My DD is a second year 14U pitcher. She started off the season throwing really well, but in a scrimmage she took a line drive off her glove hand wrist. Thankfully no broken bones, but it was sore for a few days. Then not long after that she took a line drive right off the belly button. (for the record she still finished the play and got the out both times) After those incidents she began to struggle throwing strikes, the fastball was constantly missing high and velocity was down.
Long story short, last night she had a horrible first game and finally told me (in tears) that she was afraid of getting hit by the ball again.
I tried to find the right words to calm her down, told her to visualize throwing to me sitting on my bucket, and also told her to focus on just alternating high-inside fastball, low-outside fastball. Giving her that focus on spots seemed to work as she threw a much better game, and by the end of the game her velocity was getting back to normal.
But I'm looking for any other tips or tricks you might have to help her continue to get past the mental hurdle of worrying about being hit by a batted ball.
Long story short, last night she had a horrible first game and finally told me (in tears) that she was afraid of getting hit by the ball again.
I tried to find the right words to calm her down, told her to visualize throwing to me sitting on my bucket, and also told her to focus on just alternating high-inside fastball, low-outside fastball. Giving her that focus on spots seemed to work as she threw a much better game, and by the end of the game her velocity was getting back to normal.
But I'm looking for any other tips or tricks you might have to help her continue to get past the mental hurdle of worrying about being hit by a batted ball.