All show and no go.

[Amy in AZ.]

I have recently seen a pitcher that looked real good. Her overhand was good. She has good foot speed. She wore the best clothes, had the best glove and new cleats.

She warmed up aggressively and was lights out from 35 feet.

Then, I saw her pitch. She wasn't even close to being as good as her folks thought that she was. At age 14, she can't reach over 45 mph. Why? She leans forward, nose over toes and releases the ball out in front of her left hip. Every pitch is high and down the middle of the plate.

It is awful when a parent thinks that they have the next Jenny Finch and there are obvious flaws with her delivery, w/o even looking very close.

By HS, it is often too late to change pitching mechanics - but it is impossible to become very fast, when you are of average height and weight. Just my 2 cents.

 

[quincy]

She wasn't even close to being as good as her folks thought that she was.

Whose kid is? If you listen to me you would think 11 YO DD is pitching 18 Gold and tearing it up.

but it is impossible to become very fast, when you are of average height and weight.

I hope you are wrong but are probably right.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I don't mean that you can't become fast, if you are average weight. I mean with bad mechanics, you normally can't.

 

[Sparky Guy]

It is awful when a parent thinks that they have the next Jenny Finch and there are obvious flaws with her delivery, w/o even looking very close.

By HS, it is often too late to change pitching mechanics - but it is impossible to become very fast, when you are of average height and weight. Just my 2 cents.

It sounds like you had an encounter with a mommy and/or daddy who is wearing a double-strength prescription set of "Daddy Goggles" and need to vent. I've run into more than a few perfect examples of them over the years on the fields, in the gym and on message boards. At first they frustrated me till I realized that no matter what, you'll never get them to take the goggles off. After a while I started laughing at them. When I see a really funny one I'll share it with my daughter and some other people I trust.

What I've found over the years is they do go away. Usually when their daughter figures out she's really not as talented as she was lead to believe by said goggle sporting parent. The age for this realization happens during the 14U level in most cases. By then the girls have to make the game theirs if they REALLY want to play at the next level. They also start voicing their opinions to their parents. I would say it's the age when you see the biggest jump in the talent level. The girls staying at the 16U level are usually the serious athletes.

 

[Perfect Circle]

It sounds like you had an encounter with a mommy and/or daddy who is wearing a double-strength prescription set of "Daddy Goggles"

I wonder why you can't see the goggles at tryouts? Maybe you should get goggles, instead of the corrective lenses. I mean instead of wanting to pick up the less polished, and develop them in the 7 min per girl per practice over the winter. If you do, the better your record the more goggles your going to see.

I can't see why you throw it off on the goggles, they only thought they were good enough to tryout for your team, and you thought they were good enough to let them make it. I think the reason why teams get out coached is, their projects didn't turn out... that putty you can easily work, shatters when it gets into the heat of the kiln....I always tell DD you didn't lose, your team got out coached.... :{)

 

[MsDinosaur]

It sounds like you had an encounter with a mommy and/or daddy who is wearing a double-strength prescription set of "Daddy Goggles" and need to vent. I've run into more than a few perfect examples of them over the years on the fields, in the gym and on message boards. At first they frustrated me till I realized that no matter what, you'll never get them to take the goggles off. After a while I started laughing at them. When I see a really funny one I'll share it with my daughter and some other people I trust.

What I've found over the years is they do go away. Usually when their daughter figures out she's really not as talented as she was lead to believe by said goggle sporting parent. The age for this realization happens during the 14U level in most cases. By then the girls have to make the game theirs if they REALLY want to play at the next level. They also start voicing their opinions to their parents. I would say it's the age when you see the biggest jump in the talent level. The girls staying at the 16U level are usually the serious athletes.

I don't know if the parents are "goggle sporters," but DD came home from school (7th grade) one day this fall and told me about a girl at her lunch table who says she's a great pitcher and that pitching is easy. =:-O

She goes to a game, pitches a couple of innings and goes home. She plays rec ball and apparently isn't really aware that there's anything else out there. What would make a good 12U rec pitcher, reasonable control of a fastball in the 40s and a change up?

DD tried to explain tournament ball to her and suggest that she find a pitching instructor and start working harder if she wants to pitch in high school, but it fell on deaf ears. DD felt kind of bad for her, knowing what's coming when she goes to tryouts and comes up against kids who can hit... (I wonder if she's in DD's PE class and if they'll do any softball this year? Maybe if she can't help her by talking to her, she could still help her by giving her a preview of what's going to happen with girls who can catch up with her fb and wait on her change.) They do still have nearly two years--if that girl wanted it enough, she could go a long way in that time.

 

[Ken Krause]

I've actually had some success with coaching up high school pitchers. It's not easy, and it can be frustrating for the player. But if she really wants it and is willing to work it can happen. In fact, I'm working on one of those this fall.

