VISUALIZATION

A Brief Guide to In- and Out-of-Season Preparation

The next logical question is when do you work on your softball swing mechanics, if not in the batting cages? The answer is simple: whenever you can...wherever you are.

In The Mental Game of Baseball (South Bend, IN: Diamond Communications, Inc.), Reggie Jackson shares a similar approach: When I want to turn it on, I have a routine I go through...I imagine myself putting the "sweet spot" in the hitting area just as the ball is getting there. I see a line drive going to center field...When I visualize, I feel my approach and the contact...I "see it" the way I am going to see it.

What he is describing, of course, is mental rehearsal, or visualization, which applies not only to the moment's immediately preceding game performance, but anytime you have a quiet moment. It is a powerful practice technique, particularly useful in those long winter months when the season shuts down

Harvey Dorfman and Karl Kuehl, authors of The Mental Game of Baseball, have this to say: Visualization programs the nervous system, muscles, and fibers of the body. The clearer the image - the more detail - the greater the effect on the body. Imagination can trigger nerve and muscle response.

In essence, the mind cannot distinguish between practice that is "real" - i.e., physical - and practice that is not. The same muscle memory is created whether you take your cuts in the batting cages, or whether you take them in your mind. (Which of course does not eliminate the need for physical training. Although there have been studies that suggest the body can be reshaped and conditioned to some degree through mental techniques, strength, flexibility, agility, and endurance unquestionably require physical training for optimum results.)

As Dorfman and Kuehl point out, when visualizing your performance, it is important that the mental picture be as vivid and detailed as possible. Feel the dirt from the batter's box under your cleats, the breeze tossing your hair as it blows out to left; test the weight of the bat in your hands, the tack of the pine tar; smell the onions grilling in the concession stand behind the backstop. Whatever sensation you associate with where you play ball, incorporate it into your fantasy. Then "see" yourself performing to the utmost of your ability. Work on the mechanics that you know are your weaknesses. If you have trouble keeping your head down, in practice see the ball flatten as it impacts with the bat. If you tend to uppercut, visualize a perfect, straight-line path for your swing plane. If your hips fly open, keep them closed. And if your mental image goes awry, keep seeing it until you are perfect, until your image of your swing is dead-on with what you know to be right.

Blister line drives all around the park, split the gaps between the outfielders, and drive the ball through the box like you do on your best days in BP...Hit some bombs!

Then, and only then, will you be "programmed" to perform at your best.