Pitching with confidence

[chinamigarden]

Sparky, sorry but I would change the first sentence to The hardest thing is to teach parents (or could be grandparents, aunts, uncles)....the difference. I don't think kids need to be taught the difference. They have teachers at school who are coaching them in class (I don't mean sports) but not parenting them, if that is what you mean.

A lot of kids don't like hearing it from their parents. The same critique they would listen to from another coach is dismissed when it comes from Dad. A girl on my team is a dream to coach, she is focused and intent on everything I say. She immediately tries to implement what she just heard. Her father is her basketball coach, no matter what he says she feels personally attacked and tends to shut him out. On the other hand my DD would rather not hear from me at practice, but she will listen intently to other coaches. She loves her basketball coach (other girls dad) and will listen to everything he says.

 

[Sparky Guy]

Sparky, sorry but I would change the first sentence to The hardest thing is to teach parents (or could be grandparents, aunts, uncles)....the difference. I don't think kids need to be taught the difference. They have teachers at school who are coaching them in class (I don't mean sports) but not parenting them, if that is what you mean.

The kids interact differently with non-parents than they do parents. You or I can tell a kid the EXACT same thing a parent does, but because we are not a parent they take instruction differently. I've seen it many, many times before. What I tell my students is to listen to the parent who is working with them. I tell the kids when the parent is correcting something wrong in the motion they are not yelling at them, only trying to help. Then I grab the parent off to the side and give them some advice on how to approach mistakes and reacting to them.

In fact I'm heading out the door in two minutes to work with a new student. Mom thought that smart-a** comments would get her DD mad so she would do better. I had to straighten mom out real fast and make her understand just how difficult and frustrating learning to pitch is and you can't learn when you're mad and frustrated.

 

[dbias]

A lot of kids don't like hearing it from their parents. The same critique they would listen to from another coach is dismissed when it comes from Dad. A girl on my team is a dream to coach, she is focused and intent on everything I say. She immediately tries to implement what she just heard. Her father is her basketball coach, no matter what he says she feels personally attacked and tends to shut him out. On the other hand my DD would rather not hear from me at practice, but she will listen intently to other coaches. She loves her basketball coach (other girls dad) and will listen to everything he says.

Amen...For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honor in his own country. LOL

 

[chinamigarden]

Amen...For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honor in his own country. LOL

Or as we used to say at my last job. The definition of an expert is a guy from out of town.

 

[Bucketrider]

Guilty as charged your honor. When my dd started pitching in 10U, it became so bad, she wanted to quit. Eventually she did, but due to unrealistic expectations from her coach, you know the one who wants a 9 year old to throw nothing but strikes? Now she has started back up and I sit there with a pitch counter counting balls and strikes. If she asks I let her know how many pitches total and the percentage. This helps us track her progress and pass along to the PC, and keeps me busy. It's my pacifier. BTW I have also kept track of balls that where right at the glove, but not a strike, which is what was warranted.

 

[halskinner]

Daughter is struggling with confidence. She has been a very succesful pitcher. She is worried about pleasing parents and coaches. Also a lot of high expectations. We have expected her to dominate every game and when she hasn't we have been too hard on her. Any advice? Any books? We have know realize it needs to be fun. She has had a couple games recently were she was cruising along just fine and lost it for an inning or two. She is 13 years old.

Does she have a pitching instruictor? If she does, I hope you realize that the instructor is now the highest authority when it xomes to her pitching. Any critiquing or advice will be seen as coming from someone 'Less than that'.

 

[JBG]

One thing i have learned...Pitchers have Great days, bad days and Mediocre days. Your daughter is only 13. She is not going to dominate every game. Especially as she gets older and the batters catch up to good pitching.

You take the good with the bad.

Its all part of pitching. Our pitching coach stresses that to many parents want young girls to hit there peak to early...its not going to happen. Its a long process. Look at the majors. Guys are not hitting there peaks until there late 20's and 30's.

Its a learning process that takes a long time. 13 is to young to get stressed over it. Leave her alone and let her pitch. Praise her when she does well. Keep quiet when she does bad and encourage her. Thats all you can do.

