Goal Setting

Every practice, every day, every week, the athlete needs something to inspire her. I believe a goal is a pep talk an athlete gives herself.

To get somewhere, you must first know where you want to go. Some of the teams I have coached have gone to a national tournament, and some have not. But it was not always based on talent or lack of talent. I believe those who go believe they can and never consider the possibility that they won’t. The team sets the goal to win it all, and though they might come up short, they do go a lot further than they would have if they had never strived to be champions.

Performance Goals

Athletes should stay away from outcome goals and focus on performance goals, which they can control. Some things in the sport of softball are out of the athletes’ hands. For example, a pitcher might want to throw a shutout. This is an outcome goal and one over which she has little control. She might be pitching great, getting batters out, having good ball movement and location, but the team may make some errors and allow a run to score. The pitcher had no control over the players on her team and how well they were fielding that day. If her goal was based on the outcome—the shutout—she will not have achieved her goal, even though her performance was outstanding.

On the other hand, performance goals are specifically within the athlete’s control. When setting performance goals, the athlete should ask herself (1) what her individual softball goals are, (2) what goals she will meet in order to be a successful student-athlete during the semester, and (3) what action she is going to take to accomplish these goals. Examples of performance goals might be to hit the ball hard, to stop swinging at bad pitches, or to stop 10 grounders in practice without an error. These are all goals that the athlete can meet without depending on the performance of others.

Goals should be set up like a pyramid. The now goals make up the base of the pyramid. These goals are abundant and create a strong base for the others to rest on. Athletes need to constantly strive for something during each moment of practice or competition. A now goal is one that an athlete wants to accomplish at this present moment. In softball, a player might say she wants to follow every ball into her glove for the entire practice. These are goals that the athlete makes in the present and attempts to accomplish in the present.

Short-term goals occupy the center of the pyramid. They are the most important portions of the pyramid, the building blocks. They work off the base of now goals and require a real commitment from the athlete. They are goals the athlete expects to meet in practice or within a two-week period. If they are accomplished, the heart of the pyramid is strong.

Much of the athlete’s goal setting needs to involve short-term goals since these are the building blocks of the success pyramid. Short-term goals must be realistic and attainable, and they can be verbal or written. Every 2 weeks I have my athletes fill out a “goal card,” which they carry with them at all times. On this card they list four short-term goals for the 14-day period: a personal goal, a family goal, a school goal, and a softball goal. I put a motivational quote on the bottom of the card every 2 weeks.

Long-term goals make up the peak of the pyramid. This is the highest point of goal setting. If the athlete reaches the peak successfully and she has followed the steps correctly, then she is probably playing up to her “peak” performance. Once the athlete has met her long-term goal, she can see and feel all the great reasons why goal setting is important. Having been to the top once, she will create another pyramid to conquer.

Team Goals

Team goals are developed and discussed by the team. They could be spoken or written words, such as “Let’s have the best defense in the conference.” During this discussion, our athletes create a list of all the team goals for the season. This list is made into a large poster with the opponents for the season across the top and the goals down the side. This chart is then posted after every game with a star next to the goals the team met.

Changing Goals

If a goal set in the beginning of the year becomes unattainable at some point in the season, a new attainable goal needs to be set. If, for example, one of your athlete’s goals was to have a fielding percentage of .970, and there is now no possible way to raise it that high, she needs to change her goal. You can first help her evaluate why she did not meet her original goal. After she has reflected on the first goal, let her put it away and create a goal that can be met in the remainder of the season. This allows her to still have something to shoot for and also to learn from her failure to fulfill the first goal. She might realize that she did not reach her first goal because it was unrealistic for the position she plays or possibly that she did not follow the steps needed for the end result desired. When goals are made in the beginning or in the middle of a season, they first need to be attainable to be effective.

Misdirected Goals

Misdirected goals are those that are either unattain-able or too obvious. It would be in-effec-tive to set a goal such as going undefeated in a season. Although everyone hopes for it to happen, it’s not a goal that can be controlled. Though being undefeated in a season is attainable, it is a misdirected goal because it is controlled by too many other forces. An example of an unattainable goal is for your weakest hitter to say she wants to hit .380 for the season. You know she struggles to keep a .250 average. This goal is too lofty and will most likely collapse this athlete’s goal pyramid. It would be better for you and the athlete to find an attainable goal.

An example of an obvious goal is to say, “I want to do the best I can.” Of course most athletes usually want to do the best they can. To make this a goal is an easy way out. They need to strive for something to increase their level of play. “I did the best I could” is often an excuse for not rising to the occasion.