I need some advice. My daughter just turned 14 and is going into ninth grade. She wants to play HS and college ball, but has a long ways to go. She just finished her first travel season and we are getting ready to put together a written offseason plan, and I'm not sure where to start, so any help is greatly appreciated!
She played rec ball the last three years and travel ball this year. She was the least experienced and skilled player on her traqvel team, but played most innings because for most of the season the team could only field nine players (two early season injuries depleted the roster). Her team placed in most tournaments and took first in two tournaments.
In rec league she pitched and played second base. In travel she played right field mostly and pitched three late innings in blowout games. (she walked three and gave up one hit in those three innings)
Now the reason I'm asking for help is that she is moderately athletic at best, but passionate about softball and wants to play in high school and college. She's very smart and studies the game. She will spend hours watching college games on the dvr with the remote, going frame by frame to study pitching and hitting form. She also really studies strategies, particularly base running strategies. She knew far more about the subtle nuances of the game than her rec coaches this year. She was voted by her travel team teammates the hardest working palyer this season and aslo the player who made the most progress.
The physical part of her game is where she is lacking most, although she made a ton of progress this travel season (she played in 59 travel games this summer, most of them she played every inning.) She throws right and bats left. She slaps with some success and drag bunts with a lot of success. She can also hit away, and hit several doubles and two legitimate triples this season. She can be a streaky hitter at times and toward the end of the season seemed to be hitting more weak grounders for reasons we never quite figured out.
Her pitching is accurate but slow. Never had the chance to put a radar gun on it but I would say her fastball is 40 mph tops. She can place the ball well and throw a good changeup. She's started working on a peel drop which at the speed she pitches doesn't really move, but seems to me to come in a little faster than her fastball. The success she had in the limited innings she pitched came from the mental part of her game. All three times she pitched the last inning of the game, and she had studied each hitter to figure out what she would swings at and where she had trouble hitting. She's very good at placing her pitches and pitching around the edges. But I think at this level if she pitched more than once through a lineup against a talented team she would get hit very hard because of her lack of speed. ( that happened in fact in the rec season against a team that had faced her pitching multiple times and had good hitters).
Her running speed is average as well. 3.1 seconds was her best time from home to first in practice this year, and that's after she worked a lot with her pe teacher who was also the high school track coach. She likes to slap but needs more speed to be successful. She's a very aggressive and smart base runner though and scores a high percentage of the time when she gets on base.
Her throwing speed is inadequate as well although it improved over the season. Her travel coach tried her at third base becase she has great fielding skills and quick reactions, but she just couldn't fire the ball to first hard enough. From her right field position (30 feet or so from the fence) she can't throw the ball to home, although by the end of the season she could get it to home with one bounce.
She struggled in right field when judging high fly balls, running too far forward to make the catch. On hard line drives where she didn't have time to think about it she did much better and made some pretty amazing plays. Very quick reactions if she doesn't have time to think, but tends to overthink things and get a bit paralyzed if she has too much time. She has a strong fear of making a mistake and is very hard on herself.
We just finished the final tournament and are looking at what she needs to do to get ready to play JV this next year. There aren't really any instructors in our town, like pitching or hitting instructors so we are kind of on our own. We both feel she needs to take another big step forward in her skills and physical abilities, and we want to put together a step by step action plan to start working on the week after next. (I do think she needs to take a complete break for a couple of weeks because she's been hitting it pretty hard since March.)
I would appreciate any input from coaches and trainers on what the best things to focus on, and the timetable, and specific ways to train in the offseason with limited access to facilities. We live in Montana so much of this will take place in our basement this winter! We do have access to fields to practice on until late September or early October so when it will start snowing.
Thanks,
Robin
She played rec ball the last three years and travel ball this year. She was the least experienced and skilled player on her traqvel team, but played most innings because for most of the season the team could only field nine players (two early season injuries depleted the roster). Her team placed in most tournaments and took first in two tournaments.
In rec league she pitched and played second base. In travel she played right field mostly and pitched three late innings in blowout games. (she walked three and gave up one hit in those three innings)
Now the reason I'm asking for help is that she is moderately athletic at best, but passionate about softball and wants to play in high school and college. She's very smart and studies the game. She will spend hours watching college games on the dvr with the remote, going frame by frame to study pitching and hitting form. She also really studies strategies, particularly base running strategies. She knew far more about the subtle nuances of the game than her rec coaches this year. She was voted by her travel team teammates the hardest working palyer this season and aslo the player who made the most progress.
The physical part of her game is where she is lacking most, although she made a ton of progress this travel season (she played in 59 travel games this summer, most of them she played every inning.) She throws right and bats left. She slaps with some success and drag bunts with a lot of success. She can also hit away, and hit several doubles and two legitimate triples this season. She can be a streaky hitter at times and toward the end of the season seemed to be hitting more weak grounders for reasons we never quite figured out.
Her pitching is accurate but slow. Never had the chance to put a radar gun on it but I would say her fastball is 40 mph tops. She can place the ball well and throw a good changeup. She's started working on a peel drop which at the speed she pitches doesn't really move, but seems to me to come in a little faster than her fastball. The success she had in the limited innings she pitched came from the mental part of her game. All three times she pitched the last inning of the game, and she had studied each hitter to figure out what she would swings at and where she had trouble hitting. She's very good at placing her pitches and pitching around the edges. But I think at this level if she pitched more than once through a lineup against a talented team she would get hit very hard because of her lack of speed. ( that happened in fact in the rec season against a team that had faced her pitching multiple times and had good hitters).
Her running speed is average as well. 3.1 seconds was her best time from home to first in practice this year, and that's after she worked a lot with her pe teacher who was also the high school track coach. She likes to slap but needs more speed to be successful. She's a very aggressive and smart base runner though and scores a high percentage of the time when she gets on base.
Her throwing speed is inadequate as well although it improved over the season. Her travel coach tried her at third base becase she has great fielding skills and quick reactions, but she just couldn't fire the ball to first hard enough. From her right field position (30 feet or so from the fence) she can't throw the ball to home, although by the end of the season she could get it to home with one bounce.
She struggled in right field when judging high fly balls, running too far forward to make the catch. On hard line drives where she didn't have time to think about it she did much better and made some pretty amazing plays. Very quick reactions if she doesn't have time to think, but tends to overthink things and get a bit paralyzed if she has too much time. She has a strong fear of making a mistake and is very hard on herself.
We just finished the final tournament and are looking at what she needs to do to get ready to play JV this next year. There aren't really any instructors in our town, like pitching or hitting instructors so we are kind of on our own. We both feel she needs to take another big step forward in her skills and physical abilities, and we want to put together a step by step action plan to start working on the week after next. (I do think she needs to take a complete break for a couple of weeks because she's been hitting it pretty hard since March.)
I would appreciate any input from coaches and trainers on what the best things to focus on, and the timetable, and specific ways to train in the offseason with limited access to facilities. We live in Montana so much of this will take place in our basement this winter! We do have access to fields to practice on until late September or early October so when it will start snowing.
Thanks,
Robin
