| SOFTBALL TIPS |
|
|
|
| SITE STUFF |
|
|
|
|
ARCHIVES
|
| • |
June 26, 2005 |
| • |
July 03, 2005 |
| • |
July 10, 2005 |
| • |
July 17, 2005 |
| • |
July 24, 2005 |
| • |
July 31, 2005 |
| • |
August 07, 2005 |
| • |
August 14, 2005 |
| • |
August 21, 2005 |
| • |
August 28, 2005 |
| • |
September 11, 2005 |
| • |
October 02, 2005 |
| • |
October 09, 2005 |
| • |
October 23, 2005 |
| • |
October 30, 2005 |
| • |
November 06, 2005 |
| • |
November 13, 2005 |
| • |
December 04, 2005 |
| • |
December 18, 2005 |
| • |
December 25, 2005 |
| • |
January 08, 2006 |
| • |
January 15, 2006 |
| • |
January 29, 2006 |
| • |
February 05, 2006 |
| • |
February 12, 2006 |
| • |
February 19, 2006 |
| • |
February 26, 2006 |
| • |
March 05, 2006 |
| • |
March 12, 2006 |
| • |
March 19, 2006 |
| • |
March 26, 2006 |
| • |
April 02, 2006 |
| • |
April 09, 2006 |
| • |
April 16, 2006 |
| • |
April 23, 2006 |
| • |
April 30, 2006 |
| • |
May 07, 2006 |
| • |
May 14, 2006 |
| • |
May 21, 2006 |
| • |
May 28, 2006 |
| • |
June 04, 2006 |
| • |
June 11, 2006 |
| • |
June 18, 2006 |
| • |
June 25, 2006 |
| • |
July 09, 2006 |
| • |
July 16, 2006 |
| • |
July 23, 2006 |
| • |
July 30, 2006 |
| • |
August 13, 2006 |
| • |
August 20, 2006 |
| • |
September 03, 2006 |
| • |
September 10, 2006 |
| • |
September 17, 2006 |
| • |
September 24, 2006 |
| • |
October 01, 2006 |
| • |
October 08, 2006 |
| • |
October 15, 2006 |
| • |
October 22, 2006 |
| • |
November 12, 2006 |
| • |
November 26, 2006 |
| • |
December 31, 2006 |
| • |
January 14, 2007 |
| • |
January 21, 2007 |
| • |
January 28, 2007 |
| • |
February 04, 2007 |
| • |
February 11, 2007 |
| • |
February 18, 2007 |
| • |
February 25, 2007 |
| • |
March 04, 2007 |
| • |
March 11, 2007 |
| • |
March 18, 2007 |
| • |
April 01, 2007 |
| • |
April 08, 2007 |
| • |
April 15, 2007 |
| • |
April 22, 2007 |
| • |
April 29, 2007 |
| • |
May 06, 2007 |
| • |
May 13, 2007 |
| • |
May 20, 2007 |
| • |
May 27, 2007 |
| • |
June 03, 2007 |
| • |
June 10, 2007 |
| • |
June 17, 2007 |
| • |
June 24, 2007 |
| • |
July 01, 2007 |
| • |
July 22, 2007 |
| • |
July 29, 2007 |
| • |
August 12, 2007 |
| • |
August 19, 2007 |
| • |
September 02, 2007 |
| • |
September 16, 2007 |
| • |
September 30, 2007 |
| • |
October 07, 2007 |
| • |
October 14, 2007 |
| • |
October 21, 2007 |
| • |
November 04, 2007 |
| • |
November 18, 2007 |
| • |
November 25, 2007 |
| • |
December 02, 2007 |
| • |
December 09, 2007 |
| • |
December 16, 2007 |
| • |
January 13, 2008 |
| • |
February 17, 2008 |
| • |
February 24, 2008 |
| • |
March 02, 2008 |
| • |
March 09, 2008 |
| • |
March 30, 2008 |
| • |
April 06, 2008 |
| • |
April 13, 2008 |
| • |
April 20, 2008 |
| • |
April 27, 2008 |
| • |
May 04, 2008 |
| • |
May 11, 2008 |
| • |
May 18, 2008 |
| • |
May 25, 2008 |
| • |
June 01, 2008 |
| • |
June 15, 2008 |
| • |
June 22, 2008 |
| • |
June 29, 2008 |
| • |
July 06, 2008 |
| • |
July 13, 2008 |
| • |
July 20, 2008 |
| • |
August 03, 2008 |
| • |
August 10, 2008 |
| • |
August 17, 2008 |
| • |
August 24, 2008 |
| • |
