Need some drills or suggestions for 12yo DD

[BradB41]

My DD made some dramatic progress this past off season. She is starting to mature and has gotten stronger. We have worked pretty hard all off season and she significantly increased speed and control. She can now locate her fastballs consistently (in practice) and is throwing a pretty change up.

We joined a travel team recently and her game performance has yet to match what she really can do. She was very nervous in her first game and did not pitch well. She started bending at the waist and trying to aim the ball just to get a strike. This has cost her a lot of velocity and spin. If the ball is a strike, it is very easy for the decent hitters to mash.

She played yesterday and pitched better, yet she is still bending at the waist pretty bad. I need some help on getting her to play like she practices. I think this will just take a minor tweak to get her staying tall...in the past, we used stork drills. Any other ideas to help her stay tall and relax in games?

 

[halskinner]

My DD made some dramatic progress this past off season. She is starting to mature and has gotten stronger. We have worked pretty hard all off season and she significantly increased speed and control. She can now locate her fastballs consistently (in practice) and is throwing a pretty change up.

We joined a travel team recently and her game performance has yet to match what she really can do. She was very nervous in her first game and did not pitch well. She started bending at the waist and trying the ball just to get a strike. This has cost her a lot of velocity and spin. If the ball is a strike, it is very easy for the decent hitters to mash.

She played yesterday and pitched better, yet she is still bending at the waist pretty bad. I need some help on getting her to play like she practices. I think this will just take a minor tweak to get her staying tall...in the past, we used stork drills. Any other ideas to help her stay tall and relax in games?

This is a focus issue, too many distractions. The catcher needs to take control, get the pitcher's attention on HER AND KEEP IT THERE. The catcher must make it only the catcher and the pitcher, NOBODY ELSE MATTERS. The catcher is the ONLY other person that can keep yjre piycher's jead straight in the game. The strike zone is where the pitcher must keep her focus, that is the business end of the pitcher's job. Ignore EVEYONE else but the catcher because everyone else causes her to look away from the strike zone and that is a distraction/

I would also suggest placing a batter in the batter's box at practice, no swinging the bat. Make practice more like the game situation.


If the coach is trying to talk to her, or anyone else for that matter,,, tell them to shut the heck up and let her do her job. Only the catcher should be talking to the pitcher while she is in the circle.


If your daughter starts to lose control the catcher MUST take control. Nobody else can do that for her.

Here is a personal note to young pitchers that might see this;

When you are in the circle and have the ball in your hand, there are only four people that matter;

The pitcher.
The catcher.
The umpire.
YOUR NEXT STRIKE OUT VICTIM.

If you cant go into the circle with that frame of mind, you will never be a winning pitcher. What happens between the pitcher and batter is a battle, its a fight. Every fight has 2 things: a winner and a loser.. If you cant make the decision of which one you are going to be, dont sweat irt THE BATTERS WILL MAKE THAT DECISION FOR YOU!.

 

[Carly]

I agree with adding pressure to your practices. If you can't convince someone else to stand in for her every time she throws, even a life size cardboard celebrity is better than nothing

It sounds to me like it's mostly a mental issue. She doesn't trust her mechanics enough to rely on them in a game situation, so she changes her body movements to try to steer the ball into the strike zone rather than just pitching. It's a very common problem. Unfortunately there isn't really a drill to fix it. She needs to realize that she'll be better off relying on her pitching mechanics than just trying to throw a strike. You can try taking video of her in a practice and game situation and compare them side by side. Maybe if she sees the difference, and sees that the practice form is better, she'll be more willing to rely on her mechanics.

 

[BradB41]

I agree with adding pressure to your practices. If you can't convince someone else to stand in for her every time she throws, even a life size cardboard celebrity is better than nothing

It sounds to me like it's mostly a mental issue. She doesn't trust her mechanics enough to rely on them in a game situation, so she changes her body movements to try to steer the ball into the strike zone rather than just pitching. It's a very common problem. Unfortunately there isn't really a drill to fix it. She needs to realize that she'll be better off relying on her pitching mechanics than just trying to throw a strike. You can try taking video of her in a practice and game situation and compare them side by side. Maybe if she sees the difference, and sees that the practice form is better, she'll be more willing to rely on her mechanics.

