What Drives Success?

As parents and coaches we all want success for our kids and those we coach. Of course some days are better than others, aren't they? It is easy to marvel at and celebrate a player's or team's success after the fact but what is behind the success? In other words...what drives success on game day? 

Last weekend my 14u team captured our tournament bracket to come home with medals and trophy. Like all successful tournaments Sunday's are long and generally stressful with many close games. Our Sunday was no different as we came from behind to win three straight games, including a 2-1 thriller in the final.

As happens so often a team gets on a roll and their level of play elevates. Look at most any tournament bracket and the deeper into the bracket you go the closer the games get. All of this would seem contrary to common sense as players battle fatigue with each additional game they play, often in less than ideal weather conditions.

So what drives success?

Focus

As I write about often the successful player on game day is one who can exert a high level of focus and energy in the present moment, whether as a hitter, fielder, pitcher or base runner. This mental focus is a product of an athlete's being in a relaxed state, confident...in the zone.

Typically, as I witnessed on my team last Sunday, players step up with the big hits and big plays because they expect to. At the point of impact they have turned off their mind from negative, doubtful or over-analyzing thoughts and replaced them with a "can do," ultra focused mindset.

In the most critical moments of the biggest games the most successful athletes are able to block out all external and internal distractions and simply do what they have been trained to do.

Preparation

Success is also driven by great preparation. The reason an athlete can exert laser focus in the most pivotal moments of the game is because they feel extraordinarily confident that they are ready for battle...ready to be the difference maker. Competition, big at bats, big pitches becomes a challenge they expect to win, rather than moments to be feared.

Superior mental and physical preparation is necessary for game day success. There simply are no short cuts to greatness. Game day success requires high intensity, focus and energy during every practice to build competence as well as confidence.

Desire

Success is, perhaps, foremost driven by desire. On my team last weekend I witnessed so many of my players displaying so much desire -- an attitude of "refuse to lose" -- on elimination Sunday, proving once again that success is a choice. In a game where only one team can emerge as champion desire, effort, passion, energy all take center stage in determining the outcome.

The will to succeed is an amazing human trait to watch in action. I saw it time and again from 13 and 14 year old athletes who were truly driven to succeed.

Watching younger athletes driven to succeed is an incredible thing. In a world where so many take and give little these athletes give everything they have to achieve their individual and team goals. They are wired for competition, molded for success.

The next time you watch your athlete or team play marvel at their effort, their focus, their desire. Playing this game is a blessing for it teaches these athlete exactly how to succeed in the bigger game called life. If your athlete is truly driven to succeed celebrate it! Maybe you can learn a thing or two yourself along the way!

Take your athlete's game to the next level with The Game Changer Program. List $59.97...now only $29.97. This softball specific mental performance program is loaded with over 6 hours of game changing audio lessons, plus John Kelly's top selling ebook, How She Thinks is How She Plays, and more! Click here for more information.

Subscribe to our weekly Softball Smarts Tips for great insights, strategies and tips to help your athlete to perform her best on game day.

Follow my mental performance tips on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Follow @KellyEdge

The Confidence Cycle in Sports

For most younger athletes their game day success, particularly during the most pivotal moments of the game, all comes down to their belief in their ability to succeed or fail. In other words do they have adequate self-confidence on the field or court or not?

As I prepare in the coming weeks to launch what I believe will be a groundbreaking online mental performance course for athletes, parents and coaches, The Game Day Domination Course, my research on the subject of self-confidence for younger athletes (along with my own experiences as a game coach, mental performance expert and former collegiate athlete) has convinced me that self-confidence is not an accident. In fact I have concluded that self-confidence for any athlete is the product of a clearly defined "cause and effect" cycle that is quite predictable. Moreover this confidence cycle is a clear predictor of game day performance as well.

For your athlete to achieve and maintain a high level of self-confidence, and thus a high level of game day performance they will need to be mindful of their own "confidence cycle."

So what is the "confidence cycle" that ultimately propels or sabotages game day performance?

It all starts with how your athlete processes his or her performance. In other words what are the thoughts swirling around in their head before, during and after his or her games?

If those thoughts are expansive, positive, and "can do" they have laid a great foundation for their confidence cycle and game day success.

However, if their mental reaction to their game day performance is highly critical, negative, limiting and "can't do" he or she has created a rocky foundation for their confidence cycle and game day performance.

Below is a flow chart illustrating the cycle between the most important components that make up self-confidence:

The Confidence Cycle

 The cause and effect relationship between the components in the "confidence cycle" can be explained like this:

1. Your athlete holds certain beliefs about themselves and their game. These beliefs in themselves can be expansive or limiting (for example, they may believe they are competent in certain aspects of their game, but not others).

