Travel Ball Realizations

[FP26]

Amanda,

Thank you so much for sharing part of your journey with us! It can be very easy to forget about what truly is important. So many parents are worried about results and scholarships that I think they lose sight of just being a family and enjoying the time spent together. Softball (and other youth sports) provide a wonderful opportunity for that family bonding and should not be overlooked. It is extremely meaningful to me to hear that you have experienced many of the same things our DDs have and are. Thank you.

 

[amandascarborough]

So many things to be thankful for in the way that I was raised on AND off the field to make into the woman I am today. Always happy to share my experiences because by golly, I am a lucky girl. My parents were, without a doubt, the biggest part of that. Words cannot express how happy I am they raised me the way they did.

 

[Coachmom]

Amanda,
You are an inspiration. Your videos are awesome and I follow you on facebook and share your inspiration to all my softball friends.
Thank you for what you do!

 

[Crystol Owens Brown]

There aren't enough pitchers for all of the travel teams. While I agree with your logic it just won't happen unless you get innings limits put on these pitchers.

I for one would like to see less *travel* teams with deeper talent.

I find this comment interesting because my dd was looking to play travel ball with a new team because the team she did play on dissolved. She tried out for a team and I had even heard the coach mention that they needed more pitchers because their daughter was pitching too many games and that their other pitcher need more work. I would of been happy for my dd to be pitcher #2 on their team. But, they didn't want to use her for whatever reason. Another team said they had enough pitchers. So now, dd is playing rec ball. She still get time on the mound, just not with travel ball. At least at this moment.

 

[colin]

i find it interesting how "circle time " is seen as good and the more the better, when my dd has been told by physio that at her age and growth rate she should only pitch 2 times a week. at nationals for 14u pitchers are only allowed 4 innings per game.

 

[Crystol Owens Brown]

This is actually something over the past couple of years I have given a lot of thought and always am trying to take a look back my travel ball days! I was not always the #1 pitcher for my team growing up until probably my junior/senior year, and even then we had several good pitchers on my travel team and it was always good competition. In high school, my fresh/soph year I pitched behind a girl who was a junior/senior. I earned my way up to the #1 once she was gone. In travel ball I started as a #2/#3, then solidified #2 then later was in competition for #1. And then, once I actually got to college, I was the #1 pitcher starting on opening day as a freshman in the circle. Then it was solidified. But there was so much that led up to that moment...

However, when I was growing up, I never thought of it that way. I never thought of how much I enjoyed playing softball by the number of innings I was pitching, I just knew that I liked to do it. What I think was a game changer for me was the fact that I had an amazing pitching and hitting coach (they were married) from around the ages of 11-15 who taught me and showed me the foundation of mechanics of a swing and a pitch. They did this by constantly breaking down the pitch/swing from the very beginning. (Let me focus more on the pitching aspect.......) Because of this, I was a little bit slower to "come around" when it game to full pitch progress and speed and consistency. There would be days where over half of the lesson I would not pitch a ball but just look in a mirror and work on a balance beam and do tubing drills. They taught me through SO MANY Drills about where my body mechanically should be. At the time when I was younger, I thought it was a bit boring, but here was the kicker......we would do video analysis about 4 times a year. Back then, video analysis consisted of pulling out a video camera, then putting the tape into the VCR and slow-moing the VCR and holding up photos of old pitchers like Lisa Fernandez, Dee Dee Weiman and some japanese pitchers. There was a check list of different mechanics that I, myself, needed to look at as we went through the full video analysis and write down what I did right and what I did wrong. Why I liked this was because we did it enough to where I could see I was PROGRESSING and getting BETTER because of my hard work. I literally got to SEE it on the screen. So not only was I working hard in between lessons on the things I knew I needed to adjust, I was able to get satisfaction by seeing the progress I was having. My parents were not result oriented in the sense that they were constantly letting me know I was a #2 pitcher or I pitched x amount of innings and the other pitcher pitched x amount of innings. No. They were focused on the fact that I was getting better at these lessons and my mechanics were forming properly. I could SEE it, they could see it. That part was more the focus than the playing time & field RESULTS. I saw what I needed to get better at, I went back and worked hard at it, and then I was able to see the results of my mechanics getting better. We all need our little forms of "success" along the way in this softball career. How are you defining success? By playing time or by actually getting better and progressing at something that you love to do?

