Unraveling Pitching Frustrations

[_MIA_]

2nd year 12u

A 12U parent who knows how to score on GC is rare..

 

[JayW]

Joke or not. He’s not wrong. I see it weekly.

what do you see?

 

[_MIA_]

what do you see?

Lack of individual fielding work on average. I don't think the people on this board are representative of the youth softball population as a whole. I read a story about Tiare Jennings that said at one point she was doing 3 individual fielding sessions a week along with her team practices when she was playing TB. To be honest, it is hard to find fields nowadays compared to when I was a kid. Most of them are locked up. Luckily we have one near our house that is crappy but at least we can use it.

 

[_MIA_]

2nd year 12u

Yeah I mean that is still young but I am not there, you are

 

[HunterMO]

what do you see?

The difference in players who practice fundamentals and their position versus those that don’t.

Both on DD’s team and those we play against.

Yes, errors happen. Everyone has a bad day. But with the teams/girls we see on a weekly basis you can see who’s been working and who hasn’t.

I also don’t think many fielders at the youth level feel the need or understand that the extra work is beneficial. They have a ball hit to them every couple of plays versus a pitcher who literally starts every play. So if they can even half way field a ball and make the throw that’s fine.

I’d suspect it’s not until they get a little older and have to start competing for spots that the lightbulb goes off.

 

[ArmWhip]

Here's an interesting approach, I found this in another topic on the site.

''The other good thing was that she learned to keep her composure in the circle when the team around her committed error after error after error. Long-term dividends there''.

More like an important life lesson, I'd say.

 

[radness]

Lack of individual fielding work on average. I don't think the people on this board are representative of the youth softball population as a whole.






I read a story about Tiare Jennings that said at one point she was doing 3 individual fielding sessions a week along with her team practices when she was playing TB. To be honest, it is hard to find fields nowadays compared to when I was a kid. Most of them are locked up. Luckily we have one near our house that is crappy but at least we can use it.

Agree & Agree.

Adding to that,
While there are people taking their kids to fielding workouts...
It seems lot of those kids get some extra reps,
But not technical instruction how to make adjustments for improvements.
They need the answer to things like
'why is my throw always going high and to the right?,
'why do grounders hit my glove and roll up my arm?'

More so blanket instruction.
Not individual.

This is a symptom in group catching and hitting also.

 

[_MIA_]

Agree & Agree.

Adding to that,
While there are people taking their kids to fielding workouts...
It seems lot of those kids get some extra reps,
But not technical instruction how to make adjustments for improvements.
They need the answer to things like
'why is my throw always going high and to the right?,

More so blanket instruction.
Not individual.

This is a symptom in group catching and hitting also.

In some cases it may just be reps I am sure. If they do that enough and the kid is a good enough athlete it can work out eventually but agree that it isn’t as efficient as more individual technically oriented instruction.

 

[radness]

In some cases it may just be reps I am sure. If they do that enough and the kid is a good enough athlete it can work out eventually but agree that it isn’t as efficient as more individual technically oriented instruction.

Also think it creates this
menatality a bit
' We are putting in the work
We go to ________ .
They never tell dd to fix her glove or throws'
(even with bad results)
That in-itself becomes their sounding board.
Rather than pay attention to results.

Amazingly i know of several catching groups that do not address helping throwing mechanics.
They do some throwing drill workouts but no adjustments.


Brings up the description issue in verbage.
Group lessons?
really can just be
Group workout.
Now see parents just dropping kids of like afterschool daycare.

 

[_MIA_]

Also think it creates this
menatality a bit
' We are putting in the work
We go to ________ .
They never tell dd her glove or throws are bad'

Many parents don’t know what they are looking at other than the end result and the kid doesn’t need to know they are making too many bad throws..they are living it.

If someone is getting fielding instruction, and the technical aspects are not improving, then time to move on. However just like hitting, there are other things involved that are often the difference between an adequate fielder and an excellent fielder (decision making, aggressiveness,etc) which are often out of the control of the coach,instructor, etc

I can teach my kid all the technical things in the world but if she doesn’t charge a slow hit ball to get a speedy slapper or drop step to get a long hop on a topspin one hopper, despite working on the actual physical skill, she is never going to be anything but an average MI