2. How your athlete reacts, via their thoughts, to a game event (in part based on their beliefs) will trigger specific thoughts (positive or negative; motivating or deflating; "can do" or "can't do") that will have an enormous impact on their emotional state.

3. Your athlete's emotional state will either allow him or her body to be relaxed or anxious; able to laser focus on the task at hand (play) or be unable to focus.

4. Your athlete's emotional state, triggered by their thoughts, will dictate in any given moment the level of self-confidence he or she will experience.

5. This confidence level will dictate their game day performance, particularly in the most pivotal moments of the game.

To summarize the "confidence cycle," when your athlete believes they can succeed in the execution of a future game event they likely will. Strong beliefs in future success come from: 

1. Previous game day successes.

2. A belief that the athlete has adequately trained or prepared themselves physically for game day success.

3. A supportive environment (coaches, parents, teammates).

4. Use of proper mental performance training to use mental imagery and other mental cues to prepare themselves mentally for game day success. 


An athlete who consistently dominates on game day is an athlete with:


1. Strong beliefs and expectancy for their game day success.

2. Positive, "can do" thoughts that sees every game as an exciting challenge.

3. A clearly defined "pre-game" and "in-game" plan or strategy to heighten both relaxation and mental focus that will allow them to optimally approach each game day situation proactively and by design.

4. Rock solid self-confidence is built from beliefs, thoughts and feelings of success, as well as a calm, relaxed and focused mind and body.


So be aware of the "confidence cycle" with your athlete and whether his or her "confidence cycle" is setting them up for game day success or failure.


Remember game day success is not an accident; it is cultivated and maintained by design and by choice. Supreme confidence is the key to sustained peak performance on game day.


Game day domination requires that your athlete be ultra prepared both physically and mentally. One without the other will never yield consistent game day performances. Find out how to improve your athlete's game day performance here.


Be sure to subscribe to Softball Smarts Tips here, where you'll receive weekly insights, strategies and tips on how to take your athlete's mental game to the next level.


Follow my mental performance tips on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Follow @KellyEdge

How Emotions Can Destroy Her Game Day Performance

Let's face the facts...all the hitting and pitching lessons you can afford, and all the ground balls and batting cages swings in the world won't matter a lick if your athlete folds under the pressures of the game.

I have seem countless players look fantastic in practice only to come unraveled during pivotal moments on game day. Why is that? There are certainly a number of contributing factors, all found between the ears. However, in today's post, I want to focus on how your athlete's emotional state can and will destroy her game day performance.

If you are a parent or a coach we all grapple with the weekly emotions of our teenage daughters/players, don't we? Teenage girls in general can be a handful, but add the stress, pressure and expectations of a softball diamond into the mix and these young ladies can quickly become their own worst enemies in a heartbeat!

Click here to make 2013 her best season yet!

The diagram below illustrates the impact your athlete's emotional state has on her performance. Your athlete has the choice of how she reacts to a "game event" by her "thoughts." Her thoughts (positive or negative) will trigger an emotional reaction. This emotional reaction will have a direct impact on the quality of her overall game day performance.
 


If the "chain reaction" of event / thoughts / emotions (feelings) is a positive and healthy one a domino effect of high performance will ensue. However if that "emotional" chain reaction is negative and limiting the domino effect can create a continual stream of poor performance during subsequent game events (or plays).

Here is an example of a negative emotional "chain reaction" that can destroy game day performance:

• An athlete makes a crucial error in the field and immediately engages in negative thought patterns that question her ability to succeed. She starts internal dialogue like, "I can't believe I missed that ball. I suck at shortstop."
• As these negative thoughts continue and compound the emotional reaction ensues. The athlete feels frustrated, angry or sad based solely on her reaction to her game event and the negative thoughts that bombard her head as a result.
• Now her emotional state is heightened in a negative and destructive way, including the inability to focus on the present moment and the task at hand.
• The athlete, as many do, takes her mistake in the field and carries it over to her next at bat. Unfocused with diffused energy and "can't do" thinking she strikes out and walks away with an even more elevated emotional instability as her frustration may now turn to anger. Her failure at the plate only serves to reinforce her own conclusions in her head that she "can't do it."
• For the remainder of that game (and perhaps several games that day or weekend) the athlete's emotional state prevents her from playing at an optimal level nor from enjoying the game. Her game day performance is dismal...far below her true softball potential.

Enjoy FREE Audio Lesson from the

Sports Confidence Blueprint program below!