August 31, 2008 |
| • |
September 07, 2008 |
| • |
September 14, 2008 |
| • |
September 21, 2008 |
| • |
September 28, 2008 |
| • |
October 05, 2008 |
| • |
October 12, 2008 |
| • |
October 19, 2008 |
| • |
October 26, 2008 |
| • |
November 02, 2008 |
| • |
November 09, 2008 |
| • |
November 16, 2008 |
| • |
November 30, 2008 |
| • |
December 07, 2008 |
| • |
December 21, 2008 |
| • |
December 28, 2008 |
| • |
February 15, 2009 |
| • |
February 22, 2009 |
| • |
April 12, 2009 |
| • |
April 19, 2009 |
| • |
April 26, 2009 |
| • |
May 03, 2009 |
| • |
May 10, 2009 |
| • |
May 17, 2009 |
| • |
May 24, 2009 |
| • |
May 31, 2009 |
| • |
June 07, 2009 |
| • |
June 14, 2009 |
| • |
June 21, 2009 |
| • |
July 05, 2009 |
| • |
July 12, 2009 |
| • |
July 19, 2009 |
| • |
August 02, 2009 |
| • |
August 30, 2009 |
| • |
September 06, 2009 |
| • |
September 20, 2009 |
| • |
October 04, 2009 |
| • |
October 11, 2009 |
| • |
October 18, 2009 |
| • |
November 08, 2009 |
| • |
November 15, 2009 |
| • |
November 22, 2009 |
| • |
November 29, 2009 |
| • |
December 27, 2009 |
| • |
January 03, 2010 |
| • |
January 10, 2010 |
| • |
January 17, 2010 |
| • |
January 24, 2010 |
| • |
January 31, 2010 |
| • |
March 14, 2010 |
| • |
March 21, 2010 |
| • |
March 28, 2010 |
| • |
April 04, 2010 |
| • |
April 18, 2010 |
| • |
April 25, 2010 |
|
|
| SOFTBALL LINKS |
|
|
|
5 Pitches = Adequate Warm-up?
by Dave
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Diana writes to ask:
"What is the proper about of warming up a pitcher should have before a game? My daughter is in high school and her coach doesn't believe pitchers need any warm up at all - only the 5 pitches the umpire gives them when they first get on the mound."
Hmmmm, Diana, you're saying that you believe the 5 pre-game pitches is inadequate warm-up for a pitcher? I'm pretty sure I agree with you! I'll go out on a limb and say that 5 pitches before a game is a recipe almost guaranteed to deliver disaster!!
After pondering this question for some time, I wonder if it isn't a bit of a hoax. I just cannot fathom a coach limiting his or her pitcher to that unless they were deliberately trying to lose a game or had no other choice because the bus pulled up too late for warm-ups. There's no way I can see any reasonable coach limiting their pitcher to that kind of non-warm-up. Still, I'll use the question as a jumping off point to discuss a proper pitcher warm-up.
For openers, the right amount of pitcher warm-up varies by individual. That's not to say that a 10 year old, first year pitcher should be allowed to decide for herself than 10 pitches along the sidelines is enough. But certainly a high school girl with a lot of experience can handle deciding when she is warmed. I have observed high level high school pitchers who throw for almost an hour before a big game and others who need no more than ten to twenty minutes (50 or so pitches). It really depends on the kid. An experienced pitcher knows how much warm-up she needs because she's gone through this process perhaps hundreds of times.
