Abstract
Confidence and focus determines one’s success in any sporting activity. Baseball is both a physical and mental game. All forms of success are subject to one’s confidence and self-esteem. For an individual to have a triumphant career in sports, confidence is a mandatory element. Physical talent does not do anyone any good without confidence in performing sports. Several athletes have average physical talent in their sport fields. Their self-confidence propels them to succeed beyond those deemed more talented them. Mohammed Ali is celebrated athlete for his self-confidence. When asked for whom he thought he was, the great boxer responded, “I don’t think it’s bragging to say I’m something special.” This kind of self-confidence is what players of baseball need from the early age to attain supremacy in the sport. This work attempts to find out the best way to develop confidence of a 10-year-old baseball player.
The first step to building a 10-year-old baseball player’s confidence is by building his self-esteem. At 10 years, the player falls under the category of a child. The process of making the 10-year-old baseball player attain a high self-esteem is the same as it is for all children. The position of the child as a baseball player does not rule out the fact that he develops as normal children. A rooted foundation of confidence enables the young player to tackle life challenges and challenges encountered in the course of sporting career. It acts as a passport to a positive outlook and well-balanced social skills. These qualities are crucial for life of the ten year old as a team player and a performer.
Athletes and sports people who have confidence are readily able to turn their sporting potentials into splendid performances. Majority of athletes understand the concept of self-confidence. Successful athletes in their sporting fields have so palpable confidence that anyone can always see it. A sports person’s self-confidence reflects on what he does, how he talks, walks and dresses.
Nurturing the confidence of a 10-year-old baseball player does not start or end with the team coach. Developing self-confidence is a process that begins from home. The process of creating a child with self-worth and esteem begins with parents. At 10 years, the child is still under parental care. As such, efforts of his parents in developing the greater being in him supplement the efforts by the coach to make him a celebrated player. Confidence of the boy vastly depends on how responsive the caregivers are to him (Keldin, 2009). The boy’s parents and primary caregivers need to devote quality time to him. Creation of a rich environment at home, where the child develops and nourishes positive feelings is the primary step.
Upon facing a challenging situation in the course of playing baseball, the boy feels the urge to return to their state of well-being. A home that gives a child a feeling of triumph and positivity is necessary to keep the child glued to succeeding in his sporting. A mindset of positivity develops from an early stage. The boy’s ability to solve his problems and emerge the winner builds a high sense of confidence. Breeding the child in a positive home and encouraging him to accept challenges helps him develop the confidence needed to be triumphant in baseball.
Exposing the boy to challenges is the other way of boosting a 10-year-old baseball player’s confidence. Children are ever exposed to a changing environment at a young age. They always have new things to learn. At ten years, the baseball player is at a stage that is characteristic of desire to learn and grasp new ideas. The boy is at a developmental stage defined with a lot of anxiety and eagerness to learn. Ages 8 to 12 years is the stage in life to steer children to trying new activities. The team coach needs to put the ten year old into many challenges. The child is eager to learn and gain new knowledge. Chances are that every time the child takes a challenge, he will always get solutions to the challenges. This has an effect of building the child’s confidence. The child builds a mental picture of a hero. This mental image is imperative in ensuing victory and dedication towards the right sporting path as a baseball player.
Giving the 10-year-old baseball player a chance to explore all available sporting fields will also boost his self-confidence. It is important to be sure that the child has affiliations to other gaming activities that take preference over baseball. Keeping the ten year old in a baseball training session when he would rather be in the swimming pool would not do the young athlete justice. Even though the boy may grow to be an awesome baseball player, part of him will always dwell in his field of preference. In a school scenario, the coach should ensure that the child has tried all the other games and chosen baseball as the best option. This gives the boy a chance to train and play with dedication and focus on what he best likes.
In addition to concentrating on baseball training and playing, the coach should ensure the boy joins other co-curricular activities that boost confidence. The child may have a liking to a particular game because he enjoys it or he has a natural aptitude for it. Some extra-curricular activities have effects on a child’s confidence. Performing arts and martial arts are some of the activities that boost confidence of children. Martial arts is specially a good choice for the baseball player since it may not require too much of the 10-year-old baseball player’s time. Engaging the boy in these extra activities should be regulated to avoid overworking him.
Performing arts would allow the 10-year-old baseball player to develop self-confidence by expressing himself in a way not otherwise possible. Dance and drama would lead the young player to gain expressive qualities, develop imagination and ultimately grow into extreme confidence. Along the way, the young player would gain self-discipline, learn the best ways to face and overcome fears and gain invaluable social skills. Acting would allow the young athlete to see the world from others’ viewpoint as he takes on different characters, this enables him develop empathy. He also builds oratory skills. These qualities are essential in building the confidence of the 10-year-old baseball player. Furthermore, they are crucial to teamwork. A baseball player functions as part of a team. Anything that improves the qualities of teamwork works for the good of the team.
