Mental help, first year 12u

Mental help 12u

I'm an ac on a first year 12u team (4-03, rest are 04's) we do not have stellar pitching but do have a couple that can get some K's or can have the ball put in play consistently.

The trouble we are having is getting 3 outs on defense. They can get 2 outs, but they struggle to get the third out with making several errors and allowing runs to score. Without looking at the books, I know of 5 innings in 3 games this weekend that we couldn't get the third out. These girls should (do) know where to throw to get the out, and we can call it out every play, but when the ball is put in play, we choke. Girls will bobble the ball so bad they cannot pick it up in time, throw to the wrong base or throw behind the lead runner, miss fielding balls by a step, won't get in the dirt, won't hustle to get a short fly, over throw, or some other mistake. This has happened two tourneys in a row now.

Does anyone have any suggestions of what we can work on or talk about with the team? I know these kids are capable of making the plays. They do it, until we have two outs. We have tried being harder, easier, more skills practice, more scrimmage practice, etc.

We as coaches and honestly, the players too, are becoming very frustrated.

Thanks in advance

Sounds like they get nervous when runners are on base. One thing I would do in practice is set-up the defense and put runners on base (in different scenarios such as runner on 2b, 1 out) and hit balls to the fielders. Lots of repetition hitting ground balls, fly balls, bunts, etc making sure players are moving to their back up assignments and getting the ball to the correct cut-off, base etc. DDs team spends at least 1 hour every practice doing these type of drills, over and over again.

How much instruction are the coaches yelling out during plays?

We are not yelling coaches. We try to remain as calm as possible. Sometimes, I feel we may be too calm. Lol

Yelling out instruction? Not a lot. We are working hard to have our catchers call out the play.

At this age my approach to this has been to talk to the girls before the play and make sure they know what they are going to do with the ball. As the girls improve I just ask the key girls if they know what they need to do if the ball is hit to them. It is fun to watch the improvement in the girls as they go from needing to be reminded to step on third if a ground ball is hit to third with runners on first and second to seeing them look over as soon as you call their name and point to the bag like they are born knowing what to do. I agree with the others about practice. I like doing situation drills in practice a lot at that age. It helps a lot with the girls knowing what to do with the ball. It also has the benefit of helping your baserunners knowing how to run the bases as well. If wanting to practice with a full outfield I will get some parents to act as baserunner's. You just have to watch out for the dad who is going to run and push things to far. I like to talk as a coach and think it helps keep me calm. I do sometimes worry if constant reminders retard a girl's growth but I just make my best judgement on how much "coaching" to do based on each girls development. Knowing what to do with the ball removes some of the pressure and cuts down on bobbles in my opinion. In practice I penalize mental errors but not physical errors by giving the girls push ups or running to the fence. I make all the girls do it not just the girl who makes the mental error. I either do the punishment with them or give them opportunity to "punish" me by making good plays.

Lots of different issues in your post. Bobbling a ball isn't the same as a mental error, and a lack of hustle is a different thing entirely.

Is your defense too complicated for the experience or skill level of your players? Are your kids overthinking the situation? Are they playing for a lead runner when they should be getting the out at 1B? Are you playing your infield & outfield too deep, or too shallow? Are your kids playing the right positions, or would switching things around make a difference?

Strike2 said:

Lots of different issues in your post. Bobbling a ball isn't the same as a mental error, and a lack of hustle is a different thing entirely.

Is your defense too complicated for the experience or skill level of your players? Are your kids overthinking the situation? Are they playing for a lead runner when they should be getting the out at 1B? Are you playing your infield & outfield too deep, or too shallow? Are your kids playing the right positions, or would switching things around make a difference?

Click to expand...

While I do agree that bobbling the ball is not the same, it's from a kid who makes very few errors in practice but is making them in games. But it's not just her.

Is your defense too complicated for the experience or skill level of your playerm? It's very basic.

Are your kids overthinking the situation? Probably. But they are mostly routine plays.

Are they playing for a lead runner when they should be getting the out at 1B? Sometimes, happened twice yesterday when the last out was at 1b and we threw to the lead runner who was already there.

Are you playing your infield & outfield too deep, or too shallow? I don't think either of these are issues we are experiencing because we get 2 outs, just not the third.

Are your kids playing the right positions, or would switching things around make a difference? We move them around during pool games to try and find someone else who can play in the infield. We are listed on talent. I didn't think we were until we started playing. The 04's moved up from the spring and then we added the 03's to fill in. We had a pretty good spring at 10u.


Yes the effort issues are not mental. That really is separate.

Thanks for the feedback. Just at a loss for what to work on.

Most kids new to 12U. Bigger ball and faster runners. Keep working and get more game experience, and this will pass. Let the ones who aren't putting forth the effort know that changes can be made, and others given opportunity.

Reps, reps, reps and reps. Over coaching will kill a team as much as no coaching. The mental game in athletics is critical. Sometimes kids feel like every move they make is being critiqued and when they pull off a great play they're told that they can still make improvements

What happens between the ears is far more important than some coaches are willing to acknowledge

Don't waste your time trying to psychoanalyze a bunch of 12YOA girls. You don't have time in 2 hour practice to do group therapy and take ground balls.

Identify *SPECIFICALLY* what happened. General statements like, "Oh, they can't get the third out" suggests that you need to watch the game closer. Is it bobbled groundballs? Is it dropping popups? Is it bad throws?

You have to do lots of reps *AND* you have to insist on perfection on each rep. E.g., if your SS throws the to 1B and the ball is slightly above the 1B's head, do you make the SS redo? Or do you yawn and move on to the next grounder? The ball is supposed to be delivered at waist height...if it isn't, it is a bad throw. If you don't insist on perfection at practice, then they aren't going to play perfectly during a game.

Honestly...I've had the SS do 10 grounders in a row working on just the throw.


YELLING

There is "yelling to criticize a kid" and there is "yelling to explain where the ball is going." At 12U, you need to be doing a lot of game coaching.

Go through check list before each play:

a) Make sure each kid is "awake" for each play.
b) Make sure they are in the proper stance before the pitch.
c) Make sure they know what they are supposed to do if the ball comes to them.