5 Surefire Predictors of Her Success or Failure

[Southpaw729]

Even though I've been in the game of fastpitch for awhile I am not clairvoyant and don't claim to have a crystal ball. However, when it comes to predicting the absolute level of game day success a softball player will have I'm pretty confident I could do so blindfolded!

Yes...if I have just a handful of facts and a brief conversation with your athlete, without ever watching her play, I could tell you how good a player she is and will become with pinpoint accuracy.

How can I do that? Let me explain my magic.

As in life softball success is predictable based on a number of key factors, the most important of which is the Law of Cause and Effect; that every action empirically causes a specific and measurable reaction. Author Tony Robbins describes the process like this:

". . . the most powerful way to shape our lives is to get ourselves to take action. The difference in the results that people produce comes down to what they’ve done differently from others in the same situations. Different actions produce different results. Why? Because any action is a set cause in motion, and its effect builds on past effects to move us in a definite direction. Every direction leads to an ultimate destination: our destiny."

Yes, I too had to read that passage a couple of times to really understand what Robbins was trying to say. After I figured it out it seems perfectly applicable to any athlete's sports "destiny."

One's destiny, in essence, is always shaped by choice; a choice of effort, a choice of attitude, a choice of preparation; a choice of purpose. And, thus, these different choices become the primal cause that shapes the ultimate levels of success and performance one athlete achieves versus another athlete.

Show me an elite athlete all the college coaches are drooling over and more often than not that athlete became elite as a result of the decisions, the actions, and the choices she has made for years.

As I often say, success simply is not an accident. An athlete succeeds by design. And a well designed and well executed plan will, as Robbins says, set in motion causes which will produce predictable effects, or results.

Here is an even more startling fact about athletic performance; right decisions, actions and choices made over time will absolutely accelerate any athlete's success because these actions become cumulative in nature. They truly build upon one another and, in fact, become habits that are the true predictors of consistent game day success.

And, perhaps, the biggest "cause and effect" benefit to your athlete approaching her success by design is that her self-confidence will skyrocket over time as she sees her decisions, actions and choices pay off on the field.

Here are five surefire "predictors" of your athlete's level of softball success:

1. Does she have clearly defined goals? In other words, why does she play the game? If she can develop and be motivated by the "why" she plays, keeping the end goal(s) in mind, she will have the right foundation and focus to accelerate her success.

2. How bad does she want success? This is the most powerful "cause" there is in predicting any athlete's success. It defines the intensity of purpose and effort an athlete is willing to expend to achieve her goals. In other words, what is she willing to do to succeed? Is she driven to be good or be great?

3. How well does she prepare? Greatness is built by the sum total of small efforts repeated daily. Is your athlete willing to work on her strength, her quickness, her hitting, pitching or fielding...her mental game for just 30 minutes each day to become the best player she can be? This is the "cumulative cause and effect" I talked about earlier. Is she doing ALL she can to get better, to master a difficult game....does she take massive action?

4. Does she enjoy the game? Ultimately for your athlete to reach her fullest softball potential she must enjoy the game enough to put in the consistent time and effort to achieve greatness. Remember what Tony Robbins said: "The difference in the results that people produce comes down to what they’ve done differently from others in the same situations." For your athlete to stand out from the crowd she needs to have passion and joy for the game...a pep in her step that others notice.

5. Does she expect success? Here is the mental ignition that can absolutely propel or limit your athlete's game day success level. Having the expectancy for success allows an athlete to bounce back from mistakes or bad games because she knows that she has done all the right things with her decisions, actions and choices and, thus, deserves success.

In the final analysis you don't need to be a fortune teller to predict your athlete's game day success level. It is the sum total of her actions that will define her greatness or lack thereof. It's simply the Law of Cause and Effect in action.

For more performance tips go to SoftballSmarts.com.

[NORCALGOLD]

Southpaw (Here are five surefire "predictors" of your athlete's level of softball success
Your 5 predictors are good. But, they should be 2 - 6 you left out the number one most important predictor TALENT without talent 2-6 will not make you an Elite player.
People often overlook the lack of talent and think hard work and goal setting will get them there. It will not. You first must have enough talent to hone.
As my Grandpa used to say you can run that mule around the track every day and work it out to death. It will never ever beat my thoroughbred.

