2. Improving my Softball Pitching!!! By: Lauren Kenny

3. My Project! For my project, I wanted to improve my softball pitching. This is because I might want to try out for softball at school. I was focusing on pitching accuracy, so that means I was measuring strikes and balls. Strikes are what I wanted to throw. I measured how many strikes I could get out of 10 pitches before and after the project. I started out being able to throw about 3 strikes out of 10 pitches. I now can throw about 4 to 5 strikes out of 10 pitches which means I improved a little bit. My sister was my catcher every time I practiced, so she gave me some tips on how to improve.

4. Sub Goal #1 My first sub goal was to drink 6-8 cups of water everyday. This would help me stay hydrated and focused. I would try to have 1 or 2 cups of water before school, 1 or 2 cups of water at school, 3 or 4 cups of water between the end of school and dinner, and 1 cup of water at dinner.

5. Sub Goal #2 My second sub goal was to do as many push-ups as I could without stopping every other day. This would keep me fit and help with the push-up test. (When I started I could do about 7 push-ups without stopping. I now can do about 15!)

6. Sub Goal #3 My third sub goal was to practice pitching 20-30 minutes twice a week. This would eventually improve my pitching skills. (I started out being able to make about 3 strikes out of 10 pitches. I now can make about 4 to 5 strikes out of 10 pitches.)

8. Problems I Encountered! During this project I faced a few problems. One was related to my first sub goal that was to drink 6-8 cups of water everyday. My problem was reaching this sub goal because some days I wanted to drink milk or juice for my meals, but I knew I had to drink water. Also, I had problems with my second sub goal which was to do as many push-ups as I could without stopping every other day. When I did my push-ups, I knew I needed to push myself, but some days I wanted to do 1 push-up and stop because it would still count as doing the push-ups for the day. Instead of doing that, I was honest with myself which helped me improve. My last problem was with my third sub goal which was to practice pitching for 20-30 minutes twice a week. The problem was I needed someone to pitch to because if I pitched by myself with no one catching it, I would lose my softball. This was a problem because people weren’t always available to pitch to. Since I saw this problem, I made sure I practiced longer than 20-30 minutes the days I did practice so I would get the same amount of time practicing. Even though I had all these problems, I found some way to do what I had to do, to meet my goals!

10. THE END!