The mental side of pitching

[JAD]

I have had very limited success in changing the mental game for any of my pitchers. However, I have found a number of girls that seem to be born with all of the innate characteristics to handle all of the mental stress, to not show emotion, and to go hard throughout the whole game. I have seen quite a number of girls that seemed to have all of the physical characteristics to be a great pitcher but washout because they could not handle the mental part of pitching.

Has this been your experience as well?

My DD's first TB coach had a great saying...

Coach..."What was the least important pitch of this game"
Player...."the last one"
Coach...."what is the most important pitch of this game?"
Player...."the next one"
Coach...."All right then, go get'em!"

 

[coach james]

I have had very limited success in changing the mental game for any of my pitchers. However, I have found a number of girls that seem to be born with all of the innate characteristics to handle all of the mental stress, to not show emotion, and to go hard throughout the whole game. I have seen quite a number of girls that seemed to have all of the physical characteristics to be a great pitcher but washout because they could not handle the mental part of pitching.

Has this been your experience as well?

Possibly... These girls are my players and not my dd. They seem to practice at home complacently, without the attention to detail that I require when they work with me. Pregame warm up, shes on fire. Poppin my mitt so hard shes drawing a crowd of onlookers. Then the game starts, she slows down, aims, and starts leaning....total crap. I talked to her on the mound , I gave corrections from the fence, I offered encouragement, then I got stern....nothing could reel her in?????

 

[coach james]

I took the advise from many in providing a batter in the box during practice. Went really well, I had 3 girls in the basement cage last night for practice/lessons. I used an old tee and stuck a broom stick into it, then hung an old jersey on a hanger from the top and threw an old helmet on top.... looked like a really skinny batter! Seemed to work well, we moved "Sheila" in and out, up and back, left side and right to simulate different batters positioning. Lets hope it translates back to the games! Thanks