sometimes its better to be the most feared pitcher to face than the best pitcher to face
This made me laugh thank you! I gotta remember this!
sometimes its better to be the most feared pitcher to face than the best pitcher to face
Part of the HS coach's job is to establish the expectation level with the players.
Later in life these girls will likely have bosses that do the same thing.
Sometimes expectations aren't sugar coated. We have to do our best to extract expectations and then deliver on them.
I do agree that expectations need to be laid down by coaches, to players. I don't have to like his way of doing it and I don't feel bad for hating him in that moment. Now that I've had time to think I'm actually glad that he is how he is because my dd will need a thicker skin to deal with him and that will make her stronger
Haha, gotta love learning to work into the whip. Inside misses and whacked batters are pretty common at that point!
She'll work out of it. Just part of the learning process.
I may be a novice here but, what does learning "the whip" have to do with missing inside and hitting batters? Sorry, I just don't see the correlation
And I would politely ask this fantastic head coach to find a men's FP league (I'd be happy to help him find a game or 2 in Florida) and have him try it.
Bill
^^^This right here! Bill, you beat me to it. That's exactly what I was thinking.
When I do pitching clinics for a group of girls, one of the things I like to do during the break of the first session is to get a parent "volunteer." Usually I will select a dad who looks at least somewhat athletic, and like the type who might have high expectations for his daughter. I will show him a few basics of pitching a softball - usually just a couple of side drills. At first I will be pleasant and helpful. Then, as he has trouble, I will become more "agitated" and tell him to "just throw strikes." As he continues (and usually gets worse, as I'm just having him pitch with no corrections) I will use the usual cliches - we can't defend a walk; you need to concentrate; come on, we really need a strike here. In other words, acting like parents and coaches often do, saying things and getting louder without actually offering anything helpful.
Everyone gets a good laugh out of it, because they all know what I'm doing. Especially the newbie pitchers. Then I will stop the dad and tell everyone "It's not as easy as it looks sometimes. It takes a lot of work and effort to even become competent. Your daughters aren't trying to walk people, or hit batters, or throw the ball over the backstop or into the dugout. It just happens. Be patient with them and it will pay dividends."
It's one thing to criticize from the sidelines. It's another to actually try it yourself. If it was easy, everyone would be a pitcher because that's where the glory is (when it works).
My experience is as someone learns to pull the ball down and lead with the pinky, they'll typically develop a low and inside miss, often right at the batters thigh, especially when converting from pushing the ball. Of course I'll defer to your experience, but I've seen it happen enough times to believe it's part of the learning process.