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Instill Confidence in Your Baseball and Softball Players! Learn how to help your team play with full confidence and help them stay confident after mistakes! Learn more about Instilling Confidence in Baseball and Softball Players>>

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Free Mental Toughness Reports!

• Golfers and Instructors: Improve Preshot Routines.
• Baseball and Softball Players and Coaches: Improve At-Bat Routines!
• Tennis Players and Coaches: Improve Between Point Mental Toughness!
• Hockey Players and Coaches: Improve your Pregame Mindset!
• Equestrians and trainers: Improve Rider's Preshow Mindset!
• Parents and Youth Coaches: Boost Kids' Confidence and Success!

Locker Room Talk

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"I recently bought your program for kids who are perfectionist: 'Sports Parents Top Dilemma.' I must say that the difference in my son was miraculous. I am so thankful that I found your program. It has made such a huge impact on our family."

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Feature Mental Game Article

5 Tips to Keep Your Trust and Confidence When Making Changes
By Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.

Have you (or your players) ever tried to make big changes in technique before the start of a new season? Were the changes easy to make? Did your confidence or trust nosedive in the short term as you were making the changes?

Making big changes in your technique or method can mess with your head, especially when your physical skills are already well-earned. I know of athletes who were set back one, two, or more years because they attempted to change their technique, but could not get back to their winning ways. PGA Tour winner Bob Tway, for example, lost his game for a least two years when he tried to change his swing. When he dropped the changes and went back to his old swing, he earned comeback player of the year of the PGA Tour. Go figure.

When athletes reach a higher level of competition (or begin a new season), many want to improve and revamp their game. Not a bad idea to get recommitted to excellence at the start of the season. But, if they revamp their method or technique altogether, it can cause havoc on the mental game and performance.

For example, after coming off his worst season at the plate, Derek Jeter continues to struggle with his hitting at the start of spring training. Jeter is just 1-6 so far this spring, failing to get the ball off the ground in each of his attempts.

At the start or spring training this year Yankee’s hitting coach Kevin Long worked with Jeter to improve his batting stance--to help him gain more power. "I'm not changing the swing, it's just the stride," Jeter said.

Jeter's changes haven’t produced the results either of them expected at the start of the season, but Long believes it's too soon to jump to conclusions. “I'm certainly not ready at this point to cash it in and start from scratch," Long said. "We can't go crazy here."

Jeter admits that he feels discomfort with this new stance during games because the changes cause him to overanalyze his mechanics. "You hope that it becomes second nature so you don't have to think about it," Jeter said. “It’s something that I've done in the cages before pretty much every day. I just haven't done it in the game. I don't think it'll take long to have success but it still might take a while before you get comfortable."

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Jeter is making improvements in practice, but the changes have not gelled in preseason when he's at the plate. "It's one thing to feel comfortable in the cage and another to feel comfortable in a game," Long said. "So far, we haven't had great results, but results in spring training I'm not too concerned about. What I'm concerned about is him feeling comfortable and good at the plate as soon as possible. If we can get to that point, mission accomplished."

So it’s back to the cage for Jeter who finds himself caught between swings, swinging too early on outside pitches and a little too late on inside pitches. "It's just a timing thing," Long said. "In the long run, this is going to be a good thing, because he'll be able to see the ball longer and make better decisions. But we just gotta be patient."

Whenever an athlete makes changes in his methods, especially when the old method is habit, it becomes a mental battle. He has achieved much of his success by simplifying the game and is now going up to the plate thinking about his mechanics. “It's just something he's trying to change after 16, 17 years of doing it one way," Long said. "Yeah, I can tell he's not comfortable. Anytime you change something I would think anyone of us would be a little uncomfortable.”

I'm not against improving your technique to improve your game in the long-term. And you would think, in Jeter's case, changing your stance should be an easy change.... However, you have to find the right time to make major changes in your method. Making big changes just prior to the start of the season is the wrong time. Using the off-season to make changes in your technique is the correct time.

Here some tips for keeping your mental game in check when you're in the process of making swing or technique changes:

1. Understand that making big changes in a well-learned skill takes time. Some experts would say that it takes 30 repetitions at day for 30 to 60 days to begin to change motor behavior. You have to be patient for changes to take hold because you have to extinguish the old pattern and replace it with a new motor pattern.
   
   
2. Pick the best time to make changes such as in the off-season. You want to make big changes in your method or technique prior to a game or in the middle of the season. Changes take time for you to assimilate the new motor pattern and have 100% trust in competition.
   
   
3. Be aware that your confidence and trust can go down in the short term while you're making the changes. I would say you have to take one step back to go two steps forward with big changes in your method. That's a necessary part of identifying and removing bad habits and replacing them with good habits. You'll find it harder to trust when you're caught in between two methods. The new motor pattern has to dominate over the old motor pattern for you to have full trust. This process could take as long as six months depending upon many factors including practice time, motivation, and how big the change is you are making.
   
