Frustrated mom , discouraged daughter please help

[Jamie Touchet]

Well my daughter is 11 and pretty big for her age (5'6" 165lbs) and has a great love for pitching . She has played rec ball since 5 and we have had some horrible experiences with coaches . Every coach has a different way they want things done but the one thing they have all told her is she had too much speed and needed to slow down and throw strikes (really??) I have never played softball so I'm no expert but everything i have read says her accuracy will come with experience . Needless to say in 2 years of fast pitch she was only allowed to pitch to a handful of batters , she would always be pulled after 1 or 2 and replaced with the other pitchers who threw the same ratio of strikes and balls but at a much lower speed (pretty much a windmill slowpitch) I found a local college player to coach her we got around 10 lessons in then she transfered to another school . She went to a camp at the college last summer also and they praised her even moved her up to the 13-14 yr group (she was 10 ) . When they used the radar to check her she was averaging 47mph. I have no idea what she is throwing now but it seems alot faster . I am currently looking for a pitching coach and possibly a select team in our area but have had no luck . We are in the Lafayette,la area . If you have any suggestions or input thanks in advance .

 

[MandM]

When your daughter is that much stronger that her peers- this might be expected to happen up to a point. At 12U there should be someone who can catch your daughter - although you probably will have to go outside rec to find that. I think your idea of looking for a travel program is a good one.

With regard to pitching, it certainly seems that your daughter may have the physical tools to be very competitive. One piece of advice I will give you is to educate YOURSELF first- about what are the current recommendation with regard to essential mechanics. You can do this via DVD (e.g. Bill Hillhouse- House of Pitching) and the threads on this site, particularly about internal rotation. Another site that has very useful short videos, is "Fastpitch Power" The coach on the site SHOWs the correct arm motion that internal rotation describes, and he does a good job of demonstrating it as well. You need to know these things in order to make a good selection as to a coach for your daughter- it is alot more difficult to undo bad mechanics than if you learn it correctly the first time. That is the best up-front investment that you can make on her behalf. ALso, there are sites that have pitching coaches listed- Hal SKinner usually will post (hopefully he will chime in with a rec) BUT you need to be an educated consumer. GOOD LUCK!!

 

[quincy]

Edit to add: Apparently was not a useful post so it has been removed.

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

If your DD REALLY LOVES PITCHING, get her out of rec ball. I would recommend that she try out for some 12U teams and see where it goes.

As far as pitching goes, it does sound like she has the power and mechanics to be a good pitcher. If she is told to slow things down and throw strikes, it is because whoever is telling her that needs to stop coaching softball. I believe a pitcher should learn, in this order, speed-control-spin. There are people on this forum that do not agree with me but it is what has got my own DD where she is. Find her a good Pitching Coach and get her OUT OF REC.!!!!

 

[Momo'sDad]

If your DD REALLY LOVES PITCHING, get her out of rec ball. I would recommend that she try out for some 12U teams and see where it goes.

As far as pitching goes, it does sound like she has the power and mechanics to be a good pitcher. If she is told to slow things down and throw strikes, it is because whoever is telling her that needs to stop coaching softball. I believe a pitcher should learn, in this order, speed-control-spin. There are people on this forum that do not agree with me but it is what has got my own DD where she is. Find her a good Pitching Coach and get her OUT OF REC.!!!!

You present some good points, but I strongly disagree with your basic premise. Rec is where she needs to be in order to learn how to pitch. I don't know where the OP lives, but what percentage of 12u TB coaches are going to pitch a girl who is walking in runs? There's a difference between being a pitcher and being a player who throws the ball hard.

Each player's progression is different. What worked for your daughter or mine might not necessarily be what Jamie's daughter needs. In my DD's case, her coach deliberately slowed her down after the fall TB season so that she could begin developing more command. That process took about 6 months, during which time she pitched in the REC season and was still very good, and she's now a starting pitcher for her summer all-star team.

If a player's overall game is strong, she should consider travel. But if she wants to pitch, then I bet she will have to do that on a rec team. There are lots of girls playing both travel and using rec to get circle time. It's a common practice that might be the best solution for the OP's DD.

 

[JAD]

Your DD may throw 65MPH, but if she cannot throw a strike the coach is going to have to pull her. I am always amazed at parents who complain about the coaching their DD is receiving at the rec level. If you want your DD to be a pitcher you need to take responsibility for making it happen. 99% of rec coaches and 90% of TB coaches are NOT qualified to give pitching lessons or instruction. You need to get her into lessons and if that is not an option, buy an instructional DVD or watch videos on YouTube, then work with her at home.

 

[NVfishing]

Rec ball usually has a run rule in each inning so a pitcher that walks runners doesn't get completely over run on the score board. Rec is a great place to learn the basics of the game and get a feel for the position the child wants to play. If your DD was throwing to hard and players/coaches/ parents thought it was to hard then it sounds like she should have been moved up a division. Now that she's 11 she will be in U12 league any way. Get someone to work with her in the off season so she can learn the correct mechanics to get her in a position to pitch properly during a game. With proper mechanics she will throw strikes.

 

[LAdad]

If your DD REALLY LOVES PITCHING, get her out of rec ball. I would recommend that she try out for some 12U teams and see where it goes.

Sounds like you had a bad experience with rec ball. There are good rec leagues and bad rec leagues, just as there are good TB teams and bad TB teams. There isn't nearly sufficient information in this case to make such a blanket statement. I've seen many players who played rec till they started high school, and then made a seamless transition to TB.

Bottom line, the best thing to do is see a pitching coach. Even if you can afford only a few lessons, that's a whole lot better than none. Remember, before you focus on any of speed/control/spin, what you need is the proper technique, and you can't figure that out on your own.

 

[Jamie Touchet]

This is where my frustration comes in, I am taking incentive to find her a coach but it seems there are NONE in our area. I have contacted local high schools and colleges. The one girl we did find was great but was so busy with her one practice schedule that we only got to meet a few times now she is around 8 hours away. As for videos when my daughter told me she wanted to pitch I have since looked at thousands . Working at home yes we do that to using a regular ball and she also has a spinner and xcelerator. As for form she had great form but i find since the coaches have tried to slow her down ahe does not load and explode which i think is starting to throw everything else off now. Also last year one of the teams we played against the coach also had a tb i believe b but some of the girls from our team played for him and their parents were so negative and down right nasty dogging each others children i don't want to have my daughter be a part of that so we declined the offer and stuck with rec ball. She also plays 1st and 2nd base very well.

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

We actually had a very good rec. experience. DD played rec. for 3 years and learned the basics of softball and that she loves playing. She had a similar issue with "throwing too hard for the league" and nowhere near controlled, she actually broke a batters knee. We started her with a PC who suggested we get her on a TB team. She has advanced way more than if she was still in a rec. league with the coach telling her to "slow down and just throw strikes".

I will agree completely that she needs to see a PC, even if it is only a couple of lessons.