She Doesn’t Cry Anymore

This would be a great title for a country song, but it actually applies to a pitcher we were discussing. One of our top students wished a certain pitcher would work with me, but she knew the kid was not motivated to do so because, “She does not cry anymore”. What a great observation!

When this kid gave up a homerun in the past she would dig deep to try to change things. When she had to be pulled from the game, there would be a few tears in the dugout. She was a competitor, but that changed as batters caught up to her. Today, the kid simply smiles when the ball goes out of the park. She bounces off the field when the coach takes her off the mound. It is no longer a big deal. Someone convinced her that this is as good as she will get and, worst of all, she accepted that.
I always loved the statement, “Motivation is discomfort”. If you sit on a cactus, you are motivated to move quickly….unless you have done it so often that you have become extremely calloused. If you are a pitcher who likes to win, you have two choices when you lose:
1- You experience pain and set out to change those outcomes in the future.
2- You become numb to them. Mediocrity becomes your new reality.
The second choice breaks our heart. One of our Instructors spoke of a new student who wanted a lesson with her. After a couple of sessions, it became very clear that this student had already accepted that she was only going to be average. The kid had load of talent. A few changes could have allowed her to do great things. However, this kid had already built a wall around herself. She had been disappointed before and did not want to build high hopes only to see them dashed again. She did not want to cry anymore. When it reaches this stage, it can quickly become permanent.
If you are still get angry, upset, frustrated, you cry, or you are willing to walk through fire to achieve great things, and it is not going well for you right now, we would be more than happy to help you grow the size of your dreams. If you wait until you “don’t cry anymore”, a lot of the damage will already have been done.
Note: If you are a former college pitcher who would love to make a difference in the lives of kids, contact us about our Instructor Certification Program. You will find 60 of the best and brightest minds in softball pitching working together in research and discovery with one goal: To Change Pitching in America!