Thread: Travel Ball Coaching

[QUOTE=Sparky Guy;121442]You are right about not everyone can afford a hitting coach. Where you are dead wrong is the need for a personal hitting coach. The great hitters take lessons and work just as hard on perfecting their swing and good pitchers do on their craft.

When it comes to hitting most kids are practice players, meaning their bat almost never comes out of their bag unless they are at team hitting. They don't work on it everyday and can't figure out why they are not having any success.

Actually, what I meant by that was I believe hitters can be successful without a personal hitting coach, whereas I don't see how a Pitcher can be successful without ever having a personal pitching coach. Hitters will certainly be better with a personal hitting coach, but I believe the art of the windmill pitch is much harder to learn and be successful at than hitting. I was a very good hitter and Pitcher in baseball when I was younger. So, I felt confident in teaching my girls about hitting (with some adjustments for softball as opposed to baseball), but I didn't know the first thing about teaching my DD the windmill pitch. Girls could be learning hitting since t-ball, or even younger. How many girls learn the windmill pitch at age 4? But yes, you are correct in stating that somebody with a hitting coach will most likely be more successful than a hitter without one.

On a good TB team every girl should be taking hitting lessons outside of their regular practices. If you have 12 girls on your team, and each one takes a 30 minute batting lesson/week, that is equivalent to 6 hours of practice time per week!!!!! Hitting instruction is NOT a 'one size fits all' endeavor. That is why we do not try to mess with a girls stance/swing/mechanics if she it taking outside hitting lessons.

[QUOTE=ConorMacleod;121504]

Originally Posted by Sparky Guy

You are right about not everyone can afford a hitting coach. Where you are dead wrong is the need for a personal hitting coach. The great hitters take lessons and work just as hard on perfecting their swing and good pitchers do on their craft.

When it comes to hitting most kids are practice players, meaning their bat almost never comes out of their bag unless they are at team hitting. They don't work on it everyday and can't figure out why they are not having any success.

Actually, what I meant by that was I believe hitters can be successful without a personal hitting coach, whereas I don't see how a Pitcher can be successful without ever having a personal pitching coach. Hitters will certainly be better with a personal hitting coach, but I believe the art of the windmill pitch is much harder to learn and be successful at than hitting. I was a very good hitter and Pitcher in baseball when I was younger. So, I felt confident in teaching my girls about hitting (with some adjustments for softball as opposed to baseball), but I didn't know the first thing about teaching my DD the windmill pitch. Girls could be learning hitting since t-ball, or even younger. How many girls learn the windmill pitch at age 4? But yes, you are correct in stating that somebody with a hitting coach will most likely be more successful than a hitter without one.

On a top end A ball team, every player is as committed as the pitcher is. The infielders are taking ground balls on their own, they're hitting balls off a T into a net on their own, and they're seeing a hitting instructor as regularly as the pitcher sees her pitching instructor. It may sound like a lot, but that's just the way it is, and that's what the kids are competing against for spots at that level.

Can a kid be successful without individual practice and instruction? Absolutely, so long as she's competing against the same.

-W

[QUOTE=starsnuffer;121506]

Originally Posted by ConorMacleod

On a top end A ball team, every player is as committed as the pitcher is. The infielders are taking ground balls on their own, they're hitting balls off a T into a net on their own, and they're seeing a hitting instructor as regularly as the pitcher sees her pitching instructor. It may sound like a lot, but that's just the way it is, and that's what the kids are competing against for spots at that level.

Can a kid be successful without individual practice and instruction? Absolutely, so long as she's competing against the same.

-W

"Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard" ~ Kevin Durant

There's a difference between a girl that does nothing outside of team practices, a girl that works with her parents/on her own outside of practices, and a girl that gets professional one-on-one paid instruction. Not sure where you guys are from, but the last one just doesn't happen all that often in younger age groups. But we are straying from the original posters question. First, they didn't say the age group of the TB team. I think several of you are assuming an A level 12u or higher team. There are also 8U and 10U level C teams that travel and play a lot of ball. My DD's have yet to be on a team where very many girls have personal coaches. And, for all my statements about hitters not HAVING to have personal hitting coaches, both of my DD's do, in addition to one DD having a pitching coach. And yes, my DD's are at the higher end of their team in talent. But I think if you are a HC and you run your practices with the assumption that every member of your team will also have a private coach, then you are doing your team a disservice. A good HC, with at least two dedicated AC's that know what they are doing, can do an awful lot of teaching with a couple two hour practices a week. That isn't to say every player shouldn't be practicing outside of practice, but everybody should have a personal coach as well? That's wishful thinking on the HC's part.

The way I read this is.

My suzy isn't hitting the ball very well, its the coaches fault. He should do something about it. Have 3 moms repeat this to each other, and you have a bunch of us were noticing how bad the coach is doing.

I don't care what age your child is, or what level. If you think they aren't hitting (fielding, throwing, pitching...) good enough. Do something about it, don't expect the coach to be able to "coach her up". When my dd was 8,9,10, 11, 12 this is what I heard most nights. I ate my whole dinner, can you pitch to me tonight. Can you hit balls to me, can you catch for me... I didn't take her to private lessons, I could have but why when I was able to spend the time with her.

Originally Posted by chinamigarden

The way I read this is.

My suzy isn't hitting the ball very well, its the coaches fault. He should do something about it. Have 3 moms repeat this to each other, and you have a bunch of us were noticing how bad the coach is doing.

I don't care what age your child is, or what level. If you think they aren't hitting (fielding, throwing, pitching...) good enough. Do something about it, don't expect the coach to be able to "coach her up". When my dd was 8,9,10, 11, 12 this is what I heard most nights. I ate my whole dinner, can you pitch to me tonight. Can you hit balls to me, can you catch for me... I didn't take her to private lessons, I could have but why when I was able to spend the time with her.

I am constantly AMAZED at the number of parents who drop off their DD for practice and expect the coaches to turn her and 11 other girls into 'superstars' in 2 hours......

Originally Posted by chinamigarden

I don't care what age your child is, or what level. If you think they aren't hitting (fielding, throwing, pitching...) good enough. Do something about it, don't expect the coach to be able to "coach her up".

Amen! And if they aren't getting the playing time you and they think they deserve, do the same. Don't just sit and grumble. Your kid is your responsibility, not the coach's.

[QUOTE=starsnuffer;121506]

Originally Posted by ConorMacleod

Can a kid be successful without individual practice and instruction? Absolutely, so long as she's competing against the same.

-W

At younger ages (12u and below), I've seen girls who don't take individual private instruction but who can hit w/ anybody. They'd make almost all the A-level teams and bat high. I'm not recommending that approach to a serious player, nor saying that these hitters wouldn't be a lot better still if they had private instruction and worked harder, but natural ability can take you a lot further in hitting than in pitching, IMO. Some kids just seem born to hit. Pitchers who don't get the right coaching reach a plateau a lot quicker.

It's the coach's team and she can do as she likes. You can like it or not and if you don't then find another team. Why are you still there? We don't let many coaches mess with our DD's swing, her hitting coach works hard and we don't want conflicting instruction. A good coach has all of their players hitting coaches names and phone numbers so if there is a problem they can communicate and fix the it.