May 09, 2008 at 09:47:03

Re: High School Update

"He's going to work with a hitting instructor this weekend. Our sessions together aren't going well attitude wise. Sometimes it's better for a parent to back away even if he's a coach. The irony is I'll be paying for instruction at a place that offered me a position as a hitting instructor. He'll get his swing back. It's frustration and mental, not skills."

It's funny you mention that. While it's definitely not the big field, my son (turned 11 in Dec) was tearing it up in the Fall playing 12U travel. Come this Spring, he was still hitting the ball hard. Then came LL again...there are only 5 or 6 kids in the entire league that throw as hard as the majority of 12U TB pitchers he sees (and 4 of 'em are our TB team LOL) so he struggled against the slower pitching.

He got down on himself a bit...talked to me a bit about it, but ended up telling his Mom on a long drive quote "..you don't understand Mom...after hitting in 12U tournaments, I should be CRUSHING the ball against LL pitching.."

And after talking to him a bit, I realized he was just frustrated and ended up trying too hard...which never helps.

We went back to basics, and after watching JR and SR LL games, and watching some JV games, he's now realized how much longer he's going to have to wait when the mound goes to 60'6". It also helped that some of the older guys I've coached, who are now on the big field, started telling him about how much trouble they had waiting on pitching when they moved up.

So I understand stepping back. I did it too...didn't mention hitting at all...after a week or two of being in a funk, he finally met me at the door last week when I got home from work. "Dad can we hit...I already put the bucket and the L-Screen up in the cage...I've GOTTA learn to wait.."

On the other hand he is maturing as well on the mound. He pitched the other day in LL and I thought he was throwing the ball a GOOD bit harder than I'm used to seeing. A couple of Dads / Coaches came up and asked me the same thing. I casually asked the kid about a day or two later. His response surprised me a bit..

"..Dad I'm not fast enough to blow it by the good hitters in our 12U tournaments..so I have to hit spots, keep the ball down, and use my off speed stuff....so I don't throw my hardest. But at LL only 1 or 2 kids on each team can even get around on my fastball...so I like to see how hard I can throw..."

All this said in a tone of "Duh Dad.........I thought you knew this stuff....." LOL

• Re: High School Update- CT luvbball 12:31:44 5/12/2008 (0)