Pitching Confidence: What To Focus On To Be More Confident

By Steven Ellis, former pitcher in the Chicago Cubs organization

Confidence and mechanics are the keys to success at pitching. One with out the other just doesn't work.

There is something called attentional focus that directly relates to each person's ability to concentrate. Subsequently, there are a number of internal distractors which can deter focus, and one of these distractors is attending to past events. When a player gets pre-occupied with past performances (or mechanics) it can cause performance to suffer.

Here is a good illustration:

Ideal attentional focus is shown at the top. But if a player is thinking about too many things - like the crowd, past peformance, mechanics, etc. - then his focus is too broad (middle). Conversely, his focus may be too narrow (bottom) if he doesn't consider critcal information about his situation (ie. read the scouting report).

Something to think about after your next performance.