Ask Doug: How Do I Handle the Pressure?
Baseball Factory
June 12, 2008
By Doug Glanville
Doug Glanville is working with the Baseball Factory and Team One Baseball as a Special Consultant. He will be writing articles and looking for your questions and feedback. If you have a question for Doug, please email him at askdoug@baseballfactory.com
Q: Hey Doug, I’m 16 and a freshman at Oak Hill Academy and this is my first year on the varsity baseball team. We are very well respected school as far as basketball, our baseball team is not nearly as good but we aren't awful at 6-6. I’m an outfielder but the first 2 games this season I was a DH and I was 0-6 with 4 strike outs and my coach said there was no chance I’d play in the outfield this season. I was pretty much a scrub for a while. Over the course of the season though I have been improving a lot. I won the award for the "Most Improved." The past 10 or so games I have played every game and have been batting over .300 with an OBP of .500 and have worked myself into the starting rotation as an outfielder. I got invited to tryout for the Under Armour National Team from Baseball Factory on May 25, and have never performed in front of a camera or scouts or pros like you. Do you have any advice on how I can handle the pressure?
A: I think people often underestimate the need to learn how to manage stress in our lives and it is no different for someone who has to perform in front of an audience. It is only human to want to do well and to worry about what people think of us. Even at the major league level, players are always trying to find ways to be in control of their fears so that they can perform to the best of their ability.
Just like you have to work on your swing, it is as important to work on the mental side of the game. I spent a lot of time trying to find routines before and during a game to manage my stress and allow my abilities to shine through. We are often our own worst enemy when we get inside of our own head and let doubt creep in.
Finding the ways by which we handle stress is a personal journey and each of us is different. As an example, when I played in the minor leagues, one year I took a book called “Magic Eye” and used to stare at different pages to find the 3D image in the background. It was a fun game to play before the real thing. And for a month, no one could get me out.
If you look at your life, what are things you do to relax or to enjoy yourself? Maybe it is play a video game, maybe you listen to some tunes, maybe you like to take a walk. There is no reason you can’t do all of these things before your game. And don’t forget that you are doing what you love to do, so remember it is fun, even when it isn’t going as well as you want it to go.
I realize that today, it is easy to get caught up in the numbers. We are always looking at statistics to measure things, but don’t forget about the joy of just being out there. Even if you have a bad game at the plate, maybe you make a diving catch and save the game. Maybe you make that key pitch on the outside corner when it counts.
Also, keep in the mind that it is only human to be nervous or anxious. I probably played in over 1700 professional games and before each one, I was nervous. The key is to find a way to turn that around into a positive force for you. Use it to fuel your game.
A beauty about baseball is usually, there is always tomorrow. You do the best you can with the opportunity in front of you and it important to have the confidence that you will get another chance somewhere, sometime.
In the meantime, learn yourself, have fun with figuring out what to do before a game to get into that zone. It may take a while, but you will find something that clicks and if that stops working, find something else. Most of the time, we are not doing as badly as we think we are doing (or as well as we think we doing either!). So, take a deep breath, get out there and have fun!
Doug
Republished from The Baseball Factory
