Little things

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Oct 19, 2017
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I am working with my 10U DD who is a first year catcher. She receives the ball well, can block and knows the correct footwork for throws. However, she lacks in game experience and has made mistakes like throwing to first with a runner on third.

What are little things that she can do that will improve her experience and value as a player?
Here are a few things we are working on:

Tagging each batters when they strike out swinging. That avoids the whole dropped 3rd chaos.

Knowing the count, outs and potential plays.

Knowing when to make a throw (back picks, 2nd…)

Watching for the delayed steals.

Competitive mindset.

Any suggestion are appreciated.
 
Dec 2, 2013
3,410
113
Texas
Nothing but game time experience will help. Talking her through situations together while watching college games will help too. She's still 10U and there will be lots of mistakes since they are still learning to actually play the game and the "games" within the game. Ya gotta get burned to learn!
 
Oct 19, 2017
133
28
Make sure she is on a team where the coach understands that you learn from your mistakes and doesn't go haywire when
a 10U kid makes one...

She plays in a second year team with two experienced catchers so she sometimes struggles to get to play time (~20% of games). The coaching is good but I can see and hear their frustration when mistakes are made and it sometimes gets to her. Recently, she ran after a batter on a dropped third and the runner at 3rd scored. The coach wasn’t too happy about that but we use that as a learning opportunity.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
She plays in a second year team with two experienced catchers so she sometimes struggles to get to play time (~20% of games).
Are we talking about at C or in general?? In either case if she wants to be a catcher she probably needs more reps than that...In 10U you usually don't need more than 2 catchers...
 
Oct 19, 2017
133
28
Are we talking about at C or in general?? In either case if she wants to be a catcher she probably needs more reps than that...In 10U you usually don't need more than 2 catchers...

As a catcher. When we joined the team, she was set to be the second catcher. It turns out one of the other players was also a catcher and they ended up using her more often.

We’ve talked about moving teams for more playtime (which she is open to) so we will need to re-evaluate things once the season is over.
 
Last edited:
Oct 19, 2017
133
28
Nothing but game time experience will help. Talking her through situations together while watching college games will help too. She's still 10U and there will be lots of mistakes since they are still learning to actually play the game and the "games" within the game. Ya gotta get burned to learn!
We’ve started doing this when watching local HS and college teams play and believe it’s been helpful.
 
Feb 7, 2014
547
43
On her next team she needs to be catching at least half the innings - it's how you learn.

Also check out catching camps.

It's a long journey if done right. 🙂
 

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