Parenting a Pitcher? 7 Must-Know Tips!

Hey There Friend!

Parenting a pitcher feels a little overwhelming at times. It's challenging to know when to push her a bit and when to truly let your daughter lead the way.

While your daughter should be the one in the driver's seat throughout her pitching journey, YOU are so very important to helping her navigate it!

Today I'm sharing 7 of the most critical things you need to know as your work to help your daughter develop her skills and her confidence!

1. Learn the basic fundamentals of pitching with your daughter

The basic mechanics of pitching are not complicated and should be easy for both you and your daughter to understand if they are explained well. Be open to learning together so you know how you can help her during her at home practice sessions!

(HERE is a video from my YouTube channel that shows a step-by-step explanation of pitching mechanics if you want to get started learning right now!)

2. Help your daughter find time for regular practice on developing her pitching skills

Your family is likely extremely busy! I know you've become a master at scheduling to make sure everyone in your family has what they need for school, then basketball practice, then travel volleyball practice, then hitting lessons and also making sure that everyone gets fed somewhere in this craziness! 

I KNOW it's difficult to also find time for consistent at-home practice, I totally get it! However, if your daughter doesn't practice regularly, she will have a difficult time improving both her skills AND her confidence as a pitcher.

Think about a time in you daughter's day where she could invest even just 5-minutes practicing. Could she do it first thing in the morning before she gets ready for school? Maybe right before she takes a shower or brushes her teeth at night?

Placing practice in the SAME time slot every day and pairing it with something she already does (getting ready for school/showering/brushing teeth) can make it easier for her to "find the time" to practice!

3. Praise her commitment to doing the WORK

You can help her stay motivated to do this work by recognizing when she makes the time to practice. Saying things like: "I'm proud of how you for how hard you are working" OR "You've gotten so much better at _______ because of all the work you've been doing" OR "I love that you are prioritizing practice over ______" OR "If you keep working this hard, the sky is limit on what you can achieve!"

Help her understand that the real rewards come through consistent, hard work over time and that there are no shortcuts to success.

Seeing a pitching coach should help your daughter understand WHAT to practice. If she wants to get better, she MUST spend time working at home.

I tell my pitchers frequently, there isn't a "magic dust" that I can sprinkle on them when they come see me for a class that will make them become great. If your daughter wants to be great, she must do the work!

4. Remind your daughter that struggle/failure is HOW she will learn and grow

If your daughter is an 8U or 10U pitcher, she likely has at least half the team that wants to be "the pitcher" on her team...right?! Most girls want to try pitching when they are young because the pitcher gets to handle the ball on EVERY play. The reason that many girls decide that pitching isn't for them is because it's harder than it looks to be successful. EVERY pitcher will experience failure from time to time.

I know it's so hard to watch your daughter fail, especially if you feel like you can anticipate it and protect her from it.

BUT, when you remove the "struggle" for her by doing things like: changing teams mid-season because she isn't getting to pitch OR pulling her from a game (if you are her coach) as soon as she faces a little adversity OR make excuses for her when things don't go her way, you are robbing her of opportunities to LEARN that she CAN do hard things!

She MUST get practice dealing with adversity to help her develop resiliency, a key quality in ALL really successful pitchers...and all people!

If you normalize struggle for her, and help her understand to EXPECT IT on her journey, she will be more prepared to handle difficult times when they happen!

5. Encourage your daughter to communicate directly with her coaches whenever possible

While it's often just "easier" for you to be the one to text or talk with her coach, encourage your daughter to be the one to do this. It will help her in all aspects of her life if she can learn to communicate with adults.

Need to reschedule a lesson? Going to be late to team practice? Wondering how you can earn more playing time? All of these things should be asked by your daughter! If you want her to truly take ownership of her pitching journey, allow her to do most of the communication with her coaches.

Pushing her to take the lead in communicating with her coaches will make it easier for her to do it in other areas of her life as well!

6. INSIST that she's a good teammate

You daughter is the leader on her team when she is in the circle. Her energy is contagious to her teammates, coaches, umpires, opponent and fans.

It's important for her to understand how she looks and acts at all times, especially during times of adversity, affects everyone on the field with her.

7.  Almost always, less is more when it comes to "talking" after games

Before games, tell your daughter to have fun and work hard for her team. After games, let her know how much you enjoyed watching her compete with her teammates. Let HER lead any conversations beyond this.

I've worked with pitchers that decided to give up pitching, in large part, because of the conversations they were forced to have with a parent after games.

YOU are giving your daughter the opportunity to do what SHE loves and that is absolutely awesome! I hope these 7 things help guide you as you navigate her pitching journey along side of her.

If there is anything I can do to help either of you, don't hesitate to reach out! You can reach me HERE anytime!

All My Best,

Myndie