First game ever! Any advice?

[grcsftbll]

I'm not 100% sure I'll be able to sit still either. We'll see!

 

[nanotech14]

I hope your dd does well. Just for the love of all thing holy, don't yell " just throw strikes"

 

[quincy]

Yay, I do not like yelling out to DD when she is in the circle so I just had a banner made I put up.

 

[JJS]

Where are you playing this weekend? Big tourney or just a regular local event?

I live this as a parent and a coach...DD2 pitches and I'm not into the daddy ball scene so it's a double whammy for me...

The word nervous is NOT to be used in the household until Monday...

Tell her she should be excited about pitching this weekend...because it is FUN!

Tell her she should be excited about pitching this weekend...because her practice and dedication earned her the spot to pitch...

When you are leaving in the morning to play, tell her "go have some fun today...I want you to smile every inning." Remind her of this during the game.

And for God's sake...show nothing but "positives" during the game! No jaw clenching, pacing or hair pulling allowed...they read your body language! And when she looks over to you r for support...just a thumbs up no matter what happens...

...Oh...and if I find out you were on the sidelines calling out non-sense like "just relax" "take a deep breath" "focus" "just throw strikes" "release it just a little earlier\later" or any other stupid cues that people say to the pitcher I'll track you down and pluck your nose hairs

Most of those callouts are more appropriate for the labor and delivery ward than the softball diamond

Some true stories...

I've done shots with parents before their DD"s first start...mine were really iced tea because I'm the coach and theirs were Crown or SoCo just to get them to relax.

I've had my catcher's dad break out the red solo cups with the pitcher's parents to get them to relax...9+% IPA's at 8:00am are very effective at dulling the senses...

I had a mom who was so wound up I talked to her between the 1st and 2nd innings about easing up her body language. She came back 15 minutes later smelling like Cheech and Chong...no problems the rest of the way

..and one last piece of advice, she gets ice cream (or whatever her favorite treat is) after the game...tell her this before hand...

Please post how she did...I'm certain there are quite a few folks who are curious about this...CP

Well said. Also, don't discuss technique or results on the ride home. Take notes and save the discussion for your next practice session. No matter what the outcome, tell her that you are proud of her. Most girls wont even try to pitch. It takes guts to get in the circle and pitch whether it is all K's or all walks.

Oh, and make sure she already owns a face mask. 35 feet is too close for a 9-10 year old to have good reaction time.

 

[grcsftbll]

Oh yeah, she's got a face mask. She's never in the field without it. Or first tournament ever, in all stars, she took a hard hit to the chin. Didn't wear one then. Ever since, I've never even had to remind her to wear it.

 

[gophert]

My advice is to sit in right field so she can't see you. I can't tell you how many young pitchers I see look at their parents after every pitch. If she can't find you, that's one less obstacle for her. Give her the same response after the game regardless if she struck them all out or walked them all. This is a LONG journey and enjoy the ride.

 

[Axe]

I can't imagine one of my DD's pitching a tournament as their first experience pitching. We went the route of learning to pitch in a safe Rec ball environment before playing in tournaments. Kudos to her coach if he actually has the patience to sit through all of the bad outings and horrible pitching during tournaments to let her learn to pitch. I hope the other parents on the team will also be so patient.

 

[Classof2020]

You've already gotten some great advice. I will second most of what was above just one things to add that I can't believe no one mentioned - DON'T FORGET THE SEEDS!! Compulsively stuffing seeds in my mouth keeps me from grimacing, slamming my hand to my forehead or any other such body language that could be picked up from the circle. Learning to stuff seeds in your mouth while keeping book is an especially effective method of not loosing your mind if you tend to be a bundle of nerves like I am at games.

Since my DD tends to get her own case of nerves in the morning all on her own other thing that I do to make it a good weekend for my DD is to play her type of music on the way to games and not force her to listen to Led Zeppelin or some such other favorite of mine, and to start talking about stuff other than the game and tournament first thing in the morning. Sounds dumb but instead of talking about all the last minute reminders that really aren't going to help anyways, I bring up something like "ok so tonight should we grab something from Red Box and take it easy, you'll probably be wiped" just stuff to remind her this is just a game/tourney and life will go on and it will be fine no matter how today goes. But don't get me wrong a few last minute tips always come out whether I want them too of not before I hand her off to her team

 

[CLM265]

My biggest regret about my DD's first game pitching in TB was that I forgot my bullhorn. It's been a fixture in my equipment bag ever since.

 

[RetiredCoach]

Take a chill pill!!! And remember, it's a marathon and not a sprint!