One of the hardest things in the world for me to do is hide my emotions. So as an athlete you can imagine how that might be a conflicting issue. Keeping a straight face through each bad call, booted play and worst of all every disagreement with a teammate or coach. It's not an easy thing to do and since I'm a pitcher it's my job to be entirely emotionless, even more so than anyone else on the field. Not only because an umpire can make or break the game you are pitching so it's important to make sure it seems you agree with his calls (which is THE hardest thing) but also it's my job to ensure to never let the other team think they've gotten in my head, that maybe I've started to crack.
Someone one gave me some of the best advice I've ever received as a pitcher, which was; "Always smile, an opposing team hates nothing more than a pitcher who is happy." I had never realized it before but that saying is very true. My team can’t stand when a pitcher is doing well and smiling on the mound, or even worse smiling when she’s not doing well. It somehow seems to mess with batters heads, the idea that somehow the pitch knows something they don’t, maybe they have the upper hand.
Needless to say if I’m pitching and I’m pitching well, I’m smiling. If I’m not pitching well, I’m forcing a smile till my cheeks hurt. Throughout most of my softball career, opposing teams have not liked me, hated me even, without ever even meeting me. I guess the smiling pitcher theory continues to work.
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