[Ksyrup]

Missed some of the earlier discussion, but man does it resonate with me about my younger daughter.

She is an incredibly gifted athlete. One of those kids with completely effortless athletic movement. Loves sports, loves watching and talking about college, pros, etc. But on the field/court, she can't get out of her own head. She's afraid to mess up, she doesn't have confidence in herself so she goes out of her way to be a spectator more than a participant, and she seems scared of the ball.

She a point guard in basketball, and most of the time it looks to me like she goes out of her way to pass the ball and just watch. When there's any contact, she shies away - even on layups, she allows the defender to guide her away from the rim.

In softball, she bails on every pitch. Occasionally she'll snap out of it against slower pitchers and hit the ball squarely, but most of the time it's just off the end of the bat because she's bailing. Luckily, she can slap and that forward motion can cure some of the issue. In the OF, the same thing - if there's a pop-up just behind the IF or in the gap, she won't take charge and go get it. She's happy to let someone else get it for fear or screwing up (my take on it).

Now, she's 5'7" and 118 lbs and has a long history of injuries, including several concussions. So I think a good bit of it is related to that legit fear - especially in basketball, because they treat girls like buffoons who don't have the skill to play the game so they allow them to beat each other up rather than call fouls - but I also think she's just missing that competitive gene. She's a natural athlete without the mindset to maximize her potential. It's so frustrating to watch and not be able to fix - it's not like it's a mechanical swing issue, or that she needs to practice dribbling, etc. It's in her damn head.

About a decade ago, if you had told me Caitlin would have the college career and Mackenzie would top out as an average HS player, I would not have believed it. Caitlin's largely unathletic, but she mastered one skill (pitching), knows how to compete and can handle the pressure of the position. Mackenzie hasn't developed skill-wise like she can because she won't free her mind enough to allow it to happen. And now she's finishing her junior year in HS, so it's almost over.