Another issue which needs to be considered when discussing warm-ups is the nature of play. The question involved high school players but if this were, instead, a tournament setting, my answer would be different. Tournaments can vary quite a bit but typically you sometimes have a large chunk of time between games and sometimes you have barely enough time to take a drink of water or visit the restrooms. Usually what we try to do for tournaments is have all the pitchers warm-up initially before the first game and then get in just a brief warming before games in which there is no time to do a thorough one.
Also, I have been told that sometimes in high school ball, the bus gets lost or hits traffic in which case there is not much time for warm-ups once the team arrives at its destination. I have some thoughts about this circumstance. My first thought is to get the pitcher and catcher (in full gear) off the bus first and start throwing immediately. Then the coach should approach the opposition and umpires and tell them the team will not be prepared to play for X number of minutes. If the opposition or umps disagree, I suggest to you that you raise the spector of injuries caused by their haste. I wouldn't want to be responsible for any girl suffering an injury due to no opportunity to warm-up. Pitchers need time to warm-up and so does the rest of the team. If the opposition and/or umpires cannot afford you at least ten minutes, there is something wrong. You, the coach, must insist that your girls get at least that long to loosen up before playing.
Now to the issue of an appropriate pitcher warm-up. As I said, this varies by individual but here is a general approach I like to use. My pitchers start with isolation drills. They perform wrist snaps followed by arm-only pitching. Usually they do ten to twenty wrist snaps for the fastball and whatever they need to loosen their wrist for other pitches. The arm-only pitching is sometimes done on one knee, sometimes done while standing, depending on the girl and her personal regimen.
Next, she gets her legs and back involved with one or two drills. Some pitchers do a slingshot-type pitch with an almost full step. Some pitch a full windmill with a simple step forwards. Some push off an imaginary pitcher's plate sideways with a full windmill. It depends on the girl and the drills her pitching coach has her doing. My daughter does most of these drills and then moves into a full windmill motion. Some girls like to do slingshot pitching with a weighted ball. Some like to perform extended arm-only pitches.
The bottom line is to get all the muscles, tendons and ligaments involved heated up and then do some stretching. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you have to get warm before stretching. Cold stretching does nothing. A pitcher should break a sweat before starting to stretch.
After some warm-up drills and a good stretch, the pitcher should begin to work through her pitches. I like my pitchers to get as close to a game time speed fastball as they can before moving through the other pitches. Once that has been achieved, we usually move to change-ups.
Every pitcher has a different number of change-ups needed to get her to where she needs to be. I know of one pitcher who needs to throw just 5 and as long as they are under control, she moves to the next pitch. Another girl needs to do 10-20 change-up wrist snaps before she is ready to throw any change-up pitches. Then she throws 5 before she can even remotely control it, after which she throws another 5 and is ready to go. I've observed a girl throw as many as 25-50 changes before a game because the pitch was extremely important to her repertoire, it was a very big game, and she was one of those kids who warmed up a lot before games.
After the fastball and change, we usually move on to the most important pitch. In my daughters' cases, that is the screwball, drop or drop-curve. One kid uses the drop as her most frequent pitch. Another goes with a mix predominantly made up of screws and drop-curves. Whatever is most important ought to command the most attention. Also, every girl has something different working on any given day. One day it might be the rise, another the screw, curve, or whatever. During warm-ups, she ought to try to figure out what is working for her best on that day.
After the fastball, change and best pitch have been warmed up, all of a girl's other pitches should at least be addressed to some degree. I get anxious if my own daughters don't throw each secondary pitch until it is at least under control. That's a minimum of 5 (rarely) and a maximum of 20 (hopefully) for each pitch. Once they have thrown everything and gotten important pitches down, I usually encourage a little cool down period. You know, get out of the sun, get a drink, towel off. Once a girl has warmed properly and hopefully cooled down, I like to encourage her to throw lightly along the sidelines before going into a game and getting "her 5."
