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Apr 27, 2017
4
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Wondering if anyone else has this issue. My daughter is 12 and plays on a travel team here in East Texas. A couple of years ago, she tried out for a team that was maybe a little above her level but we wanted to see where she stood. At the time, she was a catcher. She's a lefty, so it was rare but she held her own for being thrown back there during a game. She loved it so we started working with her and bought gear. Anyway this coach didn't choose her so we reached out to just get feedback and he wondered why a tall lefty wasn't pitching. At the time, she has no interest. He had her play catch with his daughters and to his surprise, her arm was incredible and he said if she had thrown like that at tryouts her name would have been on the roster. He offered to teach her for free and she agreed to try. She end up loving it.

Her form was awful though. And it was mostly because his method was not that great. It was then suggested to us a very popular coach nearby who instructed some of our towns best pitchers. So we called him. We took her also to Jennie Finch camp where she absorbed quite a bit. All her choice by the way. We don't push her to do anything other than her best at what she chose to do.

We've been seeing this coach for well over a year and I can't figure him out. Yes he did start her over from scratch which is fine and it took forever to release her to pitch in games but now she's pitching at least 50mph and has great form but he's not teaching her any additional pitches. She's barely been shown a change up and at her age, she should have a nasty one. This guy walks around the whole hour and has about 5 other kids in the session and we pay a lot for him only to share the attention with 5 other girls. And he misses some of her best throws most nights. I'm getting really upset that he's not showing her more by now and I wonder if it's normal to go this slow. I'd understand if she sucked and just wasn't picking it up but she's a natural. She has this natural "break" at the end of her pitch that batters swing at and miss. She sends more batters back to the bench because of this curve. And the spin on her ball is like nothing her team coach has ever seen. He loves her. So what's the hold up? Should we be hinting for another pitching coach?
 
May 17, 2012
2,804
113
The pitching coach is running a business to make money. Your daughters pitching growth is a byproduct of that business and not the primary goal.

If you aren't happy with the progress move on.
 
Apr 27, 2017
4
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Oh I get that! And he charges plenty. And he's a very sweet man who seems to get my daughter and her moods. But jeez. I'm of the belief that if I'm taking someone's money, then I'm going to do everything for them that I can to retain their business instead of just pocketing the profits and not giving a crap if they get what they pay for.
 
Apr 27, 2017
4
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I'm getting ready to start looking for something else. I mean if she said she hated pitching today, we'd skip tonight's lesson and be done with it. We've paid for the month anyway and it's end of month. But I'd hate for her to quit because she's burned out on the fastball and lack of variety. I don't expect her to know every pitch. Right now she only needs 2, maybe 3. But dadgumit teach it! Rant over. Thanks!
 
Dec 2, 2013
3,410
113
Texas
Have a conversation with him. Ask the PC what his long term path or plan for you DD is. Tell him She's ready to learn a change up. See what he says. It's your money. You are the consumer. No reason to get upset unless he is not doing what he said he would do. Were there any expectations laid out?
 
Jul 2, 2013
381
43
If you like the pitching coach, talk to him. Tell him you don't feel like your DD is getting enough out of the group lesson and ask if he'd work with her in a one on one setting instead. If he says yes, you get what you want and get to stay with a coach you like. If he says no, then let him know you will be looking for a coach that offers that.

He probably has no idea how you feel about the current situation.
 
Feb 7, 2013
3,188
48
IMO - learning to pitch in a group is the wrong way going about trying to learn to pitch. If she is serious about pitching, she needs one-on-one, weekly instruction from a quality pitching coach for the foreseeable future and needs to practice 3 or 4 times a week for 30 - 60 minutes at a time. We built a pitching area on the side of our house to make it very easy to practice pitching each week.

Pitching is the most demanding of all positions in softball and if you want to be somewhat successful, you need to put in the time and be smart with your money.
 
Sep 10, 2013
603
0
i really dislike instructors who do multiple things instead of focusing on teaching the student. multiple students? full price? i'd leave in an instant.
DD had a pitching coach that yakked on the phone a lot, did other business and ate and drank while teaching. suffice to say, it wasn't very effective.
 

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