Pitching Lessons - At what point do hang it up?

[PA SB Dad]

She has a devastating change, knuckle, drop, and five different wind-ups.

This one sentence describing a 12U pitcher with control problems tells me more than I need to know about her PC and her parents (I have some swampland that I would love to offer them for a really good price!). I posted in another thread that we have a PC in our area whose students all have 7 pitches, and can throw none of them for strikes. Parents love this guy because they think their daughter's are getting very advanced instruction, and ignore the ugly reality that their daughter's cannot pitch. At some point your parents will come to realize they need to look for another PC, or live with the eventual reality that their daughter will not be a pitcher either.

 

[Wookie]

Another kid on my team goes with her to lessons to catch. According to her dad she's just as wild in lessons as when we see her. She is everywhere.

Then the pitching coach is stealing money from the family. You should ask for the PC's contact info and talk with him/her about the situation. Tell the PC that he/she is leading the family on with his assessment and that you'd like it to stop. Then help the family find a new PC.

 

[SoftSocDad]

This one sentence describing a 12U pitcher with control problems tells me more than I need to know about her PC and her parents (I have some swampland that I would love to offer them for a really good price!). I posted in another thread that we have a PC in our area whose students all have 7 pitches, and can throw none of them for strikes. Parents love this guy because they think their daughter's are getting very advanced instruction, and ignore the ugly reality that their daughter's cannot pitch. At some point your parents will come to realize they need to look for another PC, or live with the eventual reality that their daughter will not be a pitcher either.

Although your post was on-point, the statement you referenced is about the girl on his team who actually CAN pitch.

 

[PA SB Dad]

Although your post was on-point, the statement you referenced is about the girl on his team who actually CAN pitch.

Oops.........

 

[southpaw coach]

Although your post was on-point, the statement you referenced is about the girl on his team who actually CAN pitch.

Yeah, that kid can definitely pitch. I just wish she could also HIT! but that's a whole nother topic.

 

[southpaw coach]

Then the pitching coach is stealing money from the family. You should ask for the PC's contact info and talk with him/her about the situation. Tell the PC that he/she is leading the family on with his assessment and that you'd like it to stop. Then help the family find a new PC.

I know the PC and she already knows that I think she's not very good. Such a call probably wouldn't work. There are some politics at work too with the local school that we practice at and the fact that she coaches there.

 

[Lozza]

Not sure about this. If you are being taught proper mechanics, I don't know how you cannot throw a pitch without some decent speed. I see new pitchers all the time that use improper mechanics but can consistently throw, slow strikes a lot of the time. These pitchers give up pitching within a year or two because the girls that struggled with control early on are now far superior pitchers. My DD's PC never even mentioned the word "strike" or "strike zone" for the first 6 months she took lessons. All PC was concerned about was proper mechanics. With experience and lots of practice came the control. The speed was always there.

Of course. What I was refering to, was that until you have accurracy, you shouldn't be focussing on speed. So your pitcher, it's irrelevant how fast she's pitching, because they are not in the strike zone.

With the leaping becoming illegal I had one of my girls start doing it. Her grandmother kept saying 'She's got 10k/m faster, isn't leaping fantastic!' She walked every batter until we pulled her. Is speed important there?

 

[starsnuffer]

Of course. What I was refering to, was that until you have accurracy, you shouldn't be focussing on speed. So your pitcher, it's irrelevant how fast she's pitching, because they are not in the strike zone.

With the leaping becoming illegal I had one of my girls start doing it. Her grandmother kept saying 'She's got 10k/m faster, isn't leaping fantastic!' She walked every batter until we pulled her. Is speed important there?

Yes.

Who gives a flying leap if the kid can pitch strikes in a rec league, unless that's her goal. If her goal is to "have fun playing rec ball", then by all means focus on getting the ball over the plate.

Good luck trying to get the girl to pick up speed after you've "focused on accuracy" It's a long hard hill to climb.

Like I said before, if you teach her to throw hard, and always throw hard, then her mechanics will always be the same, so when she learns the mechanics she will be accurate. If you teach her to "throw strikes" then you won't be teaching proper mechanics and will then have to fight against what you've already taught her in order to teach her properly.

-W

 

[SoftSocDad]

Things are a little backwards in Australia.

 

[EP Dad]

The bottom line here is you want both accuracy and speed and to get both you need to have the proper mechanics. Focusing on one or the other is meaningless and they both come hand in hand.

Bottom line, find a way (hire a pitching coach, etc.) to learn the right mechanics. There are a few different styles and techniques out there, hopefully you will find the pitching coach that can find the right one for your DD.