by slapperdad » Thu Sep 13, 2018 6:30 am
I'm not sure there are any specific phrases per se. I think the main thing is staying positive. Again particularly with female athletes, they tend to beat themselves up bad enough as it is. The last thing they need is parents and coaches piling on. I always felt the hardest thing as a coach for me was getting kids to move on past mistakes. We used the "One Pitch Warrior" phrase constantly, "so what, next pitch". 0fer the day, so what next pitch. You just made a crucial error that lead to three runs for your opponent, so what next pitch. Your pitcher can't fall out of the boat and hit water so far....so what next pitch. The ONLY thing you have any control over is what happens on the next pitch. You have no control over yesterday, last inning, last play, your focus needs to remain forward. You mind has to be clear and focused on the next pitch.
I once read an interview with Michael Jordan, and he was talking about Phil Jackson's coaching in the post season. He spoke about Jackson's positive mentality. Jordan's quote, and I'm paraphrasing is when you're in the middle of a championship series, you can't expend energy on negative input. He said Jackson was a master at this. He brought no negative energy to the equation.
As someone who's always focused on the mind side of sports, even as an athlete. I took the approach in crucial situations, "hey what a great opportunity". Tying run's on third, winning run's on second, bottom of the 7th. You know the kid's a bundle of nerves. Take a time out and tell her, hey, what a great opportunity? This is what you dream of, this is what you've trained your whole life for, this is what all those blisters have lead to, now go have some fun. Why not take that approach, rather than turning the screws and putting more pressure on her?
A little side note, as my daughter grew up, I would often slip notes into her shoes in her gym bag or bat bag whatever the sport was. Just little notes of encouragement, knowing that putting her shoes on would be one of the last things she did before she went on the court, diamond, or field. I always let her know not only myself, but her coaches and teammates believe in her. As well as a bunch of cliched sports analogies, etc. We never spoke of these notes, she never said anything and neither did I. Until her senior night in high school when one of them showed up on her collage board. She told me after reading that I was ready to kick anyone's ass who stood in our way of winning, how could I not be? She hugged me and said "Dad you'll never know what those little notes meant to me". After she went off to college, I didn't have access to her shoes anymore, so I just had to shoot her a short text.
The gist of all this is, stay positive, females by their nature want to please you. Most people get beat down enough as it is.
Every man lives by a code:
1.Always look cool
2.Never get lost
3.If you get lost, look cool