| Ingredients for Motivating Players in Practice |
| By: Dot Richardson, MD
Originally Published in: Practice Perfect Softball Provided by: Human Kinetics • Emphasize the fundamentals of the game. • Emphasize the execution of each of those fundamentals. • Emphasize the feeling of the game, not just going through the motions to perform in the game. • Design the practice to be like a game by putting the players in game-like situations. • Design the practice with the intensity of a game. • Design the practice with energy and excitement. • Speed up the practice but teach the athletes how to stay focused and be in the moment by slowing down the game. • Prepare your athletes for competition. Scouting and game preparation will help the athletes experience what the game can present. Then, on game day, they are familiar with what can happen and their performance seems routine. • Prepare your practices with common routines in preparation for practices and games. •Teach the players that putting on their cleats, before practice or a game, is the trigger for them to clear their minds and commit to the task at hand, which is performing during practice or the game. • Know what motivates the players so that you can help them be motivated to play. • Know what each player's strengths and weaknesses are and work to strengthen them both. • Teach mental training in practice so that it is eventually translated into competitive performances. • Put each player in game situations repeatedly. Learned behavior is enhanced in competition as the athlete begins to feel more confident in her abilities. • Teach and inspire so that each of your athletes feels prepared. • Correct fundamental flaws so that lack of fundamental strengths doesn't cause performance failure. • Teach so that each athlete feels as if she can perform the skills of the game by second nature—without thought, by reaction only. • Teach the athletes how to clear their minds of any distractions and be truly in the moment. • Encourage the athletes to be aggressive, to trust their skills, and to do what they have been taught and prepared to do. • Keep practices organized and purposeful. • Prepare practices with the goal of reinforcing the fundamentals of the game. Put those fundamentals through game situations and competitive strategies so that everything become instinctive and familiar. • Teach the players to stay true to themselves by trusting their skills, their talent, and their preparation. Those who fail to prepare, prepare to fail, so the secret is to prepare. • Teach the athletes that what they can control is what they should work to master. The outcome is uncontrollable. • The perfect practice occurs when players give everything they have physically, mentally, and emotionally. • Teach the athletes that when they fail or fall short of their goals, they are not failures. • Teach the athletes that when they succeed, they are not better than anyone else. • Teach your athletes that practice makes permanent. •Teach your athletes the true meaning of success. Success is not being at least one run ahead of the other team; true success is giving everything you have to be the best you can be no matter what the circumstances. A true champion never makes excuses; instead, she gives it everything she has each moment she can give it in every situation she experiences. • Teach your athletes never to focus on winning or losing but instead to execute the fundamentals of the game. With proper teaching and individual motivation to excel, winning will take care of itself. • Teach your athletes to remove all doubt and fear. • The goal of a perfect practice is to build confidence through execution that is brought into the game. • The ultimate motivation results in becoming one with the ball. Nothing else exists except what actually exists at that point in practice or the game. • Teach the players that giving all they have on the field, both in practice and in games, is perfect, whatever the outcome. |
Ingredients for Motivating Players in Practice
