2014-2015 NECC Road Trip Catching Camp Schedule is Complete! Find out where we'll be!

[Eric F]

- The 1st day seemed a little disorganized. For example, even though they knew which players were coming well in advance, for some reason they were scrambling to find 12inch softballs even though several campers were 12U.

This was SOLEY my fault, not NECC's. In the days before the clinic, I told Jay I would provide balls so they wouldn't have to haul them across the country. On the morning of the first clinic day, I opened what I thought was a bucket of 12" softballs (borrowed from one of our league coaches) only to find that it was a mix of 10" and 11" balls. My fault for not checking before hand. Thankfully, I was able to get a bucket of 12" on the field before they were needed.

Good review, Rocketech. It was very nice to meet you and your DW this weekend. Your boy is off to a very good start.

 

[Eric F]

After reading guero_gordo reply I started thinking about how much my my daughter had retained. It will definitely very from kid to kid. However, this was one of those mad scramble softball days that a parent just wants to get over! 9 a.m. bull pin with our pitcher, "whoa check it out" she is a completely different catcher than yesterday and my pitchers dad was blown away! 11a.m. evals! (even though a 4 season returner, gotta eval to be an all star candidate) pop-ups, fielding, hitting , and catching! "whoa again!" definite marked improvement. Tells herself out loud about hand positions in the runner on stance, and A B C glove position, wheel turning! I hear comments from the stands on how solid she looks. Man that sure makes a dad proud. 11:30: jam to sierra madre, just make camp in time! 210 traffic stinks. Another 3 hours of camp done and gone. wow time flies when you are enjoying what your doing. 4p.m. jam to grandpa's house for birthday dinner. In the car ride over, she looks me right in the eye and says "I sure love softball" which is something I haven't heard since the beginning of soccer season.(yeah I know soccer). Now watching the back half of the football game with my dad and what is she doing? every time a commercial break happens, she's doing it! By herself. no reminder. Down in the stance, each change of the commercial during the break she goes from sign, no runners on and then to runners on! my dad taps me on the leg and says "are you watching this?" so to sum it up, maybe some of the conversation goes over there head, but a whole lot of seems to stick! I am not trying to kiss butt or brown nose anyone, but I am pleased! Thanks NECC

This ^^^ is what it's all about. It was great to meet you and your DD, Matt.

 

[guero_gordo]

Here's what the Sierra Madre camp looked like.
Those of you from colder climates, or having weak constitutions may want to avert your gaze. ;-)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/52369584@N07/16143437547/in/set-72157648075051963/lightbox/

 

[knightsb]

GG,

Click on the tool bar icon that looks like a "tree" (that is insert image).
An Insert Image dialog box will open.
Select the "From URL" tab.
Copy/Paste your image URL into the URL text field.
Uncheck checkbox "Retrieve remote file and reference locally"

This will place your image inline to your post with tags.

 

[guero_gordo]

GG,

Click on the tool bar icon that looks like a "tree" (that is insert image).
An Insert Image dialog box will open.
Select the "From URL" tab.
Copy/Paste your image URL into the URL text field.
Uncheck checkbox "Retrieve remote file and reference locally"

This will place your image inline to your post with tags.

YEah, I've done that dozens of times, but this time it failed with "invalid type", so I punted.

 

[CCJR]

Hey guys,

Wanted to reply to this directly while in our hotel room out in KC getting ready for our 4th Road Trip Camp that starts tomorrow.

I certainly appreciate the constructive criticism. We have always said that if something can be better, whether it be the information, format, presentation or other details, we will strive to make it so. I've replied to some of the areas for improvement in red.

My DS 8YO is finishing the 3-day NECC camp in LA today. I attended the first 2 days and wanted to give some feedback on both the positives and a couple of areas for improvement.

The instructors, Jay, Kevin, and Mason are very approachable and knowledgeable. Before camp even started, Jay told me that his team is constantly upgrading and improving their catching philosophy as needed and that a few areas in the NECC DVD (which I have) are in the process of being updated (primarily the throwing mechanics and "C" position for the glove). Our session had about 18 kids (about 50/50 softball/baseball catchers).

