NOTE: What I’m about to describe can be used by any player. But since pitchers are usually the ones who are most directly targeted, I’m going to focus on them.

The other day I was working with a pitching student who had played against a team she used to be on. She and her mom told me she pitched fairly well, but that she had gotten a little upset when the other team started doing a lot of sing-songy chants directed at her with the purpose of trying to rattle her.

This was in 12U travel ball by the way. First of all, I personally believe there is no place in the game for directing insulting chants or remarks at an opposing player.

Trying to ruin a teen or pre-teen’s confidence by saying insulting things to her is just plain classless. There’s enough of that on social media already.

It’s also a comment on the other team’s ability. If that’s what it takes for them to win maybe they’d better go back to the drawing board and work on their own skills.

But if you’re the pitcher who has that stuff being directed at you, there isn’t much you can do to prevent it from happening. You have no control over how the other team acts (and apparently neither do their coaches or parents).

People will tell a pitcher to just ignore it, but that can be difficult to do. In my experience young females are far more likely to listen to the bad things said about them than the good things anyway.

I have another solution that I told my pitching student about, and she seemed to like the idea. It comes from the world of professional wrestling, i.e., WWE, AEW, NWA, etc. and basically involves steering into the insults rather than trying to tune them out.

In pro wrestling there are “Faces” and “Heels.” Faces are the heroes, the ones you’re supposed to admire and root for, essentially the good guys, who represent Mom, apple pie, and all of that.

The Heels, on the other hand, are the ones you’re supposed to root against. They are demeaning to the audience and other wrestlers, cheat by doing dirty things to their opponents when the ref is looking the other way, hit opponents with chairs, and otherwise act outside the bounds of human decency.

When the Faces are introduced, everyone is supposed to cheer (and usually does). They’re there to see that justice is done and the forces of good prevail.

When the Heels are introduced, though, everyone is supposed to boo (and most usually do, although they have their fans too). It’s what the Heels do when they’re booed, though, that is the point of our story today.

They don’t act shocked, or hurt, or look like someone just ran over their dogs. Instead, they steer into the boos, drinking them up like they’re refreshing water. They strut around the ring and motion for the fans to give them more of it with a look of satisfaction or even pleasure on their faces.

That’s the attitude I think pitchers should adopt. When the insulting cheers come on, don’t sink into a shell; embrace them!

Pitchers can start by pretending they can’t quite hear the cheers and signaling to the opposing bench to say them louder by holding a hand to their ears. If they continue, pitchers can smile and walk around in the circle waving their arms as if to ask for more.

By showing it not only doesn’t bother them (even if it secretly does) but the pitchers are apparently enjoying hearing it, they can essentially take all the fun out of it for their opponents. The more the pitchers look like they are loving the insults – and that the only effect they’re having is pumping up the pitchers even more – the less likely the other team is to continue.

After all, why would you continue a behavior that seems to be helping the opposing pitcher instead of hurting her? Seems kind of counter-productive to me.

The thing pitchers need to keep in mind is that in most cases the other team wouldn’t be doing all of this if they thought they could easily win the game without it. No, they’re going to do it when they’re worried they might lose.

And even if that’s how they treat all pitchers regardless of skill level, showing you’re not only not intimidated but actually are enjoying the attention is a quick way to neutralize the other team’s behavior.

The only other X factor in all of this is how the umpire reacts to this little Heel performance. But if he/she says anything to the pitcher, she (or her coach) should just say, “You get them to stop with the negative cheers and I’ll stop what I’m doing.”

Nothing like a little self-awareness to put it all in perspective.

We often say the first step in being confident is to act like you already are confident – even if you’re not. Putting on a little Heel performance when the negative cheers or comments start to fly is a great way to get into the right mindset and help pitchers overcome the risk of their opponents getting in their heads.

And of course, the irony is by acting like a pro wrestling Heel, the pitchers actually present themselves as the heroes of the story who are standing up for themselves and all that is good and right in the world. Not a bad place to be!