During practice a few months back DD wasn't wearing her face mask in the iinfield. She turned away on a grounder and got nailed in the throat. Ever since she is afraid to field. She does GREAT in practice during drills but we just had our first game this season and 2 balls right back at her (slow roller, easy line drive) and she literally jumped out of the way or jumped over them with NO attempt to field. This hurt her as it was 100* today and instead of getting outs she had to keep pitching. Does anyone have suggestions that has been through this and overcome? I know we aren't the first to be here. TIA!
My pitcher is afraid to field her position.HELP
- Thread starter ckdomingo
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radness
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Practice + Time = training our brain that we can achieve the task ahead of us.
Fight or flight mechanism is a two-way proposition. Her brain reacted in flight.
The bummer is she learned that is painful and now there is more fear.
Suggestion,
She has to start in her brain by saying
I can overcome this.
I can be a good fielder.
I can develop my skill sets and
I can accomplish the task ahead of me.
( *Literally think this and *Say it out loud. Can even look in the mirror with the face of confidence and determination in her expression and she can see it in the mirror. She has to be her number one supporter!)
In basic she needs to make the decision to fight through the instinctual mechanisms of the fight or flight part of developing our brains.
Overcome it by deciding to!
11
We are big on teaching her mental game. This is helpful and we will try. I'm also looking for drills or something that will improve confidence and reduce fear. Hubby says take her out and just start hammering them to her. Sink or swim I'm sure it would work but looking for a more "humane" way. She's an awesome fielder during drills at practice.Practice + Time = training our brain that we can achieve the task ahead of us.
Fight or flight mechanism is a two-way proposition. Her brain reacted in flight.
The bummer is she learned that is painful and now there is more fear.
Suggestion,
She has to start in her brain by saying
I can overcome this.
I can be a good fielder.
I can develop my skill sets and
I can accomplish the task ahead of me.
( *Literally think this and *Say it out loud. Can even look in the mirror with the face of confidence and determination in her expression and she can see it in the mirror. She has to be her number one supporter!)
In basic she needs to make the decision to fight through the instinctual mechanisms of the fight or flight part of developing our brains.
Overcome it by deciding to!
I do not mean to ask the obvious but why was she not wearing a mask? 11 years old my DD team had everyone including outfield wearing them.
I would start with tennis balls throwing hitting ect and get her comfortable with being hit again the fact that she is getting out of the way makes me think she is still thinking about what happened.
I would start with tennis balls throwing hitting ect and get her comfortable with being hit again the fact that she is getting out of the way makes me think she is still thinking about what happened.
DD never had this Issue but this might work ...
I would put my DD against the fence and throw balls at her pretty hard, you can determine how hard to throw the ball.
DD did not jump out of the way of those lazy line drives, she just dropped them. The more time she had to get her head in the way the worst fielder she became.
I would put my DD against the fence and throw balls at her pretty hard, you can determine how hard to throw the ball.
DD did not jump out of the way of those lazy line drives, she just dropped them. The more time she had to get her head in the way the worst fielder she became.
Sad fact she ALWAYS wears it except in outfield. She doesn't need it in the outfield. This was the one time she didn't bother to put it on when they transitioned from outfield drills to infield and it cost her. She's great at drills in practice or when hitting infield. It's happening in games. 99% mental block
