All I hear is " keep your back elbow up" and "level swing"

[Eugene Stryke]

I am a youth rec. coach and the only thing I ever hear from the parents in the stands and other coaches is "get your back elbow up" when they miss a ball. I mean, the elbow shouldn't be tucked in to the side, but it also shouldn't be pointed toward the sky. I am convinced this is just what everyone says because they don't have a clue why the player misses the ball or what constitutes a good swing. The other one I hear over and over is keep your swing level. How do you hit a low pitch then? The swing should be on some kind of even plane, but the kids don't even know what this means from what I can tell. It is also amazing how little supposed coaches know about teaching a proper swing. Is this anyone else's experience? The only way you get any respect from some of the parents is if you win. I have been winning, but next year I am just going to send out an email saying stop yelling from the stands about the back elbow and the level swing. Thanks for listening, I feel better. ahhh

 

[CobraAssist]

RELAX BROTHA. Grab a beer, prop your feet up, and take a breather.

The truth of the matter is that people only know what they've been taught. I personally, had to completely unlearn everything I was ever told about hitting. It took time. Your best bet is to have a parent meeting at the beginning of the season, and just ask the parents to please not shout instruction of the stands. It won't happen, cause there's always going to be some dude that played JUCO ball for a year yelling at his kid to "Squish the Bug," "Throw Your Hands," "Keep Your Weight Back," and to "Swing Down At The Ball."

Just keep pluggin' away though, and eventually, you'll turn some kid into a stud...and then everyone starts listening. It takes a while though. It took me over a year to get people to listen to what I had to say. Now they call me the "Hitting Nerd" (the nerd part being a reference to all the research I do online...mainly off this site). You can't fix everyone though, and you just have to remember that.

 

[quincy]

All the Players get a lot of advice from the stands, most of it bad.

DD has rabbit ears so we have changed some of the things she hears.

“Just throw strikes” – Throw harder
“Elbow up” – Separate
“Level Swing” – Swing hard
Etc ….

Coaches on her Team for the most part leave her alone but we have parents that help. DD will do what they ask then quickly forget. It is just part of the experience.

 

[PA SB Dad]

What I've done with some of the more "interested" parents is to use the Coach's Eye App and video a few swings at practice of the kids, then send the video to the "interested" parent along with some clips of model swings (gifs that I have downloaded from this site!). I send a paragraph about what I think is going on with their DD's swing, and some drills to work on at home to help address the issues. Every once in a while I get a request to refer them to a hitting instructor, but most of the time they stop yelling advice from the stands and it gets much easier to coach the kids.

 

[Love Watching Softball!]

Sounds like you are a coach that goes that extra mile! What age do you coach and where in PA?

 

[nanotech14]

I for one the back elbow up doesnt bother me as much,because I look at it as style thing,as long as the elbow gets to the slot position with out causing something else to go wrong. The swing level and your dropping your back shoulder and the squish the bug,I cringe when I hear it and swing down how could I forget that. I have been HC for rec. teams and been AC on TB teams and this year I was AC for HS team.I heard it all the time from coaches in Rec. (well to be honest,when I first started coaching said the same) in TB ,I cant rember ever hearing it.But in HS ball,I heard it all the time and not just from the parents,but HC's too,are own HC was saying it.We one day after practice talked about hitting, he noticed I was taking a different approach to helping the girls.He really was quite surpprised about what I had to say about the old cues that are said about hitting.Oh and one more throw your hands at the ball!

 

[Eugene Stryke]

Thanks for the input. I guess what really bothers me is that people including many coaches don't spend 5 minutes studying the art of hitting. They just mindlessly repeat something they heard who knows how many years ago. I'm thinking about getting the Right View Pro setup and really dialing it in.

 

[SBFAMILY]

If you get RVP. watch the big zone demo. It will show you why those yelling level swing are idoits and will give you something to demo to prove them wrong !

 

[ASA-CROSSFIRE-12U]

IMO the girls cannot have a level swing if the elbow is up! That is the first thing that drops, then they tend to "chop" at the ball. If they are relaxed in the upper body and open up the hips and have the elbows go first the rest will follow the level swing. Parents need to have another hot dog or more sunflower seeds or build a team and coach!

Sorry just frustrated over the whole "parent coaching from the stands gig"

 

[Mr T]

It's been my experience that starting with a low back elbow and then leading with same elbow is a major problem with young players. Coaching from the stands tends to be pointless generally, but I would not put the elbow comment in the same category of badness as squish the bug, swing down, or certain other comments.