How to overcome fear of being hit by the ball.

Let me put in my own personal experience here. Once when I was pitching (I think I was in 14u), I had a very hard line drive hit right to my throat. Everyone barely saw that ball being hit. All they saw was the ball flying over the foul line fence away from me and me on the ground. After trying to "move" the windpipe so that I can breathe, I went to the local hospital. Fortunately, all I had was just a very colourful bruise on my neck for the next several weeks. When I went to school the next day, some of the teachers thought that my parents were abusing me and called the police on them. Several paperwork and 3 investigations later, everything is hunky dorey. What saved their butts was that someone just happened to be videotaping that particular game so there was clear evidence of what happened. I will never ever be able to thank that person enough. I still got the VHS tape of that game but I just don't know how to convert it over to DVD although I'm not sure if everyone wants to see that. It was a little rough. That was a terrifying experience to say the least.

For the next two weeks, I refused to be anywhere in infield and begged to be put in outfield. Even then, I hated the hoppers out there. Thanks to the coach's gentle efforts to try and help me get over the fear, I gradually got over it. If it wasn't for this coach, I highly doubt that I'd still be playing now. A healthy fear is a good thing, otherwise you're just asking for it. Your DD needs to understand that yes, people get hurt no matter what sport they play in but it's always just an accident. The batter that hit me felt pretty darn bad about the whole incident but we are now the best of friends. So, we have an interesting story on how we first met. "Yeah, she tried to kill me on the ballfield and now we're friends!" lol

All these suggestions that everyone has posted were excellent. I would like to add something else to it as well. My coach told me to buy a batch of tennis balls and find a stairwell. I stood about 10ft away from it and threw the balls at the stairwell and caught them wherever it went. I gradually threw harder and harder. This allowed me to develop quicker reflexes as well as building confidence at the same time. I also changed the distance to either closer to the stairwells then moving backwards, etc. Then I "pitched" the tennis balls at those stairwells and caught them boucing back to me. Granted there were several times when I got hit by those tennis balls but I kept at it and I was able to pitch again within a month with nothing more than just a healthy fear of the balls. I do this usually at the start of each season as my fear usually comes back at that point. Don't ask me why but this drill definitely helps me out big-time.

I hope your DD will be able to get over the fear of being hit and to just keep at it. If she truly wants to play ball, she'll get through it. Best of luck!

Teams are taught to hit up the middle to get the pitcher off their game. My DD seems to get more nervous during practice than in a game when the girls are working on hitting up the middle.

NVfishing said:

Teams are taught to hit up the middle to get the pitcher off their game. My DD seems to get more nervous during practice than in a game when the girls are working on hitting up the middle.

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Chapter 42 in my book is entitled "Pitcher / Batter self-defense drills". It outlines several drills for pitchers AND batters to speed up their reaction time and teach them to start to react MUCH more quickly.

Hal

How to overcome fear of being hit by a ball

Hello everyone,
As hitters, we are taught what to do for a fastball that gets in to close. This is another scenario where fear has a large role in the game and sometimes performance. I am a pitcher and have many times had line drives come straight at me. Do I get nervous when that happens, yes. It is fast and there are only a few seconds to respond to the scenario. What helps me is to always after delivery be in a ready position to field and keep your eye on the hitter (and at contact, keep your eye on the ball). That doesn't mean one won't be sharply hit directly to you, but keeping your eye on the ball gives you that little "edge."
In a game this week, a line drive was hit directly to me. I ended up knocking it down. I didn't think about it, but when you are going to be hit by the ball and there is no getting around it, be sure that the ball will come into contact with a part of your body that has some "padding" to it. It will bruise, but anything is better than a solid contact to bone.
I am going to divert for a minute if I may to a time in my life when I was a bullrider/bullfighter.. The training for being a bullfighter in a rodeo is a very intense. Not only are you learning what your role will be, you learn that you are going to get hit and the thing that is going to hit you outweighs you by at least 900 pounds and is much bigger than you. Like a hard hit coming at you, contact with a bull happens very quickly. Was I nervous, yes. The point I want to make is knowing how to protect yourself is half of what is needed to overcome fear. The other half is having the confidence in yourself that you know what to do and that it will be done. In other words, when the bull came at me and hit me (or threw me) I knew what to do and basically my body took over and did what it knew. The same, with experience for a line drive right to you. Know what you have to do to protect yourself from that line drive and have the confidence that you will do what you need to at the right time.
With protective gear (to protect the chest, face) it is a good idea for someone whom the girl trusts to throw line drives to her and show her the right and safe way to respond. As she gets better at it, her confidence will increase also.
Lori (Magglio36)

After she pitches, does she go into a defensive stance? I teach my players to be on an athletic position ready to field a groundball after pitching,This will make then ready to field any ball that comes there way and this shows that they have a balanced stance after the pitch.

We have a young lady in our community that was not able to overcome the fear. She is a fantastic young lady. I feel for her since most people know her story. I believe her softball career might now be over. I hope I'm wrong.

Saturday night live mode on.....<Dana Carvey> In my day we didn't have masks. We just broke our jaws....and we liked it.

Hi. I had the same problem. I went to a hitting coach and he told me that no matter what step up to the plate. When a ball is coming get out of the way very quickly. Also if the ball is coming right at you try to swing at it. I hope a bit of this helped

I know this is going to sound like a bizarre suggestion, but one way that people overcome fear is to involve themselves in a martial art. For me, it was Gracie Jiu Jitsu, way before the MMA craze hit the scene in the U.S. I cannot say strongly enough, how much self confidence can be built by learning and using combat fighting techniques. It carries over to all situations in life. Crossfit is another confidence boosting activity that helps, if done in the true spirit of the activity. Both of those have community elements, as well as physical and mental toughening that help fortify ones resolve to endure the pain and fear. Injuries are a foregone conclusion, and become part of the game; a badge of honor perhaps. I can almost guarantee that a few months of grappling will knock the fear out of her; off season for pitchers seems smart (fingers and toe injuries common).

There is some other good stuff in here. Amy is quite right about making sure she can hit spots, and never throws anything down the middle. locally, we had a college bound senior pitcher quit on the spot, after being hit by a powerful line drive. The hitter went on to play D1 ball btw.

Well I know I have Pelted My poor D with balls ... She has been hit in the throat, the side of the head, the chest many many times. She has never been hit while pitching "Knock on wood". But my practices with her and ground balls is purely about aggressiveness and not thinking. She is never leary of the ball but is leary when she sees fields that have not been properly prepared. But work on her aggressiveness. Aggressive means less thought process and more reaction