Want to Play With Zero Nerves and Total Freedom? Here’s How I Found It Again.
Want to Play With Zero Nerves and Total Freedom? Here’s How I Found It Again.
There was a time in my baseball career when nerves ruled me.
I’d step on the field, and my head would fill with thoughts of future outcomes that hadn’t even happened yet:
What if I make an error?
What if they hit it to me and I mess it up?
What if we lose because of me?
I’d picture myself booting the ball. I’d see my teammates’ faces in disappointment. I’d convince myself that I’d let the whole team down. And the more I focused on those imagined outcomes, the tighter I got. The game stopped feeling like a game — it felt like a trap.
But then something happened that changed everything.
I got released.
It stung. For a moment, I thought it was the end of my career. But what it really did was force me to ask:
Why do I play this game?
Do I even enjoy it anymore?
What do I love about it?
And when I went back to playing after being released, I realized something powerful: the pressure was gone. I wasn’t playing for a contract anymore. I wasn’t living inside imagined outcomes. I was simply playing. For the first time in years, I felt free again — like the kid who fell in love with the game in the first place.
The Truth About Pressure
Here’s what I came to understand: my performance alone doesn’t decide the game.
There are 27 outs in baseball. No single player carries all of them. Think about Bill Buckner in the 1986 World Series. Everyone remembers the ball going through his legs. People blamed him for the loss. But the truth? His team had nine innings to score more runs. They missed opportunities. They let the game be that close. That one play didn’t lose the game.
It’s the same for all of us.
I thought back to games where I played really well, but we still lost — because the team didn’t execute. Then I remembered games where I made mistakes, and yet we still won. That’s when it clicked: the outcome of the game isn’t controlled by one person.
Winning the Mental Game
The more I obsessed over outcomes, the less control I had. Outcomes depend on too many factors: teammates, opponents, luck, and timing.
But there’s one thing I can always control: the next pitch.
So, I developed a simple process:
Reset: Deep breath, glove tap.
Posture: Stand tall, ready.
Mantra: “I am confident and relaxed.”
Focus: What’s my job on the next pitch?
When I trained my mind to lock into the process — not the outcome — everything changed. The nerves disappeared. I started playing freely. And ironically, that’s when my best performances started showing up.
Playing Free
If you want to play with zero nerves and total freedom, stop trying to control what you can’t: the scoreboard, the final out, or your teammates’ opinions.
Shift your focus to the process. To the present moment. To the next pitch.
That’s where freedom is found. That’s where your confidence grows. And that’s where the love of the game comes back to life.
Regards,
Coach Ben
If you like this type of content and want to talk about how you can "play free" and overcome fear and anxiety with your game, check out my programs Baseball Programs
