Anyone who has ever caught for their kid's pitching practice knows what I'm talking about.
I went through it with my oldest daughter from about 10-14 yrs of age. She had a "live" arm. She had the raw ability to throw HARD. During her first year at 10&U we were approached by a team from Nashville and picked up with them for a trip to Columbus OH for the NSA world series. She did great. The next couple of years showed increased speed and control, and then mixing in a great changeup. Opposing teams would apporach me after games and talk about clocking her on their radar guns. I had never done it. She was hitting 60 mph at 13 yrs old. Then she got injured sliding, which derailed her. During all of this, her first love was basketball, and she did not want to put in the time to work on her pitching. I finally encouraged her to quit and concentrate on bball.
My youngest came along and we started working on pitching as well, but only stuck with the local league. She did fine, but didn't really have the interest to pursue travel ball, which was fine by me. She aged out of the league, and hasn't pitched in a year and a half. We had moved past sball, or so I thought. She got the itch a few weeks ago, and she wanted to see if she could still pitch, as she will be a freshman in high school and is possibly interested in playing again. It wasn't long before she was close to being back. During all of this, we attended the UT super regional games last weekend, which UT lost. After TN was eliminated, we found out that one of the Vol pitchers was offering lessons. We jumped on it, and went this past Saturday for her first lesson. She is on cloud nine, and took well to the instruction. She begged me to take her last night, and she already has improved pop and accuracy. We will go back Saturday for another lesson from Caylan Arnold.
So, it's back to being a bucket dad. Who knows where this will lead, but I'm just enjoying the ride one more time.
I went through it with my oldest daughter from about 10-14 yrs of age. She had a "live" arm. She had the raw ability to throw HARD. During her first year at 10&U we were approached by a team from Nashville and picked up with them for a trip to Columbus OH for the NSA world series. She did great. The next couple of years showed increased speed and control, and then mixing in a great changeup. Opposing teams would apporach me after games and talk about clocking her on their radar guns. I had never done it. She was hitting 60 mph at 13 yrs old. Then she got injured sliding, which derailed her. During all of this, her first love was basketball, and she did not want to put in the time to work on her pitching. I finally encouraged her to quit and concentrate on bball.
My youngest came along and we started working on pitching as well, but only stuck with the local league. She did fine, but didn't really have the interest to pursue travel ball, which was fine by me. She aged out of the league, and hasn't pitched in a year and a half. We had moved past sball, or so I thought. She got the itch a few weeks ago, and she wanted to see if she could still pitch, as she will be a freshman in high school and is possibly interested in playing again. It wasn't long before she was close to being back. During all of this, we attended the UT super regional games last weekend, which UT lost. After TN was eliminated, we found out that one of the Vol pitchers was offering lessons. We jumped on it, and went this past Saturday for her first lesson. She is on cloud nine, and took well to the instruction. She begged me to take her last night, and she already has improved pop and accuracy. We will go back Saturday for another lesson from Caylan Arnold.
So, it's back to being a bucket dad. Who knows where this will lead, but I'm just enjoying the ride one more time.
