My DD has been taking pitching lessons for about a year and a half now. We changed pitching coaches after the first year because I felt like we reached a wall we just couldn't get past. The coach(she is young and just started giving lessons) said she didn't know what to do to get past this hang up my DD was having. Our new pitching coach is an older gentleman that has been giving lessons for along time, works good with the kids he coaches and he teaches IR style of pitching. She's done really well with changing to a new style of pitching,but I'm having trouble getting her to take the things that she learning during pitching lessons and applying them when she takes the mound in practices and games. When she takes the mound she starts falling back into the old pitching style and back to the old (BAD) habits we are trying to break. She plays 12U travel ball where she is the #3 pitcher for now , Middle school ball and on our local league ball team she is the starting pitcher. I'm thinking about pulling her off the mound for a while, but I feel like this will hurt her school and league ball team and wouldn't be fair to the other kids on the teams. She is a really good pitcher and all around player. I don't want to push her away from the game. I don't know what to do? Sorry for the long post. G
No hair left to pull out! Need some advice.
- Thread starter G.Floyd
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I would have a conversation with her about the difference between short term gratification versus long term success. Probably a bit over her head at the ripe age of 12 but it is never to early to set a proper foundation. She needs to understand that learning to pitch at a high level is a very long process.
That said pick your battles. It is unreasonable to expect her to take everything from a pitching lesson and immediately apply it in a game. I work exclusively with more advanced pitchers and I have 17-18yo pitchers that cannot do that. Focus on one thing at a time. It takes time to build good habits and even more time to replace bad habits. Example - Let her pick a goal like she will throw every pitch with proper posture and define exactly what that means. Then monitor what she does. Record every pitch and quantify her progress. The first time she may only do it 30% of the time. Next time shoot for 40%. You have a ton of time and progress requires both time and focus.
While I do not advocate coaching from the peanut gallery this is a great time for a positive audio cue. Every time she throws with proper posture you tell her "good pitch". Nothing else, no mechanical instruction or comments about her release, etc. Singular focus on the task at hand.
That said pick your battles. It is unreasonable to expect her to take everything from a pitching lesson and immediately apply it in a game. I work exclusively with more advanced pitchers and I have 17-18yo pitchers that cannot do that. Focus on one thing at a time. It takes time to build good habits and even more time to replace bad habits. Example - Let her pick a goal like she will throw every pitch with proper posture and define exactly what that means. Then monitor what she does. Record every pitch and quantify her progress. The first time she may only do it 30% of the time. Next time shoot for 40%. You have a ton of time and progress requires both time and focus.
While I do not advocate coaching from the peanut gallery this is a great time for a positive audio cue. Every time she throws with proper posture you tell her "good pitch". Nothing else, no mechanical instruction or comments about her release, etc. Singular focus on the task at hand.
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Maybe when you practice with her always have something in the batter ' box to simulate a batter. During games old bad habits pop up, she has a lot of things going on. Try to pick one thing to work on at a time, not all 50. Once 1 looks good, move to 2.
- Feb 5, 2010
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First off you are not alone this happens to most. One thing at a time, move to the next. When the first starts to creep back, nip it in the bud right away. Habits take a long time to break and will find a way back in if you let them. Pick the one that effects her the most and handle it. Most items are not a "one and done" fix
- May 17, 2012
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1. Pitching is really hard
2. She will eventually correct those bad habits with proper coaching and practice.
I used to tell my daughter that games were a distraction that were trying to deceive her by bringing in additional noise (umpires, fans, runs, wins, loses, etc.). That all of those things were there to distract her from what she was trying to do (pitch with correct mechanics).
Once she learned how to focus on what she needed to do the rest fell into place. I didn't mind giving up hits and taking loses if we were using the right mental and physical approach.
Eventually it all comes together (and it did).
2. She will eventually correct those bad habits with proper coaching and practice.
I used to tell my daughter that games were a distraction that were trying to deceive her by bringing in additional noise (umpires, fans, runs, wins, loses, etc.). That all of those things were there to distract her from what she was trying to do (pitch with correct mechanics).
Once she learned how to focus on what she needed to do the rest fell into place. I didn't mind giving up hits and taking loses if we were using the right mental and physical approach.
Eventually it all comes together (and it did).
Merrill Danner
Relax and breathe!
First, my DD is only 12, The good people at DFP and myself are the only pitching coaches she has.
DD says she will pitch for Lisa as UCLA one day, I believe her and support her.
I talk to her a lot while we practice. I try my best to help her understand why I am having her do the things I have her do during a practice. As well as Q & A session to see if she understands and can apply reasoning to why we do certain things while throwing a pitch.