[softball_parent]

And even with talent if you don't have some of the others it doesn't matter. Many of those that were great in their younger years because of talent don't develop a strong work ethic and aren't the dominant force later on.

[Blind Squirrel]

There is another aspect of this I've seen in a number of college softball players. They have one or more weaknesses at the plate that aren't known by most coaches/pitchers they face before college. They put up impressive numbers, look great in the box. Pitchers unknowingly throw at their strength(s). Then in college, where they routinely face coaches/pitchers who know and exploit their weakness/es, these once great hitters find themselves hitting .200 to .250. Some are never able to adjust and end up averaging 10 at bats per year. I think people might be surprised at how often this happens.

The #1 one thing I would do differently given the chance would be to find a way to identify my kid's weaknesses and have her focus on making the changes needed long before she got to college. Before college she played for some pretty well known coaches and took lessons from some pretty well respected instuctors in SoCal. Obviously none of them addressed this adequately and I was too ignorant. BTW, I have seen kids from the best orgs in SoCal, who took lessons from the best instructors they could find, who have had this very problem when they got to college.

John

[NORCALGOLD]

John, I think the original post was about pre-college softball. Where I think that talent is the #1 predictor of success.
I agree in Div 1 softball the game changes it becomes much more mental and allot of your success comes from mental prep and working on your game especially your weak points.
Practicing your strengths and identify and work on your weaknesses becomes a very important part to your level of success.

[ontheblack]

There is another aspect of this I've seen in a number of college softball players. They have one or more weaknesses at the plate that aren't known by most coaches/pitchers they face before college. They put up impressive numbers, look great in the box. Pitchers unknowingly throw at their strength(s). Then in college, where they routinely face coaches/pitchers who know and exploit their weakness/es, these once great hitters find themselves hitting .200 to .250. Some are never able to adjust and end up averaging 10 at bats per year. I think people might be surprised at how often this happens.

The #1 one thing I would do differently given the chance would be to find a way to identify my kid's weaknesses and have her focus on making the changes needed long before she got to college. Before college she played for some pretty well known coaches and took lessons from some pretty well respected instuctors in SoCal. Obviously none of them addressed this adequately and I was too ignorant. BTW, I have seen kids from the best orgs in SoCal, who took lessons from the best instructors they could find, who have had this very problem when they got to college.

John

As usual, the squirrel puts forth another truly important observation.

I was having dinner with a friend earlier this week who has a DD playing D1 in So Cal. He said something similar. The kid was a stud hitter in TB and HS - a lfty with speed, the ability to slap, and power - never an easy out. That changed in college where she started as a FR. Still a good hitter, but she became increasingly frustrated as she struggled against certain pitchers. She even entertained quitting.

Dad went back into coach mode, tracking every pitch of every plate appearance, when he figured out what a few others were picking up on. They worked on it a lot over the summer and she came back with a banner year.

My kid has always been the pitcher that had to be smarter than the hitter. She was never going to blow it by them. I taught her to recognize the holes in a swing. It was something I decided to do after reading Amanda Freed's, "How To Set Up a Batter". Fortunately for us, the kid also had a TB coach who had the same philosophy when it came to calling pitches and was able to take her pitching IQ to a different level. She learned the importance of making sure her catcher and her were on the same page when it came to setting up each hitter. At the college level this approach is a given.

I think its a shame fewer coaches miss the importance or opportunity to show kids where they are weak, instead try to compensate by working further on their strengths. I think the problem is too many teams with too many coaches who dont know how to do this. So as a parent, its important to be brutally objective of your kid's strengths and weaknesses.

[AlwaysImprove]

There is another aspect of this I've seen in a number of college softball players. They have one or more weaknesses at the plate that aren't known by most coaches/pitchers they face before college. They put up impressive numbers, look great in the box. Pitchers unknowingly throw at their strength(s). Then in college, where they routinely face coaches/pitchers who know and exploit their weakness/es, these once great hitters find themselves hitting .200 to .250. Some are never able to adjust and end up averaging 10 at bats per year. I think people might be surprised at how often this happens.

The #1 one thing I would do differently given the chance would be to find a way to identify my kid's weaknesses and have her focus on making the changes needed long before she got to college. Before college she played for some pretty well known coaches and took lessons from some pretty well respected instuctors in SoCal. Obviously none of them addressed this adequately and I was too ignorant. BTW, I have seen kids from the best orgs in SoCal, who took lessons from the best instructors they could find, who have had this very problem when they got to college.

