Coaching the Nervous Type Player

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Jul 30, 2015
3
1
I have been coaching for several years and have a 14u team that has been mostly together since they were 10u. I'm having great difficulty with one of my players that is a good kid but ALWAYS gets me in the game with a bobbled ball or error during my games, I repeatedly talked to the player before and after the games to “Relax, Play the Ball First” but to no avail, I have tried everything I know to deal with this situation and I end up being too hard on my pitcher (daughter) because I need her to be stronger so the ball does not find this player. We loose a lot of games we should win because of unearned runs. We played this weekend and 60% of our errors came from 2 players on my team. It seems like the player I'm posting this about ALWAYS gets the error bobbled ball train going. Just like Hitting is contagious, so are mistakes on routine fielding opportunities.

If you are a experienced coach, please chime in here and give me some advice. She has a .500 fielding percentage during our pool games this weekend. What makes this worse is, her dad is a assistant coach and VERY knowledgeable about the game and great with my team.

If anyone has worked through a situation like this please share what worked for you because right now, I'm thinking about throwing in the towel for a while.
Thanks in Advance
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
I have had players that seemed to shake when trying to catch and throw the ball.

Mixed results but try to get them to know what they are doing before the ball is Hit. Sally if the ball is Hit to you were are you going with the Ball? If the ball is Hit to RF, where are you Going? Try to get that part out of the way. Questions change but ask them questions.
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
Remember 1 2nd baseperson in particular that could not catch to ball, she was good getting the way of the ball though so I had her play way up. She would knock the ball down, or it would hit her, and she would still have time to throw it to 1st. :)
 
Jul 30, 2015
3
1
This player clearly struggles to deal with the game pressure. Bobbled Balls, glove is weak during the games. She does good in practices when the game pressure is not on but games are not consistent at all. I'm lucky if she makes some routine plays during our tournaments. I get so frustrated because she has some talent but always finds a way to kill the team win.
 

Strike2

Allergic to BS
Nov 14, 2014
2,044
113
I have been coaching for several years and have a 14u team that has been mostly together since they were 10u. I'm having great difficulty with one of my players that is a good kid but ALWAYS gets me in the game with a bobbled ball or error during my games, I repeatedly talked to the player before and after the games to “Relax, Play the Ball First” but to no avail, I have tried everything I know to deal with this situation and I end up being too hard on my pitcher (daughter) because I need her to be stronger so the ball does not find this player. We loose a lot of games we should win because of unearned runs. We played this weekend and 60% of our errors came from 2 players on my team. It seems like the player I'm posting this about ALWAYS gets the error bobbled ball train going. Just like Hitting is contagious, so are mistakes on routine fielding opportunities.

If you are a experienced coach, please chime in here and give me some advice. She has a .500 fielding percentage during our pool games this weekend. What makes this worse is, her dad is a assistant coach and VERY knowledgeable about the game and great with my team.

If anyone has worked through a situation like this please share what worked for you because right now, I'm thinking about throwing in the towel for a while.
Thanks in Advance

I don't know about you, but nothing tenses ME up more than someone saying "relax".

I assume you've had her on the team for awhile. Are you sure it's her being "nervous", or perhaps there's something wrong with her technique? When fielding, is she looking at something other than the ball? When my kid boots one, it's usually because she was sneaking a peek at the runner. If dad is knowledgeable, what does he think about it?
 

JAD

Feb 20, 2012
8,231
38
Georgia
We would "churn" the bottom of our roster during tryouts every year to correct this problem. If you do not want to churn, add players - a player sitting on the bench cannot make errors...
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
Other thing, is I put artificial pressure.

Need to make 10 catches and throws in a row or start over.

First handful are easy, once they get to 8, 9 or 10 they get nervous because they do not want to start back at 1 and start over
 
Nov 29, 2009
2,975
83
You said dad is knowledgeable and works well with the team. Obviously he sees the missed balls. What does he say about it? As JAD said. The only place the ball will not find her is on the bench.

One of the things you can try is rapid fire drills with her. Hit her ball after ball without letting her get set. Make her react instead of thinking about. Make practices as much like games as you can. Another thing that may help. Make her field wiffle balls without a glove. If that doesn't work then it may be time to let her go from the team.

It's not right that a pitcher has to try and pitch a certain way to try and keep the ball from being hit to one player on the team. You're taking tools away from her to "protect" another player. And it's costing the team.
 
Last edited:
Apr 28, 2014
2,316
113
All great advice. And one thing we learn is that the game punishes players who make errors. The ball keeps finding them over and over.
One thing that we tell our girls is that they need to want the ball.. almost willing the ball to them in their heads. If you wan the ball you tend to attack it more.. that keeps you off your heels..
I'm working with my DD on her head.
She's a pitcher now playing A ball for the first time. She has good command but was recently struggling when runners reached.
She finally admitted that she gets​ nervous and worries too much when runners are on.. she focuses on what could go wrong. We worked through it.. took a while but it was simply a matter of telling her to think positive. Think about what could go right.
Bases loaded 1 out?
Think line drive to 3rd.. double play.
It may sound cheesey but when their heads are filled with negativity they will make mistakes.
 
Jun 27, 2011
5,089
0
North Carolina
What position does she play? It wouldn't be surprising if SS and 3B made 60 percent of the errors in a tournament.

JAD and Sparky made me think of the line by Lou Holtz. ''Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated." :)

Not saying I condone that line of thought for your nervous player, but thought that was kinda funny. Keep believing in her and get her as much rep as possible. That's about all you can do. I agree with what somebody said about the ''relax'' command. That's telling the player, ''I'm aware that you get nervous, so stop it.'' Just makes her more self-conscious of her struggles.

I'd also monitor how the coaching staff reacts to her mistakes, in particular the coach/dad. Does she get extra punishment from their comments/expressions? Making an error should be natural consequences, doesn't require further consternation. Nerves = fear. What is she afraid of?
 

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