Some of the things I liked:

- broke out the sessions for the younger kids (8-12yo) into small groups;
- had the campers do dynamic warm-ups at the beginning of each session;
- explained everything in simple and easily understandable instruction;
- asked lots of questions of the kids and gave the reasons why they teach certain mechanics;
- made the kids feel very comfortable and knew them by name;
- demonstrated proper form and corrected the kids when not doing a skill properly;
- on Day1, Jay used a wireless microphone and PA system which was great so parents could also hear the instruction and take notes.
- during "Receiving" drills Jay would windmill pitch to the fastptich catchers and was very proficient at hitting the locations so they could work on each receiving position.

Some areas for improvement:

- in December, I submitted my registration and check and never heard anything from NECC whether my son was enrolled or not? One week before camp, I emailed them and to his credit, Jay did get back to me within 15 minutes that indeed my son was enrolled. It would have been nice to have received some acknowledgement of receiving my paperwork instead of me having to follow-up with them directly.

100% Absolutely agree that we can do a better job notifying parents when the registration has been received. I was actually planning on sending out a bulk e-mail to everyone signed up for that camp and one thing lead to the next schedule-wise and it never got sent. Point taken and we will be better at this in the future.

- The 1st day seemed a little disorganized. For example, even though they knew which players were coming well in advance, for some reason they were scrambling to find 12inch softballs even though several campers were 12U.

Eric addressed this in one of the last few posts, but there was a mixup on the host end with the buckets of balls made available. Not something we run into often and the issue was solved immediately.

- While the wireless mic and PA was great, the equipment kept shorting out and was very distracting. On the 2nd day, they abandoned the PA system. I hope they get it fixed for future camps because it is very helpful for the parents to understand what is being taught when they are working with their kids individually.

This was an unexpected issue, as my mic seemed to have broken during the trip out. We've used it in previous camps and it was been a godsend for my voice and the parents listening to the camp. We love having the ability to have everyone at each camp hear what's being said, even when outdoors. We'll give it another try this weekend, in the hopes that we can get it working with some electrical tape, but if not we'll try to get this fixed soon.


- The 1st day was a lot of talking by the coaches and not as much actual hands on drills being performed by the campers. The 2nd day was much better with more camper participation.

This is one of the areas that won't ever change with any of our camps. All too often I hear the stories of camps around the country and in the 100's of facilities we've visited, where the first thing that a coach does is throw a ball to a player, simply to get reps. I know it's not how you meant it, but for anyone wondering, our camps are not somewhere to go just to get work in. We're going to teach and make changes, but we will explain every detail of it. Before we throw balls at any student we want to establish proper technique first. We explain the "why" behind EVERYTHING that we teach so that every catcher who attends a camp or lesson with us is able to understand fully the benefit of doing it the NECC way. The first session of every camp establishes a foundation and then we start building off of that throughout the rest of the camp.

- During drill work, the kids were broken out in smaller groups of 6 and the instructor would work one on one with a kid. The problem is that the other 5 kids are sitting around doing nothing. I would encourage them to find a better way to get more kids involved in each drill or when they are waiting for their turn to work on their proper mechanics.

This is one of the biggest differences between our Road Trip Camps and our bigger Summer Camps (16 hours of instruction vs. 6/8/9). Obviously, when we are traveling the number of instructors available to us is limited (Road Trip Camp instructors must have been a student of the program, gone through our instructor training program, worked our Summer Camps for 4 or more years, be over the age of 21, and demonstrated a level of character that far supersedes that of the rest of the staff - who subsequently are among the highest character individuals I know to begin with), so we try to maintain no greater than a 7-1 student to instructor ratio at our RT camps. At Summer Camp it's more like 3 or 4:1. With more of the staff able to interact and instruct the catchers who aren't going through the drills. I would definitely love to have more instructors present to keep the kids a bit more engaged when they are not the ones behind the plate during the individual drills and reps, but we do our best to go through the drills quickly, albeit thoroughly so that every catcher gets an opportunity to practice what they've just been taught and make adjustments based on the feedback of the coach directly in front of them. Something that we try to communicate to every catcher is to pay attention to the catcher who's behind the plate before you. By observing the catcher ahead of them, often they will notice something they could be doing better which they otherwise wouldn't have noticed. I will note that many times during the weekend I saw catchers in each group working on stance, blocking technique and glove position while waiting their turn. Again, I definitely would love to get more catchers involved in each of the live drills, but I feel that giving each kid some individualized instruction throughout the camp is far more beneficial than giving none of them any, as is the experience for kids in many other camps out there which maintain a much much higher student to instructor ratio.


