New Old-School Approach for Instructors

As I re-read and old hitting instruction book from John Aquillare, a former baseball instructor who then taught hitting fastpitch, I read some really good stuff about the approach of an instructor.

He said he does not change someone's style if it works for the hitter. He is also humble, realizing that his own stance may not be the best--because he had personally seen so many others with great results, such as Williams and Musial.

The key point: He wrote that he does not teach the hitter anything until he has watched the hitter for some period of time. Why do we jump on the kid in lessons to make them conform to "our rules" without first going and watching her play in a game?

What do you think? Do any hitting instructors go watch the kid prior to lessons? I was thinking this is good for pitching instructors as well, and I am going to start doing it.

No, I haven't gone prior to lessons, but I yes, I do go to their games. That is where I get new students.

For me it usually works in reverse. People inquire about lessons, I start with the player, then go out later to see how they're applying what we've worked on. I get a lot of clues as to what we need to work on by doing that. In fact, that's what I've been doing today.

When starting with new students, generally speaking if someone is doing well they don't come seeking lessons. Why would they? If they're happy doing what they're doing and getting the results they've been getting they don't need me to validate them. I had one of those today. She didn't want to change what she's been doing so that was pretty much that.

Normally, though, I can look at a couple of swings, or a couple of pitches, and see what the issues are. If they've been having trouble, and that's usually who seeks out lessons, they're ready and willing to try something else so we can work on their mechanics from there.

It's sort of like being a doctor. If a patient comes to you and says she's been having stomach pain when she eats peppers are you going to wait and see for a while or are you going to tell her not to eat peppers? If someone comes to me and wants to learn to pitch or hit, I'm going to teach them what I think will make them most successful in the long term. If they want to keep doing what they're doing they don't need my help to do it. They already know how to do that.