Any advice for my dd this weekend

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Jun 14, 2016
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My 15 y/o dd will be pitching against a juco in a round robin this weekend. She is so nervous about it! I told her to just go out there and pitch and have fun! She gave me that look that teenage girls seem to save for their mother's, lol!


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Jun 27, 2011
5,089
0
North Carolina
My 15 y/o dd will be pitching against a juco in a round robin this weekend. She is so nervous about it! I told her to just go out there and pitch and have fun! She gave me that look that teenage girls seem to save for their mother's, lol!


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I'm always looking for good things to say that put kids in the right frame of mine. I think the last thing my DD said to me last night was ''you just don't understand!'' It wasn't softball advice, but still pretty humbling to know we don't understand so much despite our decades of life experience.

When DD was 14, her team scrimmaged and beat a JUCO team. Some are really strong and can play w/ top D-I teams on a given day, and others are worse than 14U TB teams. So hard to know what you're going to see. This team we beat was actually pretty decent and would've beaten us most all the time. We weren't even a great TB team, just a very good one. Our pitcher had a great day, and I think we won 3-2.

For your DD, it's a great opportunity to get some confidence. She'll probably do better than she thinks.
 
Feb 17, 2014
7,152
113
Orlando, FL
As they say control the controllables. Especially with pitching you cannot define success or failure based on outcome. She should focus on throwing her best game, keeping the ball low and on the edges of the zone. At age 15 she has nothing to lose, as most would expect her to get rocked by a JUCO. So have her go out, throw her best and give her team opportunities to make outs.
 

SB45

Dad, Coach, Chauffeur
Sep 2, 2016
150
28
Western NY
It's funny, there is no way to get over that nervousness even though they should be excited about the opportunity. As riseball said, she has nothing to lose...I have had a little success with a whole team facing a situation like this to start off with "there is no way in hell you will win this game"...the players object, you certainly get their attention, and you get to explain why they have nothing to lose and they should just go out there and give it everything they've got. Try to remove the fear as much as possible. The pitcher is just one member of a team...maybe they are used to striking a bunch of girls out and carrying the team to victory...but their job isn't to strike everyone out...it is to get everyone out with the involvement of the whole team. I'd also say..."why is the coach having you pitch this game?"...it's not because the coach expects something more or different from what you would do in any other game...it IS because of what you usually bring to the table...he/she expects you to do well based on what you have done in previous games when given the opportunity...no one expects you to be super human...they expect you to be yourself and do what you do. Some might say this type of approach is not pumping them up for a big game...I think if you want her best performance remove as much fear of failure as possible.
 
Dec 5, 2012
4,143
63
Mid West
As they say control the controllables. Especially with pitching you cannot define success or failure based on outcome. She should focus on throwing her best game, keeping the ball low and on the edges of the zone. At age 15 she has nothing to lose, as most would expect her to get rocked by a JUCO. So have her go out, throw her best and give her team opportunities to make outs.

This is spot on.... way better than what my advice was going to be........... don't suck:p
 
Jan 27, 2010
1,871
83
NJ
My favorite line to spit out when the task is daunting..."Dare to be great." I took it from Teddy Roosevelt's speech, one of my favorites along with Shakespear's "Battle of Agincourt".

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
 
Jun 11, 2013
2,619
113
It doesn't matter who you are playing against. All you can do is try and hit your spots. If you try and overdo it you will miss them and get lit up.
 
Nov 18, 2013
2,255
113
If she pitched HS varsity just remind her she’ll be facing girls the same as she saw last spring so nothing to worry about. Just have fun!
 
Jun 14, 2016
270
0
Thanks for all the advice, I really love this site! This has been a really big jump for her. She is a freshman so hasn't played varsity yet. She made the jump from 14u b to 16u gold this fall and has actually done well. Her team plays mostly 18u teams in round robin scrimmages so far and she has held her own. This will definitely be her biggest challenge though!


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