Three Key Steps to Conquer Baseball Post-Season Pressure

Pressure

by Spencer Wood - Icebox Athlete

Here is a sobering thought...In the entire history of high school and collegiate baseball, the most important individual and team championship skill is often the skill that is practiced the least...namely the ability to perform extremely well under pressure. Of all the sweat, effort, energy and time that is invested in strength training and conditioning, individual and team skill development, and pre-game preparation; a relatively small amount of time and emphasis (if any) is placed on this all important athletic trait. Few would argue that the ability to perform under pressure is a critical skill that is often responsible for bringing all of these components together, and a skill that will be the deciding factor in so many games this season. This sobering thought is even more of a reality in the pressure filled crucible of the playoffs / post-season. In my experience, those teams who invest the most time and effort on performing well under pressure, are often among the best equipped to handle the intense heat and pressure of the post-season.

Unfortunately, many athletes and coaches approach the development of great pressure performance with the mantra 'we'll just continue to practice the play or skill 'till its automatic under pressure.' And while there is a small element of truth to this strategy, continuously practicing a skill in a 'practice' environment, i.e., outside of the intense heat of a championship series, only ensures greater proficiency of that skill in that 'practice' environment and only marginal to decent improvements in 'pressure' situations. A more direct approach takes us directly to the source – training the 3 ½ pounds of electrical energy between our ears....our mind. However, through many years of speaking, traveling and working with teams, I have come to learn that we usually only coach and teach those things that we are comfortable, confident and proficient in teaching. With that in mind, the following 3 steps outline a strong, fundamental yet simple approach to teaching pressure performance. Coaches and athletes wishing to learn more and further develop each of the components are welcome to further explore my training materials.

Step 1. Develop a Great Clutch Attitude
Developing an elite attitude in 'clutch' or pressure situations involves 3 resolutions that every athlete should reinforce EVERY TIME they are in a clutch or pressure situation. As an example, let's use a situation that decides the outcome of numerous games every season – a key late inning hit. The athlete should use their own innervoice to reinforce the following beliefs.

I WANT this at bat, and LOVE being in these situations
I have worked HARD to be in this situation and DESERVE it
I KNOW I have the ability to make the play

There is a saying that is one of the greatest 'truisms' in all of sports; "YOU WILL NEVER OUTPERFORM YOUR OWN SELF-BELIEF." These statements are all about creating and improving a powerful self-belief system. An athlete who wants to be a great pressure performer must learn to embrace and love situations. Further, if an athlete never sees himself as an all-conference performer and does not TRULY believe he is an all-conference performer; he never will be. If a player never sees himself as a clutch performer, he will never consistently perform well in pressure situations – period. For the biggest hit of any season, I would take an extremely confident player with a few 'holes' in his swing over a player of average confidence with a perfect swing – every time. This starts with the key thoughts that are in the mind of the batter in the dugout, while the player is on deck, and certainly while the player is at home plate.

Step 2. Know your optimal arousal or 'Hype' number
Some athletes perform extremely well when they are on an emotional high, while others are at their best with relatively low emotions. On an emotional arousal or 'hype' scale of 1-10 (with a 1 equal to an almost comatose pre-game state and a 10 equal to the athlete that regularly high fives teammates so hard their hands sting for 10 minutes) and a performance scale of 1-10 (with a 1 equal to a lifetime worst performance and a 10 equal to a lifetime best performance), I have played with athletes who needed to have an emotional arousal level around 2-4 (very low) in order to consistently perform at an 8-10 (very high). I have also played with athletes who needed to have an emotional arousal level around an 8-10 in order to consistently perform at an 8-10 level. One of the biggest mistakes that inexperienced coaches and players make is believing the entire team should be at the same emotional arousal level. Note that emotional arousal level has NOTHING to do with intensity. Athletes do not always have to be 'jacked up,' 'hyped' or highly emotionally aroused to perform at 100% intensity. Yet many coaches and athletes push themselves and many of their players out of their optimal arousal level/hype #, and onto a knife edge of heightened emotions, poor pitching or hitting percentages, defensive errors, and mistakes under pressure. Athletes and coaches should know their own optimal arousal level and stay at the level that brings out their very best performance.

The take home message here is that a controlled level of heightened emotion is a great thing – it sharpens our reactions, increases our intensity and sustains our energy levels. However, there is a law of diminishing returns, and too much emotion impairs judgment, decision making, poise and skill execution. Search the Majors, and you will find a number of great examples of fiery pitchers and hitters, and just as many great examples of great pitchers and hitters who are almost always very emotionally even keeled. Great emotion and great intensity should not always be linked. The key is recognizing the level of emotional arousal that leads to the most controlled, channeled aggression for each player.

Step 3. Practice and Prepare
It has been said that "sometimes things don't go according to plan because that plan didn't exist in the first place." Consistently performing well under pressure takes practice. Coaches and athletes should develop strong practice habits with steps 1 and 2, and also develop a practice schedule that allows for some special 'pressure' situations in practice such as working the batting rotation from the dugout vs. standard BP. The coach could also play taped crowd noise and umpire calls over the loud speakers during a short 'pressure' portion of the practice. The coach can also simulate a pre-game message and create some fun rewards if the players make good on certain pre-practice goals (to simulate some added pressure). Through these steps, athletes hear the noise of game conditions, feel the flow of playing in a game situation, and feel the pressure of having 'something on the line' for every play. In a pressure packed game situation, players will develop greater composure, concentration and confidence because they feel as if they have 'been there, done that before.'

These simple steps take work from both the players and coaching staff. Yet an important truism in sports is that the pain of not achieving your goals will always be greater than the pain it takes to achieve them. Here's wishing you tremendous success in your pursuit of these goals and great playoff pressure performance!

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