Typically, I like my pitchers to warm-up about 45 minutes before a game, longer if a longer warm-up is needed. 45 minutes gives a kid 25 - 30 minutes of warm-up, 5 - 10 minutes to cool down, and another 5 to throw lightly before the game begins. That is my ideal warm-up.
Just to address the "late high school bus syndrome," I believe pitchers can warm sufficiently in this circumstance, assuming they get themselves in the right frame of mind on the bus, get off the bus first, and get right down to business. This requires wrist and arm motions while riding the bus. For example, the pitcher ought to have a ball in her hand and perform the basic wrist snap while riding the bus if it seems likely the team will arrive after the scheduled game time. A pitcher can flex and stretch her muscles some while just sitting if she is sufficiently warm to begin with - early spring east coast games are not the right situation for this. As I said, you really cannot stretch without being warm but if you sit there flexing your muscles well enough, you can warm up a bit and begin stretching some.
The coach should make sure the warm-up catcher has her gear on before the bus arrives and get her off the bus immediately upon arrival. The pitcher gets off the bus next! She should rush through the basic isolation drills with a sense of urgency and begin real throwing as soon as possible, but after a couple minutes of stretching.
Also, keep in mind that in the late bus circumstance, usually you are the visiting team. So long as your pitcher is either not hitting or at least not hitting in the 1 - 4 slots, she ought to get in 20 or so throws after the game starts and before you have to take the field. In extreme circumstances, you want to make sure your batters do their best to stall and take a few pitches so your pitcher will be basically ready by the time she has to go out and throw.
As I said earlier, tournament ball can create its own set of strains on your warm-up time. I've been involved with tournament games in which we had fewer than five minutes between one game and the next. On rare occassions, we have been scheduled to play back-to-back-to-back games. In these circumstances, before the first game, all pitchers should be warmed up like they're going to pitch that game. There are advantages to following this practice anyway but when you are playing consecutive games, this allows your starter for games number 2 and 3 to warm-up a lot more quickly than they might otherwise. If you have the luxury of a big lead or the agony of a big deficit, sometimes you can insert the starter for the next game into the last inning or two of the previous one. We've availed ourselves of this practice from time to time with positive results.
Finally, a word about young pitchers. Sometimes pitchers, even girls who should know better, fail to warm-up adequately. If they are left to their own devices, they throw about 20 pitches, don't break a sweat, and claim, "I'm ready to go." Experience will probably tell you and them otherwise. One of my daughters can warm-up pretty quickly though she does better if she preps for a longer period. I'll let her cut her warm-up short if the day is very hot and humid. Another daughter does better the longer she warms up. She likes to cut things short but if I force her to warm to my liking, she invariably does better. The younger the kid, the more likely she is to try to cut her warm-up short. If you allow your kid or the pitchers for the team you coach to get away with this, usually the result will be a tough couple of early innings. In extreme circumstances, the result will be a very poorly pitched game. You just have to take stock of how long each kid needs to really warm-up and then require her to get that much warm-up without any negotiation.
It may take some trial and error to determine exactly how much warm-up a particular pitcher needs. But I sincerely doubt there is any pitcher on the planet who can come out of the box (off the bus) with 5 warm-ups and pitch to an appropriate level in the first inning. I'm almost certain Diana was exaggerating but I can't be sure. We've all seen some pretty bizarre stuff in this game though that one seems extreme. If you know of any coach who thinks a 5 pitch warm-up is sufficient, please disabuse him or her of the notion! Let them know that they may be the primary cause of a serious, perhaps career ending injury, and they may get into a little unwanted legal action as a result.Labels: pitching
Permanent Link: 5 Pitches = Adequate Warm-up?
