Pitching coaches who recruit from other pitching coaches

[Rockjerry]

CoachStan, I might attempt to see what he told the student or parents on why the players should go to him instead.[/QUOTE]

I agree with this approach. It could be that he just sells himself well. If he is lying about you then that is a completely different story and that is where the unethical comes into play.

 

[NewBucketDad]

Im not sure if its unethical or not he might think he can help the kid be better. In my area PC's usually get there students from word of mouth. My wife loved our DD's old pitching coach But when my daughter started having pain in her shoulder and I started reading up on softball pitching I made a change. No matter what the parents are going to decide whats best for there Daughter.

 

[AndyS]

I have students leave to go to the big, expensive coach, too. I wonder about it, for awhile. But then 2 little 8 YOs will come in, that are just full of life, and I move on.

Just my worthless two cents, in my opinion your words and sentiment are what exactly defines a great coach. We have a very good pitching coach here in Stl. but reading your posts makes me wish we lived in AZ.!!! Your students are very lucky.

 

[FrozenRope]

As far as the right/wrong of another PC recruiting your students... all is fair in love and war. I like to think that just like ANY business in life (yes, you being a pitching coach is a "business"... if you earn a customer's respect and trust, they'll remain loyal under most circumstances. On the flip side of the coin.... even though a parent and child may LOVE you as a person and a coach, there is ALWAYS that unknown about the shade of green of the grass on the other side. Any time an athlete hits a plateau, the natural reaction of that athlete, or the parent in this case is to wonder if they can continue to progress with a different routine/coach/team/etc. It's human nature... "what have you done for me lately". I disagree with strong arming and using the ... "if you leave... you're done" approach....that is unless you have parents beating down your door for lessons and you have the luxury of turning away students because you are too busy. That type of attitude leaves a bad taste in the parent's mouth... and you would be lucky to see even a 5% return rate.... no doubt in my mind as a customer. On top of losing THAT student for good, there is an old saying that each and every "customer" that has a bad experience is likely to tell 5-10 friends of that negative experience as opposed to telling on average less than 1 of a positive experience. Word of mouth in my opinion is the BEST advertisement, and the worst critcism to oversome... just my opinion. If you encourage them to go out and test the waters to see what else is out there and welcome them back, they will be more likely to return. Obviously you would only do so if they came to you telling you they were going to try a different coach AND you are confident in your own ability to get the job done.

 

[JAD]

No one likes to lose business, but to assume you have a 'student for life' just because a girl has come to you for lessons in the past is absurd. I wish all of my companies competitors would stop calling on my customers, but I know that is never going to happen, which is why I am constantly working to keep my customers happy! My DD has been to several pitching coaches over the years, and the changes have been for various reasons. Sometimes parents change coaches just to get a different perspective or "fresh eyes" on their DD in order to help her improve. The best pitching coaches in our area have a waiting list of players wanting to start lessons as soon as a spot is available, and as Amy pointed out, sooner or later you will need to 'back fill' your schedule with younger pitchers as the older ones 'age out'.

 

[Mike-Coach Q]

I've been on both sides of this, Twelve years ago when I was the young buck at the local park at the tender age of 42, the then 90 yr. old pitching coach accused me of stealing his students. Now, I never aggressively recruited his pitchers, but I didn't turn them away either especially when the parents would tell me they would go somewhere else if I didn't take them. Even at his mature age he would out hustle and recruit me. Every Saturday, he was at all the local tournaments recruiting students. He would walk up to the crowd during the game and look for the parents of the pitchers and sign them up. He would pass out 20 cards to my 1. I admired and respected him and wished we could have been better friends.

As I get better at teaching IR (thanks BM) and my students look different than the hello elbow crowd, I lose less but have to defend (educate) my teaching more. The local college pitching coach teaches hello elbow and says my student don't use their wrist. Hmm

Today, almost every travel ball team has a pitching coach on their staff; I've lost a few students that way. I welcomed the ones who wanted to come back with open arms, because I agree, its about the student not me, and if that coach can teach you better then I can, my work is done here and it's time for you to move on. Good Luck

 

[tojo]

Coach Stan, many parents are looking for the "magic bullet" that will take their child to the next level. I can't blame a parent for wanting what's best for their DD. If your students outperform his students as you say, they will want to return. The vast majority of PCs will have students leave his/her program and some will ask to return if they don't progress. My biggest problem is when they return, most of the time I spend alot of time cleaning up the mess which takes valuable time that could have been used improving and getting better. If the other PC is out recruiting tells me that word of mouth is not working for him. However, if the other PC sees something in the students pitching motion that may result in injury, then I would commend him for taking the child's health and well being in consideration when approaching the parents.

 

[doublesteal]

We have a pitching coach like that in this area, except heonly takes the students for a few year than drops them. He won't take any beginer students, they have to learn somewhere else. Than he hand picks what he feels are the best and persuades them to come to him (most of his students are 14u & 16u). Don't get me wrong, he does a nice job working with them, he can perfect certain pitches (the screwball, drop curve & drop). However once he seems to perfect these pitches, he seems to lose time for them and essentially pushes them out the door for a new 13 year old to take thier place.

 

[Jojo]

There was a local pitching coach here that was actively recruiting all my better pitchers. He would search out their parents at tournaments and give them his card and tell them in one lesson he could put 5 mph's on them. And some would take him up on his offer. He used the old push the radar gun at them trick and would indeed get those 3-5 jumps on the radar gun. Then he'd put the radar gun away and they would never see again.

I used to get upset about it, but the longer I'm in this (11 yrs now) the more I try to let it run off. I used to explain to my husband that it upset me and he could never understand why it would. Then one day I was watching a show called "Dance Mom's", and one of the instructors students left her and went to another studio. Before she had even had one day at that studio she went to a contest and won first place. Her new studio got the award and the fame and in no way earned it. This upset the old instructor.

So I explained to my husband, remember when that great student I had, that I had trained as a 10yr old for the last 5 years abruptly left me to go to another instructor, and right after that her dad notified me that she got that wonderful scholarship from that great college. I felt bad that I couldn't have been there for the whole ride, and yeah I'll be honest that it does bother a little that I won't get any credit for her scholarship, but felt better when her dad called me and did indeed appreciate everything I had done to get her where she ended up.
I also found out later that they went to the other instructor because she was an ex-collegiate pitcher and they felt having her name as her PC would get them better offers than a no namer like me.

I came to terms with it, I'm a no-namer and always will be, because this instructor will more than likely end up with all my better students. So I do like the poster above and enjoy them while I have them.
Right now I have a 10yr old that I have had for a year. Her dad is being transferred and they are moving away next month. Last night she put 49mph on my gun. So we have made it a personal goal for the next month to try and get that 50mph! before she moves away.

 

[Coach Stan]

Reading most of the replies it is felt that it is ok for any pitching coach to recruit from another pitching coach.

Sorry but I must strongly disagree. At some point there must be some course of action that ethics is involved.

Also I think a lot of people who replied did not read that I do not care if parents experiment with other pitching coaches as long as they did it on their own. Parents must do what is correct for thier daughter's best interests.

Thanks to all who have replied and I do respect your views.