Evolution of a DD Pitcher

[WillyT812]

Thoughts on PCs and parents looking for a PC. For some of you parents just beginning the journey of having a daughter pitch I thought I’d share a bit of wisdom gleaned from this website and a few years spent as a PC myself. It’s a long journey. Read up on any top flight pitcher in the country, listen to them thank the multitude of PCs over the years, number one almost always being their dad. 95 percent of the time spent pitching will be with a dad or possibly mom. It’s rare to see a successful high school or travel team pitcher whose dad isn’t involved in their development. This is the same with quarterbacks, all the greats will tell you…it was my dad…countless hours of practice. You won’t have enough money to spend on pitching lessons to count as practice. PC are for instruction only really. This is what pitching is, by a long shot…practice. For every hour on a mound, at a high successful level, is backed by hundreds of hours practicing. 12 months out of the year. To just get the basics down, from a raw recruit to serviceable pitcher, will take two to three years. There are no short cuts. This is why you’ll see on this website so many parents complaining about their PC. “We’ve been taking our DD to X pitching coach for six months now and don’t have much to show for it.” So they shop their DD around year after year hoping for that magic connection that will align the softball stars. The next thing you know, after a three to four year period, for those that haven’t dropped out, they can pitch with location, velocity and movement. They are averagely good. This wasn’t because of some magical pitching coach, this is because your DD paid her dues, she practice till she couldn’t practice anymore and then got up the next day and did it again. All the great athletes, no matter which sport, has a touch of OCD. They have to, how else could Tiger Woods hit five hundred golf balls a day when he’s not playing. Kobe Bryant shoots four hundred jump shoots every day. A reporter asked him once “How do you know when you’ve shot four hundred?” Kobe replied in disbelief…I count them. It’s been said by many to become an expert at anything takes 10,000 hours. I tell my girls, we don’t have 10,000 hours to give but we can dang sure can work towards 10,000 pitches.

Technique plays a role in pitching at a high level. I think you can’t go wrong following the advice of Boardmember, Bill Hillhouse and the gurus of I/R. But realize this, there is a lot of slop (variation) at the highest levels. Look at Jenny Finch, then Cat Osterman, Yukiko Ueno and Keilani Ricketts. All top flight pitchers, all using I/R, all slightly different in delivery though. Some brush the hip, some don’t. Some land with the ball of the stride foot while some land flat footed. Some lean like Keilani Rickets while others are very straight like Jenny Finch. Sometimes the hip leads the wrist slightly, sometimes not. There are a few absolutes, and then there is a lot of slop. As your DD is developing you may get impatient and think…NEW PC! Maybe. But I suspect, once you find a decent PC who has patience, it’s really just a matter of putting in the time. This is not an easy skill to master.

Final note, should help you understand what you’re up against. When developing a pitcher I know there are three people to deal with, four if there is a dad involved. The first is me as a PC, the second is the DD I’m talking to and the most important person, who is silent, is the DD’s subconscious. When you or a PC is talking to DD about technique they listen, they want to perform, they can repeat back what you’re saying, they can analyze other pitchers (I have my students do this). Yet, they still can’t perform the required skill on a consistent basis. Why? People speak of muscle memory…there is no such thing. When walking or running my conscious sends the signal to run, the subconscious then initiates the walk/run routine. I tell my girls we are in a collaboration, it’s me and her against their subconscious. We, together, have to train it to properly align her body and throw the ball. We are overwriting code in the subconscious. It has to be trained, retrained, and then trained some more. I'm betting about 10,000 pitches worth of training.

Those are my thoughts on the evolution of a pitcher.

 

[sluggers]

I tell my girls, we don’t have 10,000 hours to give but we can dang sure can work towards 10,000 pitches.

I get your point, but you are way, way short on the number of the required pitches. It takes 100,000 pitches or so...or roughly 1000 hours of pitching *PRACTICE* (not including pitching or warming up for games).

People speak of muscle memory…there is no such thing. When walking or running my conscious sends the signal to run, the subconscious then initiates the walk/run routine.

Nothing like a little pseudo-science to spoil an otherwise good post.

There has been an incredible amount of research proving muscle memory. Here is a good article about it: Sports 'n Science » Muscle Memory Here is another: Muscles Remember Past Glory - Wired Science

I agree that the "muscle memory" is an over-simplificiation of a very complex phenomena.

As to the "subconscious"--I wish this were a discussion board about psychology. Is there really a subconscious? Or is what we think the subconscious is simply our autonomic nervous system? Oh well...better do a Google search...

 

[JAD]

Hammer meets nail.......

 

[SoftballMom2]

Hey wait don't discount the bucket MOMS My husband has caught for my daughter a total of two times..once at a lesson and once when I wasn't feeling well...She knocked him off his bucket once and he screeched like a girl the other time. The other thousands of times it was me..we didnt want her holding back so daddy could catch her LOL

 

[WillyT812]

Definitely 10,000 practice pitches...just to be serviceable. 100,000 to be good? I'd could agree with that.

Muscle memory. I could match you article for article on muscle memory. Anyone that wants to understand muscle memory should start with the Wiki article and go from there. I think a key is understanding synaptogenesis. Yes the muscles and ligaments are building and reshaping during practice but neither have memory storage capable of executing a skill independent of the brain. I suspect we're talking about the same thing we just have different ways of articulating it. No biologist would ever suggest the muscles have synapses for storing information. Muscle conditioning would be a better phrase, but lets not forget the ligaments. I'm willing to be most injuries in pitching both overhand and underhand involve the ligaments as opposed to muscles.

