How Matt Harvey, other athletes can fix dents in their armor

Kevin L. Burke

How Matt Harvey, other athletes can fix dents in their armor image

If you have been following the saga of Mets pitcher Matt Harvey, you know of the struggle he is experiencing. Harvey is a top-notch pitcher who may be going through one of the worst times in his baseball career. Harvey is giving up numerous home runs and has a sky-high ERA.

Harvey's agent, Scott Boras, believes, or is at least stating publicly, that Harvey's struggles are due to his return from Tommy John surgery. Boras makes his statement based on the fact Harvey's velocity is present but that the right-hander is missing his spots, or location. Boras has seen similar performances by other pitchers who have had Tommy John surgery.

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How does a high-level pitcher overcome what seems to be a never-ending downward spiral of performance? While slumps are never easy to deal with, some are more difficult than others.

In my consulting work with coaches and athletes in these situations, we usually attempt to see if there's a physical reason for the performance decline. In other words, has a hitter developed a hitch in his swing? Has a pitcher slightly changed an aspect of his throwing mechanics? For example, several years ago I was contacted by a coach who claimed his up-and-coming pitcher could not throw as fast in games as he did in practice. I requested to meet with both on a baseball field to observe the player's throwing. I stood directly behind the pitcher's mound and after a few throws realized the hurler was not breathing out as he released the ball. I asked him to exaggerate his exhale by grunting loudly as the ball left his hand. This technique helped the athlete focus on breathing correctly. 

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Once we are satisfied a mechanical issue is not the main culprit, discussion of the mental approach occurs. Obviously, numerous mental distractions may cause a downside in performance. It can be helpful to discuss some of these distractions such as media pressure, contract negotiations, letting down teammates, etc. In general, however, I attempt to help athletes return to focusing on process and performance and focus less on outcomes. This means to focus less on winning and losing because too much focus on outcomes usually leads to more anxiety for athletes. While you can't get high-level athletes to totally ignore winning and losing, the goal is to get them to focus on two other aspects of playing their sport.

I encourage athletes to focus on their individual performance that is not dependent upon their competitors. For example, I would encourage a baseball pitcher to have the goal of increasing accuracy during a set timeframe. For example, the pitcher may strive to hit location points 80 percent of the time. Location is not dependent upon what the hitter does with the pitch. It is important to realize performance goals must be in control of the performer and not be dependent upon the competitor's performance. So while a pitcher may strike out a batter, this would not be a step in the right direction of meeting the performance goals if he missed his location. Performance goals should be based on the athlete's own previous performances and not compared to other athletes. In many cases, coaches can help set realistic performance targets with the athlete.

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It is also important to get performers to focus on an aspect or two of the process, or "how-to's," of their skills. In the case of a baseball pitcher, I might ask the athlete to focus on the follow-through and/or breathing out on release of the pitch. The goal is to help quiet the mind. By giving athletes a process cue to think about, they won't be distracted by non-related, performance-hindering thoughts (i.e., what-ifs, or the previous bad pitch). Process thinking can also help to build confidence because athletes do not have to depend upon others to control these aspects of their performances.

While Matt Harvey is going through a difficult time, the good news is most athletes break out of the negative spiral. By taking the approach that the spiral is another sport performance challenge, athletes can confront the difficulty head-on. Harvey seems to be choosing this approach.

This provides another positive opportunity out of what seems to be a never-ending struggle. Successfully dealing with a difficult time usually provides a major boost in confidence and will most certainly be beneficial in similar future difficult times.

Kevin L. Burke is a sport psychology professor and consultant at Queens University in Charlotte, N.C. Contact him at kevinlburkeenterprises.com and follow him on Twitter: @SportPsyching.

Kevin L. Burke