Pitching Centre

Welcome to the Softball New Zealand Pitching Centre

Debbie Mygind
National Director of Pitching
Ph:(09)8172242
Mob: 0800 pitcher or 021748243
Email: Debbie

NDP Calendar

My name is Debbie Mygind and I am the Softball New Zealand National Director of Pitching. I have had international experience as a pitcher and a coach and I am happy to share my pitching experience and knowledge with you. As a player I secured a college scholarship at Cal State Fullerton and was the winning pitcher on the mound when the NZ Women’s Team won gold at World Series in Taiwan in 1982. I have coached in New Zealand, Sweden and USA and Canada.

Like all good coaches, I am frequently keeping up to date with overseas trends and new developments. I am also happy to sit down at any time to talk pitching with a number of hugely talented pitchers that NZ has produced both now and in the past.

At Softball NZ we see coach education as the key to our game going ahead and coaching coaches is our target market. The pitching page is designed to assist the club coach and provide all coaches with coaching resources, coaching tips and links to other pitching websites.
I am also happy to hear from any players or coaches who might want to forward me any questions they have on the art of pitching. The more we can educate coaches and players the better the game will be.

Improve the pitching and the entire game improves….

Improve the catching and the pitching improves…. 

As a coach you need to prioritise pitching and catching and make it part of your normal training routines. There is immense skill involved in pitching and catching so coaches, please make sure that you allow your pitcher/catcher battery the time to practice at team practice and encourage these players to also practice in their own time. This needs to happen at all levels whether it’s age group or adult. Catchers must work on their receiving skills and should be wearing full catcher’s equipment when catching to a pitcher to simulate game conditions.

At the developmental stage, the first step to developing more pitchers and catchers is to create the right environment and encourage more people into having a go at these key positions, particularly at a young age. Developing the confidence and skills of these players is crucial in order to keep young players in the game.

The SNZ Pitching & Catching Pathways were introduced in 2006 to offer coaches advice on the key technical points of these positions with the emphasis on what is achievable for the specific age group. Achievable means success and success means player retention.
The U15 Rule for National Tournament has been introduced in 2008 in an effort to help educate the junior coach and Associations on their important role in developing these young players. Further information on these two initiatives is available as a free download.

Coaching Courses are available and you are encouraged to undertake further coach development and use the Coaching Resources that are readily available. The key to all these resources is you the coach, and I am happy to help you where I can. Good luck and please feel free to get in touch with me at anytime on debbie@softball.org.nz

FASTpitch softball = FUN, ACTION, SKILLS, and TACTI

 Have a go - Share the Load
Rookie & Raw Sox Pitching Poster

We need more coaches to encourage more players to help share the load of pitching and
catching in junior fastpitch softbal

"Please feel free to get in touch with me for any requests for coaching advice
or pitching questions you may have"