What to do about old-school cues?

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

obbay

Banned
Aug 21, 2008
2,199
0
Boston, MA
U18 DD has some coaches in her program (likely will be her coaches next year) who instruct flat swing or swing down and hit the top half of the ball, squish the bug, don't hit off the front foot, Stay back, don't drop the shoulder, a softball pitch is rising so to stay on plane with your swing you must swing down, etc.

I'm looking for advice as to how to address this with those coaches. I'm an AC in the program and will probably move with her, but it is REALLY hard to hear coaches instructing this crap to players who are looking to get recruited. one of them thinks hitting off the front foot and/or a swing with any kind of uppercut is the predominant cause of pop-ups.

any advice would be appreciated.
thanks
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
Why bother? Find a team with coaching that share your views.

If you can't do the above it doesn't really matter all that much by this age group.

By 18U your DD should be well into the 'listen, process, and use' stage anyway. She should be able to listen, agree/disagree on what she is being told and nod and smile as necessary as she continues to go on using what she knows is best for her at this stage. If she is producing, then whatever these old school guys say wont matter all that much (except for when you see them taking credit for her being such a great hitter because of their coaching - that is always a little hard to take).
 
Jun 27, 2011
5,089
0
North Carolina
She should be able to listen, agree/disagree on what she is being told and nod and smile as necessary as she continues to go on using what she knows is best for her at this stage. If she is producing, then whatever these old school guys say wont matter all that much

DD struggled w/ this during HS season. Coach had a practice late in season where a full hour was devoted to hitting ground balls. Front toss 5 pitches to every player. All 5 had to be ground balls or you ran a lap. Next game, ''OK girls, we've practiced this, we want hard ground balls.'' DD hit 3 straight fly balls, got pinch-hit for her next at-bat. Depending on how adamant the coach is about this stuff, it can be pretty stressful for certain kids to be defiant and deceitful (I'm going to ignore what he says) when you've been brought up to respect adults, and coaches in particular.
 
Jun 27, 2011
5,089
0
North Carolina
I'm an AC in the program and will probably move with her, but it is REALLY hard to hear coaches instructing this crap ...

The best advice is usually to challenge the coaches only as a last resort because it is so hard to get coaches even to be open-minded about being wrong, but if you're an AC in the program, I might just say what-they-heck, here goes, and shoot out an email, challenging the whole nest of them. In fact, I'd probably enjoy writing that email. Rather than saying, 'You guys have it wrong,' I might say, 'I have some thoughts on hitting, wanted to get your feedback.' I think it was Kissinger who said the key to diplomacy is giving everyone an avenue to save face. In the case of my DD in HS, the coach can't agree with me because I'm a parent. You can't concede that a parent knows more than you do. That's losing face. But you are an AC. Coaches might say, 'I don't agree, but he's another coach, a colleague as it were, so we'll let obbay's DD alone.'
 
Jul 16, 2013
4,659
113
Pennsylvania
DD was at a D2 college clinic several months ago. Hitting coach was preaching "fire the hands and then push with the hips". DD nodded her head, continued to use her own mechanics and smashed the next pitch to the warning track. One hopped over the fence. Hitting coach's reaction --- "nice job, that's what I'm talking about!!". Unless the coaches are closely analyzing her swing, I doubt they will say much provided she has good results.

NOTE: The same clinic was also touting HE pitching mechanics. DD disguised her IR as best as she could with a late HE finish long after release. This seemed to satisfy the coach.
 
Sep 29, 2014
2,421
113
DD struggled w/ this during HS season. Coach had a practice late in season where a full hour was devoted to hitting ground balls. Front toss 5 pitches to every player. All 5 had to be ground balls or you ran a lap. Next game, ''OK girls, we've practiced this, we want hard ground balls.'' DD hit 3 straight fly balls, got pinch-hit for her next at-bat. Depending on how adamant the coach is about this stuff, it can be pretty stressful for certain kids to be defiant and deceitful (I'm going to ignore what he says) when you've been brought up to respect adults, and coaches in particular.

yeah but if those fly balls went over the fence or in the gap for a double she probably would have still been out there, there might be a few coaches who are really stubborn but if your produce either at the plate or in the circle the harassment about your mechanics slowly start to fade away.
 

obbay

Banned
Aug 21, 2008
2,199
0
Boston, MA
.DD hit 3 straight fly balls, got pinch-hit for her next at-bat
DD 's HS coach is the same way (also an advocate of hitting mechanics from the dark ages) in pre season he will replace any batters who take a 2nd called strike.
He took DD out of a game once when she slid by the plate and tagged it with her hand on the way by. He yelled at her and made a big stink in front of the team. When she sat n the bench, the AC whispered "that was awesome! Great job!"
I'm thinking I might address the points I disagree with in a generic mail to the coaching staff under "lessons I've recently learned".
 

Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,854
113
I actually have my players practice responses to poor instruction. I've told them that any coach has good intent but sometimes has not kept up with the latest "stuff" in coaching and so, don't be disrespectful. Listen to the coach. Attempt to do as much as you can of what they want but know your swing. When you use your good technique and mash, they will leave you alone. So, iow, shake your head and do what you know to do.
 
Aug 21, 2011
1,345
38
38°41'44"N 121°9'47.5"W
DD struggled w/ this during HS season. Coach had a practice late in season where a full hour was devoted to hitting ground balls. Front toss 5 pitches to every player. All 5 had to be ground balls or you ran a lap. Next game, ''OK girls, we've practiced this, we want hard ground balls.'' DD hit 3 straight fly balls, got pinch-hit for her next at-bat. Depending on how adamant the coach is about this stuff, it can be pretty stressful for certain kids to be defiant and deceitful (I'm going to ignore what he says) when you've been brought up to respect adults, and coaches in particular.

Who in the hell would teach hitting ground balls!? Ground balls produce the lowest batting average and OBP! The coach needs to go.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,482
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top