Pitcher Parents - If you could do it all over again...?

obbay said:

I think it would be a better question for parents who's kids tried to pitch, took lessons, worked on their own, but never quite made it as a pitcher. there are plenty. its a lot of extra work and $$. my DD is 16. 5'-2", 125lbs. she pitches in HS and TB but I don't know that she will be able to pitch in college. she hasn't hit 60 yet, but she is smart and has good movement. she loves the game, plays every position well but yeah, I guess I would do it again.

Click to expand...

If pitching is your DDs passion there is a school that wants her. It may not be Tim Walton at FL, but someone will.

JAD said:

I would not trade my "bucket time" with my DD for anything, but I will have to admit that when I am still working at 75 I will look back and think that it would have been nice to retire at 65 if we had invested all the money we spent on TB into a Roth IRA....

Click to expand...

Uh, yeah. I imagine this is taking at least 10 years off our retirement.

Would not trade my time on the bucket with my DD either. She will either have fond memories of spending this time with dear ol' dad or will have "therapeutic grist for the mill"

obbay said:

I think it would be a better question for parents who's kids tried to pitch, took lessons, worked on their own, but never quite made it as a pitcher. there are plenty. its a lot of extra work and $$. my DD is 16. 5'-2", 125lbs. she pitches in HS and TB but I don't know that she will be able to pitch in college. she hasn't hit 60 yet, but she is smart and has good movement. she loves the game, plays every position well but yeah, I guess I would do it again.

you always want to do what's best for your kid and if she loves pitching, I don't see how you could not dive in with her and support the dream.

Click to expand...

My DD is also almost 16. She started with pitching late (just a couple of years ago) and has done well but is at mid-50s now (which is a big improvement over the past few months, but obviously not where many pitchers are). She aspires to high level D1 softball but not necessarily as a pitcher. She's an excellent first baseman and outfielder, good hitter for both power and slapping, and fast and a lefty. But finishing her sophomore year now, we are trying to figure out how to get coach's attention and how to 'sell' her. She is very versatile but I don't want to make the mistake of advertising a LHP and then they see her velocity and turn away immediately without seeing all of her strengths. Any suggestions about that? We'd like coaches to know she's versatile and I know she likes pitching but she would not be devastated if that turns out not to be her path for college ball.

To early for me to say anything right now. I will post again on this thread when WarriorAngela graduates HS

If I could go back just a couple of years, I would have used technology more to videotape my dd and show her what she was actually doing instead of what she perceived that she was doing when she pitched. Sitting on a bucket and trying to watch what my dd was doing when she was pitching and then give feedback really didn't work all that well. As a bucket dad, I could see many times where she would stray too far away from the power line with her drive foot or tell her that her glove hand was a dead stick and it would start a lot of interesting comments back and forth. The reality is that what my dd actually does and what her mind perceives that she is doing is vastly different.

I really wish that I could have showed her what I was seeing from the receiving end of the pitch and what the batter would be seeing. Luckily, a lot of her games where live streamed during her Freshman and Sophomore years of college. When she would call and talk about her pitching performance during a game, I could tell her what I observed and then her coach could pull up the game and she could observe what I was telling her. It amazes me that what her perception of what she is doing and the reality of what she is doing is so extreme at times.

It is hard for my dd to argue that she is doing something correctly, when there is video evidence that doesn't support what her mind is perceiving.

Similar to the days when I was a little kid and the tape recorder came out. I liked the way my voice sounded until I heard it on a tape recorder. What I sound like and what I perceive that I sound like are two distinct sounds.

We'd like coaches to know she's versatile and I know she likes pitching but she would not be devastated if that turns out not to be her path for college ball.

Click to expand...

Because I am in a similar boat, when I had the opportunity , I asked Sue Enquist the same question (relative to video). she said to show what your DD does best first. get the coaches interested in the player first.

another thing that happens in HS is softball burnout. if they've been playing a lot of softball in the course of their life, during HS they often decide to call it quits. My DD (also a sophomore) has said words that she and I never expected to hear- that she is getting kind of sick of softball. HS practice or games every day and then Senior League (LL) at night is no longer fun. That said, she also notes that her HS coach offers no variation in practice from day to day. the only variable is how negative he chooses to be on a particular day. She is looking forward to being done with HS softball for the season and is hoping that the summer and, in the future college, will be a better experience.

I would have used technology more to videotape my dd and show her what she was actually doing instead of what she perceived that she was doing when she pitched

Click to expand...

this is a huge help! DD now takes the initiative when she feels something is wrong, to video herself on her phone and typically picks something up right away and can correct or at least work on correcting it.

If I had it to do all over again I would have tried to be a better cheerleader. I would have let DD own her failures instead of trying to protect her from them. I would have let DD be her own person as opposed to always comparing her to pitcher A-Z on other teams. I would have been more constructive with my "constructive criticism". I would have honestly believed that DDs success was hers and not mine. I would have cheered just as loud when she was doing not so well and hid in the car less. Lastly and most important, I would not have let softball negatively effect the relationship I have with my little girl.