This is exactly what I've talked to her about. It really gets down to when she is in situations outside of her "comfort zone" of me on a bucket and a pitching coach in her ear.

I noticed her bending pretty bad at a recent rec league practice. We're still real early in the actual team games and practice stage, so hopefully this will resolve itself as she get more comfortable on the mound. I just hate to see the old bad habits creeping back in.

We've even discussed it and she tells me she can't tell when she bends. I guess I need to video tape her at pitching lessons vs a game or team practice so she can see for herself. It's really incredible how much difference it makes...the bend at the waist costs her mph, control, and ball rotation/movement.

 

[Jojo]

Brad if you have a wall or a fence she can pitch into that would be great. Have her set up really close--like 5', and have her hit locations. Then move her back, 10', keep her hitting her spots, then 5' back after she's doing well at each location.
This allows her to focus on what she is doing while getting the mechanics down of her placement pitches. She needs to do it "right" more often, so that it feels weird when she does it wrong.
Video taping is a great idea.
Stress tests are also fun, at her practices bribe her with a treat for hitting location. It's always fun to set up a sample situation that she will run into in a game, then give her that---one pitch----to hit that spot. She will start learning that trying to put it there is not going to work, but staying back and releasing correctly always will.

 

[BradB41]

Brad if you have a wall or a fence she can pitch into that would be great. Have her set up really close--like 5', and have her hit locations. Then move her back, 10', keep her hitting her spots, then 5' back after she's doing well at each location.
This allows her to focus on what she is doing while getting the mechanics down of her placement pitches. She needs to do it "right" more often, so that it feels weird when she does it wrong.
Video taping is a great idea.
Stress tests are also fun, at her practices bribe her with a treat for hitting location. It's always fun to set up a sample situation that she will run into in a game, then give her that---one pitch----to hit that spot. She will start learning that trying to put it there is not going to work, but staying back and releasing correctly always will.

I'll give it a try. I wish I could get her convinced that mechanics = strikes. I think she panics if she throws a bad pitch or two and goes into survival mode which only compounds the problem. Of course that's real easy for me to say since I'm not the one on the mound with all eyes on me.....

At the end of the day though, she's only pitched in two tournaments and she is making gradual improvement, so I do believe she will get there.

 

[BradB41]

I let her give me push ups for good performances. I'll usually tell her that if she can throw 8/10 strikes (or really close low and in or low and out balls) for the final 10 pitches of a practice session, I'll do 3 pushups for each good pitch. She has won those "rewards" every time, and routinely hit 10 of 10. For the record, we don't use junk food as a reward in my house.

I'll probably hang the option of "earning" a Facebook page over her head and see how that works out.

 

[nanotech14]

When my dd was younger I would take her to ball feilds when there was alot of people around and have her pitch to me. She would complain a little about people watching her. She got use to people watching her and now she doesnt even notice the people,the cheers the other team do when she out in the circle. Also buy one of those blow up punching bags with the sand in the bottom and put it into the batters box.Good Luck

 

[Ade's Dad]

When my dd was younger I would take her to ball feilds when there was alot of people around and have her pitch to me. She would complain a little about people watching her. She got use to people watching her and now she doesnt even notice the people,the cheers the other team do when she out in the circle. Also buy one of those blow up punching bags with the sand in the bottom and put it into the batters box.Good Luck

This would be my opinion too.

 

[Mike-Coach Q]

I would suggest using a vanity (18" x 5') mirror you can buy for about $12.00 at Wal Mart. Stand on one side of a fence holding the morror. Don't have the mirror against the fence, about a foot away should be safe. Have your daughter on the other side of the fence looking into the mirror as she pitches into the fence. As she pitches into the fence, make sure she is pulling her knees together as she finishes her pitch. Once she sees what straight feels like, it should be easier for her to feel the difference. Good luck