Slump Busting?

[Hawk_]

1. Don't talk to her about a slump. She knows she is in one and doesn't need to hear the word.
2. Either put in work until her hands bleed (figuratively) or stop it all together.
3. If there is a flaw in her swing, find the fix.... don't just keep taking BP cause that will just reenforce bad habits.
4. Good Fielding leads to good hitting and vis versa..... So praise her defense every chance you get. Confidence is confidence it doesn't matter where it comes from.
5. Stop looking at her stats and stop letting her look at them. 1-4 but that was a needed hit at the right time can mean more than 4-4 but nothing ever came of it.

 

[sluggers]

Make sure her vision is OK.

 

[YOCOACH]

Plain and simple. She's lost her confidence if nothing has truly changed in her swing or ball tracking. Buy her a new bat and tell her it's the hottest thing out there. She'll start hitting again. Sort of just kidding but not. You might be surprised.

 

[Towny9]

Make sure her vision is OK.

This 100%. I always suggest this when a young kid who hits well suddenly stops hitting well. It’s an easy thing to rule out. When I got contacts at 12yo and saw the world in 20/20 it’s amazing I could even hit at all before that.

 

[HunterMO]

So my 16 yo DD has always been a good hitter. Not a ton of power but very consistent. Her swing hasn’t changed but this fall she has just not been her normal self. Where she was once in top 3 or 4 of her team hitting in the .400’s she’s towards the bottom in the low .200’s.

She went to a new team with a few of last years team mates, and she is playing against some tougher competition so I can certainly attribute some to that. But I also think after the 1st couple of poor tournaments her confidence is taking a hit.

I know there’s not an easy button, but wanting to get some thoughts on maybe some of your DD’s struggles and how they were able to overcome them.

Thanks
Dave


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

DD went through something similar this Fall. Give her a break (if she wants it; you may need to read between the lines) and let her reset. Then help her prepare for next season. Nothing wrong going back to basics. It builds confidence and helps fix bad habits that have creeped in. You'll often hear pros say they do this to fix a slump or rough patch.

If not already, start building her up mentally. She doesn't need long sit downs about how she needs to think at the plate. But passing comments like "you're a great player", "remember your coaches wanted you", "trust your game; we do", etc etc etc. It's incredible how far that goes.

It could be she's trying to prove she belongs which is causing her to do too much. Often have to remind my DD to "be you" when I see her start to get away from her game. If the coach wanted her to be a different player he wouldn't have asked her to play for him in the first place.

 

[radness]

Slump Busting, like the title!

So my 16 yo DD has always been a good hitter. Not a ton of power but very consistent. Her swing hasn’t changed but this fall she has just not been her normal self. Where she was once in top 3 or 4 of her team hitting in the .400’s she’s towards the bottom in the low .200’s.

She went to a new team with a few of last years team mates, and she is playing against some tougher competition so I can certainly attribute some to that. But I also think after the 1st couple of poor tournaments her confidence is taking a hit.

I know there’s not an easy button, but wanting to get some thoughts on maybe some of your DD’s struggles and how they were able to overcome them.

Thanks
Dave


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hmmm?
You mentioned better competition now, using same swing~
~questions
How long has she been playing fastpitch?
How long playing in 16u?
How long has it been since she moved to the better 16u team?
How many at bats are you using to evaluate the batting average as it has dropped? Examples 10 at-bats 15-20?
Does the new coach of the 16u team have a particular mental approach they are asking the players to apply.
(that maybe new to her)
Like, taking a first strike or don't swing at XYZ?
Does the new coach give the players 'take sign' while they are at bat?
Is being told to take new to her?

Without knowing some of these answers
Could simply say
guess what she's playing in an upper level of softball and maybe just in a learning curve. Timing and pitch recognition.
This is a typical scenario of that.

(Without actually knowing of the talent level she was playing at compared to what she is playing at now, and not seeing a video of her hitting mechanics...aka: whats it look like at bat.
That could be other technical discussion.)

 

[Westwind]

How long playing in 16u?