   
4. When you graduate to a higher level of competition, such as high school to collegiate athletics, you most likely have new coaches who will have their own philosophies. A new hitting coach for example, might want to change your technique based upon his philosophy of how to swing the bat. Playing under new coaches can be a challenge for athletes when coaches make big changes to a well-learned skill. You might very well need to make changes, but you have to be prepared for the consequences: lack of confidence and trust in the short term.
   
   
5. As in Jeter's case, changes you've made in your technique can feel good in practice, but are sometimes hard to trust in competition. Be aware that you may feel confident in practice, but not feel that the changes are automated or well-learned enough in competition for full trust.

Want to learn all my strategies for improving trust in your performance? Check out The Fearless Athlete CD and Workbook program.

Sports Specific Mental Training Tip

"I've been a big proponent of sports psychology..."

According to Jeff Burton, any professional that helps you improve or perform better, can be useful. And I agree, you have to take into account the specific athlete you are working with and what that person needs. A blanket approach to mental coaching for all athletes does not work...

"Well, I've been a big proponent of sports psychology for a long time, actually. You have to determine personally, individually what works best for you. Some people may not get much advantage from a sports psychologist. Some people may not get much advantage using a nutritionist or a trainer. It just depends on who you are. I think it's important for whoever you're working with to understand that, too. And again, a sports psychologist or any type of profession that can help you do a better job, I think it's really useful. I think if you're not willing to look at every kind of option, you're leaving yourself short."

~ Jeff Burton, NASCAR Driver

Podcasts of the Month

The Tennis Psychology Podcast of the Month!
Dr. Patrick Cohn at Sports Psychology for Tennis, is a mental game of tennis expert and helps tournament players, tennis coaches and parents improve confidence, focus, and composure. In this week’s tennis psychology session, Dr. Cohn is joined by Ian Westermann of the Essential Tennis podcast. Ian is a USPTA certified tennis pro and teaches full time at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, MD. Dr. Cohn and Ian answer a common question from junior players and discuss how players can take their strokes from practice to competition successfully.

• Show me the Tennis Psychology Podcast of the Month!
• Learn more about "Tennis Confidence" CD Program
• Watch the Tennis Confidence Video series!
• Tennis Players & Coaches: Improve your mental game between points with this free report!
• Subscribe to the Tennis Psychology Podcast at iTunes!

The Golf Psychology Podcast of the Month!
In this week’s golf psychology session, mental game of golf expert and author of The Mental Game of Golf and The Mental Art of Putting, Dr. Patrick Cohn, gives the top mental game strategies to help athletes maintain confidence and motivation after experiencing a setback. Listen to this month’s sports psychology podcast to learn how to overcome setbacks and maintain high levels of motivation.

• Show me the Golf Psychology Podcast of the Month!
• Learn more about "The Golfer's Mental Edge" CD program
• Watch the Golf Confidence Video series!
• Golfers and Instructors: Download a golf psychology report to improve your preshot routine overnight
• Subscribe to the Golf Psychology Podcast at iTunes!

Pro Athlete Quote of the Month

"Before, I had trouble with my swing under pressure..."

“I think before, I had a lot of trouble with my swing under pressure. I used to hit some bad shots that put me in trouble, and I think I’m better on that and I have more control of my swing. I don’t have those bad shots, especially when I’m under the pressure of closing a tournament on a Sunday. And with that, I see a lot better results, and I feel more comfortable.”

~Lorena Ochoa

Ask Doc Cohn

"How do I get my team to play like they practice?"

Softball Coach :

"How do I get my team to play like they practice? They practice very well, but in a game they tighten up and breakdown fundamentally."

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Most Valuable Product (MVP)

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"The Confident Sports Kid: A 7- Day Plan for Boosting Self Confidence in Young Athletes." Packed with mental strategies that you and your kids can start using immediately, this program teaches your athletes how to identify confidence busters, proactively deal with them, manage expectations that undermine confidence, and mentally prepare to stay confident when faced with adversity.

What's more, our new program teaches you, as sports parents and coaches, how you may be hurting your kids' confidence and gives you instructions for changing your behavior in ways that will improve your athletes' performance, confidence and enjoyment.

Read more about The Confident Sports Kid CD and Workbook Program!

Dr. Patrick J. Cohn
Master Mental Game Coach

Dr. Patrick J. Cohn is the President and founder of Peak Performance Sports of Orlando, Florida. He earned his Ph.D. in Education from the University of Virginia in 1991, and founded Peak Performance Sports in 1994. Dr. Cohn is an author, speaker and one of the nation's leading mental game experts. His coaching programs instill confidence, composure and effective mental strategies that enable athletes and teams to reach their performance goals. Dr. Cohn has helped athletes from a variety of sports backgrounds (both amateurs and professionals) identify and develop the mindset needed to achieve peak performance. World-class golfers, runners, shooters and auto racers, as well as motocross, tennis, baseball, softball, football and hockey players, are among those who have benefited from his mental game coaching and training.

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