Anyone who has a cat, or who hangs out at the home of someone who has a cat, knows this scenario: The cat is walking along a precarious path, such as the back of a couch or a very thing shelf. Suddenly, the cat loses its footing and lands on the next surface below.

No matter how ridiculous the cat looked when it was falling, or how awkwardly it landed, it will always have the same reaction: it will get up (if it didn’t land on its feet as they usually do), straighten itself out, and look around the room with an expression that says, “I meant to do that.”

Fastpitch softball players can learn a lot from that reaction. All too often, when a player makes a mistake (such as a pitcher sailing a pitch into the backstop or a hitter swinging at a pitch that, um, went sailing into the backstop), the player will react as though she just accidentally published her most private thoughts on her Instagram account.

Once she’s had that reaction it gets into her head. Sometimes it affects the next few pitches or plays; sometimes it affects the rest of the game, the day, or the weekend.

This doesn’t just happen at the youth levels either. College players can suffer from this debilitating reaction as well.

Once it starts it’s hard to stop. And it can also have a ripple effect, especially if it’s a pitcher who does it. The rest of the team usually takes its cue from the pitcher, so if the pitcher is freaking out you can bet that at some level the rest of the team is freaking out as well.

So what to do about it? You have to train it, like anything else.

Because while cats react with a superior air instinctively; athletes generally do not.

Coaches and parents can help their athletes overcome those tendencies by not overreacting themselves. Remember that no one sails a pitch or bobbles a grounder or drops a popup or swings at a bad pitch on purpose.

It just happens. Staying positive in the moment, or at least not going nuclear, can help players move past a mistake faster so one issue doesn’t turn into multiple issues.

Ultimately, though, it’s up to the players themselves to take on this attitude. While it may come naturally to some, most will probably worry too much about letting down their team, their coaches, their parents, as well as looking bad generally.

They have to learn that errors or other miscues happen to everyone, and have to have the confidence to keep going even when they want to shrink or crawl into a hole.

In my opinion this attitude is particularly important for pitchers, because the rest of the team often takes its emotional cues from the girl in the circle. If she gets frustrated, or upset, or off her game in any way, it’s very likely she’ll take most if not all of the team down with her.

Which means the team behind her will under-perform just when she needs them to be better to pick her up.

Anyone in a captain’s or other leadership role also must take on that cat-like attitude. Remember that the characteristic that makes you a leader is that people will follow you. So you have to decide where you want to lead your followers – into a deeper hole or beyond any problems.

Taking on an “I meant to do that” attitude, even when everyone knows they didn’t, will give everyone else the confidence that everything is fine so they can play without fear of failure. Isn’t that the definition of what leaders do?

For those who don’t have access to a cat themselves, the Internet is filled with cat videos that demonstrate this behavior. Check some out and see how they react to the biggest miscues.

Then have your favorite players adopt that attitude for themselves. You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes.