Power Line Expands Services – Hires Mental Coach

• Blog
• May 14th

Littlewood specializes in working with individuals, teams, coaches and parents to produce mental toughness, a winning mindset, championship focus and success on and off the field. The individual one-on-one sessions involve mental skills assessment and a customized mental training program. Team sessions include activities and interactive workshops focused on learning mental skills and building team unity. Parent seminars teach the best ways to support your child including mental preparation, expectations, promoting healthy attitudes and building confidence and motivation.  Coming soon will be small group sessions aimed at providing an introduction to key mental skills and their application to improving softball performance.

Sara Hayes comments, “We are excited for Zoe Littlewood to add a dynamic aspect to our athlete’s development.  Our staff addresses the mental side in each session, but Zoe’s expertise in this specifically will assist our athletes to develop new habits expanding their ability to let loose and excel to the highest level!”

Littlewood has worked with Division I teams at San Diego State University, youth and high school athletes and individual and team sports including tennis, gymnastics, baseball, volleyball, lacrosse and football.  She earned her Master’s in Sport and Exercise Psychology from Argosy University in Orange County.  Littlewood has been involved in sports her whole life as an athlete, coach and sport psychology consultant allowing her to develop an understanding of the demands of sports and what it takes to be successful at every level.

Power Line Consulting was founded in the fall of 2008 by Sara Hayes, who, after 13 years of college coaching, decided she wanted to do something that would have a lasting impact on the softball community in San Diego and beyond. Her vision is to utilize elite tools and technology to expand the opportunities of athletes, coaches, teams and leagues. Power Line’s programs are structured to develop the complete athlete through skill training, mentoring, sports performance coaching and to advise athletes how to market those skills to college recruiters. Hayes also consults coaches as they grow their programs and promote their athletes. Power Line trains and mentors 150 athletes each week and has placed 35 student-athletes in colleges across the country. Power Line is recognized as a leading training and mentoring facility for young athletes in the Southwest region.

May 2012 Newsletter

• Blog
• May 11th

May 2012 Newsletter

Confidence is Key!!

May’s Newsletter focuses on confidence, and how important it is to believe in yourself. Power Line’s pitching coach Becca Heteniak wrote an expert article on the mental aspects of confidence and ways to achieve it. The newsletter also consists of the workout of the month – jump rope, and the nutritional tip of the month – protein. Our summer camps are also listed with the dates, times, and all other information. Make sure you read all the way through the newsletter because it is packed with educational articles, training information, discounts on lessons, and much, much more!!

Click here to read the May 2012 Newsletter

Confidence, the Key to Success

• Blog
• May 11th

Confidence, the Key to Success

Confidence, beyond the physical skills in softball it is the most important aspect of a successful player. Ask any professional softball player if she thinks she can get a hit and a resounding “yes!” will be the response.  There is a very specific way in which confidence transfers into increased athleticism and overall performance.  What is confidence, really, besides simply knowing that positive outcomes will occur.  If every athlete that ever existed knew that every at bat would end in a hit, every shot would end in a swish, or every kick would end in a goal, sports as a whole would be very different.  There would be no excitement in the unknown, and no fear or self-doubt to overcome in order to succeed.

That is obviously not the case in the sporting world of today.  There is the fear of striking out in a game-changing situation or giving up the game winning hit to the opposite team.  Yet, without that fear of failure, success would not seem quite as sweet.  Having said that, now comes the ultimate question: How do players create confidence?

Confidence is an intangible advantage, meaning that, unlike other skills in softball, mastering it is not as simple as practicing.  Yet, throughout the years of studying the game, it is plain to see that those athletes with superior skills tend to exude confidence.  Think back to the previously stated fear of striking out in a game-changing situation.  What is the athlete truly afraid of in that moment?  The answer is quite simple: she believes she is not good enough to make a difference for her team.  Now, think if that athlete had been working to perfect her swing for years and, because of all that hard work, knows she could see the pitch and hit it.  That pressure situation turns into an average at bat with potential for above average results.  Working hard and honing skills is the most tried and true way to create confidence.

