Hi everybody. When I mentioned she was concerned about HS affecting her grades, I just meant that so MANY girls around her talks about struggling in school because of HS ball while in the season. Some of her friends have 5 day a week practice, and some have 6, so I see where it could happen. As I've alluded to in other forums, I have a real NERD on my hands. I asked her about the "academic load" while playing in college, and she said I'm a freshman in high school and college coaches want STUDENT athletes, that what I want to be able to present FIRST. What can a parent say to that? Grades and school is her first priority for herself and uses her time wisely to study and do homework. Its almost 45 minutes after she gets out of school that we / I can pick her up after work. After the locker run and end of day chit chats, she grabs a seat on a bence by the parking lot and starts homework. On the two days of TB team practice, she works on homework in the car on the way to practice and back home. (If she has that much) Her TB team has a demanding spring/summer schedule from Florida, Vegas, OKC, Sparkler, CA, Utah and all through CO. The fall only has a few until the weather turns cold.
I was telling someone else in another forum (offseason training for pitchers) about the training she does. You can read more if you want, but here is just a snip from that post. {We have access to a field and we have a our entire basement devoted to her workout. Very big basement. Full distance pitching / batting cage. Elliptical, dumbbells, medicine balls, jump ropes, weighted sleds and resistance bands etc. We have a large rubbermaid bucket with about 60 softballs in it. She is in the basement 2/3 times a week in season, 4 times off season, team practice 2 times a week, and pitching lessons once a week. Ugh. Frequent visit to her Dr./physical therapist says she is doing everything right. She turns on the stereo for her warm ups and cranks the ABBA cd. Yes, EVERYTIME. Before games, its on the Ipod. Whatever works I guess. Her practices are almost exactly the same as her game warmups. She does a few sprints, jumping jacks and pushups. Does 25 squats with a 12 pound medice ball {mb}. (guess who gets to carry that thing to games) then she does The Finch Windmill as directed. Full bucket of wrist only snaps. 25 mb squats. Full bucket of forearm and wrist snaps. 50 mb squats. Full bucket of knee drill throws. 2 minutes of jump rope. Full bucket of walk thru's. Always 3 buckets full pitching, sometimes 4, and just before spring tourneys, a 5th bucket just for endurance. 25 mb squats between each bucket. Once she is done, she spends A LOT of time static strectching and does a light 5 minute "walk" on the eliptical. Then she has a full shoulder and arm ice wrap that she puts on and gets her stuff ready for school. All homework is done and checked before pitching. Thats mom and dad rules. Then she hits the shower. Actual arm workouts in the off season are 15 light wgts, 10 med wgts, 5 heavy, 10 med, 15 light-- bent over rows, military presses, lunges, roman chairs for back and planks. The Finch Windmill has really paid for itself. She is able to play at second year 14U, but now plays at 18UA level.} She catches for several pitchers after her pitching lessons and does a lot of live batting practice at differant times. She just wants to concentrate on her training and school for college possibilities.
I was telling someone else in another forum (offseason training for pitchers) about the training she does. You can read more if you want, but here is just a snip from that post. {We have access to a field and we have a our entire basement devoted to her workout. Very big basement. Full distance pitching / batting cage. Elliptical, dumbbells, medicine balls, jump ropes, weighted sleds and resistance bands etc. We have a large rubbermaid bucket with about 60 softballs in it. She is in the basement 2/3 times a week in season, 4 times off season, team practice 2 times a week, and pitching lessons once a week. Ugh. Frequent visit to her Dr./physical therapist says she is doing everything right. She turns on the stereo for her warm ups and cranks the ABBA cd. Yes, EVERYTIME. Before games, its on the Ipod. Whatever works I guess. Her practices are almost exactly the same as her game warmups. She does a few sprints, jumping jacks and pushups. Does 25 squats with a 12 pound medice ball {mb}. (guess who gets to carry that thing to games) then she does The Finch Windmill as directed. Full bucket of wrist only snaps. 25 mb squats. Full bucket of forearm and wrist snaps. 50 mb squats. Full bucket of knee drill throws. 2 minutes of jump rope. Full bucket of walk thru's. Always 3 buckets full pitching, sometimes 4, and just before spring tourneys, a 5th bucket just for endurance. 25 mb squats between each bucket. Once she is done, she spends A LOT of time static strectching and does a light 5 minute "walk" on the eliptical. Then she has a full shoulder and arm ice wrap that she puts on and gets her stuff ready for school. All homework is done and checked before pitching. Thats mom and dad rules. Then she hits the shower. Actual arm workouts in the off season are 15 light wgts, 10 med wgts, 5 heavy, 10 med, 15 light-- bent over rows, military presses, lunges, roman chairs for back and planks. The Finch Windmill has really paid for itself. She is able to play at second year 14U, but now plays at 18UA level.} She catches for several pitchers after her pitching lessons and does a lot of live batting practice at differant times. She just wants to concentrate on her training and school for college possibilities.