“JUST DO IT” - I’M TRYING, THANKS…

In coaching, one of my pet peeves is the use of “just”. What a terrible word, but we hear it all the time. It’s even in the famed slogan for Nike.

I get it, it’s meant to be innocent and supportive - “just throw a strike” or “just do your best” or “just like in practice”. Coaches and parents and teammates are trying to help. But the word is garbage.

“Just” minimizes all of the pressure in the moment, and leading up to that moment, and does not give the participant the tools to be ready and to perform. I cringe when someone cheers with “just hit throw a strike” or “just throw it to the glove”. I can hear the pitcher thinking in the most sarcastic of tones, “Oh…. I’ve been trying to throw balls, not strikes, but now that you’ve said it, I’m going to throw only strikes. Why didn’t you say something earlier…”. Or, the pitcher thinks, “This must be easy, they’re telling me to ‘just’ do it. But I’m trying and can’t. Why can’t I? What’s wrong with me? I must be terrible for not being able to do something so easy.”

None of us intend to create that additional pressure or to minimize the difficulty of the task at hand. Throwing strikes, hitting a ball, serving that volleyball, singing that note, stepping onto that stage, hitting that shot - these can be amazingly difficult at times. We should coach and cheer in a way that supports our players.

You can either get to know that player and ask them, in a time outside the pressure of the big game, “How can I support you when you’re performing up to your expectations?” and “How can I support you when you’re not performing to your expectations?” You’d be surprised what you may hear. This applies for coaches and parents.

If you don’t know or the player does not exactly know, here are some suggested approaches…. Either cheer with “you got this Billy” (please use their actual name, Jack probably doesn’t want to be called Billy) or “let’s go Tigers” or “you’re doing great, keep it up”, or simply applaud and be quiet. One of my favorites for a baseball pitcher is, “Rock and Fire” - giving the pitcher the go-ahead to be brave and throw with confidence.

I know, this seems like a boring approach to watching the game or performance and you want to be engaged. But ask yourself, how can I actually help and what could I do to make this a better experience for this player? More often than not, keeping it simple and being quiet or clapping is a great way for you and everyone else to enjoy the game and see the best from the players and from the team.

Coaches of course may decide to use “just throw a strike” because they know that works for that player. Or, the coach may decide to take an entirely different approach. As fans, when we’re quiet or blandly cheering, this allows the coach to be the voice in the player’s head and to keep that player in the moment ready to do their best.

So now, “just” don’t use “just”.