Softball IQ .. how to increase it?

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Dec 15, 2018
807
93
CT
So, when my brother and I were little kids, we played a game called stuffed animal baseball. Lincoln log bat, marble ball, animals – many with Dairy Queen ice cream helmets – on the “field” (our living room rug, which had convenient foul lines, and sweet left field porch – staircase with white spindle facade). We would have full 9 inning games, keeping score and everything, but it was basically a way to play out situations.

From 6u up though last year (she’s 11 now), I would do the same with my daughter. She loved it. We would go through where the play would be, why this would work, why that wouldn’t, all played out in front of her with her moving the stuffed animal players where they should go. She’s getting a little old for that now, but at young ages, it was a blast, and a great way to play with my DD and have softball ideas reinforced.
 
Jan 28, 2017
1,661
83
My Dad coached a pile of rec ball teams. HS head coaches always would commit on how his kids knew the game. He scrimmaged all the time and taught while scrimmaging. One of my former coaches took over a program that was in shambles and most of the HS players were MS age. I have heard him talk about how he looked for a rain cloud everyday so he could cancel the game and practice. They needed practice way more than the game. I think 5 of them got drafted and 3 for sure.

My son is a 10 year old catcher and understands the game a lot better than my 13 year old DD pitcher. He can listen to you teaching a girl on how to use the backhand and he does it at the next practice and he is a catcher. He isn't overly athletic. DD can tell you what happened on the adjacent field in the 3rd inning while throwing a 1 hitter.

S
 
Jul 29, 2013
6,781
113
North Carolina
Make sure everyone of your girls knows and understands the look-back-rule!!

Cause mark my words, I promise you you’ll run into a umpire that the LBR is “their” thing! And it’ll be at the worst possible time in the heat of a game, and everyone will lose their mind, true story!
 

radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
My Dad coached a pile of rec ball teams. HS head coaches always would commit on how his kids knew the game. He scrimmaged all the time and taught while scrimmaging. One of my former coaches took over a program that was in shambles and most of the HS players were MS age. I have heard him talk about how he looked for a rain cloud everyday so he could cancel the game and practice. They needed practice way more than the game. I think 5 of them got drafted and 3 for sure.

My son is a 10 year old catcher and understands the game a lot better than my 13 year old DD pitcher. He can listen to you teaching a girl on how to use the backhand and he does it at the next practice and he is a catcher. He isn't overly athletic. DD can tell you what happened on the adjacent field in the 3rd inning while throwing a 1 hitter.

S

* not responding directly at this poster...
rather as an example...

This sounds like a compairison of what coaching can do for the one who received good coaching and the one who didnt receive good coaching.
( then i would ask the parent, when or why did you notice the lack of coaching and knowledge to one child vs. The other? Possibly because the dd is older didnt recognize younger kids can learn?!
Or. Darn my dd didnt have good coaching development. The early age son did?!)

Each child able to learn.
One was offered technical instruction...the other not so much.

This is one of the reasons many people get a private instructor or are attending fielding camps.

Too many coaches without or lacking communication skills to educate developing players.

Coaching isnt just knowing the game. It is also communicating it!

Understanding the
Technical in the technique is just as important as physically doing it.
Include game strategy in this coaching communication.
 
Last edited:
Jan 28, 2017
1,661
83
* not responding directly at this poster...
rather as an example...

This sounds like a compairison of what coaching can do for the one who received good coaching and the one who didnt receive good coaching.
( then i would ask the parent, when or why did you notice the lack of coaching and knowledge to one child vs. The other? Possibly because the dd is older didnt recognize younger kids can learn?!
Or. Darn my dd didnt have good coaching development. The early age son did?!)

Each child able to learn.
One was offered technical instruction...the other not so much.

This is one of the reasons many people get a private instructor or are attending fielding camps.

Too many coaches without or lacking communication skills to educate developing players.

Coaching isnt just knowing the game. It is also communicating it!

Understanding the
Technical in the technique is just as important as physically doing it.
Include game strategy in this coaching communication.

My son just has the ability to figure things out by watching. Heck most of the time he learned from watching my DD practices. My DD doe not have that ability. She works twice as hard as my son. Coaching actually has nothing to do with the way they are wired. For example, I told her at practice to work on getting your body on time when hitting. Then I asked her, what are you doing? I'm working on getting on time. Well the pitcher is behind you, so please turn around. She hits back to back bombs. My son would have been working on his timing from the moment he stepped on deck. DD is a straight A student and a great kid but some things do not come natural.
 
Last edited:
Apr 28, 2019
1,423
83
My DD has gotten to a point where her physical ability in the game has surpassed her mental ability. This past tournament there were several defensive and one base running mistake that imo cost us the game. It's just 10u and it's just 1 tournament, but I'm wondering what I can do as her dad to help understand what to do in specific situations. For example, runner on 1st, and 3rd, ball is hit to you at the circle, what do you do?
Now admittedly I'm not a baseball/softball guru when it comes to this type of stuff either. Are there some good resources online that I can work with her on this?
Often times I just pop quiz her out of the blue, give her a scenario and expect her to know where to go with the ball.. but during a game it's a completely different ball game.. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Watch, listen & play. I wish I could say my girls are students of the game but they are not. They enjoy playing multiple sports but have no interest in watching sports on TV.
They will watch live games some but not enough IMO. I used to while driving ask them situational stuff until they game me the (oh Dad) and sighed heavily.
Not sure how but they must have absorbed some info from our “chats” because they know what to do when the balls come to them.
Nothing more frustrating than having the girls make a nice physical play only to stand there like a deer in head lights and hold the ball or even worse throw the ball to the wrong place.
At young ages you constantly have to remind the girls what to do when the balls come to them. At practice, in games and whenever you can hold their attention long enough to get your point across talk to them.
 
Jun 6, 2016
2,712
113
Chicago
You simply can't teach every possible situation. It's like teaching a language. You don't teach a kid every word and how to use all the words and then they just know it.

You teach and reinforce the rules. You give them the basics. And then they have to go do it (and watch it; strongly encourage her to watch as much baseball/softball as possible!). No kid starts speaking with perfect grammar. They make mistakes. They learn new words. They learn new ways to use those words.

Whenever you think you've taught everything, something is going to happen in the game that you never would've dreamed of teaching (and maybe something you've never seen before). So make a note of it and practice it later.

Also, and maybe most importantly: I don't know that every person has the same capacity for Sport IQ. There are some people who just get it. This is even true at professional levels. Some players just see and process and anticipate differently than the rest. Those players don't necessarily know the rules better. They wouldn't necessarily score better on a written test of what to do in certain situations. But when the game is happening, they're always going to be in the right place, doing the right thing. I'm not so sure you can really, truly teach that.
 

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