Let's look at an example of a positive emotional "chain reaction" that can propel game day performance:

• An athlete strikes out with the bases loaded at a pivotal time in the game. Rather than engaging immediately in negative thought patterns she recognizes the pitcher made a great pitch and she can't wait for the challenge of hitting against her next time.
• These positive and healthy thought patterns lead to a healthy emotional reaction whereby the athlete is still disappointed in her strikeout but the overwhelming feelings are ones of excitement and determination to do better next time.
• Because of her positive and constructive emotional state she is able to remain focused in present moment awareness and is ready to attack the next task at hand.
• Any future game events will likely be approached with a "can do" attitude, minimizing the chances for adversity.
• For the remainder of that game and likely many more to follow this athlete will perform more near her true softball potential, while greatly enjoying the process of playing the game.

The solution to insuring optimal game day performance for your athlete lies in her ability to properly frame the results of a game event. If she expects perfection or is burdened by excessive external expectations (from parents or coaches), or simply lacks self-confidence a less than optimal game event can cause her emotional state and game performance to spiral downward rapidly. If she can frame the same game event positively and productively (as in "mistakes are part of the game and opportunities to learn" and "I see that opportunity as a challenge") then the potential negative impact from the game event will be minimized and game day performance can be optimized.

Simply stated your athlete's emotional states can expand or limit her game day potential for success. Here are three steps she can take to turn that frown upside down after a mistake:

1. Recognize how she is responding to the game event (what are her emotional habits?).

2. Acknowledge that she has a choice as to how she reacts to the event (taking responsibility for her emotions).

3. Frame the event more positively, focusing on the effort and process rather than simply the results (keeping it all in perspective).

Remember, how your athlete responds to adversity is always her choice. Help her to develop the mental tools she needs to dominate on game day!

**Give your athlete and his/her team the gift of self-confidence and peak performance with The Sports Confidence Blueprint program! On sale for only $39.97...full of a ton of mental performance resources!

  

The popular Game Changer Audio Program...over 6 hours of kid friendly mental performance instruction from expert John Kelly to help boost self-confidence, focus, and joy for playing the game is 

now 50% off...only $29.97!

***Subscribe to my FREE Softball Smarts Tips Here to make 2013 her best season yet!

Follow my new You Tube "Softball Performance Tips."

Read my daily "Sports Mental Minutes" on Facebook.

Follow @KellyEdge

She Needs to Focus on What She Wants! Find Out How

It's amazing how many people in the world are dissatisfied with the quality of their lives. And yet if they took the time to analyze the quality of their thoughts they would likely find that they are focusing on all the things they don't want instead of all the things they do want!

As humans we have in excess of 50,000 unique thoughts each and every day, as do our kids. And like their parents young athletes can tend to focus their thoughts on what they don't want...especially when it comes to their sports.

When your athlete is in a hitting or fielding slump her thoughts tend to drift to the dark side as she likely focuses on "not striking out," or "not making an error," or "not walking any batters." In reality all the subconscious mind hears is "strike out," or "make an error," or "walk batters." You may think I am crazy but this has been scientifically proven. When your athlete uses the words "don't" or "not" she is perpetuating her poor performance.

To break free from this negative thought cycle and the boomerang effect that can occur your athlete needs to develop the habit of doing the following 5 actions:

 1. Recognize how she currently thinks. Be mindful of the negative focus and the language she uses, and how those thoughts can dominate her head before and during the game; particularly in the key, high stress moments.

2. Begin to develop clarity on the exact results and goals she wishes to see. Without knowing exactly what she wants it will never materialize for her.

3. Start using visualization or mental imagery before going to bed or first thing in the morning of game day to literally start "seeing" the results she wants in her head.

Are you kidding me...The Game Changer Program is 50% OFF until March 9...Now Only $29.98. For less than the cost of a 30 minute hitting lesson your athlete can master her mental game and change her 2012 season forever.

4. Develop positive self talk and positive "trigger statements" that she can use in the batter's box, in the field or in the circle to maintain positive "can do" focus.

5. Remain super aware of where her focus and thoughts are throughout the game. While on deck or going out to play defense or walking out to the circle flip on the switch to thinking and seeing the exact results she wants. This will create laser focus and tremendous positive energy, and produce a much higher level of game day performance and joy in playing.

The bottom line, as long as your athlete continues to focus her thoughts on the results she doesn't want she will keep getting those exact results. To use an old zen saying, "What you resist persists."

Once she can employ the habit of focusing her thoughts, focus and energy on all the things and results she does want, while building the daily habits in this article, those exact results will start showing up for her with much greater frequency!

Follow @KellyEdge