What are your expectations as a player? As a parent?
Hitting is hard. Pitching is hard. There’s no better way to limit growth and development than to constantly try to meet demanding and unrealistic expectations. Talk about miserable! I’ve been there. Pissed when I only got 2 hits instead of 4, pissed when I got no hits – – It’s a tough way to live!
Setting result based expectations puts massive amounts of unnecessary and unfair pressure on players. Setting these expectations assumes one has complete control over everything. Once the ball leaves your hand, once the ball leaves your bat – that’s it! You’ve done what you can do. Maybe the ump calls it a strike, maybe not. Maybe the ball hits a rock for a base hit, maybe not. There are far too many things out of players’ control to burden them with statistical expectations.
For players involved in hitting and pitching lessons – and parents who are paying for them – it’s easy to get caught up in the immediate results (or lack thereof). The cliche of taking 1 step backwards to take 2 steps forwards is very true – especially with players who are more experienced. Players who’ve been playing longer tend to have more habits that are harder to break. Younger players who are more raw tend to see bigger jumps earlier in their lessons because they haven’t had years of repetitions getting in their way. Now, having expectations can be great – as long as they are appropriate.
Players:
What are appropriate expectations for you to have for yourself?
The answer is very simple and I say it to my players all the time: WTP. Win This Pitch. The last pitch is over, and the next pitch hasn’t happened yet – so Win This Pitch.
“My batting average is .250, if I can just get 8 hits this tournament my average will be back above .300!” – No!
“My ERA is 10.0, if I just throw 10 scoreless innings it will be back down to 2.0!” – No!
Every time you step in the box or toe the rubber, your expectations should be to COMPETE. That’s it.
Parents:
What are appropriate expectations for you to have for your son or daughter and for yourself?
No player has turned into Babe Ruth because of the epic piece of advice yelled to them from the stands. When players get involved in lessons, they are introduced to a bunch of new ideas. It is natural – and parents/players should expect – to experience a learning curve. Embrace the process of watching your kid learn and figure it out. When watching a Major League game, there’s a reason you don’t see coaches giving mechanics related advice on the field or from the dugout. It gets in the way of competing, and will quickly take away the fun of playing. Games are just that, games. Expect some failure, expect some success!
After games, make sure you express two things to your kids: How you love to watch them play, and how proud of them you are for their effort!
