How to overcome fear?

[RandomDad]

My 8yr old dd has practiced her tail off for the past year and gets to pitch in her first game of the year tonight. Last weekend, in a CP tournament, she was in the circle and took a nasty line drive off the forehead. Luckily, the ball was a padded ball and she wasn't injured.

Last night at practice, she pitched terrible. Everything was slow in her mechanics. It was obvious that she was timid. I tried to tell her how pitching is a very mental position and that you can't have fear when facing a hitter or the hitter has already won.

What can I do to help her? I really want her to have a good outing tonight and to have fun.

ps, yes I do have a mask for her when she pitches, but I didn't have her wearing it for the CP. That won't happen again.

 

[sluggers]

Saying "don't be afraid" is a little over the top. Acknowledge that she is afraid, and that her fear is reasonable and logical. "Wow, you got smacked in the forehead with the ball. Ouch! I bet that scared you." Get it out in the open, and talk about it.

You need to teach a "life lesson" to the child about dealing with fear. It is something we all have to do--so, how do you approach it? A person can stop doing the activity, or she can decide that they want to continue.

You should acknowledge that her fear is legitimate. Then, you have to make *HER* an active participant in overcoming her fear.

This is simple, really: she needs to wear protective gear and she needs to practice in case it happens again. Maybe you should go buy a bigger glove--if you check out pitchers, you'll see many of them have an outfielders glove. Take her along and let her help pick one out. I.e., "Hmmm...do you think this will help you field those line drives?"

One way to practice is for you to stand at home plate. She pitches the ball and then you hit a line drive back to her and have her practice fielding the ball. Another way is to throw the ball at her head (softly, of course), and have her practice catching the ball with one hand. (I'm a very big proponent of "catching with two hands". But, if she pitches, she needs to learn how to react quickly with just her glove hand.)

 

[starsnuffer]

Agree with Ray.

Fear is a natural response, being unafraid is being unhuman. What she needs here is to be brave. People who are brave do things despite the fact that they are afraid, not because they are fearless. Try to get her to harness that fear and use it to make her stronger. If she throws harder, she will be more safe, if she throws grapefruits, there is a much higher chance that she'll get nailed again.

-W

 

[Jojo]

I use a nerf ball and I throw them at my pitchers real hard after they release the pitch. They have fun trying to catch the nerf and it doesn't hurt if they miss. Eventually instinctive reactions take over and they react without thinking.

It's all about knowing these things can happen, practicing the situation and then not dwelling on it so they can let their natural reflexes take over.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

She doesn't yet have control of her pitches to keep them off the middle of the plate, or maybe she hasn't been told that. Was there time for her to react? Because when I was hit, the ball was on me immediately.

Hit a lot of balls to her. Wear the glove on one hand and the bat in the other. Have her field and throw to your glove. You hit the ball back quickly.

Give her a few days to work on her skills and if she is still timid, remove her from pitching in games. She can still take lessons. I would let her just practice for many months, before I put her out there again.

 

[RookKev]

I like using tennis balls. They are harder to catch because they are so bouncing. The fielder HAS to squeeze the glove to keep ahold of the ball. They are hard enough to feel somewhat dangerous, but soft enough that they just sting a bit. My son is trying to overcome the fear of catching in front of his body, and it is slowly but surely working.

Sorry that your dd took a liner, those are scary no matter how old or how much protection you have on. The instant you get a taste of that speed of a hit, it really becomes a new world, whether pitching or playing third. The speed of a well struck ball is overwhelming. I've heard MLB ex-players talk after a solid drive to third, about how that player is telling his pitcher at this point to throw a few more pitchers to the other side of the plate for a bit, so they can gather themselves.

I'm glad she is ok!

 

[RandomDad]

Was there time for her to react? Because when I was hit, the ball was on me immediately.

She later told me that she saw it coming, just couldn't get her glove up fast enough.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. You have given me a perspective that I was missing.

 

[blizzardman]

My DD being a pitcher we've been down this road a few times. Although none were direct hits as you mentioned, but close enough to realize this is a risk. Ray is absolutely right in his post. Here are some things we did. I like all the other overeactive parents ran out and bought a facemask(although this gave her and us some comfort). Then hindsight took over and we became more proactive. Even though the risk is always there, here is some of the steps we took to lower the risks of being hit.
As you will learn as we did, when you get to a certain level and age in travel ball, "A meatball down the middle is trouble at any SPEED". What worked for me was a simple location change of my glove anytime I was catching for her whether it was warming up or actual live pitching. I always hold my glove to the low outside corner. Get her to understand the reasoning for this is twofold. One, if she misses the location it will be almost always be outside of the zone, albeit low or just outside. Two, If she does miss in towards the strike zone, being a lower pitch the chance of a line drive are slim since the ball will be struck on the top half and not the center axis, thus resulting in a grounder or one hopper.
The next thing we did was a reaction drill. It went something like this. I stood at home plate with a tennis ball and racket. When she pitched a real softball, as soon as it came into the contact zone I drove a tennis ball back at her. We had to start slowly while she had to make some changes to her finish to get into a better defensive position after delivery. As she got better at reacting to a ball coming back at her, I started mixing it up with sometimes I would hit one right at her and then skip one and then the next one she had to move to by a step one way or the other.
Hope some of this helps as it did work for my DD and I'm glad to her your's is okay and still playing....

 

[liviking]

Besides the drills , go buy some type of shock plate for her chest . My 10 y/o was giving my wife a hard time about wearing it until last week . She took a hard shot to her shin . Now she understands why we made her wear it . There are a few types out there . We bought the one that is built in to the shirt . They have one that you can wear in between a shirts . Either way ,they work ! These are design to disperse the impact at the sternum . I have never seen a girl get hit there but I have seen the same principle save a couple of policeman lives . Glad she is OK and good luck !