Rad touched on some good stuff. This one stuck out to me. The diff in 14u pitching and 16u pitching is pretty significant in my opinion.

There is awesome advice in the other posts.

Of my two DD’s my youngest who is a better hitter always stunk in the fall. No idea why. I think she was focused on school?

I wouldn’t worry about it, keep hitting balls outside of practice!

 

[uncdrew]

Does yelling at her more than normal work?

 

[softgabby]

Before I get into my thoughts I just want to say something. I love the title of slump busting.

Now back to the show...

I think with slumps, many things can be contributing. I think they were all mentioned on here. Something mechanical. facing better competition, or just being in your own head.

I'll speak from my own experience. There are two times a year when I slump most times usually. Winter break and mid-to-late spring. This coincides with the time of year we take mid-terms and finals. I'll get the yips defensively somewhat...but most of my struggles are from the offensive side. And it seems like my offense struggles more in mid-to-late spring than it does in the winter. This last off-season, I had my usual mid-term struggles both in BP and doing catching drills. I had lots of information swimming around in my head where I was studying a lot. My year-long courses had mid-terms and my half-year courses had finals. When my tests were done, my swing started coming back and my defense improved. After coming back to school, is when I got COVID-19. I didn't pick up a glove or bat for six weeks I felt so terrible with the virus. When I could, I really struggled. I had gotten back into the lineup but I still struggled because I still had to catch up to everything else. Then around the end of April, I hit another wall because all of my courses were coming up on year-end finals. I struggled more mightily on offense than I did on defense. When I finally got past finals, and our post-season tournament started, I was doing better on both the offensive and defensive fronts. Why did I struggle? Because I couldn't get my head into the game.

Sometimes, as players, our head gets so bogged down with either softball stuff or just stuff from irl. I know in my case, I can struggle sometimes if I get my mind bogged down with softball stuff. Like if I am in a pressure situation and I put too much into processing what I need to do in the field or if I am overthinking an offensive situation I've been placed in. When exam time rolls around, I'm thinking too much about everything I've been reading and it overtakes what I'm trying to see in a situation or I want to put too much into that situation I've been placed in.

 

[uncdrew]

Before I get into my thoughts I just want to say something. I love the title of slump busting.

Now back to the show...

I think with slumps, many things can be contributing. I think they were all mentioned on here. Something mechanical. facing better competition, or just being in your own head.

I'll speak from my own experience. There are two times a year when I slump most times usually. Winter break and mid-to-late spring. This coincides with the time of year we take mid-terms and finals. I'll get the yips defensively somewhat...but most of my struggles are from the offensive side. And it seems like my offense struggles more in mid-to-late spring than it does in the winter. This last off-season, I had my usual mid-term struggles both in BP and doing catching drills. I had lots of information swimming around in my head where I was studying a lot. My year-long courses had mid-terms and my half-year courses had finals. When my tests were done, my swing started coming back and my defense improved. After coming back to school, is when I got COVID-19. I didn't pick up a glove or bat for six weeks I felt so terrible with the virus. When I could, I really struggled. I had gotten back into the lineup but I still struggled because I still had to catch up to everything else. Then around the end of April, I hit another wall because all of my courses were coming up on year-end finals. I struggled more mightily on offense than I did on defense. When I finally got past finals, and our post-season tournament started, I was doing better on both the offensive and defensive fronts. Why did I struggle? Because I couldn't get my head into the game.

Sometimes, as players, our head gets so bogged down with either softball stuff or just stuff from irl. I know in my case, I can struggle sometimes if I get my mind bogged down with softball stuff. Like if I am in a pressure situation and I put too much into processing what I need to do in the field or if I am overthinking an offensive situation I've been placed in. When exam time rolls around, I'm thinking too much about everything I've been reading and it overtakes what I'm trying to see in a situation or I want to put too much into that situation I've been placed in.

Excellent insight and self-reflection. Thank you, I'll keep this in mind with my girls. Studies and school come first in our family, and I'm sure that will impact softball.