Tears on the mound

[gophert]

If the girl is competitive, I think they all go through this. I want my pitcher to give a crap. I think it gets the best out of them. The more they do it and are in those situations, the less you will see of the ups and downs. My daughter knows, If I see a tear, she gets pulled. Therefore, she knows that it hurts the team when she loses it in the circle. How the pitcher responds is usually how the team responds. At the end of the day, it will get better with age and experience. Good luck and enjoys these early moments.

 

[Eric F]

IMO...You have to know your pitcher, and how they respond. If the tears come, and they continue to fall apart, then pull them early. We have two first-year 10U pitchers in our league that cry easily, but get past it quickly, and come back stronger. Both play with heart and complete determination.

 

[NorthMS]

I have a player that is really wild (12U). She's working to improve and I give her an inning or 2 here and there. I have a signal with her. She knows that when she's ready to be removed, she gives me an inconspicuous sign, and I go and remove her.

Of course, it makes a difference that I know she will give me the sign when she's had enough. Every situation is different. Just use good judgement and never let the game dictate your decision with something like this.

 

[smddad]

Best advice I got from a long time coach on this subject. Pull them before the tears start. Let them know that they will be re-inserted back to pitcher later in the game. Never had one come back in and NOT do better.

 

[jdp29]

Been there done that....My daughter hit sooooo many batters when she was first year 10 it was unreal. One game she just broke down. I took her out at her request cause she was blubbering. Best thing that happened was at her next at bat, the ump whispered to her "it's your job to pitch, and their job to get out of the way. Hitting batters is ok when your first learning" She got over it, and her accuracy now at 2nd year 12's is her strong point.

 

[SBmom8992]

OILF - not all of us coaches are seasoned pros (said with a wink and a smile). This is a rec league and we are not yet in the playoff portion of the season so the game wasn't do or die (we won anyway). In our league pitchers can't be re-entered in a game so once she's pulled there's no opportunity for her to collect herself and come back in an inning or two. At the time, her response didn't come across as diva behavior from a pride perspective as in "I'm not going to let my coach pull me" which I equate to diva-like thinking but more so "I'm not going to let this situation get the best of me" which I think is true competitor thinking. Again, having been there and knowing my DD, I was able to tell the difference. Another coach might not have been able to tell and would have pulled her, which I would have been ok with if that was what he/she felt was the right thing to do for the team.

With that said, I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my post and for your opinion. I've only been on the forum a month or so and appreciate the friendly debates and helpful insights from folks with more coaching experience than I could ever hope to have.

 

[ThatDad]

Look up perfectionism, and read as much as you can about it.

 

[coach james]

Every single one of us with pitching daughters know this all too well. I'm impressed with the fact she wanted to stay in and battle through it. (That's a really good sign about her character!!)

 

[NorthMS]

Why are 10 and 12s in charge of coming out of games...no wonder we have diva kids everywhere....? And no they don't get promised anything (playing again or ice cream) for being removed.

Do ever read an entire post, or just fly off the handle at will? Kind of like the "parents of illegal pitchers" post you decided to misread.

Notice I said I TRUST THE GIRL to tell me. She's a 1st year pitcher. She walks a lot of batter, ie 3 of 4. I'm ok with it when I put her in. I'll never keep a girl in a game that doesn't want to be there. This is rec ball. If she walks in 5 runs, so be it. Its about learning at this point. She wants to pitch in the game, so she will. If she wants to come out, I don't want her to be in the circle. I just came up with something to allow her to save face, and you see that as creating a Diva. lol

You constantly complain about how bad the girls are when you get them. How about being part of the solution instead of blaming someone else? That sounds like a Diva coach to me. Paying attention to each girl, and recognizing how to get the most out of their potential is part of coaching. Getting ready made players handed to the High School coach so they can take all the credit and placing blame on everyone else if you don't get the ready made players, is not coaching.

 

[Jojo]

I've got one right now that the dad is having hard time with. She's a late starter at pitching, 11, and immediately was super hard on herself when she started pitching games because she had to catch up so fast. It's been and year and half now and she still loses her composure on the mound. Not real sure what to do with this kid because she loses composure with me in the class, she is so bad she loses composure just talking to me about her game.
She's extremely emotional. She's a good pitcher now, has moved up to 12u tournament ball and will be moving up in the fall to 14u tournament ball. Dad isn't sure if she's ever going to make it as a pitcher due to her extreme mood swings.