Friends, today we are gathered to address one of the most dreaded issues in all of fastpitch softball practice. Of course, I am talking about “One More” Syndrome.

It’s an issue that affects nearly every player at all levels at one time or another. You may not know it by name, but you know its effect.

There you are, working on hitting, pitching, fielding, or some other skill. You’ve had a very successful session when the coach (or a parent) announces “one more,” as in one more pitch to a hitter, one more ground ball to a fielder, one more rep of a particular pitch.

Suddenly it is as if you’ve never seen a softball before in your life, much less have hit, caught, or thrown one. Whatever skill you were executing with tremendous ability has completely abandoned you, leaving you flapping around the field like a drunken penguin.

This is a topic that came up during a lesson last night with a pitcher named Brooklyn. She was cruising along pretty well working on her changeup when I said, “Ok let’s throw one more” – at which point she totally tanked the pitch.

Brooklyn looked at me, smiled, shrugged, and asked, “What is it about saying one more that makes things go bad?” I had to admit I didn’t know, but it does seem to happen a lot. That’s when we came up with the idea of One More Syndrome.

So what can you do about it? One thing is not to put too much worry into it.

For whatever reason, this seems to be a very common affliction. If it was odd that would be one thing. But it pretty much happens to everyone sooner or later.

If you really want to put a stop to it, though, your best bet is probably just not to think about the fact that it’s the last whatever. Just treat it like one more rep and you’ll most likely be fine.

Worst case, just ask the coach or parent not to announce it’s the last one – at least all the time. That way you can work up to the mental toughness not to be affected so you can keep things moving along quickly.

“One More” syndrome is real. But it doesn’t have to be a terrible issue.

Just laugh about it and get on with your practice. Eventually you’ll get to the point where hearing “let’s do one more” will be just another ordinary phrase.