Life Lesson #36: Fear

Does the fear of failure hold your athlete back?

I came to realize was that most of all baseball-related fear surrounds the result of an action, rather than something physical within the action. This means that while it certainly is painful to be hit by a line drive, I don’t think many youth pitchers would tell you they are consistently scared of being hit by a batter’s line drive. Nor would an infielder tell you that he is scared of having a ground ball jump up and hit him in the chest (also a scary and very real possibility). Instead, these athletes would describe what happens after the play as the source of their fear: a negative reaction from teammates, coaches and/or parents that shows this athlete he has let them down. Quite frankly, young athletes play the game of baseball with the fear of failure.

The fear of failure can affect all positions on the diamond. A pitcher fears the reaction from his teammates and fellow players after watching a home run sail over the fence. A hitter fear’s the icy glare from his coach after a bases-loaded strike out. An infielder fears the groans from his father and lecture on the drive home after throwing the ball away from shortstop. All of these examples show how the pressures of failure can cause an athlete to exhibit fear in a situation.

THE IDEA OF PLAYING WITHOUT FEAR

There are two components of fear associated with this play. First, there is the real fear of diving – a physical fear of being hurt. A fear that must be overcome, diving is something athletes can be taught. The proper fundamentals of kicking out the feet, safely extending the body to horizontal and landing cleanly can help to avoid injury when laying out. Once learned and practiced sufficiently, most every athlete can overcome the fear of being hurt and dive without hesitancy. This athlete had overcome the physical fear associated with diving and was able to attack the baseball at full speed.

The second aspect associated with this outfielder’s play is mental fear – the fear of failure. In this case, I realized that the pace of the play did not allow for fear to creep into the athletes mind. To make this catch, the athlete had to make a split-second movement, quickly reach a full sprint and give maximum effort. His natural instincts and talents took over, pushing his athletic ability to the maximum and allowing the play to be successfully made. Quite simply, there was not enough time to think about what would happen or what others would think if he didn’t make the play. It all happened so quickly, he didn’t have the opportunity to fear failure.

This athlete showed what it meant to play without two different kinds of fear – fear of being hurt and fear of failure. He had been fundamentally taught to overcome his physical fear, and the quick pace of the play forced him to forget about the fear of failure. And what we found was this: The result of playing without fear in this case, as in most, was fantastic! In my opinion, this athlete showed what he was capable of doing, reaching his unique athletic potential by directly and indirectly keeping the fear of failure out of the way.

TEACHING OUR ATHLETES NOT TO FEAR
If we were to consciously teach an athlete not to fear failure, we must first overcome any fears of pain, injury or harm. The most practical way to overcome any physical fears is to learn the proper way to execute a movement which, in turn, will help to avoid injury. Then, an athlete must practice that correct movement over and over again until it becomes a part of his muscle memory or subconscious actions.

In the case of a batter that is scared of being hit by a pitch, the first step in overcoming that fear is to learn how to correctly get hit by a pitch. This involves turning away from the pitcher to protect vital areas and dropping the bat beside the body to avoid a foul ball. Next the athlete must practice getting hit! familiarizing the athlete with the proper turn-in movement. They understand that although it may hurt for a bit, properly getting hit will protect the body from true injury. Finally, instructors will work through a combination of strikes and wild pitches to retrain the mind. The mind must be taught to focus first on hitting the ball and then reacting to a wild pitch… as compared to focusing on getting hit and then trying to swing the bat at a strike. It is the athlete’s goal to make that mental switch so that he is surprised by, and not scared of, being hit. Overcoming a physical fear is a difficult transition but pales in comparison to the idea of alleviating the fear of failure!

TEACHING OUR ATHLETES NOT TO FEAR… FAILURE
Now that this athlete is not afraid of being hit in the batters box or scared to leave his feet on the playing field, these practical suggestions can assist athletes to play without fearing failure:

Love
One constant that can help an athlete to play without fear is love. Unconditional love from a parent shows that young person that whether or not he makes a play, he can feel secure to put forth his best effort. Youngsters often associate their character with how good of a baseball player they are – as if people will not like them if they are not good at baseball. This just simply isn’t true and athletes need to know that. Even the toughest of young athletes needs to know that he is loved as an individual, not a baseball player.

Agression
In all reality, a young athlete will not truly understand what it means to play without fearing failure. A practical way to start this process is to encourage athletes to err on the aggressive side – swing the bat, throw the ball, dive! Athletes need to learn that it is okay, even encouraged, to go for an extra base on a ball hit in the gap, take second on a ball in the dirt, or try to score from second on a single. Encourage athletes to play the game aggressively with a conscious effort to help them overcome the fear of failure.

Stay Positive
Showing love and encouraging aggression, parents need to stay positive in their coaching attitudes and language. If an athlete does make a mistake, be sure that the athlete’s next experience is positive enough that it will not hold the athlete back from making another mistake. Mistakes are how these young athletes learn to play the game correctly, and there is a positive way to get the point across without causing the athlete to fear an encounter with you. As his parent, coach or both, you can consistently push the fear of failure out of a young athlete’s head by teaching him that the results of his actions will never stop him from taking action!