Empty repetitions are like empty calories

One of the most common questions I get from the parents of fastpitch softball pitchers is “How many pitches should my daughter throw per day?” Sometimes they’re worried that throw too much, but most of the time it’s that they don’t throw enough. I know they’re looking for a hard and fast number, like 100, […]

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Sage advice, but as a completely inexperienced dad of a newbie pitcher, I am not even sure how to set goals for my daughter. I don't know how to diagnose a problem that would requiring fixing her arm circle, or what needs to be done to improve her leg drive. She and I can both tell when she needs to gain control of her change-up, so that is helpful. I am trying to learn as much as I can as fast as possible. I try to take one thing from each lesson with her PC, and have her apply it during practice. I have tried to read through the pitching threads, but that becomes overwhelming quickly, as I said, I have much to learn.

One question, I have seen the signature at the bottom of a post reading, "Don’t practice until you get it right. Practice until you can’t get it wrong." How do you feel about that advice?

Bob, if your daughter has a pitching coach DFP is a great resource to make sure he/she is teaching the right things. If you think that's the case, then you don't need to diagnose the problems. That's what the PC should be doing. What you want to do to help your daughter is make sure she's doing what the PC said, and working on the things the PC said to work on. At the end of every lesson I will tell the student what the area(s) of focus is for the coming week. I will say "Work on getting the feel of driving your hips/butt out instead of using your legs one at a time" or "Work on your locations by driving your body toward the glove and then just following it rather than trying to force the ball there" or something like that. It will be things we went through in the lesson.

I would guess your PC does the same. If not, ask what she should work on. Then make getting that done the goal of the practice. You shouldn't have to come up with all of this yourself. Creating rock-solid mechanics makes pitching a whole lot easier, because you can move from consciously trying to do something to unconscious competence. It's not that you can do it when you try. It's that you can do it automatically, without consciously trying.

Which brings me to your other question. What I just said above is what that quote means. When you're in practice, you want your mind focused on what you're trying to do. But the ultimate goal is to be able to do it out of habit. When you're in a game you don't want to be thinking "I have to do this, then I have to do that, then I have to do the other." You want your mechanics to be an autopilot so you can focus on the situation. For hitters, you don't want to be thinking mechanics - you want to be focused on where is the ball and what is it doing so you know where to take the bat. If you're thinking about how to swing you won't be able to react in time.

Another way to think about it is the example of riding a bicycle. Presuming you know how, when was the last time you thought about how to do it? Probably a long time ago. When you were first learning, you had to focus on being steady, maintaining balance, and all the other elements that went into it. You went slowly, with little confidence and probably great fear of falling off. Eventually, however, you got the hang of it, and from that point forward you didn't think about how to ride your bike. You just jumped on and rode it. That's what you want with athletic skills like pitching. You don't want to have to think about what your body should be doing while you're pitching. You just want to focus on maximizing the effort of whatever you're doing. When you can go as hard as you want without worrying about whether you'll do it right or not, because you know you'll do it right, you'll be at a whole other level. Hope that helps.

Bob516 said:

Sage advice, but as a completely inexperienced dad of a newbie pitcher, I am not even sure how to set goals for my daughter. I don't know how to diagnose a problem that would requiring fixing her arm circle, or what needs to be done to improve her leg drive. She and I can both tell when she needs to gain control of her change-up, so that is helpful. I am trying to learn as much as I can as fast as possible. I try to take one thing from each lesson with her PC, and have her apply it during practice. I have tried to read through the pitching threads, but that becomes overwhelming quickly, as I said, I have much to learn.

One question, I have seen the signature at the bottom of a post reading, "Don’t practice until you get it right. Practice until you can’t get it wrong." How do you feel about that advice?

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Please don't listen to anything I post or use as a signature. I'm just a hack!! Although Ken's bicycle analogy is a great example of what the quote means. It's practicing until it's natural and part of who you are, and then still practicing more because you can always improve something.

#7sDad said:

It's practicing until it's natural and part of who you are, and then still practicing more because you can always improve something.

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That is what I took as the wisdom of your signature. I believe to excel at anything one has to be able to do it without intentionally thinking it through, as I think Ken was saying beyond conscious thought.

If someone practices something until they get it right, the first time, and stops, there is a good chance they might not get it right the next time they try.