and feeling confident and focused.  Make it a multi-media experience - the sights, the sounds, the smells, the physical feelings and how you feel inside, catching the flyball and fielding the groundball easily and feeling confident and focused.  After doing this for a few minutes, take a deep breath and open your eyes.  Stand up, stretch and shake it off.  Now repeat your imagination exercise.  After you've done this about 20 times, you are ready to take it to the next level.

This time, when you imagine catching the flyball and fielding the groundball easily and feeling confident and focused, choose a word or gesture that you link to that feeling (like the word SUCCESS or the gesture of pumping your fist).  As you practice this (a lot) your mind will learn to associate the word or gesture with the feelings of confidence and focus you've been building with your imagination practice.  What will happen is when you get into a real game, you say your word or do your gesture, and you WILL feel that confidence and focus.  And that confidence and focus is the key to you doing your best.  This may sound simple, but we learn by association (it's how our brain is wired) and now you are doing it on purpose.  I've helped many players improve using tools like this, they work!

Good luck and let me know how it goes.

David

David Kenward, The Mental Coach
Sacramento, California
http://www.thementalcoach.com
Win the Mental Game: Perform better under pressure in any sport
Private sessions / Group seminars