SofballMom2...I smile. I knew I was skirting disaster and wrath not throwing enough references in on bucket moms. Dang! You are a rare breed for sure...I commend you. I read in Nolan Ryan's book his wife would often catch for him...all of his pitches...as a major leaguer. Not sure I'd sign up for that!

 

[WillyT812]

One thing I left out earlier that should also be mentioned...what is the parent/daughter trying to achieve? What's required of a rec ball pitcher, high school pitcher, travel team pitcher and college pitcher are all vastly different. As different as the batters they'll face. In rec ball, just getting it across the plate with a fairly flat pitch will lead to visions of glory. Movement, location and velocity all coupled to pitching strategy (where am I at in the count, what type of hitter is this, etc.) is the requirement for a top-flight D-1 pitcher.

The PC, daughter and parent need to define the long-term goal so that short term goals and expectations can be managed. If you have a ten year old daughter trying to break into pitching on a travel team then you have a lot of work cut out in front of you. But with hard work and dedication it can be done. You don't need a sixty-three mile an hour fastball to get outs. Some of these girls in certain areas of the country start out very young. If she's a raw recruit thirteen year old and wants to start pitching on a travel team, a seasoned travel team...that's probably going to be a problem. Pitching for her high school team would probably be more realistic. I've seen many travel team infielders and outfielder pitch for their high schools. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[GatorGirl]

One thing you didn't cover which I do hope you have some insight on is how to overcome frustration and keep them working for the 2-3 years waiting for the payoff. This is why I asked in my previous post about "the progression" of pitching. I know all kids are different, but to think ok after three years of lessons and practice, we might be a #1 pitcher for a travel team. There has got to be some pay off along the way or anyone would give up. It is like knitting a blanket that takes 3 years to make and can't be used till its finished.

When you say "serviceable" after 2-3 years, what does that mean? Pitching consistent strikes in rec. ball or having 3 pitches, striking out everytime with lightening speed at a high level travel team?

Thanks for the post. Very nice.

GG

 

[JAD]

One thing you didn't cover which I do hope you have some insight on is how to overcome frustration and keep them working for the 2-3 years waiting for the payoff. This is why I asked in my previous post about "the progression" of pitching. I know all kids are different, but to think ok after three years of lessons and practice, we might be a #1 pitcher for a travel team. There has got to be some pay off along the way or anyone would give up. It is like knitting a blanket that takes 3 years to make and can't be used till its finished.

Circle time is VITAL for any pitchers development. You need to put a pitcher on a team where she will get to pitch - even if it is a level or two below their current TB team. The old saying "take one step back to take two steps forward" definitely applies here! My DD started pitching on a C-level (rec all star) team, and as her pitching improved, the level TB we played improved with her.

My DD became the #1 pitcher on her TB team before she ever threw a pitch. The two pitchers we had our first year (DD was 9) aged up so we were left with NO PITCHERS on our 10U team. The head coach had a team meeting and asked the girls if anyone wanted to learn how to pitch and my DD raised her hand........and the rest as they say "is history". I think instantly being the #1 pitcher, and knowing that her teammates, and her coaches, were counting on her drove my DD to succeed. If she was the #3 or 4 pitcher on a good TB team I do not think she would have felt the same pressure to "perform" and she would have never achieved the same level of success.

 

[Perfect Circle]

You may not get that payoff outside, so you have to put the payoff in practice, after putting pressure on, of course.

I would first and foremost think about being a PC... that is Pitcher/Catcher... especially at this early age, and until they start talking about using a mitt... Next I would pardner her up with the same. Then I would divide the focus between Hitting/Pitching/Catching.

 

[cmustangsfp]

One thing you didn't cover which I do hope you have some insight on is how to overcome frustration and keep them working for the 2-3 years waiting for the payoff. This is why I asked in my previous post about "the progression" of pitching. I know all kids are different, but to think ok after three years of lessons and practice, we might be a #1 pitcher for a travel team. There has got to be some pay off along the way or anyone would give up. It is like knitting a blanket that takes 3 years to make and can't be used till its finished.

When you say "serviceable" after 2-3 years, what does that mean? Pitching consistent strikes in rec. ball or having 3 pitches, striking out everytime with lightening speed at a high level travel team?

Thanks for the post. Very nice.

GG

Mound time, like JAD says, is where you cross the payoff line. If they are new pitchers, then get them in to the rec leagues. The rec leagues desperately need someone who can throw consistent pitches without scaring the girls out of softball. Once they start dominating or even just having mild to moderate success, move them up to TB, "C level or even B level pool game type" mound activities. Then work on moving from the #3/4 to being a #2/1. Then move to an A level #3/4 and work toward being the #2/1. They will hit natural plateaus and then push through and mature towards the next plateaus. The key is to get them some successes. We started our older DD's out in rec ball, once they got to throwing 38-53 in rec ball and became consistent with getting wins in games, we moved on to TB. We also progressed from the last place rec team to the first place rec team before moving on. They had their successes (and failures too) but the successes provided the "want to" to move on. Our youngest is 8 and throwing mid 30's. She sees her older sisters and wants to become like them. So having a role model they can look up to helps tremendously.