John

As usual, the squirrel puts forth another truly important observation.

I was having dinner with a friend earlier this week who has a DD playing D1 in So Cal. He said something similar. The kid was a stud hitter in TB and HS - a lfty with speed, the ability to slap, and power - never an easy out. That changed in college where she started as a FR. Still a good hitter, but she became increasingly frustrated as she struggled against certain pitchers. She even entertained quitting.

Dad went back into coach mode, tracking every pitch of every plate appearance, when he figured out what a few others were picking up on. They worked on it a lot over the summer and she came back with a banner year.

My kid has always been the pitcher that had to be smarter than the hitter. She was never going to blow it by them. I taught her to recognize the holes in a swing. It was something I decided to do after reading Amanda Freed's, "How To Set Up a Batter". Fortunately for us, the kid also had a TB coach who had the same philosophy when it came to calling pitches and was able to take her pitching IQ to a different level. She learned the importance of making sure her catcher and her were on the same page when it came to setting up each hitter. At the college level this approach is a given.

I think its a shame fewer coaches miss the importance or opportunity to show kids where they are weak, instead try to compensate by working further on their strengths. I think the problem is too many teams with too many coaches who dont know how to do this. So as a parent, its important to be brutally objective of your kid's strengths and weaknesses.

Have you watched a 12's or 14's practice lately? They all run these massively complex cut-off plays and practice turn-two endlessly. This is all theater for the parents. Start with a good fundamentals practice your first practice out, and all the parents will decide you do not know much about coaching.

That is the same reason that coaches spend way too much celebrating showcasing what a kid does great, and few coaches spend time working/fixing fundamentals that could be improved. You want to see a family bail on a team start in too early working on weaknesses and they will be gone like a heartbeat.

Much like the politicians in congress. We can complain about them, but we are the ones that have asked them to be exactly who they are. The current crop of coaches is a direct reflection of what parents have been asking them to be. Often much better at practice as theater, showcasing, marketing than developing their athletes skills. A few coaches build a great team by recruiting and marketing and acquiring the talent, all the other teams then jump on that bandwagon.

[Blind Squirrel]

My earlier post was absolutely not intended to be an indictment of my kid's coaches or instructors. Most if not all of them contributed to whatever amount of skill and knowledge of the game that my kid has today. My post was actually meant to be a cautionary tale about a parent (me) who is solely responsible for a mistake that was made. I could have easily made sure that this issue was addressed. I failed to.

Sorry A$$ Squirrel (Sniffle Sniffle)

P.S. Actually my kid wouldn't be where she is without me. Because after all, I'm her father and she wouldn't exist if not for me (and the crazy person I live with). She hasn't seen fit to express gratitude yet. Bitch.

[DonnieS]

My earlier post was absolutely not intended to be an indictment of my kid's coaches or instructors. Most if not all of them contributed to whatever amount of skill and knowledge of the game that my kid has today. My post was actually meant to be a cautionary tale about a parent (me) who is solely responsible for a mistake that was made. I could have easily made sure that this issue was addressed. I failed to.

Sorry A$$ Squirrel (Sniffle Sniffle)

P.S. Actually my kid wouldn't be where she is without me. Because after all, I'm her father and she wouldn't exist if not for me (and the crazy person I live with). She hasn't seen fit to express gratitude yet. Bitch.

Damn her.

[ontheblack]

My earlier post was absolutely not intended to be an indictment of my kid's coaches or instructors. Most if not all of them contributed to whatever amount of skill and knowledge of the game that my kid has today. My post was actually meant to be a cautionary tale about a parent (me) who is solely responsible for a mistake that was made. I could have easily made sure that this issue was addressed. I failed to.

Sorry A$$ Squirrel (Sniffle Sniffle)

P.S. Actually my kid wouldn't be where she is without me. Because after all, I'm her father and she wouldn't exist if not for me (and the crazy person I live with). She hasn't seen fit to express gratitude yet. Bitch.

I understood that. My point goes to the fact that many parents depend on the coach and that may not be the wisest course of action. I think its getting worse because the trend (fueled by parents) is to push kids further up the ladder sooner.