PLAY FEARLESS ! or fearful?

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radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
Is fear part of playing competitive softball?



To share,
This players MINDSET
Always played FEARLESS
Prepaired to WIN
Prepaired for EVERYTHING
 
Last edited:
Apr 28, 2019
1,423
83
Is fear part of playing competitive softball? Look forward to the impressions of this question on DFP.

Fear is part of everything. Fear of the unknown, fear of failure. The great ones don’t dwell on fear they embrace it challenge themselves to be better.


To share,
This players MINDSET
Always played FEARLESS
Prepaired to WIN
Prepaired for EVERYTHING

Started playing softball at 6 years old. In elementary school a teacher said to me "Colleges are starting to give women scholarships in sports. You are good at sports, if you practice you can get one."
That day I decided to get a softball scholarship.
With the goal of beating the best, I knew ahead of me there were going to be many great and elite athletes. Playing softball was going to take guts and grit!
Looking back....it certainly did!

This photo was taken in 1986 at regionals. Long Beach State vs. Fresno State.
Long Beach State went to the College World Series for the first time. Go Beach!

View attachment 15805
 
Oct 14, 2016
77
33
Is fear part of playing competitive softball?

This is a difficult question to answer. "Fear" is a generalist term. A player could be afraid of making a mistake, but not fear the ball. A player can be afraid of disappointing a parent but not be fearful of attacking a ball, stealing a base, or throwing to a bag.

In my opinion, fear and doubt are often swapped for the other. An athlete doubts their ability, and an onlooker will say she is afraid, or she is playing scared. A lack of confidence is not the same as being afraid.

Lack of confidence, uncertainty, doubt, and nervousness can often be confused with fear.

In my opinion, fear is debilitating, where as the above are typical emotions felt by even the most elite of athletes. This is why good positive coaching and mental trainers are now highly sought after.

Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is doing something in spite of fear.
 
Jun 23, 2018
222
63
Texas
Lack of confidence, uncertainty, doubt, and nervousness can often be confused with fear.

In my opinion, fear is debilitating, where as the above are typical emotions felt by even the most elite of athletes. This is why good positive coaching and mental trainers are now highly sought after.

Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is doing something in spite of fear.

I think that FEAR is a reaction to "Lack of confidence, uncertainty, doubt, and nervousness"...ect. These things will always be in the back of your mind, but learning how to deal with them is the key.

DD is 11 and had fear, what she called anxiety, this past weekend. #1 & #3 pitchers were out for Saturday of the tournament and she had to be the #1 with an unknown pickup to back her up. She didn't have the safety net she was used to having.

All I could do was encourage here, because I don't know how to teach her overcome the fear and use the emotions in a positive way to motivate. I think it's something she will have to figure out herself. IMO, being able to turn the emotions into positive motivation is the way to overcome and not let FEAR debilitate.

If anyone has any advise on how to teach that to an 11yo, please let me know. BTW, once on the field and a 1,2,3 1st inning, she was fine.
 
Nov 22, 2019
194
43
Minnesota, USA
I think that FEAR is a reaction to "Lack of confidence, uncertainty, doubt, and nervousness"...ect. These things will always be in the back of your mind, but learning how to deal with them is the key.

DD is 11 and had fear, what she called anxiety, this past weekend. #1 & #3 pitchers were out for Saturday of the tournament and she had to be the #1 with an unknown pickup to back her up. She didn't have the safety net she was used to having.

All I could do was encourage here, because I don't know how to teach her overcome the fear and use the emotions in a positive way to motivate. I think it's something she will have to figure out herself. IMO, being able to turn the emotions into positive motivation is the way to overcome and not let FEAR debilitate.

If anyone has any advise on how to teach that to an 11yo, please let me know. BTW, once on the field and a 1,2,3 1st inning, she was fine.

The only effective way I know to manage the anxiety/fear is experience. As you said, everyone has fear. The key is learning to be rational about it.

Hopefully, this situation for your DD boosted her confidence in herself and she'll worry less next time. Even the best athletes have fear as it is a naturally occurring feeling and unless you have a rare genetic disorder it is impossible not to feel it.
 

radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
Like reading peoples definitions of fear. Appreciate posters engaging.
Dictionary short version.
Fear is an anxiety based reaction
to uncertainty.
I did use that word specifically in the question. :)
From that
Not everyone has fear!!

Share this perspective.
Confidence can conquer fear!!
Positive mindset can be the best tool to develope confidence.
Believing in oneself is perhaps the ultimate pinacale in a firm & unwavering self esteem.

Find also that people react differently to failure.
The more we accept we are not perfect. *Plus Recognize we will never stop trying. We will never quit. We will never give up.
Our effort becomes relentless!
Resilience becomes normal!

Positive Purposeful Presence!!

Encourage everyone to tap into it!
Pass it on, share it, its powerful!


Enjoy!
 
Last edited:

Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,854
113
I am the worst person to answer one of these scenarios so keep that in mind. Fear? Fearless? You just play and play hard. What I have found is that so often athletes get hurt when they are thinking about whatever and not allowing their bodies to do what they have trained to do instinctively.

I was never a great athlete and yet I was very successful at all of the sports I played. My dd was/is the same. Go play and play as hard as you practice. If taking that extra base is what you do, do it. You might call this fearless. I do not. What I have always preached is to never test fate. IOWs, don't do dumb things. Fearless can lead to dumb things. It isn't fear either. Fear can cause you to do dumb things.

I guess this wasn't very helpful.
 

Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,854
113
Please allow me to address fear from a coaching perspective or at least my coaching perspective. I was/am always afraid of not being good enough. I don't fear anything physical. I don't fear any man. I do fear not being good enough as a coach. In baseball I have been fortunate to have been the assistant coach on a couple of state championships. Players on those team will tell you about how much into detail I went. I have been fortunate in basketball to go to state a bunch of times. In girl's golf, I have sent several players to state even though not one of them had played a full 9 holes of golf before their freshman year. In my coaching of 4 sports, I have had one losing season. You know what that really means? I won 2 times.

One of those baseball teams won 64 games in a row and yet we lost the state championship game. I was not good enough. When I have to look at my seniors each year including this past year in softball, the one thing I know is that I was not good enough to get them to a state championship. In the end, and to wrap this up, I coach in fear of having my players think that I was not good enough. Therefore, I hard charge as much as I can and hope that my seniors believe that they had the best coach around.

Ok, I'll leave your thread alone now. Good luck!
 

radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
ATTITUDE

Attention
To
The
Individual
Test
Undergoing
Development
Everyday
 
Last edited:
Apr 28, 2014
2,316
113
This is a great post. One the eve of one of the biggest games of DD's life I gave her the prep talk about being a warrior and going into the game fearless.. She was so pumped up that I would have bet my life that she would dominate that game in the circle. Sadly she lost a totally winnable game. A day later I asked her if she was fearless and she said "Yes I was and that was the problem, I needed to fear walking a batter or giving up a hit to be effective". I was confused but said okay. Didn't want to push back. Since then she does her thing and does it well.
Earlier this year I read a book that referenced the warrior dial ( Chop wood carry water). In this part of the book the sage spoke about how we must turn our warrior dial up when playing weak opponents and turn it down when facing strong opponents. That made sense to me as DD may have turned it up too much because of me, during that winnable game. We learn as we go.
 

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