New rule for pitching?

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May 20, 2016
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and as a side note. If she cant
Catch a simple ground ball back to her she shouldn’t pitch in games.

When catching for my DD i randomly throw the ball at the dirt in front of her feet. I give he the "sorry didn't have a grip on that one". She doesn't know it it but i'm doing it to help her fielding. She's only 13 so don't think she's caught onto the purpose of what i'm doing yet.
 
Aug 21, 2008
2,359
113
Easy fix. Set a bucket of balls next to the pitchers plate.

Now go make that money!

Ummm, that'd be a negative on this one!!!! As much as the extra $$ would be helpful right now, I would never do this. It'd be like stealing money, and I won't do that either. 6 is too young. 9 is about the lowest I'll go, and even then it's a challenge for some with attention span, body awareness, and simply just wanting to be there.

I know it's bad for my financial bottom line but, I have no issue telling parents to stop bringing Sally to lessons if she's not improving. And by that I mean, not practicing. If we are working the very basics OVER and OVER, then obviously that kid doesn't care and doesn't want to be there. Meanwhile, that spot can be used by someone who does. And Mom/Dad need to know they are wasting their money. No mater how much Sally tells her parents that she "loves pitching" or that softball "is her life", actions speak louder. Or in this case, inaction. Sally might love softball and want to be a part of team but, she doesn't want to put the work in to be a pitcher. And that's fine!!! The game needs shortstops, right fielders, and even bench players. But I'm not letting a kid tell me they "love pitching" when it's very clear she doesn't want to do it.

Bill
 
Aug 21, 2008
2,359
113
I agree that if the child can't catch the ball thrown back to her she probably should not be taking lessons. There are some 6 year olds that can catch pretty well if the ball is right to them.

Sure 6 years old is pretty young. Maybe the parents have a lot of extra money. I don't see an issue with doing a 30 minute lesson with a 6 year old to train them to throw under hand correctly.

Look at it this way, the parents probably did some research before they chose you to do pitching lessons with their daughter. Who better to learn from?


What town and state do you do your private lessons out of? I am about 30 miles south of Chicago. If you would rather reply via pm feel free. I did not see a location on your website.


Gambler, I'm living in Omaha right now. I'm still giving lessons, despite everything being shut down. A friend of a friend has his own place in Lincoln (35 mi away) and I can work out of there until this virus thing passes. I used to do lessons in Chicago (in the Oswego area) about every 6 weeks or so, before I started at the college in 2018. I'm not sure about the other divisions but in D1, a coach cannot do private lessons for kids over 7th grade. So I had shut down my lessons until the end of October last year.

Minus the virus, both here in Omaha and other places I'd give lessons, I'd routinely get people fly in for a weekend's worth of lessons. When I did monthly lessons in Dallas, at one point almost 1/2 of my students were coming from Denver, Seattle, Wisconsin, Wash DC, Tampa, etc. because Dallas has the 2 airports and is easy to make arrangements. Sometimes a parent would just bring me there, instead of flying the entire family to me: 1 plane ticket vs. buying 4-5 tickets!

I think Chicago is about 7 hours from Omaha, give or take. So, Gambler, take a road trip!!! ha ha.

Bill
 

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