I have no reservations saying that if you have an athlete involved in youth baseball today, hes been exposed to failure more than a few times. The good news is that failure is part of the deal as it will build important character traits that will pay off inside and outside of baseball in the long-run. The problem Id like to address is how the tiny game to game failures compound and begin to turn into longer struggles or slumps.

Baseball is a game of failure, Im sure youve heard that many times. Therefore, the game to game failures are usually caused from a particular skill that has yet to be develop as good as it can be. The long-term struggles are usually a bit more complex and are the combination of physical skill deficiencies and mental game problem such as lack of confidence. A recipe for a long-term slump is when the physical problem is combined with mental problems.

Before I talk about how to solve a long-term slump, its important to understand how small game-to-game failures grow into full blown long-term slumps. Its really a simple concept to understand. Your mind records images of your performances, especially if the performance is accompanied by a strong emotion. If the performance is poor, the mind will save the image of your poor performance in your short-term memory allowing you to review it over and over again. The problem gets tough when the amount of negative images pile up in the short-term memory.

Unfortunately, when an athlete experiences a series of poor performances it creates extreme emotions. The longer the player experiences these emotions, the tougher it is for him to replace those negative images in his brain. The good news is that with some mental game skill practice this problem can be solved before it gets out of control.

The solution to fixing a struggling mental game is to change the mental image your mind has stored. Instead of seeing the failure or series of failures, begin to see those failures turn into successes. Rather than seeing yourself strike out looking at bat, see yourself hit the pitch into the left-center gap for a double. Rather than seeing yourself make an error in the infield, see yourself backhand the ball and throw out the runner at first base. This skill is a bit tricky and strange at first since you are essentially lying to your brain. But, with time and frequent practice, youll be able to lessen the impact of failures and experience continued growth as an athlete.