At What Point Do You Approach the Coach?

[Dave619]

Next time you have practice get there early and have a pitching practice with your dd. Maybe he'll get there to see her pitch first hand or maybe it's a "subtle" reminder that hey my dd wants to pitch too. 2 birds with one stone pitching practice for your dd and a way of reminding him she wants to pitch w/out talking directly with him. He'll probably speak to you about it.

Very good strategy...it is always good for a coach to see a player working outside of their practice. I too think that 7 pitchers are too much. I would probably look for another team. Even if the coach pitches her some it will only be a few innings here or there and that is not enough time to develop. I would find a team where they have 2 bracket pitchers and they need a third and she can pitch the pool games to get experience and then get a few bracket innings as she develops. She needs to be with a coach that understands it takes time to develop and he has to find the opportunities for that. The other option is to pick-up with other teams that need pitching. That is what I did for a while since my DDs team at the time was not giving her many innings to develop. Good luck!

 

[SoCalASABlue]

I have 9YO, first year 10U pitcher who has been working hard for the last year, pitched 10U Rec last summer, some good outings and some had control problems. She was picked up by a travel team and they started fall ball, I have seen 5 of the 7 girls on the team who take lessons pitch, other than the #1, I believe that my DD is as good if not better then the rest. The problem is that all of the girls go to the same team pitching coach(HE type) except my DD. The HC only pitches those that the pitching coach says is ready, won't even give my DD an opportunity. As a coach myself for my older daughter, I don't want to be that dad who bothers the HC about playing time and positions, so do I:

Ride fall ball out since the season is short and approach him in the spring or say something now?

NDAME88 - get out now. I guarantee you if you look hard enough (and are not wearing huge rose colored pitcher parent glasses - I have some too from way back when DD started) you'll find a team that will give your DD circle time.

It really does surprise me how many of these situations get posted on DFP where the coach is given a HUGE benefit of the doubt. What's the required number of times you let the truck run over your DD before you say enough is enough? This coach has done everything - IMO - but run up to the OP's DD and say "you suck - you'll never pitch for us until your parents start paying Gus his $50/hour for lesson". BS.

 

[Little Angels Softball]

In all honesty, I've seen teams with just two pitchers on the roster have a more toxic environment for those pitchers than some teams that have seven pitchers on the roster.

It really all depends on the attitudes and beliefs of the coaches, the pitchers and, most of all, the pitchers' parents. I've seen and known parents who were happy as a lark with their DD getting to pitch a game every other tourney and I've seen and known parents who got mad as hell if their DD didn't pitch every single inning of every single tournament.

If the team she is on fosters a team-oriented environment and all the girls are happy, it may not be a bad team just because it has seven pitchers on the roster. If so, she'll get plenty of experience playing other positions and she can continue to work hard on her own to get better, get noticed and get more circle time.

Of course, if the environment isn't so team-friendly and the HC is indeed only pitching the other girls because they pay the pitching coach he likes, then moving on might make sense.

You'll never know unless you talk to him. Oh .... and .... email isn't talking.

 

[999]

I don't think he neccessarily said they have 7 pitchers on the team. He said they have 7 girls taking pitching lessons from the same person. It's 10u 90% of the girls take pitching lessons at some point. The coach may or may not consider all of those as pitchers yet.

 

[MNDad]

Other posters have given good advice about how and what to say to the coach. As for the number of pitchers it depends on the level of team. If it’s high caliber A you don’t want more than three. Other than that a coach should give as many girls that can throw strikes and want to pitch a chance. Young pitchers improve with practice and only need enough innings to keep interested and comfortable throwing to live hitters. The big reason community based programs struggle to find pitching at 14U and 16U is they fail to develop pitchers at 10U. They let coaches ride their daughters or put all their marbles on two or three girls. When those girls move on to different programs or sports they don’t have anybody left that can pitch and can’t field teams. Develop as many young pitchers as possible to grow our sport.

