Pitching Under Pressure

the last 3 games they needed to use 8 pitchers, 220 pitches and 38 outs

Our thoughts, diet/nutrition, exercise, rest, environment and physiology have a positive or negative impact on us which affects how well we perform and feel. In the world of sports, this is very easy to demonstrate because the mind/body connection provides you with immediate feedback. When you are positive, your performance excels. When you are negative, your performance is adversely affected. With various types of distress, or

“Arrieta has shined in pressure situations all season. He has performed marked better than his competitors in the close/late category.” Arrieta shows no emotions on the mound, which is a big deal in the world of baseball. He could be in the worst situation in the middle of a game, but he can’t let the batter know that he has the pressure on him. on the other hand, in the past Clayton Kershaw has shown sings of madness or aggression on the mound when in a tight spot, or when something doesn’t go his way. It is essential to stay calm on the mound in all

Danny not being able to control his pitch is a challenge that he needs to overcome. By overcoming this challenge, Danny can learn to clear his mind and focus to pitch better. Danny realizes this after he can't keep his pitch down because he isn't alone. “The problem is in his head, its physiological." 129. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'.

Have you ever seen a pitcher pitch a one pitch inning. That's 3 outs in one pitch. Ben Jablonski did that in a baseball game over the summer. In the end they were still defeated by a lot of runs.

Because of these factors student athletes can be at a higher risk of anxiety and depression.

The worry I had earlier began to slowly dissipate as we headed onward to the next inning. It’s a shame that the worry was only gone for a total of 18 pitches before they had gotten three scores and were ahead of us. When we finally got inside the dugout for our turn to bat, we were pumped to get back ahead of them as fast as possible. We were able to get one run before we reached our three outs and were thrust back onto the field with a tying score. They took two runs from us again causing me to get worried again. They just went ahead of us by two points, and I felt that all was lost. We were finally able to get the last out and we headed inside to the dugout. We were only able to get one run back like last time and I felt that we would lose and then we would be unable to go to the World Series, which is something I had wanted to achieve for sometime. But we were struck out and we went back out onto the field.

The worry I had earlier began to slowly dissipate as we headed onward to the next inning. It’s a shame that the worry was only gone for a total of 18 pitches before they had gotten three scores and were ahead of us. When we finally got inside the dugout for our turn to bat, we were pumped to get back ahead of them as fast as possible. We were able to get one run before we reached our three outs and were thrust back onto the field with a tying score. They took two runs from us again causing me to get worried again. They just went ahead of us by two points, and I felt that all was lost. We were finally able to get the last out and we headed inside to the dugout. We were only able to get one run back like last time and I felt that we would lose and then we would be unable to go to the World Series, which is something I had wanted to achieve for sometime. But we were struck out and we went back out onto the field.

Yogi Berra believed that, “Baseball is 90 percent mental and the other half is physical.” From my tenure as a college softball pitcher at Point Park University, I learned how imperative being mentally sound is to the game of softball. The legal field is a very demanding field. I know my experiences gained on the diamond will allow me to flourish in a field dependent upon mental toughness.

Not only do players think while on defense, but also, they are thinking while batting. A player may be batting in certain situations where they know they need to hit the ball to a certain place or get a bunt down at a certain place. Again, this is all happening before they step into the box and react physically to the pitch being thrown. Baseball is a very hard game physically and when players are struggling it is very hard to stay positive mentally. It is hard to get enough to hit and when things are going bad our mind becomes evil. This is where baseball players develop to be mentally tough. Baseball is so hard that if you go 3 out of 10 you are considered one of the greats. In basketball, if a player shoots 3 out of 10 from the free throw line they're going to be terrible. This lone statistic right here shows how much failure is in the game of baseball and how hard it is. It is extremely hard for athletes to stay positive in these slumps they may experience when they aren't getting any hits. Another mental aspect of baseball is the fears players must overcome to be successful.

Shocked by the home run, the pitcher found it hard to keep his surprising emotions inside his mind.

College is extremely stressful and the more someone adds to their plate, the more stress they must deal with. In order to compete in college athletics programs, one must dedicate themselves to that sport. This can interfere with other priorities such as school and mental health. Counseling student athletes is extremely important because “an estimated 10%-15% of college athletes will exhibit signs and symptoms indicative of mental health problems” (Watson, 2015). It is important to teach athletes how to balance their lives in order to help prevent some of these mental health problems.

Sports—which involve emotion, competition, cooperation, achievement, and play—provide a rich area for psychological study. People involved in sports attempt to master very difficult skills, often subjecting themselves to intense physical stress as well as social pressure. research has expanded into numerous areas such as imagery training, hypnosis, relaxation training, motivation, socialization, conflict and competition, counseling, and coaching. Specific sports and recreational specialties studied include baseball, basketball, soccer,

When it comes to emotions and psychological well being athletes are not machines and they should not be expected to deny any mental struggles. Trainers, coaches, and physical therapists are there for their physical training but they also require psychological support. Those closest to the athletes need to learn to recognize the warning signs such as an overly self-critical nature, perfectionism, and fear of failure to be able to seek out help for the athletes. Sport governing bodies and organizations should induce protocols and procedures about how peers, coaches, and support staff can help when dealing with an athlete suffering from a mental illness. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has released “Mind, Body and Sport - Understanding and Supporting Student-Athlete Mental Wellness” which is a resource developed to provide information and outline the roles and responsibilities of sports staff and coaches as well as identifies the Models of service, and NCAA resources and policies. This is an extremely helpful and reliable source that other sporting organizations should follow. Also, high performance programs for both individual and team sports should require programs to have a team sport psychologist to be readily available for athletes, and to work with them on throughout the sporting season to be able to develop mental skills to better them on, and off the court. It should become the “responsibility (of the sport association) to provide the services and care to help each athlete reach his or her full potential” (Hainline 2014, 7) In some situations, Sport psychologists may find themselves having to address mental health issues with the athletes they counsel that they may find is out of their capability to deal with mental health problems. It may be

Many athletes would agree that they have felt butterflies in their stomach or a sudden rush of adrenaline before an important game. This feeling can either translate into legendary performances or monumental failures. According to Sharon D. Hoar (2007), to fully comprehend anxiety’s effect on performance, one must understand the discrimination between two unique sets of sources: trait and state anxiety, and cognitive and somatic anxiety. Anxiety symptoms are numerous and unique to every athlete. Hoar suggests that athletes might report cognitive symptoms (eg. Inability to focus), somatic symptoms (eg. Sweaty palms), or both. The author discusses a variety of sources of anxiety and argues that it can have both positive and negative effects