Hitting Lessons

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Aug 3, 2019
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Question for the group:

My daughter plays 10u, B level. A few girls on her team took hitting lessons late summer at a local academy. Reputable place—I’m sure they do a nice job. Their results have been mixed during limited sampling of fall league games.

Coach is asking that all girls participate in the lessons over the winter. Coach is a good guy whom I respect a lot.

I’ve personally been working very hard with DD’s swing. Still multiple areas we are working to fix/improve and far from elite swing but she is hitting .650 during fall and leads the team in all offensive categories. Small sample size, but she has been making consistent progress that she and I are both happy with.

I’m hesitant to not take the lessons and give appearance of not being consistent with the team. But, I really don’t want new things being thrown into her head when she’s improving consistently.

As an aside, I played college baseball, have been around the game for 30 years and am consistently studying hitting methodology. I’m not a hitting coach and don’t know it all, but we work on her swing 3x a week with specific drills and I feel my training is serving her well.

Anyway, would it come across poorly for me to politely decline the invite?

PS—As her opinion matters too, DD has expressed that she prefers staying on current course.
 
Jun 8, 2016
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A lot of the time when a coach says kids should take hitting lessons, in particular at the younger ages, all he really means is "Please make sure to work on your hitting outside of organized practice time." If you go and talk to the coach and explain what you do with her on a weekly basis, along with the fact that she is having success at the moment, hopefully he will just let her stay the course.
 
May 24, 2013
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So Cal
It sounds to me like your DD is already working with a hitting instructor.

Is the team coach telling everyone that they must take lessons with a specific instructor, or at a specific facility?
 
Aug 3, 2019
156
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Yes, he is proposing that the entire team attend weekly group lessons at the same facility with the same instructors.
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
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So Cal
Yes, he is proposing that the entire team attend weekly group lessons at the same facility with the same instructors.

In my experience, group sessions at hitting facilities are not really heavy on the instruction part. It's often just girls rotating through different hitting stations, and a chance to get reps. There's a couple of way to approach this...Go, be part of the team, keep swinging the way she swings. Or, talk to the coach about your concerns that your DD is going to get instruction that will be in conflict with what she is learning with her current hitting instructor, and you would prefer to skip the team hitting sessions.
 
Apr 20, 2018
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SoCal
"If you go and talk to the coach and explain what you do with her on a weekly basis, along with the fact that she is having success at the moment, hopefully he will just let her stay the course. "
This is a good idea.

Group lesson = cookie cutter= little value. Almost sounds like a money grab (sorry for being so cynical). I would go watch the lesson without my DD. And if I hear or see things that are polar opposite of what I teach then just say no. But if the guy is teach proper sequencing that resembles what I believe, maybe I have her go for the good of the team. Hard to teach 12 girls at the same time.
 
Jul 14, 2018
982
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In my experience, group sessions at hitting facilities are not really heavy on the instruction part. It's often just girls rotating through different hitting stations, and a chance to get reps.

Group lesson = cookie cutter= little value.

These are both spot-on. If the whole team is rotating through stations, and your DD has a pretty good swing already, the instructor is going to focus on the girls who need help. The ability to nod and say "Yes coach" and then go on and continue what she's doing will be the most valuable lesson your daughter learns.

And especially at 10U, don't discount the spending-time-with-teammates factor. That's the fun part -- DD is 14U now and there's still a lot of laughter between reps.
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
These are both spot-on. If the whole team is rotating through stations, and your DD has a pretty good swing already, the instructor is going to focus on the girls who need help.

Hopefully, but not always. I've seen more than once where instructors/coaches put the most focus on the best hitters, wanting to make them "even better". Unfortunately, it often ends up as a "if it ain't broke, fix it until it is" story. I'm dealing with a little bit of this now.

The ability to nod and say "Yes coach" and then go on and continue what she's doing will be the most valuable lesson your daughter learns.

This ^^^

And especially at 10U, don't discount the spending-time-with-teammates factor. That's the fun part -- DD is 14U now and there's still a lot of laughter between reps.

100% valid (y)
 
Sep 29, 2014
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You can always go for the team aspect but definitely let her know that if it is opposite of something she has been taught she doesn't have to change her swing....I would always be there watching but you don't have to be on the rail you can just stand back then after its over if your DD has a question you guys can talk it over with the hitting instructor. However if after a few times it just gets too contentious you can bow out just let coach know whats up and that your DD performance should speak for itself.
 

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