From little league to high school ball to college and beyond, I have observed a common trend. There IS such a thing as opening day butterflies. There is something about having a fresh beginning (a winter off from the game) that invokes anxiety during
game 1.
The question is....Is there anything you can do to slow those heartbeats? Are there strategies you can take (particularly early in the game) to avoid nervous errors.
My best advice is to acknowledge the jitters. Talk about how it is normal to be overly excited and how the other team is feeling the same way. Make it a team goal to take advantage of the fact that the other team will be feeling this way.
Maybe you think this is psychobabble. What does everybody think?
3/24/08
Opening Day Jitters
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2 comments:
I think it's important to remember that, inspite of baseball's known superstitions, the first game of the season is just one game. It can be hard to keep in mind that going "0 for" doesn't mean you're gonna have a terrible season and picking up a couple hits doesn't mean you're gonna hit .400.
As a team, I think it's important to keep in mind that baseball schedules are rarely structured like college football (where one loss can loom over an entire season). It's just as important to remember that history is littered with 1-0 teams that didn't win championships...
It's definitely important to remember that it's a marathon and not a sprint (even with a 30 game schedule).
As my high school baseball coach used to say, "Be better today than you were yesterday." There is no need to peak on opening day. In fact, it's much better to peak during playoff time isn't it?!
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