This happens all the time on a baseball field. Consider this typical situation. Now he sees himself picking out a pitch within his strike zone to hit. This time, the odds are pretty good that he'll keep the bat barrel cocked and let the high heat pass for ball two. This is a simple illustration about how The Mental Game of Baseball can impact your coaching and change the communication patterns of your team.
Words are powerful because they create mental pictures.
As coaches, we want to choose words to create pictures that are the most helpful to our players. In so doing, we understand that our communication is also a model that players use to develop their own self-talk. Realizing that the way a player talks to himself determines the way he thinks, and his thinking determines his play, it is vital for youth coaches to demonstrate leadership through positive communication. Hitting is a difficult skill, requiring peaked concentration accompanied by efficient coordination of muscular forces in both the lower and upper halves of the body. What often amazes me, is that the best hitters make this complex synergy look so graceful and effortless.