- Jun 18, 2013
- 322
- 18
I don't know if this was exhaustion or frustration or what, but at the last tryout we went to Monday night Cricket had a very bad showing behind the plate. One problem is that it was 95 with a heat index of 105-110 and the coach did what almost all of them have been doing and had the pitchers and catchers come out after everything else was over and work some more. So, Cricket got to work for 2.5 hours in that heat and then strap on the gear and try to catch. That irritated me quite a bit and sealed my decision that this wasn't going to be the team for us anyway, but I was concerned about some things I saw from her performance and we have a tryout this weekend for the team that she is really hoping to get picked up.
She is having a hard time picking up the ball from the pitchers in this age group. We are moving up from 10U to 12U so the mound is moving back to 40ft and we have had bad luck with the tryout information being less than truthful. So far, we have been told that we were going to be trying out for 2 different 2004 teams and gotten there to find out that Cricket was the only 2004 girl there with the rest being 2003 girls with a year of travel ball under their belts. So she has been trying to catch pitchers that throw harder and with movement. It is frustrating her and starting to get discouraging.
She is having a very hard time finding the pocket because she isn't seeing the ball until it is halfway to her so she is really starting to doubt her abilities and that is not normal for her. I'm not sure what to do, but I need to help boost her confidence before Sunday. Any tips on drills or even just coaching advice I can give her to help her fight through this? We have the NECC DVD and she has watched it several times. She has excellent form and I am going through it again today to try to pick up something to help me help her. If anyone wants to point out a specific place to pay attention to that I am overlooking, I feel like I am so deep in the weeds with this one that I am just missing the answer.
She is having a hard time picking up the ball from the pitchers in this age group. We are moving up from 10U to 12U so the mound is moving back to 40ft and we have had bad luck with the tryout information being less than truthful. So far, we have been told that we were going to be trying out for 2 different 2004 teams and gotten there to find out that Cricket was the only 2004 girl there with the rest being 2003 girls with a year of travel ball under their belts. So she has been trying to catch pitchers that throw harder and with movement. It is frustrating her and starting to get discouraging.
She is having a very hard time finding the pocket because she isn't seeing the ball until it is halfway to her so she is really starting to doubt her abilities and that is not normal for her. I'm not sure what to do, but I need to help boost her confidence before Sunday. Any tips on drills or even just coaching advice I can give her to help her fight through this? We have the NECC DVD and she has watched it several times. She has excellent form and I am going through it again today to try to pick up something to help me help her. If anyone wants to point out a specific place to pay attention to that I am overlooking, I feel like I am so deep in the weeds with this one that I am just missing the answer.