Making a comeback...

[Il softball fan]

My DD was out of softball for an entire year due to a surgery. She tried out for two teams the day after she was released. Both offered her a spot. She did well at tryouts-much better than I expected. She has only had 3 practices with the new team, and the rust has been evident. Defensive practices have not been too bad. Obviously she was not as good as she once was, but holding her own. Last night at batting practice, the team was at an indoor facility working on stations. One was a pitching machine, that was cranked up and throwing hard. DD could not hit it---at all, and when she did it was just a foul off. Coach made her stay after everyone left, and worked on some tips for a quicker swing. At the end she was making much better contact and hit some nice back up the middle line drives.

So, my question to the DFP braintrust....what is a reasonable time frame to expect someone out a year to get "back up to speed" so to speak, and to catch up to teamates. Just for perspective, she is 15 playing first year 16U. DD was never the top player on her team, nor the worst on the team, probably middle or so.

Second part to the question.....what types of hitting drills would you have her do if it was your DD? Lots of reps off a tee?

Open to suggestions...thanks.

 

[maksoftball]

1) I am betting it won't take her long...she will get back into it a lot more quickly than it took her to get where she was before she took off. I have no experience with this but I do know of players who took off a year...they were at potential within a month or two.

2) Definitely reps off the tee, but for the most part, only reps with live pitching will help her. It will probably be a struggle at first, but once she relaxes and trusts her reunited mechanics, she should be fine. Good luck to her!!

Edited to add: I love that the coach took extra time with her after practice! Those are few and far between!! The extra attention will probably get her back in the saddle in no time flat.

 

[Il softball fan]

Thank you mako. Yes I was happy with him as well. She started to get frustrated and get that, what I call teen girl attitude, so he stopped and talked to her a bit and gave her a pep talk, telling her she wasn't being held over for punishment, but that he wants to see her succeed. The attitude went away quickly, and she even on the way out turned and thanked him for staying over and working with her.

Again, any tips, keep them coming.

 

[InsidePitch]

Sorry No tips but good to hear she's back to playing. Good luck to her this fall.

 

[bucket pinata]

As a Dad who is in the process of rehabbing a DD That had a fractured spine from pitching my only advise is that you leave the pace of her recovery totally up to her. let her decide push herself or not push herself as much as she is comfortable with.as a bucket Dad in the beginning I totally underestimated how scared these young athletes are after a severe injury. keep it fun and just enjoy watching her gain confidence at her pace not any time frame dictated by schedule. Than hopefully one day you get to realize, SHES BACK!!

 

[Greenmonsters]

Took my DD about 2 months of playing to get back to where she was prior to knee injury requiring ACL surgery. Part of that is physical, part of it is mental. The mental part probably is the bigger part - initially it is uncertainty and reluctance to fully test/trust the repaired body part and after that passes, restoration of the self confidence as they realize that they can still do what they could do before. You can't pick when you get hurt or when you are released to return to play, but IMO it helped that DD's comeback started with the HS season rather than having to begin the process with top-competition TB.