Practice at home, when should daughter take lead?

[vasoftballdad]

I'm curious to hear how other's handle practice at home. With a 13 year old pitcher playing travel ball, I expect (hope) she begins to take the lead and want to practice some on her own. Unfortunately we still need to push her to work on pitching outside of her normal team practice.

Do others have this same issue?

 

[sbmom19]

Happy to say that I haven't had that issue. We have always made sure that DD (16U) understands how much we are spending to make her travel ball and (hopefully) college dreams a reality. Her "skin in the game" is that she puts forth the effort to always improve - and that requires practice at home. We have also made it clear that if she isn't dedicated enough to work to get better then that is fine - we will save a lot of time and money and she can play high school ball and rec ball. I guess that we feel that you can't want it for them - they have to want it enough to put in the work...

 

[vasoftballdad]

Dantay,

Thanks for the info. This is the EXACT conversation we have been having lately. Sharing our investment (time, money, etc) for her to play and her investment (practice). We are having the dedication conversation now with the possibility of not doing travel as we can't want it more than she does.

Thanks again.

 

[Dave619]

I think as they age you work to transfer this concept to them so they understand that, as the parent, you cannot be the one that wants this. For the majority of 13 year old girls I think you still have to play a big part in scheduling outside practice and at this age is when you will see some take on that responsibility and others will not. My DD is 13 and for the most part I still schedule when we will have a pitching practice. Her responsibility at this point is to make sure that when she does practice (home, TB team, school team, lesson) she is putting forth effort each time to grow in her knowledge and improve as a pitcher.

Between homework, TB or school practice, hitting lessons, my schedule, etc. I still think I need to help her balance all of this. Now, if we are practicing and I see a pattern of lack of effort and interest....well, then I have that discussion with her that dantay17 is referring to.

 

[sbmom19]

Dantay,

Thanks for the info. This is the EXACT conversation we have been having lately. Sharing our investment (time, money, etc) for her to play and her investment (practice). We are having the dedication conversation now with the possibility of not doing travel as we can't want it more than she does.

Thanks again.

It is hard for them when they get to be teenagers - they are being pulled in a bunch of directions and time management is a huge issue. DH and I do go out and work with her when we can - whether it is pitching to her so she can do live hitting or side toss for reps or just putting the ball on the tee for her, which she really appreciates and makes it a little more fun for her to have some company. I don't catch for her much though - she throws too hard and it scares the crap out of me. My DD plays two sports (softball and basketball) and takes honors classes so the time factor really becomes an issue...

 

[reagansdaddy]

We have a variation of this situation that we are working through. My DD is 10U and is in her first year of travel ball. She loves to throw, field grounders, and she'll hit until it's too dark to see the ball. However, she is slow. Really, really slow. She desperately needs to work on buidling some strength, quickness, speed, etc. It's like pulling teeth to get her to do this.

I guess she's not different than most 10 year olds in that she likes doing what she's good at and doesn't like doing the things in which she struggles. We have tried to get her to understand that doing the other work will make her better, but the light bulb just hasn't gone off yet.

On the other hand, I don't want to be "that" Dad and turn her off from athletics altogether. It's a delicate balancing act to be sure. Just know you're not alone!

 

[sbmom19]

We have a variation of this situation that we are working through. My DD is 10U and is in her first year of travel ball. She loves to throw, field grounders, and she'll hit until it's too dark to see the ball. However, she is slow. Really, really slow. She desperately needs to work on buidling some strength, quickness, speed, etc. It's like pulling teeth to get her to do this.

I guess she's not different than most 10 year olds in that she likes doing what she's good at and doesn't like doing the things in which she struggles. We have tried to get her to understand that doing the other work will make her better, but the light bulb just hasn't gone off yet.

On the other hand, I don't want to be "that" Dad and turn her off from athletics altogether. It's a delicate balancing act to be sure. Just know you're not alone!

With a ten year old it is a little different I think. You still have to be the cheerleader, motivational speaker and home coach. You don't want them to develop some bad habits so you still need to manage them somewhat. I think that older ones are different. They are mature enough to motivate themselves for the most part and need to take that responsibility...

 

[vasoftballdad]

Thanks for all the info, I truly appreciate it. We are working to find that balance!

 

[sleepwalker]

My dd never did take the lead in practicing pitching while she was living at home. I encouraged her to try out for every sport she was interested in and encouraged her to participate in every high school activity that she had a desire to partipate in. Her best sport by far was swimming, but she loved the team sports, to the dismay of my dw. During her volleyball and basketball seasons, she would take time off from pitching and focus on her sport at hand. During her softball seasons and summers we would concentrate on softball pitching.

The weather where she grew up during her last seven years prior to entering college was erratic at best. Spring time was spent pitching in the snow, rain, under the high school football stadium, parking garages and under any other covered area we could find before we would get kicked out. Summers were spent under the lights of neighboring baseball and softball fields after her bucket dad would get home from work because she couldn't find girls in the area that were interested in catching her. Early falls were spent on lighted tennis courts until we would get kicked off. The area we lived in was not conducive to softball success.

Now that she has tasted softball in college and played a fall softball season, you can't keep her away from the softball fields as she prepares for the spring. She knows that she isn't the ace, but she has every intention of beating out the other pitchers that stand in her way. On the weekends, she gets with another pitcher and catchers and throws and experiments with pitches and grips. On non pitching days, she goes in for hitting instruction and batting practice with a different group of team mates. She will call me once and a while and tell me that the only thing that is standing in front of her and success is HER.

I like the fact that after attending all the classes at college, at the end of the day she has someting to look forward to, and that is playing fastpitch softball. She enjoys the game, competition and her nutty parents who encourage her to do her best at education and sports. Right now, she is taking the lead in softball, and my wife and I are constantly encouraging her to focus on her grades and education.

 

[humpty]

We make a plan each day after school. Depends on the homework. Are we pitching right after school or an hr before it gets dark. We schedule pitching practice for tues, wed, and Thursday if she's playing that weekend.