Frustrated...

[Money111911]

I don't like the group thing either. But it seems like that's all he does because it's more money in his pockets. He teaches about 4 to 5 kids an hour for 3 hours a day 6 days a week. So 18 x 5=90 kids @ 125/mo. I mean HELLO!!

 

[CLM265]

You mentioned that she has barely been shown a change up. Sounds like you need have him show it to her again and go practice it on your own. There is a ton of info on DFP about change ups. Do some research, be pro active and dive in.

 

[Rocketech1]

I don't like the group thing either. But it seems like that's all he does because it's more money in his pockets. He teaches about 4 to 5 kids an hour for 3 hours a day 6 days a week. So 18 x 5=90 kids @ 125/mo. I mean HELLO!!

I'm going to be blunt here. I don't give a rats arse about why or why not this guy does group lessons, you continue to have your DD see him and you are setting her up for failure and will likely quit pitching before she even gets started.

Find someone who will instruct your DD 1 on 1 and never do group lessons again. Pitching is not something you can do well, half rear. It takes a ton of work, time, and unfortunately money to be proficient.

Good luck.

 

[CoachBroker]

I also live in east TX and though I have searched high and low for a pitching coach who was close, I realized the quality of instruction we got driving 4 hrs to see Hillhouse once a month was better than going once a week to the wrong coach. I agree that one on one is far better than a group lesson. If your daughter is proficient with her fast ball the by all means she needs to learn the change up.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

I actually preferred the group lessons around 14u. I would suggest individual lessons when they are younger.

Having said all of that the knowledge of the pitching coach trumps all of that. What good are one on one lessons if the instruction is poor? If you live somewhere where you have multiple options you are lucky.

 

[Rocketech1]

I actually preferred the group lessons around 14u. I would suggest individual lessons when they are younger.

Having said all of that the knowledge of the pitching coach trumps all of that. What good are one on one lessons if the instruction is poor? If you live somewhere where you have multiple options you are lucky.

What is it that you like about group lessons when the pitcher is older?

 

[JAD]

I am a much bigger fan of a private one-on-one private pitching lesson vs. a one hour group lesson with multiple pitchers. Going rate @ Atlanta is $30-40/hhr. Working hard outside of her lessons is also more important than the lessons themselves. There is also nothing preventing your DD from working on a change up on her own. There are a lot of videos on YouTube that demonstrate various grips and throw it just like a fastball.

 

[joe720]

I am still pretty new to the softball sphere, but one of the things i notice is people really pushing to keep learning many different pitches. In my opinion if you haven't really mastered one, what is the point of working on a second? Especially during lessons. The way i look at it with lessons is form is much more important than the quantity of different pitches you can throw. If pitching coach focuses on that then i would feel i got my moneys worth.

But then again, that is just my opinion.

 

[Phathead]

DD does lessons in off season . 2 girls at a time. He does good job of it. He stays between the 2 and working on each individual problems or corrections. At first I had my doubts but amazed with back to them and dads on buckets he corrects them a lot just by seeing spin and location as I catch it.

 

[MNDad]

Wondering if anyone else has this issue. My daughter is 12 and plays on a travel team here in East Texas. A couple of years ago, she tried out for a team that was maybe a little above her level but we wanted to see where she stood. At the time, she was a catcher. She's a lefty, so it was rare but she held her own for being thrown back there during a game. She loved it so we started working with her and bought gear. Anyway this coach didn't choose her so we reached out to just get feedback and he wondered why a tall lefty wasn't pitching. At the time, she has no interest. He had her play catch with his daughters and to his surprise, her arm was incredible and he said if she had thrown like that at tryouts her name would have been on the roster. He offered to teach her for free and she agreed to try. She end up loving it.

Her form was awful though. And it was mostly because his method was not that great. It was then suggested to us a very popular coach nearby who instructed some of our towns best pitchers. So we called him. We took her also to Jennie Finch camp where she absorbed quite a bit. All her choice by the way. We don't push her to do anything other than her best at what she chose to do.

We've been seeing this coach for well over a year and I can't figure him out. Yes he did start her over from scratch which is fine and it took forever to release her to pitch in games but now she's pitching at least 50mph and has great form but he's not teaching her any additional pitches. She's barely been shown a change up and at her age, she should have a nasty one. This guy walks around the whole hour and has about 5 other kids in the session and we pay a lot for him only to share the attention with 5 other girls. And he misses some of her best throws most nights. I'm getting really upset that he's not showing her more by now and I wonder if it's normal to go this slow. I'd understand if she sucked and just wasn't picking it up but she's a natural. She has this natural "break" at the end of her pitch that batters swing at and miss. She sends more batters back to the bench because of this curve. And the spin on her ball is like nothing her team coach has ever seen. He loves her. So what's the hold up? Should we be hinting for another pitching coach?

For starters relax. Don’t be so quick to dump this coach. There’s nothing you’ve told us yet that show’s he’s a poor PC. Critique where his older girls are and if they’re throwing IR or HE. Don’t worry if he uses different terms. If you’re not familiar with them look at some of the sticky’s on the pitching threads. If she absorbed quite a bit from Jenny Finch, she likely started out throwing HE and he might be trying to fix her. If his older girls have good mechanics and are learning multiple pitches you might want to stick with him. I’m assuming he also teaches private lessons. It can be expensive, but I’d urge you to try to mix in at least one private lesson a month if you’re going with the groups.

Back to your post. Twelve year olds don’t have “nasty” change ups. Ask the parents of the college pitchers how many pitchers they see with “nasty” change ups and its very few. Most girls by twelve are developing one, but since your DD started late I wouldn’t worry about it. Pitching is a long journey. Don’t worry about having seven different pitches. Her increase in speed which tells me at least something her PC is teaching is working. A “natural break” is likely a sign that somethings off. Talk to the PC. Find out his plan. My hunch is he’s holding off until she masters basic mechanics and you may be jumping ship too soon. He might be a clown, but I see so many kids switch PC’s every year and they’re a total mess. Good luck you your DD. Be patient and get as much information as you can before making rash decisions.