WebBall.com - Baseball Confidence Toolkit

Baseball Confidence Toolkit

Tom Hanson A practicing psychologist who specializes in sports, Dr. Tom Hanson has also been a college baseball coach. That makes him a rare breed, and uniquely equipped to provide not only good advice, but in the right context for baseball. Look for his series of articles to continue to expand, and for more direct ways you can tap into his experience and mentoring programs through WebBall. (Click to close.)

Here are two Mental Game Power Tools every player and coach (and parent!) should have in his toolbox for baseball confidence.

Mental Game Power Tool #1

Tell your heart rate to speed up right now. Go ahead, say, “speed up, Mr. Heart.”

Good luck, right?

Now, vividly imagine you’re being chased through the woods by a ferocious 10-foot-tall brown bear. Imagine he’s racing toward you, roaring with rage and you can see the fury in his eyes! You know you’ll be ripped limb from limb unless you can reach your car before he gets you.

Take a few moments to see, hear and feel that scene and your heart rate will go up (even though you are simply sitting at your computer).

Words are very powerful, but they’re a distant second to pictures.

Your IMAGINATION is a mental game power tool. Your mind does not do a good job of distinguishing between what is real and what is imagined. If it did, imagining (or dreaming of) a bear attack would have no effect on your heart rate.

You can trick yourself into believing you’ve had an experience (let’s say succeeding at the next level of play from where you are now), by repeatedly and vividly imagining it happening.

In order to succeed at the next level you need to create a new self-image. That is, you need to see (imagine) yourself as being capable of performing at that level.

You can’t outperform your self-image.

All the Big Leaguers I’ve talked to say the final break-through they needed to really stick there was to believe they belonged. Their self-image was such that they saw themselves as fitting in with that elite crowd.

If you can’t see it, you won’t be it.

Mental Game Power Tool #2

“You are what you repeatedly do.”

I forget who said that, many smart people have said it in different forms, but the second power tool is HABIT.

I’ve heard that 95% of our actions are done by habit, leaving only 5% to conscious choice.

If that’s even close to true, the lesson for baseball performance is huge: develop great habits.

Under pressure you revert to your dominant (most strongly engrained) action. That’s why your new swing doesn’t show up in a game right away. And that’s why habits are more powerful than good intentions.

All other things being equal, the players and teams with the best habits will win.

Great players do the right things every day.

They practice right, they condition right, they think right.

Over time the right things become habits. The players take the actions that improve their performance each day, and those actions become hard-wired into their bodies.

Researchers usually say it takes around 30 days for a new behavior to become a habit.

Combine today’s two power tools and you get the

following: Over the next 30 days, make a habit of imagining yourself doing things greater than you already do them.

If you can do that, more power to you!

Coaches, you can use this information by simply asking a player if he can see himself playing great at the next level. If he says yes, ask him for some details on what he sees, what he hears and what he feels when he’s imagining it.

Just getting him to describe a scene or two where he’s the hero or plays great will get him on the right track. Then encourage him to do that every day.

Reader Commentary: 3 responses | WebBall members are invited to comment.

Coach Robb SOCAL says:
Feb 11, 2007 at 6:42 PM

OUTSTANDING Information! This is what I've been looking for. I have kids that I coach that have great swing mechanics but no plate confidence what so ever. They can be great hitters but they just don't believe it. Thanks for providing this wonderful website

Coach David says:
Jul 18, 2007 at 9:53 AM

Excellent! This is what I've been needing. I believe a number of my kids that I coach lack confidence. They can be great players but they just don't believe it. Thanks for providing this information.

Coach Hernandez says:
Feb 04, 2008 at 3:49 PM

The "Head Game" is where you begin to see the difference between average or mediocre players and good to better than average players. This is especially true for those that were born a bit short on talent, but work hard at skills. The head game is a skill that can be learn regardless of your genetic potential. I'll take a kid with average talent but who works hard at developing his skills over the kid long on talent but does not have the "Habit" of discipline to work hard on skills. Add the "head game" and you can truly see a big difference in performance..."you've got to believe!"