Softball Pitching - The Bucket Dad Syndrome

There is a disease that often goes undiagnosed.

Pitching (and other skills too) is very technical.

It takes a lot of hours to learn, master, and refine the various technical elements of pitching if you include all of the pitches.

It's very easy to confuse pitchers.

All you have to do is to give them too much info.

And you know what, coaches, parents, and instructors do it all the time.

However, well-intentioned dad do it much more often.

In their desire to help learn faster, they provide feedback to their daughter on each and every pitch during pitching practice!

What a mistake. For three reasons.

1) The kid becomes dependant on that feedback. They aren't learning to think on their own and analyze themselves what happens. They aren't learning to be their own coach. They  rely on their dad (or pitching coach) to do it fothem.

Bad! Bad! Bad!

2) You see, the brain can process only so much info at the same time. Too much of it and they are confused.

Overloading the brain with info is the same thing has rush hours on busy highways.

3) Giving feedback on each and every pitch DOESN'T allow timeto learn. It gives 1 pitch to fix whatever you are working on.

It's not enough.

So what do you need to do?

Shut up (more often).

As I teach in my Super Coaching Bundle - You have to determine an objective for each session, then pick drills to work on that objective and use only a few cues or key words to reinforce what you are teaching.

Only work on a few specific technical elements. Not everything at the same time.

Give feedback ONLY every 5 pitch. The rest of the time - shut up.

Let the pitcher figure out and adjust. It's gonna be hard if you  have the Bucket Dad Syndrome.

However, it's gonna be much better in the long run for your daughter or student.

Simple sports pedagogy.

Train hard. Play hard.

Marc
"Your Softball Peak Performance Coach"

 

What are you going to do with this information right now?