pitchers practice plan.

[MandM]

I could be wrong- but I don't think the OP is asking about changing the mechanics of his pitchers, rather, he is asking how to match what the PC is asking the girls to do during the week in terms of their own workouts- with his/her practices and game schedules, so as not to overwork them, and to make sure their game performance is ok. this is a very reasonable question. I think there is a couple of things to consider. First, are you going to give them pitching time at practice? If so, and you expect them to pitch there, let them know how much time they will have, but I would not dictate to them what they need to do or what their workout will be. I would also make sure that they have the game and the practice schedules to discuss with their PC. A third thing would be to speak with the PC's, ask about how much time the girls need to warm up to go in to the game (do they have a regular warm up they need to do) and if there are any problems you could look out for, help with etc, and finally, what are their strengths and weaknesses in terms of their pitches. That is about the extent of it. Mostly, you want to protect the girls (1) from "overthrowing"- as that would hurt them - and (2) setting them up to do poorly by putting them in a game without allowing them to progress through a normal warm-up.

 

[sluggers]

Parents want this both ways--(1) they don't want the coach to interfere with their DD's pitching style and (2) they want their child to pitch no matter how well/poorly she does.

If parents truly want to remove the team coach from helping the pitchers, then the pitchers have to be accountable for their failures.

IMHO, the way to handle the problem is to tell the pitchers that the best pitcher is going to get the ball. If one of them don't perform during the game, she'll be taken out and replaced. If one of the pitchers consistently out performs the other, than the better pitcher will pitch more games.

Of course, parents will then be screaming, "It is only middle school softball! Who cares if we win or lose?"

 

[freddyj522]

I could be wrong- but I don't think the OP is asking about changing the mechanics of his pitchers, rather, he is asking how to match what the PC is asking the girls to do during the week in terms of their own workouts- with his/her practices and game schedules, so as not to overwork them, and to make sure their game performance is ok. this is a very reasonable question. I think there is a couple of things to consider. First, are you going to give them pitching time at practice? If so, and you expect them to pitch there, let them know how much time they will have, but I would not dictate to them what they need to do or what their workout will be. I would also make sure that they have the game and the practice schedules to discuss with their PC. A third thing would be to speak with the PC's, ask about how much time the girls need to warm up to go in to the game (do they have a regular warm up they need to do) and if there are any problems you could look out for, help with etc, and finally, what are their strengths and weaknesses in terms of their pitches. That is about the extent of it. Mostly, you want to protect the girls (1) from "overthrowing"- as that would hurt them - and (2) setting them up to do poorly by putting them in a game without allowing them to progress through a normal warm-up.

thanks for the input.

 

[ThatDad]

Wow, this is a very fresh and raw subject for me. I think freddyj522 may be looking for something else. But let me relate what my DD has just gone through with new Highschool coach. DD was conference pitcher of year both freshman and sophomore years, and basicaly carried team to 3rd and 4th in state respectively. Both years I was basicaly knocking heads with head coach who in mid to late 20's pitched D3 and was pretty sure she knew everything about pitching. She was constantly trying to change daughters mechanics in both hitting and pitching. My philosophy is if she aint good enough for you dont play her, highschool ball is basicaly a social endevour for her anyway. But coach had to play her, and would back off when confronted for a day or two but would always go back to the ole "you could be so much better if you would forget your Dad and listent to me. It got quite tiresome for both DD and me. Over the summer she gets fired ( Nothing to do with me, our problems were personal and we pretty much kept them that way. She had other issues as well) We were relieved though.
New coach comes in, again a young lady that claims to be an expert and pitched herself,yada, yada, yada......anyway she pulls DD into her office the other day and confronts DD that she "has heard of us" and informed DD that she would do things her way if she wants to play Highschool ball. DD came home and informed she will NOT be playing Highschool ball EVER for this coach. She is playing on a Gold team this year so I think she will be ok without the highschool social hours.
But it really amazed me, your going to turn away arguably one of the best pitchers in our area if not the state (we are known for potato's here not softball) because we dont want you medelling with her mechanics? Wow is all I can say!
My advice to freddy is decide how bad you want these girls playing for you. Because this IS a very touchy subject. Many of us Buckett Dads spend thousands of hours and thousands of dollars on DD's pitching and its awfully tough to swallow any coach that may see her a couple to three months a year start messing ( read- screw up ) our projects. If you really want to endear yourself to these pitchers and their parents ask to come to a couple pitching practices with PC and see whats up. I know I would have fallen over backwards had any of these ladies tried that with us. I have heard of coachs doing this but never actually experienced it.
So while it is a coach's perogitive who he\she plays, its a parents perogitive who their DD's play for. For the record her new Gold coaches havent tried to chang a thing. Go figure.

