- Jun 19, 2013
- 753
- 28
I suppose this should be over in Softball Discussions or in Softball Coaching but you are my peeps and you are the ones I want to share with. I think the struggles of a pitcher in TB are different than the average player - as we all discuss on here day in and day out.
So I've shared before about my DD's situation. She is a hard worker and a dedicated player but she is not a flame thrower and has struggled to find a team that is the right fit. Two years in a row we have had teams with starting catchers that were the HC's daughters. Both of these coaches thought their girl walked on water and let them blindly call games when they had no idea what they were doing. (Yes I did talk to the coach of second team in depth before signing on, but we've found some coaches will say anything to sign you)
So we switched teams ONCE AGAIN this fall. And we really had low expectations. She was ready to quit after 5 teams in 5 years and feeling like there was really something wrong with her (and I was thinking that maybe the problem really was us having too high of expectations). This time she picked up with this team for last two tournaments of the summer season and we liked what we saw. So yesterday was first games of fall ball. We had a catcher who called a good game, could stop a ball when necessary, who she could talk to about ordinary things like "I can't see the sign where you are holding it" and didn't get push back and attitude, who could remember what 4 pitches she throws and actually tried to figure out how to use them to get players out, who smiled and high fived her after an inning. It was so refreshing.
Then the coach actually watched where her pitches were going. He payed attention to what was working - he actually came out of the dug out and watched for a while. He had legit ideas about what to work on in the winter with the pitchers and catchers. He knew what spin each pitch was supposed to have and could see that her rise ball spun correctly and wasn't just a high fast ball. He is interested in what she is working on with her pitching coach and was willing to experiment with a low rise ball instead of looking at me like I was an idiot for even bringing something like that up. He didn't say "if she would just finish with her hand by her ear she'd be a lot better" or try to make us change pitching coaches.
The post game talk was instructional and encouraging. Not full of blaming and shaming of the girls for not beating a team where they were definitely out gunned.
I think we both feel like a 50 lb. weight has been lifted from our shoulders. I didn't drive home with a crying girl saying she thinks she's done with softball. I came home with renewed hope in her future in FP and in coaches in general. I feel like I could write a book about the years we've had in softball so far - and thankfully yesterday was one of the happy chapters that you wish there were more of.
So I've shared before about my DD's situation. She is a hard worker and a dedicated player but she is not a flame thrower and has struggled to find a team that is the right fit. Two years in a row we have had teams with starting catchers that were the HC's daughters. Both of these coaches thought their girl walked on water and let them blindly call games when they had no idea what they were doing. (Yes I did talk to the coach of second team in depth before signing on, but we've found some coaches will say anything to sign you)
So we switched teams ONCE AGAIN this fall. And we really had low expectations. She was ready to quit after 5 teams in 5 years and feeling like there was really something wrong with her (and I was thinking that maybe the problem really was us having too high of expectations). This time she picked up with this team for last two tournaments of the summer season and we liked what we saw. So yesterday was first games of fall ball. We had a catcher who called a good game, could stop a ball when necessary, who she could talk to about ordinary things like "I can't see the sign where you are holding it" and didn't get push back and attitude, who could remember what 4 pitches she throws and actually tried to figure out how to use them to get players out, who smiled and high fived her after an inning. It was so refreshing.
Then the coach actually watched where her pitches were going. He payed attention to what was working - he actually came out of the dug out and watched for a while. He had legit ideas about what to work on in the winter with the pitchers and catchers. He knew what spin each pitch was supposed to have and could see that her rise ball spun correctly and wasn't just a high fast ball. He is interested in what she is working on with her pitching coach and was willing to experiment with a low rise ball instead of looking at me like I was an idiot for even bringing something like that up. He didn't say "if she would just finish with her hand by her ear she'd be a lot better" or try to make us change pitching coaches.
The post game talk was instructional and encouraging. Not full of blaming and shaming of the girls for not beating a team where they were definitely out gunned.
I think we both feel like a 50 lb. weight has been lifted from our shoulders. I didn't drive home with a crying girl saying she thinks she's done with softball. I came home with renewed hope in her future in FP and in coaches in general. I feel like I could write a book about the years we've had in softball so far - and thankfully yesterday was one of the happy chapters that you wish there were more of.