Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Courage to Compete

Hello All,

It has been awhile since I have posted and we have played quite a few games already. We started out the season with great confidence and a 3-1 record and since then we have played some good games and some bad. Our record definitely doesn't show what we are capable of. However, the past few doubleheaders have given me time to think about a few things. or maybe over think.
One is the fact that there is so much more to a player than just the fundamentals and mechanics of softball. There are the mental aspects like confidence, focus, the love of the game, concentration, etc. I believe though that an athlete can change her outcome based on confidence though. I also believe that if the love for the game of softball is there within you, it keeps you coming back for more. It makes it not easy to give up when it gets hard. But then there is something else I think about. . . courage. Our motto here at MBC is Courage to Compete. So what does that actually mean? To me, our team right now is better than the way we are playing. We aren't showing confidence out on the field, we are playing scared it seems.We don't play well the first game and the second game we play really well or vice versa. Why can't we put it all together instead of waiting one game to play well? What does it take to have the drive to compete? It takes courage. If you look up the definition of courage it says"the state or quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face danger, fear, or pain with self confidence, and resolution;  the confidence to act in accordance with one's beliefs." We need the courage to lay it all out there each and every day. The courage to play hard no matter what the outcome. I think as coaches we need to help them find the courage. I don't want us to settle for just getting better or improving each day. It's great to be improving but I believe we can get complacent in that. I believe it is going to take the courage to embrace our weaknesses just as we need to embrace our strengths. We are going to make mistakes but being scared to make a mistake will in our world make us have more mistakes. Let's dig into ourselves and find the courage we need to play. Let's find the courage to go to the plate and hit with confidence, let's find the courage to quit playing scared and settling for just improving, let's find the courage to give all of our effort each and every day, leave it all out on the field. Let's find the courage within to believe that we can win. The mind can be a game changer. Courage is a powerful thing and maybe that is just what we need.