 

[junkball]

I've seen A LOT of first year 10u teams that claim to have 5, 6, 7+ pitchers in the beginning, but by the end they are down to just a few. First year pitchers tend to fall into four groups:

1. some girls stay with it and go on to be pitchers
2. some girls don't want to put in the work and decide they don't want to pitch anymore
3. some girls aren't capable and stop pitching by default
4. some parents pull their girls to go to another team in pursuit of more innings or because they are told their DD fits into #3 above

It is important that your DD get some innings in at this age to figure out which of the first three groups she's going to fall under, or maybe she's in #4 which is fine, nothing wrong with finding a better fit.

 

[ndame88]

Thanks all for the replies, I think I might try a little strategy and show up about a half hour early to the field, before her next practice work through her normal pitching progressions so that she is fully warmed up about the time the coach arrives, then go have her throw about 20 pitches as he is walking up and unpacking equipment, Then just pack up my bucket and go on my merry way. Could back fire if she is off that day and is digging up worms with every pitch .


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[goinglefty]

I have 9YO, first year 10U pitcher who has been working hard for the last year, pitched 10U Rec last summer, some good outings and some had control problems. She was picked up by a travel team and they started fall ball, I have seen 5 of the 7 girls on the team who take lessons pitch, other than the #1, I believe that my DD is as good if not better then the rest. The problem is that all of the girls go to the same team pitching coach(HE type) except my DD. The HC only pitches those that the pitching coach says is ready, won't even give my DD an opportunity. As a coach myself for my older daughter, I don't want to be that dad who bothers the HC about playing time and positions, so do I:

Ride fall ball out since the season is short and approach him in the spring or say something now?

I assume your DD play other positions? If she does I might just not say anything... but thats me.

A few years ago my DD was in a similar boat as a 1st year 9yo on a 10U club team with 5 or 6 older pitchers where she wouldn't pitch even though it might have been close (probably not as close if you ask other parents). I just kept practicing with her and didn't sweat it. She was able to pitch during her rec games. She actually never pitched for that 1st club team of hers, she played other positions and was happy contributing as a hitter and position player. When her club team moved to 12U (she was still 10 but playing up) they had 9 girls taking pitching lessons out of 13 on the roster.
The best 3 pitched in games. She didnt pitch for that team either. She pitched in rec and kept improving. In her 2nd year of 12U (as an 11yo) she eventually made top 3 as a pitcher/OF on that same club team and was considered to be very good. She pitched for a few more years and had a very successful youth career even taking her LL team to the Softball World Series in Oregon as a pitcher and helped in winning an ABC national championship at 14u (really more of a super regional than national). After all that when she moved to 18u (right after 14u) she realized she wouldnt pitch at the level she wanted to play at (Division 1) so she stopped pitching and focused on her hitting and defense.

I guess what I'm getting at is... if she is meant to be a pitcher she will eventually be a pitcher. If you can put her on a rec team where she gets innings that might be an option. IMO the best thing I did with my DD was let her play other positions and didnt force the pitching issue. I never once told the coach where to put her. She learned how to play other positions, and do what that particular team needed and really just loved the game and learned to understand how to be a true team player.

 

[JJsqueeze]

Thanks all for the replies, I think I might try a little strategy and show up about a half hour early to the field, before her next practice work through her normal pitching progressions so that she is fully warmed up about the time the coach arrives, then go have her throw about 20 pitches as he is walking up and unpacking equipment, Then just pack up my bucket and go on my merry way. Could back fire if she is off that day and is digging up worms with every pitch .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't' know if your kid is going to make it as a pitcher or not, but you seem to be crazy and obsessed enough to be an awesome pitcher's parent. I actually tried a tactic like this in a similar situation a couple years ago. Didn't work. pitching is black magic to most coaches, scratch that, all coaches at this age. If there is a PC associated with the team saying your DD is not ready, then even a Donald Trump tweet won't get him even considering pitching her.

move on now.

 

[YOCOACH]

As others have posted a little discreetly for my tastes, RUN FAR, FAR AWAY AS FAST AS POSSIBLE! This is a case of the organization feeding a pitching coach who may, or may not know the first thing about it. Either way, the coaches are putting all of their faith in that individual and if your DD doesn't go to him, then she has absolutely ZERO chance of making the pitching line-up. I would quickly look for another team if it were my DD and even if it was a team that had enough pitchers, I would have her play rec to get circle time and use the TB team to keep her defensive skills and hitting up to par with the higher levels of play. JMHO.