 
Difficult Age
by Dave
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
An acquaintance of mine who had older children when I had babies suggested once, "little kids, little problems; big kids, big problems." I'm not sure that's quite correct. I questioned the wisdom of his words while sitting in a hospital room listening to my then 6 week old daughter scream (like a pig being slaughtered) during a spinal tap. I won't go further into that experience because it is too painful. The bottom line is every age has its unique problems, some big problems arise for little kids and some little problems arise for big kids. It is a little too easy to claim that the bigger the kid, the bigger the problem. A case in point is the plight of the 11 year old softball player.
I believe 11 is the most difficult year for the average player. 11 is an important transitional year. The bases remain at 60 feet but the ball gets bigger, the pitcher's plate moves back to 40 feet, and the other girls, especially the 12 and 13 year olds, rapidly become much better players. The sleepy 10 year olds get their first indications that the next year is going to be very different than the previous one as they attend their first 12U tryouts. Sometimes that first taste can spark a fire in their belly. Sometimes it can threaten to end apparently promising careers.
Let's break down some of the reasons why the first year of 12U ball can be such a harrowing experience. The first important aspect involves the age of the girls. Like all age groups, 12U can span an almost 3 year interval. That's because the girl who turns 11 December 31st is playing with or against the girl who turns 13 January 1. This is true of all age categories but I think there are more stark differences in intellectual and physical maturity from 10 to 13 than there are from, for example, 14 to 17. The 10U category can have similar complications but, at least in my experience, not that many youngish 9 year olds play club/travel ball. Most are getting their first glimpses of softball in rec leagues where they face live pitching for the first time. That's not true of all 10U softball players but it is true of the majority.
Puberty pops its ugly head up sometime in the 10 to 13 range. And that changes the mix quite a bit. As girls enter puberty, aside from the usual, unmentionable problems, they begin to grow rapidly. I've seen girls shoot up more than 8 inches during this period. I recall seeing a 10U-moving-up at a tryout and thinking she's way too small to play 12U ball. She'll get trampled. Then a year and a half later, while she was in her second year of 12U, I saw the same girl standing in front of me and I couldn't believe her size. She had reached almost her full adult height in that brief period.
Growth has some benefits and some detriments. Coordination does not follow lock-step with growth. It takes time for your nerves and neurons to catch up with your body. Obviously, a bigger, stronger kid is going to have a generally easier time, once her coordination catches up, throwing, hitting, etc. But sometimes the physical syndromes which come with rapid growth do as much to diminish a player's athleticism as the increased size does to advance it.
We often speak of "growing pains" popping up during adolescence. "Growing pains" is a somewhat poor term to describe the conditions and syndromes which can hinder or even prevent a kid from playing to her ability. These conditions are caused by growth and they should go away in time but they are more than mere "pains" and their affects can be very frustrating. I'm talking about "Osgood-Schlatter Disease," "Severs Disease," and similar syndromes which cause a dimunition of flexibility in important joints due to rapid bone growth.
An historically very athletic kid might suddenly be unable to squat down to field a grounder. Parents wonder what is going on with their budding athlete. She can make that play. Why does she seem to be unable to make even the most rudimentary athletic move out there? A once fast runner looks like she's got a full diaper under her sliding shorts as she lumbers toward first base. She was faster last year, what happened? Why isn't she bending her legs and thrusting forward as she runs? After the tryout or practice, the parent quizes his or her daughter as to why she has suddenly become so unathletic and runs as if she really does not want to play softball. The girl cries and tells her parent that "it really hurts to run (or squat)." The parent wonders if she has injured herself or is just acting hurt to disguise her apparent ineptitude. Eventually, as the condition persists, the parent takes her to an orthopedic doctor to see if there is something real behind the claims of pain. The diagnosis is clear. She isn't making this up. The condition will go away with time and, for now, the best she can do is a several-times-per-day stretching regimen to deal with her loss of flexibility.
Aside from the "growing pains" issue, there are a number of other issues. Girls and boys all grow at different times. A December-31st-11-year-old might not enter puberty until she is turning 13 while a January-1st-13 may have already gone through this very difficult experience. Girls get their periods at different times. I know of a fellow who will be reading this piece who has two daughters almost 3 full years apart. The girls had their first experience of womanhood within months of each other. There's no telling when this will visit upon your daughter.
