Free Diving and Seizing Crunch Moments for Your Team with the Bat

You might be wondering “what the hell has free diving got to do with me becoming a batsman who is capable of staying calm to seize crunch moments for my team”

You’re about to find out

Yesterday I took myself WAY outside my comfort zone… I went spearfishing with a friend

Now something you should know is that I might do daily, cold water dips in the ocean but I don’t venture much further than my feet easily touching the ocean floor when I’m floating in the waves

So off we set, geared up from head to toe in wetsuit, goggles, snorkel, a knife strapped to my calf like an action figure, fins, a weight belt and a bag around my waste for the catch…

Into the cold water I slid, though it didn’t feel cold with the wetsuit, and off we set

Situation 1: Using a snorkel

I haven’t used a snorkel since I was a child and I actively practice breathing through my nose everyday (it’s how we are supposed to breathe) so this presented some challenges getting used to along with way into the deep

Salt water in the mouth, down the throat in up the nose and some unnecessarily short and heavy breathing as we ventured into the kelp forest and the deep

At this stage I noticed I was short of breath, breathing heavily and I was not exerting to much energy as glided through the kelp. So I paused for a second and practiced what I coach players to do when they feel overwhelmed

I acknowledged my breathing was too fast and started to slow my inhales and exhales

I was gliding through a surreal environment; one I’d never encountered before. I took my surroundings in and reframed my situation

Instead of amplifying the fact I was in the unknown I stepped out of the situation and allowed myself to observe my surroundings

The first thing I observed was how clear the visibility was and how deep the ocean floor was below

Rather than be fearful that I was deeper than I’d ever been I felt pumped that I was challenging myself and deeper than I’d ever been

As the kelp glided past and bumped me, I took a moment to appreciate the beauty of these majestic sentinels of the deep

Then the ocean came alive as I realised, I wasn’t alone… a jelly fish floated by like a translucent, celestial dancer

There were fish and they darted away like fleeting whispers in the Cape South Easter

All of a sudden something even bigger moved close by, as I turned my head I saw seals swimming playfully and curiously around me, it was EPIC

I was PRESENT, observing and acknowledging the beauty surrounding me, made me enjoy myself

Situation 2: Cramp!

After about 30 mins in the water cramp set into my left calf

Again, I simply stopped, thought about what I was experiencing and immediately set my mind at ease.

Rather than thinking about being stuck far from land with a cramp and potentially dying, I began to analyse my situation

I was quite buoyant, even with a weight belt, so I could float, and if things got really bad I could latch onto a piece of kelp to aid me

Next step... stop the motion that brought the cramp on, float, breath and observe

The cramp continued so I started to gently move my foot into different positions and the cramp left me.

Float a bit more, take the time to observe the environment and pat myself on the back for remaining calm, observing, thinking and planning and continued on my way to eventually witness Driaan spear a fish!

So, what has this got to do with your batting?

In addition to having clarity and trust in your playing fundamentals so you can score freely around the wicket against all types of bowlers

You need fundamentally sound mental processes to effectively manage the positive and negative thoughts and emotions that are handicapping your batting in matches, limiting your performance and ability to seize crunch moments for your team

And the thing about fundamentally sound processes is they hold TRUE everywhere

Falling back on the processes I coach batsmen to overcome fear, nerves and anxiety so they can remain calm, relaxed and present in the middle, helped me remain calm, relaxed and present in the ocean, allowing me to enjoy the experience and motivate me to improve my skills and do it again

Do you have fundamentally sound mental processes to fall back on when you feel pressure in the middle?