Girl's do not want to catch

[Greenmonsters]

Good recent points. The secret is that catching actually becomes easier as you get older because only the good pitchers continue. Once you've got a girl who's decided that they want to be a catcher (as opposed to a girl who catches), my take is that if you can ride the biggest, meanest bucking bronco, everything else is easy. In other words, if you want to improve, check with your local coaches and pitching instructors and volunteer to catch the fastest, wildest pitcher you can find - some poor beat up bucketmom/dad will probably be grateful.

GM

 

[mkral]

Tom.
We have been fortunate. We have 3 girls on both of our teams that love to catch. 2 on each team are decent catchers. All of them are of the mind set of what coach Weaver is saying. "They get to touch the ball on every play". Only the pitcher and the catcher can say that. So if you approach your team with that statement you may get some takers. My dream catcher use to be a real stocky kid that was built like a bull. My youngest daughter is like that and she is a pretty good catcher. My oldest daughter is a pitcher who loves to catch. She is tall for 13 and skinny. But she too is a decent catcher. Our HS catcher last year had a lot of offers from colleges and she was a very skinny gal and is tall. But good lord could she throw the ball. She could pick off girls from her knees at second base that were only 3 steps off. She was amazing!! I guess my point there is don't stereo type the kids one might surprise you. We explain to them how important the catcher is without scaring them, that helped get these girls in as well.
Good luck
Mk

 

[NWITom]

Well mine is progressing very well. She has 2 sisters that are pitchers and She has caught them since last season start. Now She has progressed to catching the younger one with only a mask on. This is a kid who before last season was scared of the ball. She also realizes it gives here a great chance to make travel ball since her sisters are very good pitchers. I have Coach Weavers video and it helped alot.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Another selling point is that they get to see so many more pitches than most other players that it can't but help improve their hitting! How many good catchers do you see that are below average hitters?

 

[absdad]

Another selling point is that they get to see so many more pitches than most other players that it can't but help improve their hitting! How many good catchers do you see that are below average hitters?

I believe that is true. My dd is much better at recognizing pitches, and how they ball behaves, than she was before she was catching.

 

[StacieM]

I'm with Dave - I WANTED to catch and my DD wants to catch too, but neither one of us got/get to do it much because we were/are needed elsewhere on the field. I do think that less girls want to catch than play an infield position.

But I also do know that there ARE girls that LIKE catching. At 10u we just tried a bunch there to see who could do a decent job and usually out of the bunch someone liked it enough to really get into it.

Catching is definitely fun because, like Dave said, you don't get bored. You're in every play! Plus you get to wear cool gear (well, not literally, it gets hot during games, but you know what I mean).

 

[mkral]

Yeah Stacie those late July days of having towels in ice water for the catchers are tough. They are tough kids. All the equipment and hard work, especially if the pitcher is struggling. The catcher can make a pitcher look better but I really don't think they can make them look worse. If the ball is in the dirt it's in the dirt. A good catcher saves the pitcher more then they hurt them IMO. We sell that to our kids from time to time as well. We tell them that we need them to help make our pitching staff look good. You know, when a drop ball is a really good drop ball (YEAH RIGHT)!! My youngest DD is a stocky girl and catches with the heart of a lion but man the heat gets to her on bad pitching days. We are working on her stamina this winter. I hope it helps. She also plays 3B if that tells you what she can do. Her coach is out HS softball coach and our HS program is pretty good. Amy would not put my DD on the hot box if she did not think she could do it. I don't think she will catch as much as she will be on 3B this year. Maybe I need to fly her out to see Coach Dave.

 

[MsDinosaur]

It's ok now, but our coach could have done it better, IMO.

We play 10U rec and last season we were having a lot of passed balls. So last year's coach decided to try to improve the odds of keeping more balls away from the backstop. He ended up asking my DD, the second baseman. Anyway, she ends up doing a pretty good job of snagging most of balls coming over and around the plate and she's an action junky, so she really enjoys being part of every play. What she doesn't like is that he platoons her with the other catcher and makes her sit on the bench every other inning instead of letting her play 2nd or another position (except for the game our SS was gone, when he had her play short). She's a good little fielder, average rec arm and bat, but usually makes the right decisions out on the field and always hustles and she's repaid by being benched. Sorry about the rant, but I guess the moral of what I'm trying to say is, "Be careful not to inadvertently punish someone for trying the position." I think, especially at the rec level, if you ask someone to try catching, you should still give them some chances to play other positions too.

The end of the year tournament saved things for my daughter. The other catcher was away, so she got to do all the catching. No more being stuck on the bench! She also won the player of the game medal they give out during pool play which was an incredible thrill for her. (The next team wanted to give her one too!) Now she's excited about playing catcher. She says she loves intimidating the runners. ;-)

And frankly, it's less scary for me as a parent to see her out there wearing all the protective gear than if she was completely unprotected on the mound or coming in to cover a bunt. She loved to play as the fielding pitcher on her 8U machine pitch team and that frightened the heck out of me.

 

[Lozza]

I'll agree that catching takes a special girl. I had to catch in Year 12 (state pitcher and I was the only other player in my school team who played seriously. I was handed the catching gear the first game and told to suit up) and while I enjoyed it, never again. I'd only done it once before and was terrified of the ball (slow pitcher) but with a fast pitcher it was a good experience.

I tell my girls that the catcher is the most important part of the team as they control the whole game. This usually pisses my pitchers off (and I AM a pitcher) but without a catcher, the pitchers wouldn't look half as good.

 

[SBDadSanDiego]

My DD started catching her first year, and LOVED it, I think she liked it initially because she felt safer with her "suit of armor" She had no idea a at this time, that a few years later girls who are approaching 200 lbs would be coming at her like a freight train lol.