Pitching and Pitchers Discussion Advanced Pitching Coach?

[mbkaiser01]

Our daughter seems to be outgrowing her pitching coach. She's been seeing him weekly for the past 2 years since she started seriously trying to pitch. She just loves him. He's a little older, grandfather style, and a lefty. Since our girl's a lefty, that's a huge bonus. He's a good coach, has two daughters that played college that he coached and he was a men's fastpitch pitcher. In the time since our daughter has started seeing him,she's made amazing improvements. She's throwing low 50s consistently game time (maybe a little higher in practice) with good control and has mastered her curve, rise, and change up. She's a 5'4" petite freshman and just wrapped up her first high school season and pitched competitively at most varsity games so we definitely feel she's on the right track. Long story short,she saw her pitching coach this week for the first time in a couple weeks (due to HS game schedule) and though he welcomed her to come back monthly or every other month for tune-ups, and though he said he was happy to take our money, he didn't see the need to see her weekly anymore. We got the impression that she might be at the upper limits of his teaching. Would love thoughts on whether this is the standard progression with pitching and if not, we are definitely looking for maybe advanced pitching coaches who can help take her to the next step- whatever that may be. Lefty's are a huge, huge plus!!

 

[jpkeating]

Where in Ohio are you
Located?

 

[Xrayaries]

You don't need additional coaching if you have enough in the bag of tricks. Going to a different coach will not be beneficial. I have seen a few girls jump from coach to coach and every time I see them pitch soemthing has changed in there delivery. If you spend half the year learning a new delivery rather than working on what you have I really don't see the point.

 

[Softballfarm]

I think your current coach should be commended. In my view I don't see the value of consistent visits to a PC at her age and if her mechanics are fine. There are other ways to develop as a pitcher other than her mechanics. I think your PC is telling you there is low-value for your DD to keep coming to him. He seems like he coaches children for the right reasons and IMO his opinion carries a lot of weight. PC's who are most motivated by tax-free income...they want you to come EVERY week and are known for black-balling kids who quit them or DARE to see another coach...would tell you the exact opposite, not because of what's best for your DD but what will continue to be bring in their $$.

Bottom line. Unless your DD is always chasing her mechanics, which from your description she is doing just fine, I would not feel you are doing harm by not seeing her PC.

 

[sammy]

First, be sure she is "tuning-up" and learning new things/tweaking over the winter. THAT is the time to break it all down, experiment and change/improve. Just like an orchestra doesn't "practice during a performance", a pitcher uses the off-season (winter in Ohio) for major improvements.

I commend this coach for admitting his limits, if that's what you perceive. Get a tattoo that reads: success is measurable (an astute hitting coach in Cinci "learned" me that). My DD had three pitching coaches during her competitive playing years. She had the first coach up through about 12u. This coach had also reached their limit - we saw no appreciable improvement, so we jumped. The second coach REALLY made huge strides in her speed, overall mechanics and mental approach. DD had this coach for about two years before they relocated to California sometime during 14u. From 14u to college, DD had another wonderful coach who really got her going on movement, speed, mental approach - the whole package.

The "RIGHT" pitching coach is golden. This coach MUST be able to connect with your DD, and be able and willing to try different methods to get your DD to excel. I'd avoid a coach who insists that your DD exactly mimic the coach. Why? Notice the different "approaches" used by women in the college game. Notice the ones who are very successful. By success I generally mean "out producing pitchers" - not necessarily strikeouts - evidenced by striving for that 21 pitch perfect game. How do they approach the game? What is their game prep like? How do they handle failure as well as success? Ask a prospective pitching coach if they can teach these principles to your DD. Ask them what method they use for measuring improvement.

Hint: Have your DD keep a pitching diary. And buy a cheap radar gun (You don't need exactness here, it's relative improvement you're interested in). After EVERY pitching session, she can write notes about what was good, bad and ugly. Write questions to ask coach at next meeting. Record all drills done during every session. Do distance pitching drills and record final speed. This is INVALUABLE for not wasting time or forgetting what REALLY needs work when you see your coach next time.

How much and how seriously your DD works in the off-season will generally determine her path to goal achievement. Remember the metaphor: Practice at home; NOT on stage. That is the absolute cure for complaints about "playing time"!

Happy pitching!