One of my favorite success stories is a girl named Tayler whom I've blogged about before. She was a sophomore when I started working with her. Had just awful mechanics. She was slow, basically a rec league pitcher who pushed the ball toward the plate and fell way over to her right (pitching hand side). It took about three months of constant work to get her to have the most basic fastball mechanics. Once I got her there, we added a change and a drop.

That year she got a few innings in high school -- usually second game of a double header or a blowout -- and more time in the summer. She came back inspired, and really went after it. Her junior year of high school she surpassed the former #1 and got the bulk of the innings. In fact probably too many. I joked with her that she went from hoping to get a chance to pitch to hoping someone else would pitch a game here and there.

Her senior year she had a great campaign. She was never overpoweringly fast, just a solid high school pitcher with good ball movement who could keep her team in games. She ended up making all conference.

So it can be done. But the player really has to be motivated. Tayler was. She's in college now -- not playing anymore. But still one of my all-time favorites.

 

[Sparky Guy]

I wonder why you can't see the goggles at tryouts? Maybe you should get goggles, instead of the corrective lenses. I mean instead of wanting to pick up the less polished, and develop them in the 7 min per girl per practice over the winter. If you do, the better your record the more goggles your going to see.

I can't see why you throw it off on the goggles, they only thought they were good enough to tryout for your team, and you thought they were good enough to let them make it. I think the reason why teams get out coached is, their projects didn't turn out... that putty you can easily work, shatters when it gets into the heat of the kiln....I always tell DD you didn't lose, your team got out coached.... :{)

PC, PC, PC... You have a custom pair with blinders on them. First off.. My team plays ASA "A" level tournaments. My tryouts were limited to 90 minutes for two days this year. I wanted to go longer but had to split field time with the other age levels in the organization my daughter and I coach for. I've been working with 9U - 13U kids for the last 8 years without a kid on any of the teams. I'm currently in my 9th year. The first group of 10's I coached are now freshman in college with many at DI schools. The parents of the kids still send me emails letting me know how their daughters are doing at school. I ABSOLUTELY do know how to take a "less polished" player and get the max out of her. I've worked with 250+ kids over the last 8 years with the vast majority of them being 12U or younger and almost all of them with no or limited travel experience.

As for not seeing the goggles. A lot of parents hide them from the coaches at tryouts. I send in spies to find them. I have parents whom I trust, and there are only a couple, mingle amongst the parents during tryouts and listen to them talk/gossip. I've passed on some girls because of bad parents. I passed on a girl after overhearing her at a tournament talking to other people about how bad her old coach was and how she helped get her kicked out.

Had a dad tell my daughter the other day. His daughter said to him she's learned more about softball in the last 2 months on our team than she did on her last team in two years.

 

[Perfect Circle]

Had a dad tell my daughter the other day. His daughter said to him she's learned more about softball in the last 2 months on our team than she did on her last team in two years.

Wish you had a DVD.. I would buy it... :{)) Would you like me to sent you DD's Skills Video?

Custom is right. My background in sports is Horse Racing. For everyone you beat... They only come back to try again. You "CLAIM" the wrong one at the tryout, you are only making up the team for the coaches that want to beat you... You do realize that every other coach wants to beat YOU ...

Here is the basics of Equ. needed to put one around the track. See if you can see how knowing this can help... I highlighted the stuff needed for this post...You had brought up the much needed googles. One of my favorites, not pictured, I guess its in the tricks stuff & is called the "can't see back"... it is special or custom...used mostly for fillies(girl horses) To keep in context for OP, they all wear most of this stuff, the colors, numbers, drivers...ect... But only one can Win on race day.

 

[chinamigarden]

I don't know if the parents are "goggle sporters," but DD came home from school (7th grade) one day this fall and told me about a girl at her lunch table who says she's a great pitcher and that pitching is easy. =:-O

She goes to a game, pitches a couple of innings and goes home. She plays rec ball and apparently isn't really aware that there's anything else out there. What would make a good 12U rec pitcher, reasonable control of a fastball in the 40s and a change up?

DD tried to explain tournament ball to her and suggest that she find a pitching instructor and start working harder if she wants to pitch in high school, but it fell on deaf ears. DD felt kind of bad for her, knowing what's coming when she goes to tryouts and comes up against kids who can hit... (I wonder if she's in DD's PE class and if they'll do any softball this year? Maybe if she can't help her by talking to her, she could still help her by giving her a preview of what's going to happen with girls who can catch up with her fb and wait on her change.) They do still have nearly two years--if that girl wanted it enough, she could go a long way in that time.

That reminds me of a girl who is a year older then my dd, when they were in middle school they rode the same bus. Talking about softball the girl says to my dd. "well you are just on a travel team, I am on at team in the MAJOR league" She is a year older then dd and last year in HS had a great view from the bench what the differences between travel and LL really are