This idea comes from the University of Alabama coaching staff and I absolutely LOVE it! Although this idea is geared towards pitchers, I believe that EVERYONE on the team can benefit from this.

Monstar mentality means that when you are pitching (or doing anything in softball for that matter) you need to have two things:

The FIRST thing you need is CONFIDENCE. You have worked hard to be the center of the diamond and are the beginning of every play on the field. Walk, move and think with CONFIDENCE! Your appearance to the other team should be that you are focused and show no emotion despite what happens. Did the umpire make a bad call? Did the previous batter just hit a homerun? Did you just strikeout at the plate? Maturity is showing no emotion when things are tough and when bad things don’t go the way you’d like them to go. You are un-phased.

The SECOND thing that you should have is an ability to bounce back. So maybe you struck out at the plate or someone hit a home run against you. You can’t change the outcome that happened. What is done is done. What you can change, however, is how you react to what happened. Monstar mentality takes on reference to what monsters or the “bad guy” does in movies. Doesn’t it seem that every monster movie out there has a villain that when all seems lost and the villain is about to die, it suddenly comes back to life, and not only comes back to life, but comes back with more power, force and intensity?  You are that monster. You need to come back the same way after a setback on the diamond. Be that monster that comes back bigger, faster, and stronger to defeat the other team. Forget about what happened, learn from it and move on.

One of my favorite monster movies is Spiderman with the monster, Doctor Octupus. Right when you think Doc Oc. is dead, he comes back to life with more legs than before and ability to knock out whoever is in his path. That is what you need to be like!!!

You are a star. You are bigger, faster and stronger. Don’t let a setback ruin your game. Change the setback to a comeback <3