There are other ways to build confidence in young athletes, but it involves trust and faith on their part.  One such fairly simple way to build confidence is positive self-talk.  That is a very broad term, and it could mean many different things, but the most important part is keeping negativity out of the thought process for any skill.  A lot of athletes, especially when trying to fix mistakes, will say “I won’t do this…” or “I’ll fix blank by not doing blank”.  This is a good process in theory, but really all that is happening is repetition of the mistake.  Verbally repeating a mistake over and over again is only going to lead to physically repeating said mistake.

Also, a common theme among young athletes is thinking the worst case scenario is going to happen.  This is, by far, the worst form of negative thinking because it is very difficult to try to have confidence through such negativity.  The thoughts of athletes have very real effects on the game.  Ever heard of the phrase “The game is 90% mental”?  With the way coaches toss around the phrase it would be annoying, if it were not true. The best way to stay ahead of the mental side of the game is through visualization.  Seeing a perfect swing or a perfect pitch will allow an athlete to command their bodies and make necessary adjustments.

Yet, even with visualization and attempting positive thinking, it is difficult to stay positive when things are not going well.  At that point, the most effective way to build confidence is to rely on teammates.  Communicating with teammates and supporting each other, whether or not physical or mental errors are made will help boost team esteem.  As the confidence increases throughout the team as a whole, individual athletes can build on that positivity and use it to their advantage in the individual aspects of the game.

With all of that said, as an athlete steps onto the mound or into the batter’s box, there has to be positivity and confidence.   The approach going into each pitch, either as a batter or a pitcher, should start with a deep breath and visualization of the objective to be accomplished whether it is a perfect pitch, a home run swing, or putting down a bunt to move a runner.  Coming back from a negative outcome in an at bat or thrown ball as a pitcher is all about moving on and having a short memory.  Rather than focusing on what already happened, taking a breath and refocusing on a positive outcome will build an athlete more confidence than simply thinking about what went wrong.  There are different ways to build confidence, but finding the most successful way for each individual will allow them to better understand themselves not only as an athlete, but as a person.

Alexis Perry – Power Line Hitter

• Videos
• May 9th

11 years old

Ariana Quintanilla – Power Line Hitter

• Videos
• May 9th

2013 grad – Mike Fox Batbusters – 2nd/SS/Outfield

Summer Camp Line-Up

• Blog, Sara Hayes
• May 8th

All-Skills Summer Camps

Our aspiration and goals here at Power Line are for our athletes to play at the highest level of softball. With this we are committed to developing our athletes in every way possible. This three day camp will cover hitting, defense, base running, footwork, the mental game, with the option of pitching and catching following the All-Skills portion. We will start with basics and fundamentals, progressing and ending with situational work. Our All-Skills three day camp is for athletes 11 and under with 2 years of experience or less. If you have any questions regarding the camp please feel free call the facility! We look forward to working with the athletes and making them strong overall softball players.

June 18-20

July 24-26

August 21-23:

Advanced Summer Camps

Power Line’s elite staff played at the highest level of softball, and with this we want our athletes to be inspired by us to work towards their dreams. At our advanced camp we will push our athletes through advanced drills that we quickly apply towards situational work. We focus on both offense and defense, putting them together making everything we work on game-like and competitive. We will break mid-day for lunch, where we will have our sports and mental coach Zoe Littlewood, talk about mental muscle training and the importance of the mental aspects of softball. We will also have a speed and agility coach working with the athletes and helping them strive to get faster, stronger, and more agile. This advanced camp is for athletes 11 and older, with 3 years of experience or more! If you have any questions regarding the camp please feel free call the facility! We look forward to working with the athletes and making them strong overall softball players.

June 26-28:

Click here for more information!

Please click here for the liability waiver that must be signed prior to the camps! Thank you!

Cortney Horne – Power Line Catchers

• Videos
• April 25th

Catching drill

Cortney Horne – Power Line Catchers

• Videos
• April 25th

Catching drill

April 2012 Newsletter

• Blog
• April 24th

April 2012 Newsletter

Pillars to Success

Power Line’s monthly newsletter consists of inspirational words from our coaches, upcoming events we are holding, monthly deals on equipment, expert articles, and all local softball schedules. We also include instructional videos with drills you can practice at home or incorporate into your practices. Each month we have a new workout and a different nutritional tip to help strengthen you as an overall elite athlete!

Click here to read our educational newsletter!

Morgan Farmer – Power Line Hitter

• Videos
• April 24th

2017 grad. P/1b. Power Surge-Berndes.