Girls react to the "curse" in different ways. I remember a father warning me that when his daughter gets "it" you can pretty much count on several days of her being incapable of playing any sport. He told me it will always be during an important tournament and you can expect her to go 0-fer at the plate, make horrendous plays in the field, and/or, if she is a pitcher, have some very bad outings. Fortunately for me, that wasn't even close to my first experiences. My daughter pitched her best during "that time of the month." And whatever pain or discomfort she was feeling was taken out on the ball while she was at bat. She pitched like Jennie Finch and hit the ball like her name was Crystl Bustos. But every girl is different and each has to learn how to deal with the issue while playing. I'm holding my breath as another daughter of mine approaches that age! You just do not ever know how it will affect them.
Physical syndromes and puberty aside, let's examine some of the other reasons girls have trouble in the first year of 12U ball. 12U ball is quite a bit different than 10U. Girls pitch, throw and hit the ball a lot harder. They also run a lot faster. These differences change the entire style of play and make it a lot more similar to older age groups than 10U ball typically is. Some of the games I have sene played at 12U more closely resemble high school ball than they do 10U games. And some of the players seem more close to high school abilities than some of the best 10s I have watched.
12U ball is a speed game in which the defenses' ability to make complex throws is tested. Good 12U players have strong, accurate arms. The 11 year old generally does not, at least until she develops it. Balls are hit harder making infield plays more difficult. And because base runners are quite a bit faster at this age, even the routine grounder can yield a base hit when fielded by an 11 year old who has neither a strong arm nor a quick release.
11 year olds must practice their throwing as often and as long as possible. I remember the parent of one 11 year old I had under my charge questioning why so much of my practices were focused on throwing. He hadn't seen a good quality 12U game before and I understood that he just didn't know. I told him throwing was critical in 12U and if he wanted his daughter to succeed, he had better supplement the amount of throwing I did in practice. He didn't heed my advice. His kid's 11 year old year was extremely tough. She didn't have the arm to see much action at her choice of positions.
Another 11 year old I had tried to get to throw more frequently whose parents didn't listen was my second baseman for a number of reasons I won't go into. Eventually I had to remove her from the position because her throwing was so poor. In one of her last performances, I watched as a routine grounder came straight to her, she fielded it cleanly, and the runner beat it out by two steps. I didn't know what to say as I watched the lolly-pop throw floating towards out first baseman's outstretched glove. The runner had time to take 6 full steps as the ball floated from her hand, 30 feet from first, towards its intended target! If you've got an 11 year old moving up to 12U ball, take this advice, throw as often as possible. Make long throws, make hard throws. Work on quickly removing the ball from the glove and performing a quick release throw to the bases.
Pitching changes quite a bit from 10U to 12U. If you;ve ever compared a dominant 13 year old pitcher to the average 10 year old, you can see what I mean. There are certainly some impressive 10U pitchers but the typical one throws the ball no harder than 45 with not that many (good) change-ups mixed in. 12U pitchers throw harder (50 - 55, possibly 60), hit spots, mix their speeds and movement, and generally make it more difficult to hit the ball.
At least in my experience, there are easily ten times as many change-ups thrown in a well-pitched 12U game than there are in a 10U one. I've seen the rare 10U pitcher who has a very good change and isn't afraid to use it but mostly I have seen girls still trying to master the pitch. You can't be very successful in 12U ball without a good change. Good 12U batters will hit the fastest pitch if the speed isn't varied no matter how fast it is.
Often 12s struggle to hit change-ups. 11 year olds in majority struggle desperately to deal with them. Even if an 11 year old learns to deal with them, she may have trouble hitting balls thrown deliberately just off the corners or above/below the best hitting zones. Successful 12s begin hitting their spots a majority of times.
