Does she have potential????

My DD is 9 years old. First year pitching in LL. She's only pitched and inning or two in each game for five games now. Been really working on the I/R thing...not sure how fast the pitch needs to be to have movement, but more times than not her ball will move 2-6" to from her left to right and down. Looks like it has a sort of 1/7 or 2/8 rotation, maybe cut/drop??? Obviously consistency is an issue, she usually struggles with low/inside and high/outside on RH batters. She usually hits a few. Her pitching is pretty fast compared to most of the other first year pitchers, only had 2 hits off her so far. So either she strikes them out, walks them, or hits them. She's had maybe 10 K's and 10 hit batters in the 8-10 innings she's pitched.

Anyways...tonight we had a game and the I/R turned into this sort of turnover thing??, hit first 3 batters and I switched her out. She was playing another team that was coached by her school teacher and her other teacher showed up to watch the game, nerves got to her big time. How do you teach mental toughness???

She also plays on a 10U travel team. She's the only 9yo and plays LF. It has really given her a chance to learn all the new rules, coming up from coach pitch without the stress of playing infield (not that outfield isn't stressful, she struggles with the outfield flyballs vs the infield flyballs that drop straight down). But she typically has played SS and pitcher in coach pitch 8U.

Here's a slow motion of her pitching.

#pitching - Coach's Eye Analysis

[video]http://www.coachseye.com/v/DOlP[/video]

And yes, we are working on the leaping/toe drag thing.

Any suggestion/comments???

#1 rule at 10U. Relax dad...... Your DD will do just fine.

You'll drive yourself absolutely crazy if you look at things from the wrong direction. The first thing you need to do is change your whole thought process. Your post looks more at the negative, rather than the positive. See what she is doing well and build on that. Work things she does well for confidence and then work with the weaker points of her game. You'll find that learning the game as a 9 year old is a series of forward and backwards steps and not much of it is smooth. Especially with pitching. Work one skill at a time till she feels confident in it before moving on. Each players learning curve is different. Don't compare her to the other kids to the n'th degree.

From the videos you posted she looks pretty loose and athletic as a pitcher. Is she seeing a pitching coach? If not get her to one who teaches IR.

The biggest issue I see with her is her hips are slow and she is not getting fully open causing her to lean forward. She is landing on her left heel with her toe pointed at the catcher instead of a 45 degree angle. Doing that will not allow her to keep a consistent arm path passed the front of her body. It's also contributing to the back foot coming up. She is not so much leaping but is taking a big step then trying to get open. She is not making it to her power line.

Get the hips opening faster with some stork drills and I think a lot of the other issues will be taken care of at the same time.

Not sure I'm following you here Sparky. She leans forward to load, then after the stride when the ball reaches 12 o'clock, she's centered, never leaning forward after that. Her front foot is maybe 60 degrees at most and probably 1-2" off the line.

Should she not lean forward to load before stride? how far off the power line is acceptable? I thought an inch or two was okay. We've been working on the front foot landing more on the toe/ball instead of the heal.

She looks pretty good if you ask me.

One thing I'd work on if I were you: she's got a little too much glove swim. It is enough that it is causing some apparent balance issues and may be the cause of her not getting the stride foot back on line. Having the stride foot 2-3 inches short of the power line may also be contributing to the control issues you are describing. So working on that glove issue may put her on the right track. Have her go no higher than chin high with the glove with her thumb side down straight out in front of her as she drives off the plate. As she completes her circle, have her turn her glove over so that the back side of the glove comes down to her thigh. (My DD does this pretty hard, so you may want to get her some long sliding shorts to wear underneath). Think "up together, down together". As she pushes off the plate, both her glove arm and the ball will be out in front of her. The ball will continue around the circle as the glove provides counter-balance into release. As the ball is released, the glove hits the thigh.

Compare your DD at the 18 second mark of her video. Then go to the 2:40 mark of the Jenny Finch video and you'll see the drastic differences. Look at the angle of the hips and the body position. Look at Amanda S. at the 16 second mark of her video. It is nothing but a timing issue. Other than that she looks good. She looks relaxed and loose.


Jenny Finch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_de3HJvO-N8&feature=PlayList&p=F646683DBC3BE4B8&index=0&playnext=1

Amanda Scarborough:
softball pitching machine in slow motion

Does my 9yr old have potential?

*Are you a little "crazy"?
*Is she willing to take instruction?
*Can you get her to practice on a regular basis?

If you answered yes to all three of these questions then yes your daughter has potential.

Don't look at athleticism or natural abilities at such a young age. It's their willpower that matters.
I have a 10u I started last fall that doesn't have athleticism anywhere in her, but the kid is so dang determined. She's just tickled pink because she made All-stars this year as a pitcher. If she hadn't learned to pitch she would not have made the team.

Jojo said:

Does my 9yr old have potential?

*Are you a little "crazy"?
*Is she willing to take instruction?
*Can you get her to practice on a regular basis?

If you answered yes to all three of these questions then yes your daughter has potential.

Click to expand...

^^^ This.

Behind every great pitcher is a crazy dad (or mom).

Looked pretty good to me, she needs be careful of the landing on the front foot, from what our pitching coaches have said, landing with the front foot pointed to much to the catcher can cause a lot of stress. Being safe is more important than anything else.

Take anything I say with a grain of salt, my daughter has been pitching less than 4 months in 8U.

In addition to the crazy, taking instruction, and practice... is it fun for her? As much as we get crazy about it, there aren't many women who end up playing softball professionally... like really close to none, so if its not fun, what's the point?

She looks fine.

At 9, everyone has potential.