Softball Sees Benefits from Mental Performance Coach

April 23, 2018

Prior to the start of the 2018 season, South Carolina softball coach Beverly Smith was looking for something to get her team to the next level, and the answer may not have been found in the batting cages or on the infield. That “something extra” may have been there all along, in between the ears. South Carolina athletics had enlisted the services of mental performance coach Dr. Dave Ricciuti for its programs, and Smith jumped at the opportunity.

“The mental toughness piece was something that I was looking for this season, and had been for the last few years,” Smith said. “For us, ‘relentless competitor’ is one of our core values, and I just felt it was an area we needed some improvement. I just told him our story and how every year, we’ve gotten better and better. We are so close, and I believe the thing we are missing is the mental toughness of the grind. This is a sport where you fail a lot.”

“What I do is in the field of sports psychology, but I’m not a psychologist,” said Ricciuti, a former marine who has an extensive background in training members of the military, which is what previously brought him to Columbia’s U.S. Army Training Center at Fort Jackson. “I was teaching drill sergeants by trying to give them more tools in their tool box to help develop more mental toughness in their recruits coming through basic training. From there, I went up to Fort Bragg (N.C.) and worked with Green Berets for a couple of years.

“I guess I’m a coach by trade because I have a doctorate of education in coaching, but I specifically focus on the mental aspect of athletics performance.”

South Carolina has played in the NCAA Tournament after each of the previous five seasons under Smith, but the SEC continues to get stronger with all 13 of the league’s teams reaching the postseason last year. Smith had been looking for help in the area of mental performance prior to Ricciuti’s arrival, and she was dedicated to giving up practice time to make it work.

“I think it’s just as valuable as time on the field,” Smith said. “If it’s important, we give up practice time, and that lets the players know that this is important. If we want to watch video, we’re going to do that in practice time. We have a consistent group time with him where we meet for an hour every week and review the previous week. Those are helpful with open communication and dialogue. It has really helped in building trust with each other.”

“She gave me a full week of training before the season with her team,” Ricciuti said. “We worked on a lot of mental performance skills and started to build what I call a ‘culture of warriors’ and the belief of ‘why not us?’ Once we started to instill that confidence and that belief that they could be on the field with anybody, the only thing that could beat us was us.

They recognize his value in giving us the tools we need.

Coach Beverly Smith

“Softball is a game of failure, which is a learning experience for me. Where we saw things turn around was when we were in Oklahoma against the defending national champions. In both games, there was one inning where they scored on us, but we were able to play with them. I think that’s where I really started to see that belief.”

Ricciuti’s work begins as a classroom experience as well as a one-on-one experience.

“The very first thing we do is develop a team creed,” Ricciuti said. “We get the team together and they identify three or four characteristics or traits that are necessary for them to be successful. Then we define what those traits look like for that team. That’s the creed or mission statement that we operate off for the rest of the season.”

As the season rolls on, Ricciuti meets with the student-athletes individually. After spending many years working with special operations forces in the military, Ricciuti admits he has learned a lot in dealing with 18-22-year-old female student-athletes.

“I had not worked with a team of females in college before,” Ricciuti said. “They started talking about emotions and feelings in our creed exercises, and I’m not a ‘feelings’ guy. I asked them how important feelings really were, and they said they were very important. That was a learning experience for me. They have bought in 100 percent. I’ve worked with the best of the best in the military, and never have I had a team that has latched on to the mental performance side so well as these young ladies have done.

“I’ve been doing this for about 15 years, and never have I worked with an organization or staff like this that really allows me to do what I want. Coach Smith is so bought in, that she is willing for me to take them away from practice time and field tactics to address the mental stuff. That just doesn’t happen in most places. That has been key to our success so far.”

Ricciuti observes at practice, travels with the team, and is in the dugout during games as well.

“My presence is just a cue to remind them about the stuff we’ve worked on,” Ricciuti said. “I don’t do a lot of mental performance stuff in the dugout during the games, but if they pull me aside, I’m there for them to help implement some of the skills we’ve worked on.”

“Dr. Dave,” as he is called by the student-athletes and staff, has blended in well enough to be fully embraced as a member of the team in all areas, which includes joining in during the various softball cheers at games, as well as challenges from the team such as taking batting practice off Coach Smith.

“It’s easy to talk about how easy it looks to hit a softball,” Ricciuti said. “So, I engage in my fair share of trash talk and joking around with our players when they strike out in practice. I knew there would be a time when I’d have to put my money where my mouth is. I was secretly trying to get some work in at the batting cages. [Smith] embarrassed me. The first time, I went down looking. I swear, I didn’t even see the ball. We went double or nothing as there was coffee on the line. She came at me hard and just embarrassed me. It’s not over. I’m going to get in the hitting cages and maybe hire a hitting coach on the side to give myself a chance.”

Smith has been pleased with the results so far, and credits her student-athletes for buying in to the process.

“They recognize his value in giving us the tools we need,” Smith said. “He can hand out tools, and if they choose not to use them, then it hasn’t helped. He has handed the tools to them, and they have made the conscious decision to use them and apply them, and we’ve reaped the benefits. We have the talent. This was an additional piece to the puzzle for us.

“They want to be good, and have a growth mindset in that they’re always wanting to get better. They recognized that these were tools they could add to their toolkit, and they’ve embraced it.”

“They often ask ‘why,’ but in doing that, they’re not asking it to question you,” Ricciuti said. “They really want to know the reason why we are doing something. So, when you’re honest with them and tell them the ‘why,’ they’re able to endure anything you throw at them.”