running the ball

Question
hey dave
when we practice, i really good at running the ball but when it comes too games, i seem too be afraid to get hit.
any tips for overcoming this?
thanks alot, lewis.

Answer
Hello Lewis

First, it would be helpful to get clear on how long you've felt that way.  When did it start?  Were you injured, or someone close to you, or did you see an injury on a game on TV?  Sometimes, we personalize something that happens to someone else and let it affect our performance.  Or if we have an injury, even after it heals we let it affect us without realizing it.  By thinking about whatever is going, we can often change our perspective and overcome it.

Something else you can do is use mental training to trade that nervousness about getting hit for confidence. Get relaxed, close your eyes, and take five slow deep breaths.  Then, picture or imagine a time when you felt really confident. It could be doing anything, as long as you felt confident doing it.  Really focus on that, everything you saw, heard, felt and experienced.  Now let a word represent that feeling of confidence from that experience, it can be any word.  Let that word - your key word - become attached really strongly to that feeling of confidence.  Practice this a lot.  When it's working well, and you feel that confidence when you hear, say or think about your key word, than visualize going on the playing field, use your key word, and pull in that confidence.  Practice this a lot and what will happen is when you go on the field and say your key word, your confidence flows into you and you feel great.  I've helped many players using this tool - it works!

Good luck and let me know how it goes.

David

David Kenward, The Mental Coach
Sacramento, California
http://www.thementalcoach.com