- As mentioned, Jay is a very good windmill pitcher, but the other two instructors struggled with being able to windmill or slingshot a pitch to the catcher. My son was fine since they pitched baseballs overhand to him, but if my DD was a fastpitch catcher I would have been disappointed that two of the instructors could not really find the target, so the camper did not get as much practice at the "receiving" skill as one would like. Half the campers are fastpitch catchers so IMO its critical that they receive the underhand pitch properly.

This is something we absolutely agree on, and believe me, we strive to provide adequate pitching for the girls during each of our camps. In fact we tried for almost 2 weeks to find a couple pitchers for this weekend, but had no luck securing any of their services. I will note that at that age group many of the pitchers their age also have a tough time finding the zone as well, so it may have actually been pretty realistic for them ;-), haha. In all honestly, I am working with my instructors to help them learn how to deliver a passable pitch. But it took me nearly 4 years to get to the point where I am (72 MPH windmill) and that was because I have thrown windmill almost every day in that time period, gradually getting better. Again, at our Summer Camps this is a non-issue with more of our Summer Camp staff trained to throw windmill, and in fact, the groups of the oldest girls get two college pitchers throwing to them all week long.

In summary, I like the NECC camp and would recommend it for anyone serious about catching. My son enjoyed himself, learned the fundamentals, and the instructors did a great job of covering the key concepts and mechanics. Now the hard part comes from taking what my son learned and applying it to regular practice and the games.

p.s. big thank you to Eric F for securing a field and helping to make this camp happen in LA.

Again, I absolutely appreciate your feedback and we will do our best to make changes to continue to improve the quality of every camp that we run around the country.

- Jay

 

[Eric F]

Regarding the issue of lots of "talking" on the first day, I heard a couple of parents mention a concern about it. However, in talking to a few of the students - younger and older - the feedback I got was very positive, which leads me to believe that it may be more of a parental perception issue (for lack of a better way to put it at the moment). From my own observations, I saw a few kids getting bored while waiting their turn, but not while Jay was conducting group instruction.

 

[Rocketech1]

Again, I absolutely appreciate your feedback and we will do our best to make changes to continue to improve the quality of every camp that we run around the country.

- Jay

Thanks for the response, you guys are a 1st rate organization and I have (and will) recommend your camps in the future.

 

[FericKorman]

So due to illness I have not been on the computer much since the camp, for that matter during the camp. First let me say thank you to Jay and the guys from NECC as well as Eric for helping get this setup.

With that said I thought the camp was great as did my DD. I have seen not only improvement but also a renewed interest in truly getting better from her. This was her first time at a catchers camp and we were a little unsure of what it would be like. All in all we are both very impressed with the instruction she got.

I for one was very happy to see that Jay took the time to explain to the catcher's exactly what he wanted them to do and why he wanted it done that way. I did notice quite a few of the kids losing focus at times, but I kind of expected that. I don't feel as if we lost out on any work because telling our kids how to do is just as important as them doing it, the explanation is part of putting in the work. When we ask my daughter now why she is doing something a certain way she tells us because Coach Jay said if you do it like this this is what should happen.

Regarding the comment about the other coaches not being able to windmill pitch that good, I agree. Guys you sucked. But I agree with Jay, my daughter is on 9 going on 10. Right now we do not have pitchers who can hit there spot all day every time. At first, I was a little down on it but after i saw my DD have to move around like a game because Kevin couldn't hit his spot.

Again I would like to thank Jay, Kevin and Mason for doing a great job and we look forward to attending again next year and hopefully make it out to see you guys for a summer camp someday.

 

[MsDinosaur]

DD had a great time at the camp in Kansas City this weekend. She was in the group that Jay pitched to and IMO he did a fine job whipping in the windmill pitches to them. They also managed to find a local pitcher who came in to pitch for the other group of girls and Chaz was there to help them too. I think there were only around a dozen girls in the older class session; it worked out fine.

She came home saying she wanted to go to their summer camp in NH. DH says no way (we're broke and busy tiling our kitchen this year), but I'm thinking maybe next year between sophomore and junior year, combined with an east coast college tour trip...