Helping a pitcher's mental hurdles

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Jan 25, 2022
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I've been impressed with my 14 year old thus far. She's only got three years playing ball and one season of pitching, but she does well.

Of my two, she's always been the more emotional and dainty. Cries easily over anything from being upset to holding a strawberry she thought was perfect. Funny, and emotionally mature well beyond her years.

As we worked, I shared wisdom from the bucket. Told her to never show negative emotion, to lift up her teammates, and that her attitude is their attitude. Shes the leader and they'll go as she goes. I preached and preached this. We talked about the different kids on the team and how they respond and what she would need to provide for them to be at their best. That's not a conversation that will make sense to any normal 13 year old.

Then we toughened her up. I sent hard hits at her, tried to rattle her mentally, etc. It also helped that her primary position was 3B so she was used to having hard balls headed her way.

I even played death metal loudly beside her while she worked. Stuff like cannibal corpse, necrophagist, etc.

For a kid who runs the full gamut of emotions several times a day, she far exceeded my expectations. Her first two games were tournament starts and she nailed both. She lifted up her teammates, stayed tough, and sometimes danced in the circle to the walk-up songs of batters. She snatched up most of what was hit at her, and never flinched at balls hit her direction.

Now we're prepping for high school. She wants to be #1 and has a good chance at it. Were throwing tennis balls at her as soon as her pitch hits the glove, working on agility and coordination, and we'll be flat-out hitting her with tennis balls pretty soon, blaring more death metal, and tossing out PG level insults and comments.

This stuff works. I highly suggest anyone try it. Get creative. Make it worse (safely) than what shell get. One thing that got her bad was one specific team with relentless chants. NEVER stopped. That's on the list for us too.
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
I've been impressed with my 14 year old thus far. She's only got three years playing ball and one season of pitching, but she does well.

Of my two, she's always been the more emotional and dainty. Cries easily over anything from being upset to holding a strawberry she thought was perfect. Funny, and emotionally mature well beyond her years.

As we worked, I shared wisdom from the bucket. Told her to never show negative emotion, to lift up her teammates, and that her attitude is their attitude. Shes the leader and they'll go as she goes. I preached and preached this. We talked about the different kids on the team and how they respond and what she would need to provide for them to be at their best. That's not a conversation that will make sense to any normal 13 year old.

Then we toughened her up. I sent hard hits at her, tried to rattle her mentally, etc. It also helped that her primary position was 3B so she was used to having hard balls headed her way.

I even played death metal loudly beside her while she worked. Stuff like cannibal corpse, necrophagist, etc.

For a kid who runs the full gamut of emotions several times a day, she far exceeded my expectations. Her first two games were tournament starts and she nailed both. She lifted up her teammates, stayed tough, and sometimes danced in the circle to the walk-up songs of batters. She snatched up most of what was hit at her, and never flinched at balls hit her direction.

Now we're prepping for high school. She wants to be #1 and has a good chance at it. Were throwing tennis balls at her as soon as her pitch hits the glove, working on agility and coordination, and we'll be flat-out hitting her with tennis balls pretty soon, blaring more death metal, and tossing out PG level insults and comments.

This stuff works. I highly suggest anyone try it. Get creative. Make it worse (safely) than what shell get. One thing that got her bad was one specific team with relentless chants. NEVER stopped. That's on the list for us too.

Wow, that's a lot of work. Good for y'all.

We're fortunate that from day 1 she doesn't get rattled by cheers, jeers, silence, balls hit up the middle, etc.
 
Jan 25, 2022
881
93
Wow, that's a lot of work. Good for y'all.

We're fortunate that from day 1 she doesn't get rattled by cheers, jeers, silence, balls hit up the middle, etc.

That's great. You can be born a savage or turn savage I suppose..lol. Sometimes what we do reminds me of the scenes from Dodgeball where patches P'Houlihan is chucking wrenches at them.

I know my kid though. I know she's a gentle soul, but after coaching her in archery I learned that she can level up...but not from tough love or being demanding. You just gotta get in her head, brush some of the daisies and clowns aside, and deposit some thoughts for her to process. Then she works it out.

But she has her limits. She's like a Mogwai, but instead of not feeding her after midnight, it's "don't pitch after 6pm" and "bring her a snack to practice after school, but no some BS quaker bar or cheez-its" if you want to keep her smiling.

Smiling = savage attitude. Will do anything asked of her.

Frowny-face = going through the motions.
 

radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
That's great. You can be born a savage or turn savage I suppose..lol. Sometimes what we do reminds me of the scenes from Dodgeball where patches P'Houlihan is chucking wrenches at them.

I know my kid though. I know she's a gentle soul, but after coaching her in archery I learned that she can level up...but not from tough love or being demanding. You just gotta get in her head, brush some of the daisies and clowns aside, and deposit some thoughts for her to process. Then she works it out.

But she has her limits. She's like a Mogwai, but instead of not feeding her after midnight, it's "don't pitch after 6pm" and "bring her a snack to practice after school, but no some BS quaker bar or cheez-its" if you want to keep her smiling.

Smiling = savage attitude. Will do anything asked of her.

Frowny-face = going through the motions.
That's funny no BS Quaker bar 🙂

Know when I hear some coaches talking about a snack in between games and they say keep it light eat some fruit my softball player brain is already focusing on the snack bar Taco combo plate with beans and rice.

Over the years as I've gotten older and plumped up a bit I had to remind myself that a Bacon Western Cheeseburger is not a snack 😁🤣
 
Jan 25, 2022
881
93
That's funny no BS Quaker bar 🙂

Know when I hear some coaches talking about a snack in between games and they say keep it light eat some fruit my softball player brain is already focusing on the snack bar Taco combo plate with beans and rice.

Over the years as I've gotten older and plumped up a bit I had to remind myself that a Bacon Western Cheeseburger is not a snack 😁🤣
I rate the local school fields based on popcorn, nachos, and bathrooms.
 

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