Possible burnout? 13yo pitcher, choosing the right club

Crystal Brown · Jul 20, 2018

Keep in mind that she is 13 and as you stated,"she has always been a bit of a hotshot locally/B]". Imagine how she must be feeling now, not being that ace? It is hard enough for adults to adjust but for kid who only know success, it is tough. In sport or even life, not being the best will happen. But, how is she going to grow? How can she learn to deal with adversity and set backs? This is a lesson she can keep with her for the rest of her life.
Right now, from what I have read, she probably can use a break...give her time to clear her mind and refocus. IF you need to find a different team, there are plenty out there that need a pitcher.

tortuga · Jul 21, 2018

Crystal Brown said:
Keep in mind that she is 13 and as you stated,"she has always been a bit of a hotshot locally/B]". Imagine how she must be feeling now, not being that ace? It is hard enough for adults to adjust but for kid who only know success, it is tough. In sport or even life, not being the best will happen. But, how is she going to grow? How can she learn to deal with adversity and set backs? This is a lesson she can keep with her for the rest of her life.
Right now, from what I have read, she probably can use a break...give her time to clear her mind and refocus. IF you need to find a different team, there are plenty out there that need a pitcher.

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful replies. Since she has always played club ball with ace pitchers, there is no 'reality check' for her -- someone on her team has always been better than her in the circle. It's only in town ball where everyone thinks she's a star, but she knows better. She is used to having to earn her time in the circle, spot in the batting order, etc. She started pitching 14U for travel *last* year when she was 11-12, so she is acutely aware of the challenges of pitching to girls already in high school. (Again, not a lot of pitchers in town.)

I agree you can't teach motivation, but can you kill it? She has worked hard this year, she was motivated. But with this lousy coach, it didn't matter how well she performed (which was very well), she was never rewarded for it. I guess I am trying to figure out if *that* is the reason for her reduced motivation, which we can deal with, or if it is bigger than that.

She says she wants to keep pitching. She says she wants to play club ball this coming year. I am skeptical, but I guess I just have to take that at face value and play it through. If I am being really honest, maybe as parents *we* are the ones getting burned out!

Dandan111 · Jul 21, 2018

I had a old travel coach tell me. You can’t want it more than the kid.
So true.

jimbob2 · Jul 21, 2018

Hillhouse said:
Rocket, AMEN, AMEN, AMEN. Every pitcher I work with gets the exact same info, what they do with it is up to them. USUALLY the difference between the ones that go to a PAC 12 or SEC school and those who play D3 is all about the motivation. For sure there are some that just aren't talented enough for D1, no matter who the coach is. But, at the end of the day the ones who succeed are the ones who put the extra work in between lessons and between sessions with the bucket dad/mom. One thing I tell every student of mine is, I am a realist. I know there is school, boys, other sports, must see the Walking Dead, etc. But if she will commit 10 minutes, not an hour or 2... they will say they don't have time for that. But everyone has 10 minutes. Put 10 extra minutes in and you will see results fast. If you can do more, great.

Since the show "Six" came on the History channel, (about Navy seal team six) I have become obsessed with Navy Seals. If I had life to do over again, I would never have touched a softball and been a Seal. Anyway, one of the trainers said during the "behind the scenes" of the show: I don't need a recruit to come in fit, muscles, fast, etc. They can teach all of that. But what they cannot teach is mental toughness. And the same can be applied to pitching. You can't teach someone to want to do this and want to be out there.

Bill

I don't agree with you comment about the difference between a D3 player and a D1 player is motivation. My daughter plays D3 softball at a top 20 academic college and maintains a 3.5 plus GPA. She probably has more motivation than the majority of D1 players. The difference is her motivation is not focused on one activity.

Hillhouse · Jul 21, 2018

jimbob, you didn't read what I said carefully. I said USUALLY. Perhaps I should have said "in many cases". Nobody knows better than I that people choose schools for a variety of reasons. I've had pitchers with D1 scholarship offers choose to play D3 to stay close to home, because her boyfriend was closer (or at same school), etc.

So I am certainly not saying ALL pitchers fit this mold. That said, I've had plenty of cases where it was pure motivation that separated the levels of play. And I think every PC or hitting coach will agree with me that seeing someone with the tools but not caring or wanting to use them is extremely frustrating. Meanwhile there is another girl with all the desire in the world but doesn't have the physical tools or anything and does everything with full effort. While the other one does it with no effort.

Bill

sluggers · Jul 21, 2018

I'm sure Bill knows this already, but for everyone else:

D3 has the most varied talent of any division. There are some horrible, horrible D3 teams that couldn't beat a 16U B team...and there are some very good D3 teams that could compete (and possibly win) one of the weaker D1 conferences.

at said, I've had plenty of cases where it was pure motivation that separated the levels of play.

I'm sure you mean "motivation to play softball". A smart and talented 18YOA girl could look the time required to be a good D1 pitcher and say, "No thanks...D3 is just fine for me."

The bottom line is that there are only 10 or so D1 pitchers in the US that have a shot to win the last softball game of the season.

Possible burnout? 13yo pitcher, choosing the right club

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Crystal Brown

tortuga

Dandan111

jimbob2

Hillhouse

sluggers

Super Moderator

Similar threads

Latest posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Share this page

Online statistics

Forum statistics