Nervousness-Batting

[Benny Blades]

I manage a LL Major team..I recently discovered that some of the kids are nervous when they are batting in the game. At practice, all is ok, ripping away...no issues with their swings but in the game they are nervous. Looking for some advice to settle them down in a game situation.

Thanks in advance.....

[CoachHenry]

When throwing BP to them make it "at-bats" meaning you keep a count. Get them used to having a count and working through it. When they put the ball in play take about 4-steps towards first then come back. When they walk or strike out then they step back and get back in the box with a new count.

In other words, put a bit of pressure on them during practices and maybe that will help.

Another things to do is ensure each kid is thinking to himself what he needs to do at the plate. Give themselves a plan and focus on it. Instead of just walking up to see if they can hit the ball, THINK! That might occupy their mind a bit.

[baseballdad]

I think making that practice to game transition- batting against a peer pitching and fielding with runners on - is a common challenge. My own feeling is it is lack of experience in real game situation so I am trying to add that to my practice.

I have a thread on here to find out ways to make my practice - player pitched scrimmage more interesting-since inconsistent pitching and hitting can make it boring for the fielders (just like a game!). I am trying to end each of may practices with this "real game situational experience" because I think it is a good way to get the kids used to game situation and hopefully overcome that nervousness

[virg]

Control excitement going into your turn up, from the dugout to the Box calm down, shut up, and breathe shallow. In the box, just listen to (focus on) your breathing and it shuts out the world and all the racket and ruckus. Be exhaling lightly- evenly through the pitcher's windup and your swing (if you do swing). Good idea to practice this anytime when watching and of course in BP.

[Ursa Major]

Benny said: "I recently discovered that some of the kids are nervous when they are batting in the game. At practice, all is ok, ripping away...no issues with their swings but in the game they are nervous."

Only some??? As Mark Twain said, "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear." The question is how to get past it.

Some kids are confident in every situation, no matter what the milieu. You don't need to worry about them.

For the rest, there are a couple of concerns to address, if necessary.

First, you must be positive. Kids have enough pressure without worrying what a coach will say to them during or immediately after the at-bat. Make sure both you and their teammates are upbeat both before and after they are at the plate -- every time. And, if their nervousness manifests in a reluctance to even swing the bat -- as often happens -- tell them you just want three good swings and don't criticize if they go out of the strike zone a little bit.

Second, make it more of a process and less focused on outcomes. If they've thought through what they need to do at the plate before going up (as Coach Henry suggests), have loaded correctly, and have made decent swing decisions, they've done alright -- once the bat leaves their shoulder, everything else is in the hands of the gods. Kids should know that, especially the ones who are struggling.

Third, try to give them as many varied hitting preparation circumstances as possible. If all they do is take the same kind of batting practice every practice, the differences between practice and game situations will loom larger. Have them hit against machines, off a tee, in a scrimmage against other teams, against wiffles, with a humongous wiffle bat.

I'm a little skeptical about the breathing techniques that Virg suggests -- if the kid's thinking of his breathing, how is he going to keep in his head the fourteen different swing mechanic suggestions I've given him in the ten seconds between the time he finishes his last swing in the on deck circle and the time he manages to pry the donut off his bat? But, hey, if it works for Virg, you can try it and see if it works for you, and discard it if it doesn't.

[johnnyc]

if the kid's thinking of his breathing, how is he going to keep in his head the fourteen different swing mechanic suggestions I've given him in the ten seconds between the time he finishes his last swing in the on deck circle and the time he manages to pry the donut off his bat? But, hey, if it works for Virg, you can try it and see if it works for you, and discard it if it doesn't.

I am reminded of something that Mickey Mantle said in the Ken Burns series "Baseball" (I think its on CD 7). He was at an all-star game with Ted Williams, when Williams asked him questions about his switch hitting and top hand and hitting mechanics. Mantle said that by the time he listened to Williams discuss many of the technicalities of the mechanics, he went 0 for 30 for his next at-bats just thinking of all that stuff.

I agree with Ursa, different kids respond to different approaches. See the ball, hit the ball worked for my son for a while last year, but we all know that one. Try some of these suggestions and find what works for your hitter.

John's Dad

[virg]

The question was about nervousness and the reply about forming a new habit to control the effects of a natural universal function. Little or nothing to think about; something like taking aspirin for a headache. Yes it has worked for others; young and old.