How to help my talented young players overcome fear in the batters box

[Westwind]

Glamorize it. It is hero stuff .

Love it! Exactly what I mean by reframing it! BUT, hitting is better than getting hit!

I struggle with this one because in college ball if you can take a hbp, you better gladly do it.

DD felt like she got cheated out of an ab both times she got hit in hs games this year. It irritates her. She played around 95 games in her second year 12u season and was hbp once.... thought that was a pretty wild stat for a kid that was/is considered a hitter.....

 

[Fastpitch_Dad]

In addition to seeing as much kid pitch as possible here are some more ideas that can be used as part of station drills.

1) Using TCB whiffles do front toss in which you routinely pitch inside or hit them after they have a good hit. Make a game of trying to get them distracted anticipating the next revenge pitch so you can toss a strike by them.

2) During a pitching session have the kids stand in the batters box with their glove instead of a bat. They can protect themselves JIC as they get used to “seeing” the ball.

3) Have kids pitch tennis balls OH or UH and they will get used to getting hit but it is so fun to hit tennis balls they won’t care.



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[jvquarterback]

I throw lite flite balls and hit my daughter routinely with those to make sure she takes the ball the right way. She also has a sleeve with a small elbow pad. Going to see if that works for her confidence enough or if we need a plastic elbow guard as mentioned above.

 

[NLThunderHC]

Consider purchasing an evoshield elbow guard.

Yep, already bought one. I had a kid get hit in the elbow a couple years ago and it made her quit softball.

I like the idea of trying to glamorize it a bit, but it probably won't make them less afraid. I'll try it.

I also like the idea of tossing whiffles or lite flites and teaching them how to turn away and absorb it when they are going to get hit. Only thing that worries me is that might make a kid who ISN'T currently afraid at the plate to then become afraid and now she's in the same boat as the others.

This Sat at practice I'll have our pitchers live pitch to all the hitters. Any kids who show fear I'll take them all and work separately and teach them about absorbing hits and use whiffles/liteflites.

 

[Ariel116]

I would let your pitchers live pitch to the girls. It's really the only way I know to get them comfortable because lobbing balls to them isn't going to do it because they know the coach isn't going to hurt them. My son used to play baseball and was petrified of getting hit when they started kid pitch. He would step out every single pitch and then his bright coach decided the way to fix it was for him and the other coach to purposely hit him with balls. It didn't turn out well for those coaches.

 

[Fastpitch_Dad]

I want to clarify that I only talk about how to take a hit as a side item.

The point is to get them to concentrate on hitting the ball thru the distraction of the unknown of where the ball will go. Intensity and frequency of faking them out will vary on the kid to make sure you go the right direction!

Only when they could control their fear did I teach how to take a hit. Maybe I did it backwards and reversing that would be better? IDK





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[_MIA_]

I want to clarify that I only talk about how to take a hit as a side item.

The point is to get them to concentrate on hitting the ball thru the distraction of the unknown of where the ball will go. Intensity and frequency of faking them out will vary on the kid to make sure you go the right direction!

Only when they could control their fear did I teach how to take a hit. Maybe I did it backwards and reversing that would be better? IDK





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While I mentioned that teaching them how to take a hit might help, I have to admit nobody ever taught me how to do this. I watched enough MLB on tv to see how it was done and to know that it was part of the game. You might be right that concentrating on the act of getting hit might backfire with regards to fear..not sure.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

While I mentioned that teaching them how to take a hit might help, I have to admit nobody ever taught me how to do this. I watched enough MLB on tv to see how it was done and to know that it was part of the game. You might be right that concentrating on the act of getting hit might backfire with regards to fear..not sure.

It could easily backfire. In the batter's box a hitter needs to be fearless. Accepting pain from an errant pitch is part of the game.