Need some ideas...

[SLAM96Coach]

Hi there,

In the past I've sent in some videos to the forum. You've all been really helpful. My daughter's really taken some nice steps the past year and I believe she's going to have her best year yet.

My daughter is 14, a 4.0 student, a great kid. She is a multi-sport athlete and a varsity player in Fastpitch, Basketball and Softball. I bring this up not because I'm bragging, but for you to understand (1) she's a good athlete, and (2) a good kid -- perhaps too nice.

I've seen her play dirty/nasty/physical in basketball -- she's a center, but on the mound she just doesn't intimidate. Her presence is lacking.

She is a bit of a "robot" pitching and doesn't have that violent finish. People who watch her pitch say things like -- she looks so efficient and calm and then boom the ball's on you. I suppose that's good.

But mentally, I can't wonder if she'd be more successful fired up and more intimidating if she introduced some more violence/aggressiveness into her presence on the mound.

Thoughts? Anyone been in a similar situation?

 

[bobbyb]

Your describing my dd! I am not sure how you would...introduce "violence/aggressiveness into her presence on the mound". What do you envision here? What would you be seeing different in her if she was showing more aggressiveness?

 

[sluggers]

Her presence is lacking.

All I keep thinking about is Meat's line to Crash in "Bull Durham"---"I want to announce my presence with authority." The main thing a pitcher can learn from Bull Durham is to "pitch and not think".

You do realize pitchers are 40 feet from the batter, while in basketball, the players are perhaps six inches apart, right? So, it is a little different.

A pitcher has to be relaxed on the mound. The arm has to be relaxed in order to get "arm whip". If there is any tension in the arm, she loses speed and ball movement. If she loses speed and ball movement, she throwing batting practice.

Additionally, being "aggressive" on the mound is great as long as no one every gets a hit. If she has a bad outing (and she will) and she is stomping around out there like Godzilla, she will become a source of hilarity rather than fear.

Your DD is 14 YOA playing basketball...which is great. I had a DD who played post in college and won a national title. She would come home from the games black and blue from the shoving, punching, elbowing and pinching. She dished it out, too. But, your DD is going to find that good players aren't intimidated. The only way to beat good players is to be better than they are.

What do you envision here?

Me too...I've got to hear this. Do you want her to scream at the batter? Do you want her to make a face?

 

[SLAM96Coach]

I guess what I mean is...

She is very calm out there. There is not a lot of emotion...that's part of it. What is different than other pitchers is her finish. For lack of a better term way to describe it, it just doesn't look an explosive finish...it looks like a continuation of her motion.

She creates nice resistance of her left foot, etc and her arm whips through nice, it just doesn't look explosive. Maybe it's because she's so "long" She's 5'10 with a big wingspan on her.

I'll put together a video and maybe you guys will see what I'm talking about.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Well, if she is 5'10, she doesn't have to do anything else to be imposing.

 

[starsnuffer]

Hal Skinner's book, "Sneaky Softball Pitching", has a lot of good advice about the mental game, being a leader on the field, and intimidation. In fact, I think the book is primarily geared around the mental game, but that's perhaps just my opinion.

Buy the book for your daughter and have her read it. She's smart, like you said, I bet she gets more out of it from reading it herself then if you tried to tell a teenager "how to be".

-W

 

[starsnuffer]

Your describing my dd! I am not sure how you would...introduce "violence/aggressiveness into her presence on the mound". What do you envision here? What would you be seeing different in her if she was showing more aggressiveness?

IMHO the best way to show "aggressiveness" is not how the pitcher acts towards the opposing team, but how they lead and "handle" their own team. The best way to intimidate the other team is by a solid display of control, composure, and leadership in the circle. A lot of that is accomplished off the field and in the dugout. Daddy's little spoiled brat might be an awesome pitcher, but her team will never let her be a leader on the field.

Nothing wrong with making eye contact with the on deck batter and nodding or smiling after a strike either, although one should never make eye contact with the batter, the batter is just meat in the box, not a person.

-W

 

[chinamigarden]

The robot approach is calming to her teammates too. You see the pitcher stomping around looking like she is going to lose it at any minute, it not only can intimidate the opponent but the teammates too. When things are falling apart and the girls see that the pitcher is not affected, it has a positive impact on them.

 

[redhawkridge]

Sluggers comments are right on. I have found if a pitcher gets a head of steam up, he/she will overthrow the ball, lean on it as hard as they can. The arm and the delivery gets tighter, more forced, and the result is a pitch that is the opposite of what's intended. The speed diminishes, the movement is weaker. I could always see it right away when my dd was trying too hard -- she tensed up, her arm shortened up, and the pitch usually got knocked around.
Jiim