 

[TNdad]

To Hal: We have your book. My daughter and I went back and read Chapter 25. Good way to look at it. Thanks. She has been to a pitching coach for a few years. We have slacked off that for a little while now. He is great. He thinks she has a chance to be a special pitcher. Therefore he pushes her also. Right now we think she needs more encouraging than pushing. Pitching is very competetive. Usually not much room for #2's. I kinda got carried away for a while (to intense). She is getting back on track. Threw a couple very good games in a 16u tourney. Our workouts for the last couple weeks have went well. We went back to basics. She has threw into a net a lot and doing different drills. She also has a travel ball coach who has a great demeaner. Thanks for the comments. Things seem to be going good now. Hope this helps others in the future. If you have a daughter who works 5 days a week on pitching and never complains, remember she is commited and wants to do well. I've defenitely learned a lesson.

 

[halskinner]

This is one of the chapters from my 2nd book. Maybe this will also help her.


A PITCHER AND TEAM HUSTLE

If you are a pitcher, you are the inspirational centerpiece of your team.

You, of all the players, are in control of the ball more than any other member of your team. When you control the ball, you control the game. Your team looks to you, more than anyone else, for their confidence during the game. They feed off of the confidence level you display. When you are fired up, so are they. When you hustle and show it, so will they.

If the pitcher has a defeated look or attitude, the whole team tends to give up. The teams hustle starts gasping to try and stay alive. The other team senses this and it makes them hustle even more. While you have the ball in your hand, all eyes are on you, including your own team. When the other team sees you dragging, they get fired up, their confidence level rises and they get much more aggressive, on the bags and with the bats.

When you are fired up, excited and show your determination, the rest of your team will be just as determined to win as you are. Once in awhile, when you strike someone out, turn to your 2nd baseman, make a fist, pump your arm and just say "YEAH". Do that a few times and watch how fired up your team gets. They will want to win for YOU because they know you are trying your absolute best to win for all of THEM.

A pitcher that is fired up, with a team that is fired up behind that pitcher, is the most intimidating thing the other team will ever face. It takes away their confidence level and when that happens, their level of hustle drops like a rock. The team that hustle's the best is always the team that wins the big trophy.

Stay fired up, always hustle and show it.

The pitcher in the circle is where the team's hustle breathes its breath of life from during the game. Don't let it be the place where the team's hustle dies too.

When a team's hustle dies, the pitcher is the only one that can give it immediate CPR with the very next pitch.

Not even your coach can do that!

Stay fired up, show it, be vocal about it and your team will definitely respond. You have a responsibility to your team to do everything you can to win the game. No other player has more responsibility for their own team's performance than the pitcher.

The pitcher is held more accountable for the final outcome of the game than any other player.

Have you ever wondered why the pitcher is the only individual team player that has a win/loss record for their position?

Maybe now you understand why just a little bit better.

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The team feeds off of the pitcher's confidence level. THE PITCHER'S CONFIDENCE LEVEL MUST BE INSTILLED BY THE INSTRUCTOR!

 

[Magglio36]

From a pitcher's perspective:
When I take the field as pitcher, I always want to be successful. The reality is, some innings or days, things just don't go the way a pitcher wants them to for whatever reason. I simply have an off day or an off couple of innings. It is the off times that can really shake someone's confidence. Throughout the years that I have been a pitcher, I have learned that confidence is not only based on what happens on the field, but how you as a pitcher respond to what happens on the field. A pitching coach said it best to me when I gave up a couple of home runs in a game. He told me this: to stay confident in the skills that you have and what you bring to the game. Because you have one or two rough innings does not mean your skills are no longer there. The same pitching coach also told me that nothing can be done to change what just happened. What is important now is the next pitch/hitter. Remembering these two things, that you still have your skills even though things aren't working out at the moment, and to staying focused on the next pitch will help maintain confidence.
In regards to high expectations, it is good to want to see someone succeed. However, setting expectations that they are not ready to accomplish yet (either by age or developed skills) and then being hard on them for not meeting the expectation will destroy what confidence they have. Setting realistic/attainable goals and rewarding the accomplishment of those goals is what will build confidence. Expecting a pitcher to be dominant at every game is not an attainable goal at any level because everyone is going to have an off day or off innings. Being dominant is not only confidence (mental), but also having developed skills that allow for a pitcher to be dominant (physical), and the confidence or lack thereof, that another team displays against a particular pitcher. As I develop as a pitcher, I have come to realize that the events on the field are sometimes the best teacher because you have to respond to the event as it is happening and then put the event behind you returning to the confidence in what you can do. Remind your daughter of her successes on the field and that will build her confidence also. Visualize success with each pitch, respond to what happens, and then move on.