Controlling What We Can in Softball

Controlling What We Can in Softball

What do we really have control over?  Controlling what we can in softball will not only enhance your game but give you an additional tool to maintain the flow or stay in your zone for competition.

This game has no shortage of controllable and uncontrollable elements that have a tendency to interfere with our game and when we consider how controlling what we can in softball will improve the game, it might become a must . Lets look at a few of the most common ones that can be the most distracting.

Controlling What We Can in Softball

We have no control over:

  • umpires
  • opponents
  • spectators
  • weather
  • Coaches decisions
  • Field conditions
  • tournament draws
  • teammates

We have control over:

    • our pre-game routine
    • our effort level
    • how we utilize our practice time
    • our nutrition (sometimes depending on age)
    • our fluid intake during competition
    • our training off the field
    • our off season training
    • how we interact with our teammates
    • our relationship with our coach
    • our short and long term development in this game
    • how we respond to things that we do not have control over

What we do with control

I might have left some items out and you can add to this list for sure. Now your responsibility is to make sure that first you know what the differences are and that you take action to make sure you make use of the things that you do have control over to enhance your game.

Knowing the differences will also alleviate some of the anxiety that can come with not agreeing with a call by the umpire for example or even being able to re-focus after a bad call which we see at every level of the game. You have no control over it and if it is one to be visited it will be done by your coach who has the right to question rule calls but can only ask for a second opinion for judgement calls. There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking an umpire in a friendly manner what the call was or to explain a call (at the right time) or better yet you can ask your coach when you come off the field.

It’s the things that we have no control over that appear to have the most effect on the mental game during competition. Being able to put those things in perspective and having a strategy for re-focusing will allow you to be able to sort of mentally detach from the event or the situation so that you can focus on the task at hand…. YOUR GAME.

Its important to take ownership of the things you have control over because those are the things that will determine how well you develop in this great game. Use your resources to become the best player that you can be given your situation. Use your coach, your provincial sport governing body and your national sport governing body web site to find useful tools for your development just to name a few.

You can be assured that you should get good reliable information from these sources. It might be that the one considering this information is an adult recreation player who is playing with friends or a minor player aspiring to attain a scholarship or even a coach. You do have control over your destiny.