If performance art does not appeal to the 10-year-old baseball player, martial arts provide another secondary extra-curricular activity that would boost the confidence of the player. Despite the availability of several martial arts disciplines, they all have a common ground. Tae Kwon Do, Karate and Judo all go through graded practices conducted in fair and disciplined manner. All require reasonable physical fitness as one learns combative skills to improve self-defense. There are several benefits of learning the martial arts. Most notable is developing sound grounds for self-discipline, self-respect, self-control, courage and self-confidence. With time, respect for others and integrity develops. These qualities are commendable for both personal commitment to the baseball team and teamwork. Respect to team mates, administrators and the fans is a sure way of ascertaining success and ultimate triumph for the 10-year-old baseball player.
Coaches should resist comparisons in order to ensure they improve confidence of their players. The 10-year-old baseball player may not be as good in the sport as other experienced teammates. The coach needs to understand that all the players have different speeds of baseball mastery and practice. Comparing the 10-year-old baseball player to other players in terms of performance may only worsen the young athlete’s confidence. In addition to negative comparisons, the coach should avoid positive comparisons as well. He should not gauge the performance of the young player against the performance of other players in his presence. Statements like “Emmanuel, you are the best player I our team” are detrimental to the child’s success. The 10-year-old baseball player may not be able to live up to the high expectations. The coach should appreciate the child for the unique individual he is without comparisons to others. Any comment the coach makes in the presence of the boy should be devoid of fostering competition, envy and shame.
Offering the child indirect, inaccurate beliefs and empathy helps develop his confidence. When the 10-year-old baseball player expresses concern over his ability, the coach should show the child some empathy then emphasize one of his strengths. For example, if the child says, “Why can’t I through baseball as well as Zachary?” the coach should appreciate the fact that Zachary is a good baseball thrower. He then comes up with an unrelated strength of the 10-year-old baseball player without comparing him to Zachary. An answer that would enhance the development of confidence in the young player would be, “You are right Zachary is a good baseball thrower. And you are a fast runner.” Such a response points out the strengths of both young players without placing any risk of comparison. In the end, the 10-year-old baseball player leaves the discussion table happy and confident that he is a good runner without a feeling that he cannot be a good baseball thrower as well. He does not have unexpectedly high expectations to keep.
Empathy and redirecting inaccurate beliefs becomes tricky if the young baseball player goes into a tailspin of self-doubt and negativity. For example, the boy would say something like, “I am a pathetic baseball player. I am super-slow passing the ball”. In such a turn of discussion, the coach should be empathetic, but be sure that his order of empathy and redirecting beliefs does not injure the player’s self-confidence. He should start by redirecting the belief then stating the challenge of the child in a way that does not insinuate its permanence. A response to such spiral negativity would be, “You are an awesome baseball player. You just have trouble with passing the ball”. In the end, the boy does not feel criticized. In addition, he does not feel lied to and complaisant to make improvements on his ball passing skills. He leaves feeling appreciated and ready to prove his worth as an awesome player. He becomes geared towards perfecting his ball passing skills to reclaim his title as a good player.
Every child needs encouragement from the people who positively influence their lives. The coach and other people involved in directing the 10-year-old baseball player’s life need to offer encouragement. As the young player struggles with obstacles to become a star in baseball playing, the coach, friends and parents need to offer encouragement to egg him on and boost his confidence. Comments such as “Keep going. I believe in you. I believe in you. You can make it” should come often from the coach and the parents. The child should get encouragement even in situations where he fails terribly to meet the expectations of the team or the coach. Such warm, light-hearted encouragements would make the 10-year-old baseball player. Criticism and cruel comments would only work towards destroying the child’s morale and willingness to keep trying. The coach and parents should avoid comments such as “not like that. Let me have Sam do it.”
As one endeavors to encourage the child towards becoming a good baseball player, he should be sure to evade praising the child. Praise is different from encouragement. The coach needs to concentrate the encouragement on rewarding the task, not the person. To tell the child “I am proud of you!” would be to praise the child. The right way to appreciate a good move would be to say, “You did it!” Praise creates a notion to the child that he is only good when he does the right thing. Encouragement, on the other hand, acknowledges the young baseball player’s efforts. It would help the young player to ask him about how the game was and inform him that his efforts were great than simply noting to him that he is the best player. Praise saps self-esteem. It would lead to the child continually wanting to perform well than before with a need to gain approval from others. The coach needs to give the 10-year-old baseball player the notion that the most fundamental thing is the effort. Being a successful team player is not about being the best in the team, but making one’s best efforts to see the game through to the end.
In the course of caching, the coach needs to listen carefully to the young player in an effort to boost his confidence. If the young player wishes to talk, the coach should stop and listen to what he has to say. He needs to know that his desires, feelings and opinions matter. The coach should help the player get comfortable with his prevailing feelings by labeling them. For example, the coach could respond to the boy’s anxiety by, “I know you are apprehensive because the team outplayed us last season” The coach validates the feelings of the young player by accepting his emotions without judgment. It shows that the coach values the concerns and opinions of the player. This has an overall effect of boosting the confidence of the child. He feels people believe in him and his opinions.
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