 

[fballchgup]

Thatdad,
Thanks for sharing your story. You're right, it is a HUGE investment of time and money to develop a pitcher.
Just curious, what was your dd doing that everyone was so gungho to fix?

 

[cuzmail]

High School through 10U.

How many paid private pitching coaches do you think are really qualified to give advice on pitching?

I think we have established that this goes both ways. Just because you are a paid pitching coach doesn't mean you are teaching best practices. Conversely just because you are a head coach doesn't mean you are a pitching expert. With that being said, I also think that a reasonable coach and a reasonable player/parent would be open to comments on improving at least one time. No one wants to hear or deal with the same comment over and over and over....

As nanotech14 argued what if the head coach is teaching step style, hello elbow, and slam the door?

Conversely what if the pitching coach is teaching hello elbow and slam the door and the head coach knows better?

This scenario really should be broken up into two groups. Travel ball and school ball.

As a TB coach I wouldn't take someone that has poor pitching mechanics so this is not an issue. As someone posted earlier if you don't like the instruction your coach is giving than the player is free to leave. I have never had this happen as a direct result of giving instruction.

As a school coach the pool of talent is limited so the requirements relax a little. If she has poor mechanics but can throw strikes and be successful than so be it (assuming she has a PC and doesn't want to change). If she struggles and has a bad habit (hello elbow, close the hips) than I will make changes regardless of the input from parents and pitching coaches. Typically at this point the parent sees the need for changes, this has never been an issue.

At the end of the day the head coach is responsible for their team. A good head coach knows when not to fix something that isn't broken.

However if it is broken...

Well put. Reminds me of the old saying regarding marriage. Men marry women hoping they will stay the same, but women marry men hoping to change them into what they want.

If you have a successful pitcher don't change her. If the pitcher doesn't have good mechanics or is not successful, then don't pick her up for your TB team or don't pitch her on the school team. That should be the coach's "right". It's the player/parent's "right" to request that a private coach's teaching not be screwed with right or wrong on the parent/players end.

As far as the OP's original question: Speak with the PC's and get a feel for their routines. Maybe set up a time for the pitchers to practice what you want (throwing bp, working on catcher throw downs, ..etc). Tell the pitchers that they will pitch for about XX minutes beginning at X:XXp, then let them take their necessary steps to be ready at that time. I also don't think they need to run drills just for the sake of running drills at a team practice. Pitchers should be doing that with their PC and at home with Dad just like homework. Develop their other game skills at team practice. If they can't do the homework to keep up and improve, then they aren't cut out for pitching.

BTW, we always wondered why DD's previous TB coach could not retain pitchers. We learned the answer to our question the day we became one of the ones who couldn't be retained.

 

[cuzmail]

Parents want this both ways--(1) they don't want the coach to interfere with their DD's pitching style and (2) they want their child to pitch no matter how well/poorly she does.

If parents truly want to remove the team coach from helping the pitchers, then the pitchers have to be accountable for their failures.

Very true. I think that this boils down to reasonable parents and unreasonable parents. It doesn't have much to do with pitching. The unreasonable parents will pull the same BS about their DD's hole position in the batting order, place in the lineup when not pitching, ..etc. They are out there.

 

[cuzmail]

Been thinking about a scenario for a while that relates to this topic (or at least the direction this topic has gone).

Watching a friend pitch 18Gold at the RM this past fall while another friend is talking to a college coach. Coach states that she would never make this pitcher an offer because of her mechanics. Pitcher is pretty successful both at the 18Gold level and HS. Illustrates the point. As a coach she didn't like what the pitcher was doing regardless of the outcome, so the coach decided not to deal with it instead of tyring to pick the player up and try to change the pitcher into something the coach wanted.

Smart move?

 

[humpty]

Freddy let the pitchers stick to what their pc regiment. Help them schedule their practice days/times around your games. I'm guessing middle school plays weekdays. If they pitch tb they may want mondays off if they pitched a lot on Sunday. Same for Fridays may not want to work em too hard on a Friday night if there's a tournament that weekend.

 

[Westwind]

I find it amazing that so many twenty something former college players get hired to coach and otherwise intelligent adults assume that "playing college ball" makes them qualified to coach at every level. I also find it amusing that these kids just out of college are completely convinced that they know everything there is to know about softball and coaching and they need no help or outside help. Hope that crash and burn doesn't hurt.

I am also amused how some experienced coaches know the "one true path". Good gosh I get tired of how every local coach, paid or otherwise, has to profess that the "other" pitching coach or hitting coach will put you on a road to softball certain doom.

Different things work for different kids, different approaches work better with different kids. And yet if you aren't putting twenty dollar bills in the right guys pocket you will be an utter failure. Put twenty dollar bills in my pocket and you will find yourself playing D1 in no time.