Are you willing to layout?

In baseball one of the most important things you can do is “layout”. As a definition laying out means you dive for a ball that has been hit just out of your reach when you are standing up. For the non-baseball folk here is an example of laying out.

But it’s more than that. Laying out is a sign that you will do what it takes to help your team to win. It means you are fully committed to achieving your goal. It often means you have overcome fear. And it means you are prepared to go out and get what you want.

One of the worst feelings you can have on a baseball field is seeing that ball go by and knowing you could have got it if you had just “laid out.” Even worse is when you are a team-mate and you watch that same ball roll past someone who could have reached it with just that 1% extra.

It’s a bit of a generalization but it’s also a bit of a “female thing”. Young male baseball players are so keen to be seen as cool and athletic that they will launch for a ball they have no chance of getting.  Here is a fun example of that!

But I frequently hear female ball players saying they are either scared to lay out or can’t get their body to do it on queue.  Girls and women think of all the myriad of outcomes that might happen OTHER than success, and sometimes this can make you freeze or scared to dive in (Here’s a cool video for a bit of a laugh about men v women’s brains)

The key to laying out is the willingness to let go of the fear of failing and being prepared to launch yourself without knowing whether you will succeed. It is the process of laying out that is important, the choice you make that gives yourself the chance to succeed. It’s getting a bit tired, but its about getting out of your comfort zone. We like to say “getting comfortable being uncomfortable”

So how to do it? Here are my three top tips for learning to “layout”:

1. Give yourself permission to fail. It doesn’t matter if you get what you are reaching for, what matters is your intent.
2. Ask yourself what if? What if you could do it? What would that look like? This opens your mind up to the possibility that you can do it.
3. Think of someone you know who can do it and imagine/visualise yourself as her in the same situation. What would she do? What would she say?

This last point is what prompted me to write this piece. I was talking to a young baseball player at a tournament who had a fear of laying out. I told her to imagine herself as Morgan Doty – an Australian Baseball player with almost 300,000 views of her famous layout in the 2016 Women’s  Baseball World Cup.

The young player laughed and it took her a moment to realise that I was serious. I’ve seen players transform by getting out of their own head and into a mind-body belief that they can actually do what they want to do. Later that day I had a chance to practice what I preached.

Playing second base in the same tournament as a 48 year old who doesn’t play regularly I  had been tentative in my efforts. A ball was hit to my left and although I ran as hard as I could, I stayed on my feet and watched it roll past me. Then I heard the call   “Hey Gosstray! Why didn’t you lay out?”  I looked over to see our catcher grinning. She wasn’t upset with me because at my age no one expects me to put my body on the line. No one except me that is. Inside I fumed at myself, outside I laughed back and got on with the game.

Next inning I was moved over to shortstop. For the uninitiated, this is the position usually reserved for the most athletic player with the strongest arm. In tournament play sometimes that doesn’t happen and sometimes you are needed to plug a gap. I hadn’t played this position in a long time. I turned to my teammate at second base. I picked out two names famous within the Australian team for putting their bodies on the line, Shae Lillywhite and Bronwyn Gell.

I asked my teammate which one she wanted to be. She chose Bronwyn, that gave me Shae. So I took a moment to put myself in Shae’s shoes. What would she say right now, what would she be doing? Shae has a little foot scuffing ritual where she shifts the dirt in front of her when she’s getting ready to field. I imagined myself doing that. I saw her diving to the left. I stopped worrying about whether I could play the position and I just channeled the feelings I know Shae would have been having. I could hear her voice in my head, wanting the ball to come to her.

I looked up and gave a laugh. Shae was up to bat! There couldn’t be a better time to be projecting her! With one swing she drove a ball hard to my left, a few feet off the ground. I ran towards the ball and it dawned that it was out of my reach. Everything slowed down and I knew what I had to do. I reached out, I stretched out, I laid out. The ball hit my glove. It stuck. I’d caught it! It worked! A second later I hit the ground with a thud and the ball popped out. The impact had dislodged the ball and instead of being the hero, I had allowed Shae to get on base.

At this point I had two choices. To lament the fact that I hadn’t caught the ball, or to feel good that I had done what I could in that moment.

If I hadn’t laid out I would never have even had a chance to make the catch. Laying out gave me half a chance. Standing on my feet gave me none. Laying out showed my team-mates, that at 48 and just filling in, I gave a damn about them and wanted to do the best I could. We were 5 runs behind at this stage and we came back to lose 5-4. I would like to think my dive inspired my team. Regardless, I was able to finish my game with pride. Not going home wondering “what if I had laid out for that ball?” Not holding myself responsible for the loss but knowing I had given my all.

Ok maybe I was still berating myself a little for the earlier one where I didn’t lay out, but again, it’s not about the one I didn’t go for, it’s about learning and making adjustments. Making a different choice the second time around. That’s the difference between failing and learning, from being stuck in a negative reality, and being willing to uncreate and recreate your world.

So next time you are in a challenging position, and aren’t sure of what you should do. Ask yourself this one question… “What would it take for me to layout?”