I think I suck as a parent....

[GOINGDEEP]

You'll see a bunch of coaches that either have no idea what they're doing, or it's a pony show of "look at what my players do" for warm ups. I've sat and watched "robots" warm up using some drills that I thought, "what the fudge is that for"?

I always allowed the pitchers to basically use the old concepts of loosening up. Mild stretching, then a quick run to get the blood flowing and sweat pouring. Then full body stretching and overhand short toss.......while increasing the distance every few pitches.

Next we do "long mounds" ( which I guess for softball would be long circles ), having the pitcher throw from behind the mound/circle ( windmill time for FP ). In BB we then transition to walking up the backside of the mound, pitching to force the "get on top" "follow through". Can't do that in FP so whe just close the gap between pitcher and catcher. The extended distance and then transitioning to closer distance seems to help the focus point, aka strike zone. ( some like the power walks during this time, some don't, left that up to the individual pitcher ) ****** Also I had a couple of girls who liked the opposite ( like your DD ) who started close to the catcher and work backwards.

Pretty much after that it's the same as every other pitcher. Gaining control of our fastest pitch ( can't say fastball on here ), hitting the corners, then moving onto breaking and change ups.

Long story short, warm-ups should be simple, easily organized, mechanically beneficial, and comfortable for the mental/physical preparation of the individual pitcher. I've never been a fan of all the snaps, twists, back flips.

 

[josh]

Next we do "long mounds" ( which I guess for softball would be long circles ), having the pitcher throw from behind the mound/circle ( windmill time for FP ). In BB we then transition to walking up the backside of the mound, pitching to force the "get on top" "follow through". Can't do that in FP so whe just close the gap between pitcher and catcher. The extended distance and then transitioning to closer distance seems to help the focus point, aka strike zone. ( some like the power walks during this time, some don't, left that up to the individual pitcher ) ****** Also I had a couple of girls who liked the opposite ( like your DD ) who started close to the catcher and work backwards.

Long throws are great for preparation, but I would not call it a warm up, it doesn't sound like you use it that way, but you neve3r know who is reading, and the importance of a good warm up to prevent injury is important (and stretching is not warming up).

I would say a proper warm up is to increase the distance, once warmed up, the long throws are fine to get ready.

Of course this is just my opinion from my knowledge of physiology and the laws of physics.

 

[Doug Romrell]

One of the reasons I really respect and appreciate the HC of my DD's 10U team is that he doesn't try to impose his way - or the way his DD is being taught - on everyone else, if he knows they are working with a private instructor.

I don't think this is the norm, so I consider you to be very lucky. Most head coaches, along with most assistants, don't give a fart if the player is working with a private instructor. At least that's been my experience.

 

[cbullard]

OILF, I think she doesn't want to be thought of as the bad apple, cocky, rebel, etc. She probably won't see the other 12u team for a long time (they don't practice together) anyways.

 

[riseball]

I don't think this is the norm, so I consider you to be very lucky. Most head coaches, along with most assistants, don't give a fart if the player is working with a private instructor. At least that's been my experience.

We provide players with the latitude to work with private instructors, even encourage it. But I agree that is certainly not the norm. We make it very clear that we expect results not excuses regardless of who they are working with. We are not there to facilitate self indulgence. If they are working with someone, or insist on "doing it their way" that is no problem. However, if they are not producing we expect them to fix it and will not allow them to squander opportunities in the form of at bats or field time.

 

[riseball]

Update: Spoke with DD last night and let her know that I saw what happened. Offered some of the advice given from you wonderful people and she understood. She said she felt really bad after the "argument" happened and that she wants to apologize when she sees him whenever the two teams get together again. Good for her......

She does not need to apologize. I spend a lot of time getting the girls to be strong and not apologize for everything they say when it is about something that 'means something' to them.

The measure of an apology is based on what is in the heart and mind of the individual, not public opinion. If she feels the apology is warranted, then it is warranted.

 

[Eric F]

I don't think this is the norm, so I consider you to be very lucky. Most head coaches, along with most assistants, don't give a fart if the player is working with a private instructor. At least that's been my experience.

I don't think it's the norm, either. I consider myself lucky, too. My DD and his have played together on a few different teams (including our current "select" team). He and I have built a good relationship, and we coach well together. That said, he treats this issue the same no matter whether or not the girl's parent is on his coaching staff.

 

[Doug Romrell]

"Most head coaches, along with most assistants, don't give a fart if the player is working with a private instructor." And this problem is most prevalent among high school coaches where the players do not have a choice in which team/coaches they will play for. These coaches know this and it often leads to them being overly cocky in this regard. In travelball, a coach risks losing good players to other teams if he/she (the coach) gets too cocky with not giving a fart about a player working with private instructors, thus I think it is more likely in travelball that the coach will be open to the player's work with her private instructor.

 

[CoogansBluff]

My daughter must be lucky too. She's had ignorant comments and suggestions made about her swing, but never someone trying to force something on her hitting.

re: apology - While I understand that we don't want girls (or anyone) to become too apologetic in life, I think a genuine expression of regret over how something was handled is a show of respect and desire to get along. My experience is that there are too many needless apologies, yet still not enough when they actually would do some good. The human race is poor at knowing the difference.

 

[sleepwalker]

For the past 10 years, I have been attending college games with my dd at the JUCO, NAIA, D2 and D1 levels. Prior to the games, my dd and I would get there early and watch the pitchers from both teams warm up. In all those years, I can't remember one game where we watched pitchers warm up, where we didn't see at least one pitcher start her warm ups with straight arm wrist flicks. We saw straight arm wrist flicks, by at least on pitcher, at every college game we attended this year.

My dd called me during her first week of college fall ball practice. Her pitching coach wanted all the pitchers to start their warm ups with both of their shoulders pointed towards the catcher and using straight arm wrist flicks. My dd looked at the coach and asked the coach to explain what a straight arm wrist flick was and when she would use it in her pitching motion. The coach then demonstrated the wrist flick and demonstrated that the shoulders square to the hitter when the buttocks push out towards 1st base, to get out of the way of the arm coming through, and the wrist gets behind the ball prior to release. My dd looked at the coach and said that she tried to keep all of her momentum going towards home plate and she tried to keep open when pitching the ball. My dd realizes that she doesn't throw her butt towards 1st and that she keeps her hips in and uses brush interference to assist in her release timing. My dd then proceeded to do the warm up routines that all the pitchers were doing.

My dd then told me that I am not allowed to laugh at her when I watch her warm up for games.

As we talked about softball, college and life in general, she asked me where would she use the wrist flicks that she was practicing everyday. I thought for a moment and told her that maybe she would use them when tossing a ball underhand to 1st base as her momentum was going to 1st base after fielding a ball. If they were overhand wrist flicks, maybe she would use them when running down a runner in a pickle. She could fake a throw and use a wrist flick if the girl continued to the base.