I explain things like brush interference, internal rotation and front side resistance.
I also ask her to rate her pitches on a scale of 1-5 on things like, placement, speed, mechanics.
I have her sit with me while we review GoPro slo-mo video and ave her pick out things she sees during the pitch.
As well as watch the college and pro ladies and their mechanics.
I also let her know that just because she is able to do something one time, doesn't mean it is there forever. She is starting to understand then when we change something, it may take several thousand throws before it becomes muscle memory, and that even once we have muscle memory, it will always need to be refreshed on occasion just to make sure she is not slipping back into old ways of pitching.
She says she wants to be elite, one thing that i notice is that when you talk to many elite level pitchers you here of extensive parental involvement during their younger years. Support, encouragement, feedback and occasionally a shoulder to cry on.
above all have fun, and smile a lot.
DD says she will pitch for Lisa as UCLA one day, I believe her and support her.
I talk to her a lot while we practice. I try my best to help her understand why I am having her do the things I have her do during a practice. As well as Q & A session to see if she understands and can apply reasoning to why we do certain things while throwing a pitch.
I explain things like brush interference, internal rotation and front side resistance.
I also ask her to rate her pitches on a scale of 1-5 on things like, placement, speed, mechanics.
I have her sit with me while we review GoPro slo-mo video and ave her pick out things she sees during the pitch.
As well as watch the college and pro ladies and their mechanics.
I also let her know that just because she is able to do something one time, doesn't mean it is there forever. She is starting to understand then when we change something, it may take several thousand throws before it becomes muscle memory, and that even once we have muscle memory, it will always need to be refreshed on occasion just to make sure she is not slipping back into old ways of pitching.
She says she wants to be elite, one thing that i notice is that when you talk to many elite level pitchers you here of extensive parental involvement during their younger years. Support, encouragement, feedback and occasionally a shoulder to cry on.
above all have fun, and smile a lot.
My dd does this, she's 14. When she gets to pitch in a game it looks like she starts with good intentions, but as soon as one or two pitches hit the dirt or a batter, she goes back to pushing and aiming. She's actually getting better at not doing this. I think what was said about pick one thing to have her focus on is key, otherwise they get overwhelmed and when the coach is telling them "throw strikes" or "give em something they can hit" it doesn't help. If she's making a big change it might be better to not play in games for a while, idk. My dd doesn't get lots of game time so I let her pitch when they call on her.
- Oct 22, 2009
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I have students that do this. The first thing we do is I have the parent film their DD during a game, then we review in class the differences in game action compared to in class. Sometimes they don't even know they are doing it.
And like what was said above, pick your battles. We'll choose one area to focus on and set up a short term goal to accomplish it. First starting out with the pre-game warm up pitches, try to do 1 correct then 2.
Then we move on to the first pitch, then the first batter then the first inning of just focusing on it. It's always great when they get to pitch pool game to do this.
And like what was said above, pick your battles. We'll choose one area to focus on and set up a short term goal to accomplish it. First starting out with the pre-game warm up pitches, try to do 1 correct then 2.
Then we move on to the first pitch, then the first batter then the first inning of just focusing on it. It's always great when they get to pitch pool game to do this.
- Jan 9, 2015
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This is not uncommon in all walks of life. When pressure(be it mental, physical, emotional) is applied to us, we all revert back to what is comfortable for us. It is even more evident in younger athletes because their bodies aren't able to create muscle memory yet.
I had a golf coach tell me years ago that he was trying to get me to change a foot in the cage so that when I am on the course he would get an inch of change. I bring the same thought process to my girls at practice. We over exaggerate change in practice so that when we revert back to comfortable in games a little of it bleeds in.
I had a golf coach tell me years ago that he was trying to get me to change a foot in the cage so that when I am on the course he would get an inch of change. I bring the same thought process to my girls at practice. We over exaggerate change in practice so that when we revert back to comfortable in games a little of it bleeds in.
- Jan 9, 2015
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Also sports psychologists say that there are two different mentalities that a player has. There is training mentality and playing mentality.
A good player can not be great if they are constantly in training mentality during a competition(i.e. thinking about the nuances of pitching while in the circle). Let the "thinking", the training take place in a cage. Let it bleed into her subconscious and allow the athleticism to take over in games. It will happen. Just give it time, and protect the confidence above all else.
A good player can not be great if they are constantly in training mentality during a competition(i.e. thinking about the nuances of pitching while in the circle). Let the "thinking", the training take place in a cage. Let it bleed into her subconscious and allow the athleticism to take over in games. It will happen. Just give it time, and protect the confidence above all else.
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