Probably Just Don't Practice Enough

schwabach said:

If I were you, I would treat myself to a night out. Based on your description, you already have a winner.

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Better yet, treat your DD to a night out! Sounds like she is a well-rounded kid with a bright future.

I know a girl who played TB through junior year HS and hasn't picked up a softball since; graduated from one of the top national universities and this fall will be attending an elite private law school on a merit scholarship including a summer internship at a prestigious law firm. Playing fastpitch, while fun during her teenage years, will be just one of many experiences she will have faced during her lifetime.

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Lot of great advice and comments!!

I've never really had to push DD to practice. Like I've shared on here on other threads is she get's a lot of nerves and whatever the next new thing is makes her super nervous. When I push it is to get her to just give something a shot and then she is almost always glad she tried whatever it was. So sometimes I wonder if the idea of playing any level of college ball is the next big fear for her and part of her "I don't know if I wanna play in college" comments. So I do try to encourage not to rule anything out yet so just take things year by year.

But I do think she enjoys having a more balanced life and if college ball at a lower level could be part of that I think she might like that, but I'm sure that a super rigorous program that takes over the entire college experience is not what she is looking for. I know one of our major contributors on here (Chinami . . .??) has a DD who is playing club ball in college? something that may end up being more her style.

I'm sure that a super rigorous program that takes over the entire college experience is not what she is looking for.

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As I said before, perfectly understandable. Your DD should forget D1 and probably D2. D1 and D2 coaches have to win or they get fired, so none of them are laid back. Your DD should be looking at D3 or a club team.

My DD#3 could have played hoops at a school in the P5...but, the time commitment was staggering. She played D3, had a great time, and won a national championship. Basketball took over her college life from November to mid-March. But, that did leave her with lots of time for the college experience. DD#1's (played D1 softball) entire college experience was playing softball.

Hillhouse said:

There is one a million of this happening. Colleges care almost nothing about High School. They know the politics, poor teams at play, and terrible coaching perpetrated by the teacher's union. So, unless you live in the same city as a university, it's unlikely they will spend recruiting dollars to come to a HS game when they can go to a showcase and see 100's of girls.

Of course I know that's not your point but, I had to say it.

Bill

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Although I'm sure this is generally true it's a mistake for parents and players to assume that it will be true in their dd's case. A Non-local D1 and a D3 coach came to HS games my dd pitched and the D3 coach expressed interest in dd's HS catcher who wasn't going through the softball recruiting process at all and may have been done with travel ball by then. If your dd has another HS sport on her recruiting profile don't assume for a second that a college coach wouldn't contact a HS basketball coach to ask about how coachable the kid was or what she was like as a teammate. Neither of these coaches would recruit a player based on HS softball performance or stats alone but it certainly factored significantly in their evaluations.

It appears this forum no longer captures multiple quotes in a thread but I'd have to agree on Hawkeyes point that a pitcher who practices more isn't necessarily going to be better than the pitcher who practices less, natural ability and athleticism have a lot more to do with it. My dd practiced less this summer than any in recent memory because the other primary pitcher on her travel team, who never takes a day off from practicing pitching, suffered an overuse injury so my dd had to pitch a lot more and needed rest more than practice between tournaments. Some of my dd's teammate's issues could have been genetically linked but I know of several other pitchers in my area who have either suffered overuse injuries or burnt out by the time they get out of HS.

I wish parents would start to think more rationally about what they hope to accomplish by having their dd's pitch 4-5 times a week between games or tournaments. Is your kid going to forget how to pitch if she only practices once or twice? Does your routine of drills really make your kid fundamentally better or maybe just marginally improve what she already does well at the expense of fatigue, soreness and loss of velocity when she steps into the circle for a game? A utility player may fanatically work on hitting to prepare for the 2-4 at-bats she gets in a game but a pitcher has to be mentally and physically prepared to produce 21 outs.

To the OP I would just say don't rule anything out for your dd, not D1-D3 or even club, but don't rule anything in either. My dd went into her sophomore year of HS leaning towards not playing college softball at all and we hadn't even started thinking about the recruiting process as a family but just last month she committed to the D1 program who's coach came to her HS game.

Dusty said:

My dd practiced less this summer than any in recent memory because the other primary pitcher on her travel team, who never takes a day off from practicing pitching, suffered an overuse injury so my dd had to pitch a lot more and needed rest more than practice between tournaments. Some of my dd's teammate's issues could have been genetically linked but I know of several other pitchers in my area who have either suffered overuse injuries or burnt out by the time they get out of HS.

I wish parents would start to think more rationally about what they hope to accomplish by having their dd's pitch 4-5 times a week between games or tournaments. Is your kid going to forget how to pitch if she only practices once or twice? Does your routine of drills really make your kid fundamentally better or maybe just marginally improve what she already does well at the expense of fatigue, soreness and loss of velocity when she steps into the circle for a game? A utility player may fanatically work on hitting to prepare for the 2-4 at-bats she gets in a game but a pitcher has to be mentally and physically prepared to produce 21 outs.

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This does weigh in to our practice decisions quite a bit. From being the primary pitcher the last 3 years she is often wiped on Mondays if she has pitched 3+ games on the weekend. Then if we have team practice on Tuesday we can't always do pitching practice on top of that. So then we'll pitch on Wednesday and maybe Thursday. Or just a light workout on Friday because there are games on Saturday - but maybe you are traveling for a couple of them on Fridays. This year we are on a team with less travel and less team practices so we have definitely had more consistent personal practice and practices are more like 90 minutes versus 2 1/2 hours last year so we often tag on a half hour before or after them. But during tournament season 4 days a week is really tough.

Really appreciate all the input, encouragement and stories.

IMO there is no right answer or wrong answer that works for everyone. What makes a good practice is quality and not quantity. As a beginning pitcher DD worked 3-4 days a week, and I made sure she would get plenty of rest in between sessions. A session consisting of minimal good pitches thrown with the proper mental focus which beats a mediocre practice with a large number of pitches. When and if the pitcher loses focus IMO is the time to call it a day.

One day the pitcher maybe hitting their spots and getting proper spin/movement on their pitches the next day they can be wild and can’t get anything to work wright. The pitcher needs to work enough that they understand the proper mechanics which results in a good pitch and what results in a bad pitch.

Make sure they are getting plenty of rest. Recovery is as important as repetition in the development of an athlete. You can alternate from one day to the next, pitch one day, hit one day, fielding one day and sometime we would alternate pitching one and the next working on spins about ½ speed or less.

As so many have stated, this is such an individual decision. We have found that for my DD 3 sessions/week is about ideal if she didn't pitch a heavy load over the weekend. If she did, then we cut it down to a pitching lesson and maybe a short practice at home. I have found that if we aren't working on a specific issue then 2 practices per week often leaves her feeling stronger and sharper. I know many girls pitch daily or 4-5x/week but that just doesn't work well for her.