Correcting pitcher during game

[uncdrew]

I was actually thinking about "giraffe" myself. I'll run it by her

My daughter went through a spell where the best "in game pitching aid" was for her to squeeze her butt cheeks. That activated her glutes and lower body in a way that greatly improved her pitching (during that few months when whatever problem was being corrected).

I wasn't coaching the team at that point, and it took my DD and the coaches a few minutes to come up with a reminder that didn't result in the coach yelling "Use your Butt" or something like that.

We came up with "oranges", which made her think of squeezing an orange in her butt. Also made her smile.

 

[Jeffrey]

The OP said she does things mostly right at home. If true the first piece of advice I’d relay from my DDs first PC; “Pitchers have to pitch.”

How much is up for debate. My standard advice is don’t go 3 days without pitching. That’s a minimum of 2-3 times a week and if you figure 100+ throws of some type per session that’s going to be 1000+ reps a month. A good PC will catch any bad habits and if she puts in those 1000+ reps with purpose the issues will get fixed.

As for in game corrections… do it in between innings unless it’s a huge issue. She doesn’t need you to tell her to stand tall or whatever, she knows. Practice it 400 times before the next game.

 

[bsbs]

I ask this too.

When I coached 10U travel, I would give the pitchers reminders and encouragement almost every pitch. I did discuss with the girl, her parents and her pitching coach first. We all agreed on the words/phrases to use to best help her in the game.

It worked well. They just have so much to keep track of and worry about. Poor little kids are thinking about 20 things while pitching, only about half of which have to do with mechanics. Getting them to focus on "stay tall" or "loose arm" can really reduce the clutter getting in the way.



Now at 14U, with good pitchers? I don't address anything mid-game. And mostly not even until the tourney is over. In our case, even a bad day for our pitchers is still pretty good. I don't want to make it worse. And quite honestly, I'm not good enough to really know what the actual issue is in most cases.

I would say this is very close to me. I spoke alot to my daughter early on. Right or wrong, who knows, but it seemed to work. I rarely speak to her during a weekend about pitching mechanics or anything pitching related at this point, first year 14u.

 

[RADcatcher]

I was actually thinking about "giraffe" myself. I'll run it by her

Fun true story was working with a 16 year old who had only started playing softball about 8 months previous.
Had the personality of a butterfly....
Gentle and free-flowing.
I say had because this story happened...
As we were developing hitting and defense with throwing. I was telling her about using her body more forcefully. I told her it's okay if you're going to be a butterfly but maybe you could become like a superhero butterfly or like the butterfly that battles Godzilla or something. Throughout the lesson started developing this really stern look on her face as she was swinging the bat and throwing the ball. I said my goodness what has happened the butterfly has emerged as Mega Butterfly....
Butterfly the Beast! Said as I was flapping my arms as big as I could giant powerful butterfly...
We laughed and she powered on!

Work hard have fun
Have fun working hard

 

[PerpetualBeginner]

Literally a true story was working with a 16 year old who had only started playing softball about 8 months previous.
Had the personality of a butterfly....
Gentle and free-flowing.
I say had because this story happened...
As we were developing hitting and defense with throwing. I was telling her about using her body more forcefully. I told her it's okay if you're going to be a butterfly but maybe you could become like a superhero butterfly or like the butterfly that battles Godzilla or something. Throughout the lesson started developing this really stern look on her face as she was swinging the bat and throwing the ball. I said my goodness what has happened the butterfly has emerged as Mega Butterfly....
Butterfly the Beast! Said that as I was flapping my arms as big as I could like giant powerful butterfly...
We laughed and she powered on!

Work hard have fun
Have fun working hard

Just asked my daughter if she wants to be corrected and she said yes...she really liked "giraffe" as the correction. We'll go with that Only caveat is that she didn't want me to call her name first because it sounds like I'm calling her a giraffe lol.

 

[RADcatcher]

Just asked my daughter if she wants to be corrected and she said yes...she really liked "giraffe" as the correction. We'll go with that Only caveat is that she didn't want me to call her name first because it sounds like I'm calling her a giraffe lol.

Super glad you worked that out
Writing that made me think of this next sentence
.... Hey super giraffe when its spot on!!

 

[lostcreek1]

No, maybe I read it wrong but I was under the impression that the OP thought the coaches should do something. I was just saying that most coaches don't really know a ton about pitching.

I agree with that 100%, most parents of pitchers know more about pitching than the coach. In this case however he is the coach and the bucket dad.

 

[PerpetualBeginner]

I agree with that 100%, most parents of pitchers know more about pitching than the coach. In this case however he is the coach and the bucket dad.

Yeah, maybe I didn't make it clear. I'm the head coach, bucket dad, and the pitcher's dad in question.

 

[chinamigarden]

Just make sure that when the game is over and you’re driving home the corrections end. You are to only say I loved watching you play today.

 

[daywalkerdad]

I ask this too.

When I coached 10U travel, I would give the pitchers reminders and encouragement almost every pitch. I did discuss with the girl, her parents and her pitching coach first. We all agreed on the words/phrases to use to best help her in the game.

This is very smart. Some try to fix everything at once, best to know 2-3 things that are taking priority at the young ages.