The mental side of the game, something all athletes struggle with at one point. Trying to prepare yourself for a good game while keeping the negative thoughts to a minimum is an ideal situation for a student athlete under pressure.

On a game day, the pressure to do exceedingly well causes a great amount of stress for athletes. Transitioning the feeling you have towards a game is beneficial in most causes especially if someone has a positive mindset about how the game will go. 

“On game day I always feel excited and pumped, no matter who we are playing,” Sophomore Avery Wolfe said. “If I do not have a positive mindset and outlook on the game it will not go as well for me.” 

Leading up to a successful game and getting one’s mind prepped and ready is the key to meeting expectations for themselves. Having the “I can” mentality is a concept athletes need to be always up to.

“Being mentally in the game and being serious is what I need to start a good warm-up,” Sophomore Amanda Gibilisco said. “I can not be messing around because then my mind can’t get out of it and it transfers to my game.”

The warm-up before the game shapes how the game will go for the athletes. Having a good warm-up will lead to a more successful game. 

“I get prepared in my warm-up, if I don’t get a good warm-up in then it will not go well for me,” Gibilisco said. “The way I warm-up is exactly how I will play.”

Having a bad warm-up leading to an even worse game is not ideal but athletes need a way to get themselves out of the negative thoughts that they have. The mental side of the game when trying to shift the outcome is an obstacle needing to be overcome.

“When I’m not doing good I have to go work on whatever I did wrong at the end of the inning and sometimes it will bring me out of what was going on.” Gibilisco said. “I also have to fix the way I think and block out anything stopping me from doing well also.”

Celebration and having energy paves a path for the game as well. Being excited and loud with high energy brings up the team’s spirits and sometimes leads to the opposing team shutting down and doing worse, creating a win for the team. 

“I scream and get excited during the game, the louder we are, the more in the game we get,” Wolfe said. “Our team has to be loud for us to do good, it is like a bragging right”