The Mental Game of Baseball: A Guide to Peak Performance
Sports Psychology is very interesting and also very confusing to many. The book The Mental Game of Baseball: A Guide to Peak Performance is written by H.A. Dorfman, and Karl Kuehl. They wrote this book intended for players, managers, coaches, agents, administrators as well as fans who want a more in-depth look at the makeup of the complete baseball player. This book was written to show people the practical and proven strategies for developing the mental skills needed to achieve peak performance at every level of the game of baseball. The theory is illustrated by insights from major and minor league players, who at some point in their career discovered the importance of mastering the inner game in order to play baseball as it should be played.
H.A. Dorfman, and Karl Kuehl divided this book into sections. These sections are Goals, Focus and Control, Expectations, Dedication, Responsibility, Attitudes, Confidence, Preparation, Concentration, Mental Discipline, and the winning way. The purpose of this was to focus on each of these aspects individually, and not clump them all together.
In the first section titled goals, the books describes that the baseball players need to set performance and end result goals. Then the players must set process and action goals in order to achieve performance goals. These direct and determine their behavior, which creates focus. Goals make players take risks. By not setting goals, it allows the players to float, eliminating pressure and responsibility and then they are unable to handle the anxiety. The goals that players set on themselves, the chance of anxiety becomes much less.
Focus and control should be on each individual player within the framework of the baseball team. The focus and control on each player is very important. It transfers the focus from the opponent who players cannot control, to the performer who the players can control. The players are not responsible for the opponent. They are responsible for themselves, which they tend to forget that at times. Also in this section the authors describe that the physical performance is the outcome of a thought. A bad thought will lead to a bad performance. Good thoughts will lead to good performances.
The next section was expectation. An expectation creates the burdens and removes the joy of the game. Goals serve the players themselves, and expectations serve others. Expectations take the focus off the players and put it on others who they cannot control. This is why players need to be dedicated. Higher achievers see goals as challenges and not burdens. High achievers also are willing and also have the desire to work hard. If something is worth doing it is worth doing well.
Players have to take responsibility for their own actions. They are the cause of their own situations. Players cannot give excuses; excuses are attempts to hide their honesty about their situation. Because the player’s thoughts determine their performance, they must define what they can control and what they cannot control. The most important lesson in this section is that players need to be responsible to others, but they are not responsible for others. That is a huge difference because; they cannot control others, but can control themselves.
A player’s attitude is always within their control. Therefore, they are responsible for it. In this section the authors tells us “that a good attitude is one where they believe and have hope when others quit.” They can acknowledge defeat as possible, but they must not be willing to be defeated before then because it lets defeat in the door. Players cannot give up. Giving up is simply an effort to relieve tension and frustration. Having a good attitude the players need to be aggressive and giving their 100% effort on and off the field.
The next section is confidence. The authors put a lot of emphasis on confidence. Confidence influences player’s success or failure. Each success encourages players to take the next step and to take risks. Being confident, players must not be afraid to fail. They must be willing to take risk, to attempt new things, and to attack. When they are confident they cannot be afraid either. The greatest obstacle to confidence is fear. It comes from uncertainty which comes from a lack of confidence. Fear makes people slow and it is a focus on things other than themselves. People need to relax, enjoy each challenge that faces them throughout their lives.
Preparation is fun topic because preparation is within the player’s control. They as players are responsible for it. It separates the great player from the average player. In the previous section confidence also links with preparation because players build confidence through identifying their goals and preparation. Which they can control preparation. Preparation helps all the aspects of the player’s ability. Preparation by learning, saying and doing the right thing over and over leads to confidence and the expectations that good thing will happen.
Concentration is also very important because it is the greatest link to an outstanding performance. Concentration is the ability to remove a distraction, which is also controlled. The ability to concentrate puts us in control of the situation and removes all distractions. Knowing that us as players have support and love and that the consequences for failure are not fatal, we can focus on the present and not dwell on the past or worry about the future.
Mental discipline is huge in baseball because it is the ability to concentrate and control ourselves as players. Players cannot control all things but they can control their reactions to them. Clutch players always maintain control. Their toughness lies in the ability to stay even keel and consistent in approach. They erase everything except the factors of immediate performance. As a player we must remain cool because anger gets in the way of performance. Players need to find a way to relax, be loose, and be clutch.
The book concluded by the section title “The winning way”. There was an interesting fact that stated “only 15-20% of people do things the right way all the time. The rest find shortcuts by cheating or looking for the easy way out.” A winner makes every possible effort all the time to win and do things the right way without cheating themselves. A winner has goals, blocks out expectations of others, they are dedicated, responsible, and has a good attitude, very confidence, prepares, focuses and thinks positively.
By controlling all of our different kinds of emotions and maintaining responsibility for our actions, us as players, coaches, and staff will find a very successful and beneficial career in this sport. But if we do one better and keep this trend outside baseball we will find our life easier and more beneficial for ourselves and for the people around us.
This book made me open my eyes and I realized all the different aspects of being a better mental baseball player. Even though the points in this book were intended for baseball, these different points provided can be for people that want to improve themselves and their lives. After reading this book I have learned how to become prepared mentally in life. Not only will I be prepared but I will have the confidence and mental discipline to achieve my goals. This was an inspirational book that I will take with me for the rest of my life. The goals set by players and how to achieve them, taking responsibility for ones actions, and always having a positive attitude, I cannot only use that information for baseball, but I can switch gears and do that for life. This whole book surprised me because I didn’t know that baseball could be looked in a different way than the way I was thought out to see it. I would recommend this book not just to baseball lovers, but anybody that is willing to learn about how goals and different kinds of attitudes can influence someone in life. I know that this book has made me think in a different way because of how this book provided a practical example of the application of cognitive behavior skills that can help anyone.