Were there days where I felt like I wanted to quit? YES, absolutely. Were there days where I cried, 100%. It's normal. I guarantee that every college player out there has had those days. My parents never panicked when I had those days, they took it in stride. They did not overreact, which caused me not to overreact. The thing when I look back that was defining was that it was just 1 bad day. 1 bad day didn't turn into a bad week. 1 bad day was just that. The next day, after I breathed a little bit, got some sleep, I woke up with a fresh outlook and ready to go back at it and practice and take on the world. But that's how you know you really have a passion or it. You are wanting to go out and practice and the bad days don't linger for long. When you are back at it practicing, you are pitching with getting better in mind, not pitching with # of innings pitched in mind.

Lastly, I will say, the best thing my parents told me growing up and would remind me during hard times was that I didn't HAVE to play softball if I didn't want to, and they would love me anyway. They would ask me if I still enjoyed playing and they would genuinely listen to my answer. We communicate with so much more than words - with our actions, body language, tone. They asked me in a way I knew they cared and I felt like I could be honest with them, and I answered by more than just a simple, "yes" in the way that I was motivated to practice and how I looked when I was out playing ball.

Many just see me as an All American and during my time at Texas A&M one of the best players in the Big 12....but I am so much more than that BECAUSE of the time and emotions I invested growing up. I am GLAD I wasn't the #1 pitcher the entire time when I was younger. It taught me so much more. Mainly about myself and giving me the ability to help make my own decisions, work extremely hard at something and then feel the reward of what it is like to actually EARN a #1 spot and earn the awards that followed in college. That work ethic and the process of earning mechanics when I was younger made me into the coach I am today. Because of that foundation of mechanics that I would spend hours upon hours without a ball and paying attention to my own craft, I have the knowledge that goes along with pitching and was able to stand at 5'5 and throw 70mph especially once I got stronger and developed physically towards my my final years of high school and into college. Everyone comes around at a different time and it's unfair to compare yourself to anyone else other than you.

Soooo....I am sorry that this is a longer answer, but this particular topic defines me, what I coach, how I coach and the career I lead. Never would I have thought that when I was 9-10 and someone told me that I never would be a pitcher that I would play at the D1 level, and then lead me past college to coaching clinics around the country and being a college softball analyst on TV. I can't HELP but think and know that anyone else can find their own passion AND if you have a passion for it, if you REALLY have a passion for it, then things are going to work out. The things that don't work out are the things that shouldn't be forced and aren't supposed to happen, anyway. There are ups and downs, but the ups are all greater than the downs if you truly love to do it. If you don't love it, then you let the downs define you, and you'll eventually end up quitting. But in my mind, it just means you are meant to do something else anyway. I can only talk about my experience and my own story....but looking back, I think it's a pretty dang good one and it's more the "norm" of what softball players across the country go through growing up WITHOUT being the #1 pitcher their whole life.

I appreciate you caring enough to ask about it. Thanks for letting me share, even if it was a little long!

Thanks for posting this. My dd will practice pitching everyday if you let her. She calls her dad everyday while he is at work to find out when he will be home so he will catch for her. My dd (knows she started pitching later than most(she only slow pitched until this year at 14). She went online and watched other pitchers. You are her favorite pitcher) and she copied what she saw in order to learn the windmill. After seeing how dedicated she is, we got her a pc. All she cares about is getting better at pitching and as a parent, both me and her father will continue to support her.

 

[Crystol Owens Brown]

Crystal:
Your DD is going to have to put in some sort of hand rocking in the arm path to get a travel coach to look at her. I have only seen one pitcher in a decade in college pitching from the front like your DD does, but the pitcher (Hofstra or one of those LI mid-majors...) was 5'10" and built like a football player, so no one cared that she did not stride or rock her hands/backswing or get open.

Many of the coaches believe you must have a full backswing, which I don't agree with, so it will be a tough road until then. The rest looks so good, I hate to see her keep pitching with that starting position and get it so ingrained. Why did the PC make her change?

Her dad made the change. She originally started her windup using the same style as Amanda but he thought if she started fully upright it will make her faster. Now that I am doing the research and starting to understand the pitching mechanics, I realize that at the same time he had her start standing up to start her pitch, her arm whip got tremendously better. Which now I understand why the sudden increase in speed. To him, it looked like the change he made is what cause the speed increase. While it is good that she figured out the arm whip, it came at a bad timing.
This has only made her even more determined

 

[Crystol Owens Brown]

Crystal


Again, I am against a full backswing, but the pitcher needs to load and your DD is not loading.

DD worked with her pitching coach yesterday and this was one of the issues that I asked about. PC says he will work with her on that later down the line. Right now, PC has other issues that DD needs to work on first. Thanks for the input. I know the response was brief but I feel this thread isn't the right place for pitching. I just wanted to briefly update you without high jacking OP.