Why Doesn’t My Daughter Throw Strikes?
/Parents and coaches all over this green earth are wondering why their pitchers don’t throw strikes. Watching your daugther’s first couple of seasons can be painful. It’s tough to watch wild pitch after wild pitch, discouraged faces, bats resting on shoulders. Experienced softball parents know that athletes can’t have fun playing a game without a couple of pitchers who can get it over the plate.
Some think, “Emma attended a pitching clinic so that should do the trick.” Some figure, “Just slow it down a bit and it will be easier!” Others, “We’ve gone to lessons for over a year and she still can’t throw enough strikes?!.” Parents might think it’s because she doesn’t “have it” or her arm circle is “off”. Maybe it’s a “focus” problem. At the most basic level, the reason she doesn’t throw strikes is because her neural pathways are not efficient yet. This video explains it clearly. We watch it during mental game in class. It helps young people understand why practice helps them get better.
Both players and parents need to know what it takes to get the results they want. In the beginning, it’s about right-sizing expectations and choosing the most efficient way to learn skills.
One way I like to explain it is through Martin M. Broadwell’s work. He was a management trainer in the 60’s. He wrote a famous article called Teaching for Learning in which he described the four stages of competence. I thought it would be fun to apply this not only to a pitcher’s experience, but also to a parent’s experience of getting his or her kid involved in pitching.
We want to reach “unconscious competence” in pitching and parenting. It’s when a skill can be performed easily without thinking about it. Here are the four phases, the first three leading up to our goal of “unconscious competence.”
“Unconscious incompetence”
“When the individual does not understand or know how to do something and does not necessarily recognize the deficit. They may deny the usefulness of the skill. The individual must recognize their own incompetence, and the value of the new skill, before moving on to the next stage. The length of time an individual spends in this stage depends on the strength of the stimulus to learn.”
How this relates to parents: A dad wants his daughter to try every sport. He signs her up for little league and drops her daughter off at practice. He doesn’t play catch with her at home because he lets the coach take care of that. He thinks, that this will be a fun activity for her to do and get her out of the house. Plus, he thinks that since he played baseball and I walked to all the practices on his own, she can start to learn to gain some independence through sports.
How this relates to players. An 8-year-old is having fun with friend. She’s laughing in the dugout and putting on her helmet. Swinging the bat around is great. She’s kind of nervous. She does what the coach says and takes turns throwing the ball with her friend. She’s not sure what positions mean or what a strike zone is but she gets the idea enough.
“Conscious incompetence”
“When though the individual does not understand or know how to do something, they recognize the deficit, as well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit. The making of mistakes can be integral to the learning process at this stage.”
Parent: A mom goes to her daugther’s first game and notices that not only can they not pitch strikes, they don’t know how to stand on the mound. This doesn’t seem like how games on TV go. The mom sends her daughter to a clinic and thinks that will help. “Finally!” she thinks, her daughter knows how to stand on the mound. But she doesn’t do it most of the time and still can’t throw a strike. Mom does some YouTube research and tries to teach it, but still the results doesn’t come. Smartly, they get advice from another parent who’s daughter pitches strikes. They try 2 pitching coaches and go to some clinics, but still aren’t sure what the best way to learn is, or even if they have to spend all this money.
Player: The coach tells her that it’s her turn to pitch. She realizes she doesn’t know how to pitch. She sees another girl pitching it near the batter. Once she tries to do it, she realizes she’s not as good as the other girl. Her mom tells her not to get discouraged and takes her to a few lessons. She realizes she has a lot to learn but is hopeful and wants to keep going back.
“Conscious competence”
“The individual understands or knows how to do something. However, demonstrating the skill or knowledge requires concentration. It may be broken down into steps, and there is heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill.”
Parent: A dad decided to sign up for Practice Pro with his daughter. They can learn about pitching together. They attend year-round. He sees the competition, and wants his daughter to have the opportunity to make a travel team if she chooses to try out. Pitchers in Illinois are unlikely to get pitching time for a travel team or 95% of high school teams without learning and working hard at it. He’s happy he right-sized his expectations.
Pitcher: The pitcher joined pitching school and attends year-round. She does all of her homework. When she plays, her dad takes video of her motion and her mechanics look different than in practice. When she’s working with a coach or concentrating, she’s can perform the mechanics well. During games she has to think hard about “what is going wrong” with her motion. “How to get this to be a strike?” she thinks. Another pitcher goes in and out of lessons, and sways on how serious she wants to take this whole pitching thing. This stage can last for two years, or it can last an entire career. It depends upon how much practice and learning she puts in.
“Unconscious competence”
“The individual has had so much practice with a skill that it has become "second nature" and can be performed easily. As a result, the skill can be performed while executing another task. The individual may be able to teach it to others, depending upon how and when it was learned.”
A mom grabs her glove from the garage at 6pm when her daughter gets home from basketball practice. The two walk to the park next door, mom sits on a bucket, and her daughter does her practice routine. There’s no whining or un-constructive criticism, the two have a rhythm and have fun practicing together. She helps her daugther pick a good travel team and informs her about the college process, if she chooses to play. Either way, both mom and daugther have the skills to step up to the next level. That is, if they choose to go forward.
A pitcher gets lessons year-round and is always working on her game. She has a practice routine, a warm-up routine, and knows the pitches she “has.” When she goes out play, she goes out to compete. She’s deciding how to outsmart the batter, as opposed to hoping she won’t let the team down. If you took a video of her motion, it would look the same as in practice. Her arm circle, resistance, wrist snap, and athleticism wouldn’t fail her. This is when pitching is the MOST FUN.
I didn’t get to “unconcious competence” until my sophmore year in college. I know what it’s like to make the switch from being consciously competent to unconsciously competence. Let me tell you: you want to get here! It’s when all the hard work pays off and you get to enjoy the game for what it is. It truly is the MOST FUN.
I have many pitchers who get here in middle school, and many more in high school. I’m so happy for them because they have such an incredible time competing! When will get to unconscious competence? You’ll get there when you try to get here. How long will it take? It will take as long as it takes. There are no shortcuts.