Of the things I notice most frequently with 11s trying to deal with good 12U pitching, a few particular problems are common. One is the ability to pick good pitches at which to swing. 11s often take pitches thrown right down the middle at the knees for strikes, sometimes the third strike. They also swing at pitches which are just above the zone. A related problem is the tendency to swing under the ball. 11s are constantly "under the ball."
The laws of physics tell us that, all other things being equal, a faster pitch generally does not drop as much as a slower one. The younger girl expects the ball to drop similar to the pitches she has been hitting the past two years but it doesn't. Instead it stays up because it is faster and gravity doesn't have as long to work on it. I can't tell you the number of times I have watched frustrated coaches telling girls in batting practice to swing above the ball or "aim for the top half" because they keep swinging under the pitch. They have their pitching machines turned up to mimick 55 so the girls are prepared to deal with fast pitchers but because the machine is generally close to the hitter and because of the higher speed, the ball drops even less than a live-pitched 12U pitch. And the 11 year old hitter just has not programmed her brain to expect the ball where it arrives. This is an experiential thing that should pass after a lot of hitting practice and even more patience. But you do not see many dominant 11 year old hitters in tournament ball.
11 year olds often have trouble discerning what is over the plate as opposed to just off the corners. I've seen girls swing at a ball a foot outside then take the next one over the inside corner and get mad at the called third strike. Sometimes the opposite occurs. I think the problem here is that the 11 year old just has not seen many pitchers who deliberately throw balls out of the strike zone. That doesn't happen much in 10U ball where girls are struggling somewhat just to throw strikes. There are more pitches down the middle in 10U ball than there are in 12U. And as girls get older, they'll see even less strikes unless they learn what to lay off of. 12U would be difficult enough were it not for the pitchers' increased location abilities. It becomes almost impossible to make decent contact with it.
The final hitting problem which is common among 11 year olds trying to make their way in a 13 year old world is their inability to drive the ball out of the infield. The 12 inch ball weighs quite a bit more than the 11 and when it is thrown at good velocity, one must swing hard with proper weight shift in order to drive it. 10U hitters might have drilled balls past outfielders but when they move up to 12U, they have difficulty driving those few balls they make contact with past the second baseman. This will pass as their strength improves. If your budding superstar 11 year old is having this problem, just be patient and get her some time in the cages or at the tee so her swing will get stronger.
One of the things you can use to teach the first year 12U player about the strike zone and pitch movement is the bunt. Bunting helps them learn the track of the ball better than just getting in there and taking hacks. I don't mean that you should take a crop of 11 year old players and make all of them bunt everytime they get up to bat in games but you ought to do some of that and you ought to have them bunting against live pitching in practice. Another thing is to get them as many real at bats against live pitching as possible during practice. When you do have live pitching, make sure to put a coach in back of the cage and indicate to the batter whether a pitch was a ball or a strike so they know when they have held up against a strike at the knees or swung at a pitch above the zone.
I've told you that I think 11 is the most difficult year in fastpitch softball. I say this because in percentage terms, girls grow more during this time than during other age groups, they gain more strength and coordination, and because the game gets more complicated as individual abilities improve. Throwing is drastically better in 12U ball than it is in 10U. Many girls have been playing tournament ball for a full 4 years in their 2nd year of 12U while newbies might be in their first, second or third year. A girl might just be entering puberty and all the fun that entails as she steps up into 12U. Her opponents have already gone through this difficult year and, having survived, are ready to succeed. The pitching is very difficult to deal with. It is a very hard year indeed.
I recognize that their are exceptions to all these observations I have made of 11 year olds. I have seen that rare team comprised entirely of 11 year olds which has great hitting, incredible defense including great throwing, a couple of incredible ace pitchers, etc., etc. What I'm trying to say here is, if you are the parent of an 11 year old, please be patient. Don't get frustrated. Your daughter needs your understanding now more than ever. The answer to the problems you are facing is practice and perseverance. Too many leave the game or move back into less competitive situations at 11 because they think they are not good enough. Stick it out and things will be fine.Labels: youth tournament teams
Permanent Link: Difficult Age
|
|
|
