Why Do I Feel Like Calling It Quits After the First 5 Minutes??

[javasource]

And if drink breaks aren't happening...

What's in that bucket of yours Bill?

 

[riseball]

Are doing drills simply for the purpose of doing drills? Drills should not be necessary unless you are introducing a new concept or if there is an issue that need to be addressed. Finding a way to make it competitive should help hold her interest.

 

[grcsftbll]

We do a few things to keep it interesting. The only regular drills we do are the lock it in, as a warm up. We're focused on IR/whip/brush right now, will move on to drive eventually but right now we're just focusing on that. So we only do that one, to get her arm loose and reinforce the motion. We then go right into full pitch, but easy. Not as hard as she can, no big leap, just warming up with the proper form.

Right now, we have to practice in the basement and she has to throw into a net. She's super competitive and she loves games, so we've started setting a soccer ball on the tee in front of the net, in her strike zone. Her goal is to knock it off. She loves this and could do it for hours. It gives her a goal other than just practice pitching so you can be better, which can be a little abstract for a kid.

When we have nice days, or during the real softball season when it's nice out and we can go to the park, we have theoretical batters and she decides what pitch to throw. Sometimes we'll go through our team's line up. "How does ___ hit? What's her stance? What pitch would you throw?" Or we'll play a pretend team, pick one of the really competitive teams in the area and she's pitching against them in the championship. Keep track of balls and strikes and innings. Sometimes we'll put a girl on base and she'll practice pitching while aware of 1B/2B to try to stop the steal. It's a stretch with no actual runner but she seems to think it's fun.

 

[xygent1]

heck my DD and I are going through it right now she just turned 14 yesterday and is on a 2 week break from doing anykind of practice but she's burnt from the endless drills we usually do usually 3 or more times a week, and yes they totally get bored, and at your DD's age there is so many new things you can do to try and make it fun besides just drills for example we used to measure her stride and mark it with tape and set that as a goal to get even further next time (trying to get to 120% of her height), another example we used to do is throw long balls pitching and see how far she could go and still get a strike making a little game of things go along way especially at your DDs age.

 

[CoogansBluff]

"But why do I have to do that drill", "I dont like that drill" "Thats stupid"

Valuable feedback, IMO. Perhaps not expressed in the way you'd prefer, but at least you know where she stands at any given moment. That allows you to adjust and be a better instructor.

I understand that it can frustrating, and I'm not putting all that on you, but the most important thing for a 9-year-old is her enjoyment of the game. My DD is 16, and I was just talking w/ her yesterday about the really good teammates she had at age 9, 10, 11 who were much better than her then but have quit. Not that there's anything wrong w/ that. They've gone on to do other fun stuff.

But if you really want DD to be a good pitcher, remember that her enjoyment of the process and the lifestyle of a year-round travel player is going to mean more in the long run than her improvement from age 9 to age 10. There's a flame inside her that has to stay lit. So my advice to the 10U parent is don't make player development so urgent that it compromises the flame.

 

[Eric F]

I like what Eric said. Softball is her thing. If she wants to be a pitcher she has to practice. If she doesn't want to, well, that's her choice. Pitching is the most labor intensive position there is. They have to want it. JMO...

If you saw what our catchers go through, you might change your mind.

 

[grcsftbll]

If you saw what our catchers go through, you might change your mind.

Sorry, I meant with regard to practice. Maybe not, just from what I've seen nobody has to practice as much as pitchers. There an hour before practice, stay late, practicing at home every day. Maybe catchers do that too but I haven't seen it yet. Catching itself, as in playing the position, looks completely exhausting to me.

 

[Axe]

Sometimes we'll put a girl on base and she'll practice pitching while aware of 1B/2B to try to stop the steal. It's a stretch with no actual runner but she seems to think it's fun.

I have to ask. What does the pitcher do to stop the steal in this situation?

 

[Eric F]

Sorry, I meant with regard to practice. Maybe not, just from what I've seen nobody has to practice as much as pitchers. There an hour before practice, stay late, practicing at home every day. Maybe catchers do that too but I haven't seen it yet. Catching itself, as in playing the position, looks completely exhausting to me.

IMO, catchers should be doing as much at-home work as pitchers. For our team, our catchers are on the field longer than anyone, including the pitchers. They get an extra 30 minutes of catcher-specific work either before or after everyone else, including pitchers. After witnessing the catchers going through their strength and fitness circuit at Tuesday night's practice, one of the pitchers said, "Wow! I'm glad I'm not a catcher. That looks hard!"

That said, I'm not sure what we do is typical.

 

[Terror Coach]

With my little one I have found it helps to start practice with something she wants to work on. The last thing my little one needs to work on is running to 1st base. Right now she loves to practice this. So we practice running to 1st. Takes about 5 minutes and then we move on. If she starts to lose interest in what I want her to do we move on to something she wants to do. IMO when they are this young any practice we can get out of them is good practice. Let them have fun and fall in love with the game.