Building A Successful Pitcher
A few weeks ago I had a lesson with a pitcher that keeps coming to mind. It’s a lesson that I keep thinking about for reasons other than the pitcher’s performance.
This pitcher consistently works hard during her lessons and has goals of playing at a high level. What struck me about this lesson is the way she interacted with her father.
This father took a different approach to his daughter’s lesson and it made all the difference. He said “I love it when you throw like that”, “When you use your legs your pitches are so much more powerful” and “Being able to come here with you is the best part of my day”. Wow! He said all of that even when his daughter wasn’t pitching her best pitches.
Kids are often told what not to do. “Don’t wear your shoes in the house.” “Don’t forget to bring a water.” “Don’t stay up late on your phone, you have school tomorrow.” That feedback can also create a negative voice within a child, where they constantly become wrapped up in the fact that they want to please their parent or coach and don’t want to mess up.
As pitching instructors, a part of our job is to give criticism to our students to help them get better, while praising them for doing things correctly. We need to be sure that our feedback encourages and motivates our students to get better. By being aware of how we give feedback, we can better serve our students and help them progress.
Pitchers need to believe that success can be reached through positive feedback and changes. We need to be specific in the feedback we give them so they can make improvements. If a pitcher isn’t using her legs we can say “I really liked that pitch, but use your legs in the next one”- versus- “you didn’t use your legs, that’s why the pitch was slow and you didn’t hit your spot.” Notice the difference in the phrasing. Instead of telling the pitcher what not to do, we can phrase what we want them to do in a positive and encouraging way.
Have you ever seen a copy of a copy of a copy? What starts out as a whole, is slowly reduced with each passing cycle. When you use negative or reductive language, that’s what you’re creating–you’re slowly chipping away, instead of building up. Every pitch a sad attempt at replication. That doesn’t sound like a process that builds a confident, aggressive pitcher!
***Note: Special thanks for two of our Certified Instructors, Alex Maclean and Jen Mineau, for putting together this great article. If you are a former college pitcher who would like to learn about our Instructor Certification process, contact us. You will be surprised about all of the ways we can help you become successful. How much does it cost to train with us? Nothing. We believe pitching can be much better in America and are looking for people who have a passion for helping kids succeed.