Mindset for pitching success?

I think my dd has the same affect and personality pitching as in life. She doesn't over react, has good emotional control, uses coping skills like envisioning a strike when a pitch not working, taking deep breaths to reduce stress. Does this make her a good pitcher, who knows. All the coaches who have worked with her say coachable, nice and quiet kid. They also have trouble reading her, same expression winning and loosing. This has gotten better over the years. HR used to bother her, now she lets it go and works on the next batter. She says she constantly thinks about game strategy. A lot depends on the D behind her and if her team hits or not. Being a gracious winner and a gracious looser is a good skill to possess. She achieved her goal of playing college ball next year at the D2 level. We will see how this personality works at that level.

bucket pinata said:

successfully analyzing adolescent girls mentality is a little like herding cats

Click to expand...

How true !

IIRC, Waldrop made the change to smile after letting her head and emotions get the best of her. It was her way of dealing with it.

Appears to have worked for her.

As far as a pitcher's demeanor, I think that it's a personal thing. My older DD is very calm and cool. She'll smile when she talks to her teammates and she'll have a very special smile for that one girl that's she's going to get out. I suspect that it is very unnerving for a hitter.

My younger DD doesn't show a trace of emotion. If things go well or if things go bad, she looks the same. I remember the time that I was behind the backstop by the other team's hitters as my DD was warming up to start the game. One girl said to another, "Oh, no! Not that girl again!"

My DD changed in her mental approach as she matured.

Up through her senior year of HS, she was focused exclusively on playing well. She really didn't pay that much attention to anyone else on the field. Some of that comes from how simple the game was...usually, the best pitcher won. She had the "mental approach" you guys are describing...kind of "give me the ball, let me pitch."

That kind of approach is OK, and it is a key to "pitching well". But at advanced levels, pitching well does not translate into wins.

In college, the best pitcher doesn't always win...in fact, pitching is not much of a factor, because the other team usually has a pitcher just as good as you do. (When two good teams play, both teams have a pitcher who changes speed, hits her spots, and has a great breaking pitch. Was Hannah Rogers a better pitcher than Jackie Traina? No...Tennessee's *TEAM* was better than Alabama's.) So, the game is really won or lost by the entire team, not just the pitcher.

In that kind of situation, the pitcher has to be more than just "the silent killer". She should be more of a cheerleader for the team.

My DD was much more the leader in college. It was always seemed that she had some kind of inside joke with the outfielders, and they were always laughing. Val would still "take care of business" when she pitched, but she understood that she couldn't win a game. Her last year of college, it was clear that it was "her" team.

Thanks for sharing that Sluggers. It's good food for thought. I can see that being a struggle for my daughter as the game seems to become her and the catcher against the batters. She is still real young and has time but good to be thinking about the necessary transition to being sure you're leading your team - which I don't think would be a natural transition for her personality type. So great to have those farther along the road helping us along the way!

My DD was a serious face pitcher. It was rare to ever get any emotion out of her during the course of a game. If it wasn't her game she was the loudest cheerleader in the dugout.

During one of her college games her coach pulled her aside and asked her if she could try and "lighten up" a little on the mound. Unfortunate for her coach she was raised in a slightly sarcastic household, so when she resumed back to the mound her forced "happiness" was just creepy.

Her coach, yelled back out to her, "NEVERMIND"!

Related to this topic, I just received an email from my youngest DD's summer travel coach. He will be coaching again at the 12U level while my DD is moving up to 14U. He asked my DD to come out to a pitcher/catcher practice this Fall and "talk about pitching (attitude, not getting rattled, what she thinks about) and as a pitcher what she likes to see out of her catchers." Apparently, he was quite impressed with his demeanor and composure this past season. Personally, I am really curious to see what she says, too! If she says anything interesting I will share it. I've always assumed that it's just her personality. Maybe three's more to it than that?

I am a novice father of a pitcher. I have coached at the local level for too may years so my experience is limited.
What works for me?
I tell my daughter that in order to stay focused you have to clear your mind of emotion. You can't allow yourself to feel too much of any emotion inside the circle. I tell her that I have to do the same as a coach. It's actually one of the first lessons I learned after watching NCAA and pro coaches in many sports. Good or bad, there is always a much smaller expression when compared to a fan. Same for pitching IMO.
I think this is a great thread because I think that the mental part of the game is more than half of the total player. I actually have signs that I give her to tell her what to think.
When it all goes to hell or we are in a high stress situation i give her a sign - it tells her to think three things.
1. My parents love me.
2. This is just a game.
3. I am good at this game.

When she is facing a new batter she is thinking one thing - the first strike is the most important.
Then. Get ahead.
Finally. Finish her and send her back to the bench.

She had the game of her life at the end of her last putching season. 12k's through 5 innings while putting out the host team.
At the end, she asked me why everyone was so excited.

It's a double edge sword. Don't feel too much so you can stay focused. But you won't celebrate as much when you have a great game.
Just my $0.02
James

Lsjames said:

I am a novice father of a pitcher. I have coached at the local level for too may years so my experience is limited.
What works for me?
I tell my daughter that in order to stay focused you have to clear your mind of emotion. You can't allow yourself to feel too much of any emotion inside the circle. I tell her that I have to do the same as a coach. It's actually one of the first lessons I learned after watching NCAA and pro coaches in many sports. Good or bad, there is always a much smaller expression when compared to a fan. Same for pitching IMO.
I think this is a great thread because I think that the mental part of the game is more than half of the total player. I actually have signs that I give her to tell her what to think.
When it all goes to hell or we are in a high stress situation i give her a sign - it tells her to think three things.
1. My parents love me.
2. This is just a game.
3. I am good at this game.

When she is facing a new batter she is thinking one thing - the first strike is the most important.
Then. Get ahead.
Finally. Finish her and send her back to the bench.

She had the game of her life at the end of her last putching season. 12k's through 5 innings while putting out the host team.
At the end, she asked me why everyone was so excited.

It's a double edge sword. Don't feel too much so you can stay focused. But you won't celebrate as much when you have a great game.
Just my $0.02
James

Click to expand...

Good stuff LSJ. I also agree that mental is more than half.

This is coming back full circle to allot of what I wanted to bring out in this thread. I would like to see more strategies on pitcher focus like LSJ's three settling statements above. To recap some of the strategies I have seen -

Forced smiles
Forced calm
The bouncing rhythm thing
LSJ's "grounding" statements
Visual focus on the power line up until just before release
more ????