pitchers practice plan.

[freddyj522]

im about to start my 4th yr coaching middle school softball and this year we will have 3 solid pitchers, 2 returning and 1 incoming. im the last thing from an expert when it comes to the mechanics of softball pitching, but ive been able to learn a lot in the past few yrs thanks to the wealth of information available online. however, the 2 returning pitcher go to pitching coaches(different coaches) and both coaches have made known their desire to have the girls follow the regiment the pitching coach has set out for them. is this normal?
what are some ways to handle pitchers in terms of practice load, drills(are there some no brainer drills all pitchers need to do), pre season vs. in season workload, ect? thanks in advance.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

They are on your team so they should do things your way. Your success or failures will be pinned to you and not the pitching coaches.

If they are on my team and they are pitching well I do not intervene. If they are struggling I will offer suggestions and drills and to get them on track.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

It is quite common to be asked to leave the pitchers alone that are taking private lessons. You cannot imagine the damage that a volunteer coach can do to a young pitcher. For instance, a 9 yo today, I was showing her video of herself and her dad starts in " Look your hand is beside the ball! You have to fix that." I spoke up and said that she is correct and I explained why.

So, her assignment for pitching this week was not to swim the glove and not to drag the whole side of her foot. IF someone else is yelling some other instruction, her mechanics are going to break down quickly.

Hitting instruction for 2 HS teens went the same way. I told them, if they can politely ask the HS coach to leave them alone, it would be beneficial.

 

[lacy.anderson1]

I have 2 daughters who pitch & they each go to a private pitching coach out of town. We make it known up front that while the team coach may speak with us as parents with any concerns, he is not to coach their pitching as this is confusing to them. In return the team coach makes it clear that he is fine with this as long as we are taking care of business, but our daughter will lose her spot if she cannot keep up her commitment to the team as is only fair.

 

[nanotech14]

They are on your team so they should do things your way. Your success or failures will be pinned to you and not the pitching coaches.

If they are on my team and they are pitching well I do not intervene. If they are struggling I will offer suggestions and drills and to get them on track.

They are not paying you to be their pitching coach. Your job is to ask if you can contact their pitching coach and tell them where and what they are struggling with. Their are some PC that don't do a bunch of drills and it will only cause confusion the pitchers.

 

[nanotech14]

im about to start my 4th yr coaching middle school softball and this year we will have 3 solid pitchers, 2 returning and 1 incoming. im the last thing from an expert when it comes to the mechanics of softball pitching, but ive been able to learn a lot in the past few yrs thanks to the wealth of information available online. however, the 2 returning pitcher go to pitching coaches(different coaches) and both coaches have made known their desire to have the girls follow the regiment the pitching coach has set out for them. is this normal?
what are some ways to handle pitchers in terms of practice load, drills(are there some no brainer drills all pitchers need to do), pre season vs. in season workload, ect? thanks in advance.

The best thing for you to do is don't mess with them.

 

[JAD]

My DD takes weekly pitching lessons 12 months a year - from a paid professional pitching coach. She plays TB 8 months of the year and school ball 2.5 months of the year. If a middle school or high school coach tried to change her pitching style she would not pitch for that team. The same would go for her TB coach, but I don't have to worry about this season since I am her TB coach.

If your pitchers are struggling you should go to their parents or pitching coach and ask for suggestions to help her improve, but you should not try to change anything about her pitching style or routine.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

The best thing for you to do is don't mess with them.

That's absurd. If you are the head coach you need to do whats best for your team. If you think they are getting poor/inadequate instruction than it's your job to teach them what you believe to be best practices while they are playing for you.

They always have the option of not playing or playing for a different team.

A smart coach prefers all players take private hitting and pitching lessons but in the end will instruct their team as best they see fit in order to be successful.

 

[cuzmail]

Touchy subject.

We use a PC and we have had great success with him over the last 4 months. I don't want a TB (or any other) coach to interfere with the PC teachings since he is teaching her the "right stuff" and DD is learning and improving quickly. I do understand that DD has to keep up the performance or she backs down the pitching rotation and I am fine with that.

Previously DD's TB coach has been trying to get us to switch to their PC and friend. I made it clear from the beginning that DD has a PC and a HC that we were very happy with and while we are always open to ideas, we did not want the private coaches teaching altered. TB coach has been working hard to get us to switch PC and drop the HC. This past weekend the TB coach started to mingle in her warmup routine and pitching. Handwriting was on the wall and we left that team for another the following day. Hated to do it, but TB coach wouldn't let it go.

Hard to understand since DD had pitched great and hit well for TB coach up to the point of leaving.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

You cannot imagine the damage that a volunteer coach can do to a young pitcher.

You can't imagine the damage some paid pitching coaches can do to a young pitcher.

There is no correlation between the amount of money paid for a lesson and it's quality.