Even though this is supposed to be a softball article, I want to address the golfers who might be reading:

Golfers...did you ever wonder why you can hit the ball so consistently well on the practice range prior to a round, hitting missile after missile into the distance, but when you take those few steps over to the first tee you suddenly become so adept at the duck hook?

The answer lies not in the plane of your swing, nor in the alignment of your grip, but rather the answer is tension. A lack of tension in practice, a subtle, increasing tension at the beginning and throughout match play. Tension tightens the shoulder and neck muscles, causes motion to become less fluid and subsequently less accurate. It causes vision to blur, focus to become less keen, concentration to wane. And though these effects go unnoticed, they are nevertheless both very real, and very detrimental to performance. On the practice range it is easy to stay relaxed, to work on the many fine points of the game, to hone those fine motor skills. The environment is non-threatening, there is no one watching, casting critical assessments on what you are doing...unless, of course, you're paying him. But in the tee box things change. Shots are taken in turn; money is put on the line; other golfers are looking out the clubhouse window, checking out your game.

Well the same holds true for softball. Look at the hitters on your teams. Who's hitting those monster shots in the batting cages or in practice? Is he the same one busting down the fences in the games? Or is he the one most likely to hit the "home run in an elevator" shot with two outs and the winning run on third?

In truth, he may be either, because performance in practice is not always indicative of performance under game conditions. (Though again, the axiom is absolutely true: perfect practice makes perfect.) And it is tension - or rather our response to tension, for in truth tension is unavoidable - that makes all the difference. For some - indeed, clearly the majority - disciplined practice produces disciplined at-bats. In fact, it is essential that every ballplayer refines his physical stroke through some sort of practice. For others, however, untold hours on the practice field might yield nothing but the most inconsistent of results. Some thrive on game situations; some let the subtle influences of tensions throw them completely off their games. Learning to deal with tension - or rather, to minimize the effects of tension - is crucial.

Likewise, it is important to realize that no matter how often you take your cuts, no matter how easy it feels in the cages, no matter how fuzzy you feel when you launch your missiles in practice, it is not going to stay that way forever. Everyone who's played this game has had that feeling that suddenly he's found the secret to the universe, the feeling of "if I could bottle this stuff..." But nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, we have so much difficulty agreeing on physical mechanics that it is unlikely that we'll ever achieve a consensus on the one key mental approach to hitting.

But this realization will not stop us from believing. And as long as we believe, for that one particular at-bat, for that one particular game, for that one brief, shining moment, we'll be able to relax and perform at our peak.

In the next article, we'll take a look at some of the techniques we can use to help us relax both in and away from the game.