Biting tongue at HS-run clinic

[FiveFrameSwing]

Any time you switch coaches it is hard. DD had a coach that wanted her to change her swing like you said. She is a catcher and he wanted to change the way she would pop and throw to second. I politely told him that she had been going to a hitting and catching coach for years so she would have a hard time changing. I then asked him to bear with her and see how the season goes. She caught every game and batted third all season. Never changed a thing. He just left her alone. Why mess with a good thing.

It makes me wonder if these coaches that want to dumb things down have ever really watched really good hitters/players to see what they all have in common?

I read the book "Hit Like a Girl", by Jennie Finch. She mentioned in her book that her high school coach was intimidated by her.

Why can't coaches just look at a horse and ride it?

And that in a nutshell is the correct answer.

All a parent has to do is inform the coach that they are making an investment in weekly hitting instruction for their kid. Many HS coaches will back off at that point ... mainly because many HS coaches sincerely desire to see parents making that investment in their children and they don't wish to hinder the investment process. It's a win-win situation.

 

[softballphreak]

What if you have a team that all swing top side first instead of hips first? What if two of those players hit it over a 210' fence frequently and three others hit it over occasionally? Do you attempt to change them based on flawed mechanics or do the results override?

I foresee a problem at playoffs down the road; like last year.

Are coaches to give in to the individual player or coach a team?

 

[PEPPERS]

What if you have a team that all swing top side first instead of hips first? What if two of those players hit it over a 210' fence frequently and three others hit it over occasionally? Do you attempt to change them based on flawed mechanics or do the results override?

I foresee a problem at playoffs down the road; like last year.

Are coaches to give in to the individual player or coach a team?

That is a tough question, when I was a young man we played baseball every Saturday and we played this church team a number of times. The preacher was a tall skinny man and he batted cross handed and killed our pitchers. He could hit some bombs and for a bunch of young kids 16-18 we had some good pitchers and with all his flaws he had no trouble hitting us.

Some kids are athletic enough they over come flaws and be successful, usually they do well against average pitchers the better pitchers gives them a problem. To win against the good teams you have to hit the good pitching.

If they have the chance to play on an elite college team they will expect them to swing with the best mechanics possible.

I would not mention the poor mechanics of top half first I would teach hips lead the way, have them practice such as the Matrix Drill, hitting from a tee and side toss, using hips lead the way reference. The muscle memory will at some point take over and they will change and never know it happen.

 

[jinjet95]

I think there's a difference between trying to reinforce proper mechanics that an outside coach is teaching and changing a player's mechanics contrary to what the outside coach is teaching. Hips first is an absolute and the HS coach should try to correct it, in line with what the outside coach is teaching. If a HS coach is telling a player to roll their wrist at contact and squish the bug, it needs to be addressed. Just because my DD outside hitting coach teaches my DD the proper mechanics of a swing, it doesn't mean she always implements it correctly.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Simple answer. If DD's goal is to play MIDDLE SCHOOL varsity, then conform to what the MIDDLE SCHOOL coach wants. If her goal is to improve and play HIGH SCHOOL varsity (and/or beyond), stick with what you know is right.

 

[CycloneSoftball22]

She is 13 and in the 7th grade. Her goal for NOW , is to be on the Middle School Varsity team.

 

[softballphreak]

Try what the coach asks of you. Discuss it with the coach at an appropriate time. The coach might know more than you think. If the coach doesn't know maybe the coach will learn.

The most important thing you can learn is to keep a positive mental attitude. It is not necessarily wise to fake agreement and then do different. That is a poor lesson to learn and worse to teach. Try that in the workplace and you'll be looking a job.

Do the best you can with what you're dealt.

 

[Bouldersdad]

Any time you switch coaches it is hard. DD had a coach that wanted her to change her swing like you said. She is a catcher and he wanted to change the way she would pop and throw to second. I politely told him that she had been going to a hitting and catching coach for years so she would have a hard time changing. I then asked him to bear with her and see how the season goes. She caught every game and batted third all season. Never changed a thing. He just left her alone. Why mess with a good thing.

It makes me wonder if these coaches that want to dumb things down have ever really watched really good hitters/players to see what they all have in common?

I read the book "Hit Like a Girl", by Jennie Finch. She mentioned in her book that her high school coach was intimidated by her.

Why can't coaches just look at a horse and ride it?

We went thru this in HS and are going thru it in college. My answer to your last question would be pride. If they see a stud they want their name on that horse. If its not, then they think they can help that horse become a stud. No adult coach, male or female, college, HS or travel wants to be shown up by anyone, much less a player and a kid to boot. A smart coach would have his team emulate her swing if shes the best he has. Or at least common sense would direct me that way. Contact her hitting coach and try to get as many of his kids there as possible. If I had a program I wanted to be successful I would do what the successful teams do.


Tim

 

[PEPPERS]

My daughter pitches, plays first and hits, I never like the 0-1, 2-1 ball games we saw when the pitcher’s mound was 40 feet here in Georgia. The first thing I notice at 43 feet was the games were more like 5-6, 10-9 and games are more exciting IMO because of the offence.

I’ve seen rockets hit of the CF-5, RT and Xenox bats and my daughter when she pitches is 36-37 feet at release point. If a bat being slightly deaden gives her or any player that extra fraction of a heartbeat to get the glove up or even dodge a potential injury then I don’t think that is a bad thing. Having the proper swing mechanics would be more essential for coaches to learn and teach instead of relying on high performance bats. Of course we know that these bat companies are not going to let that happen.

My daughter has a $35.00 Wal-Mart bat for practice, been using it about 3 -4 years, that has hundreds if not thousands of hits with baseballs, machine balls, water logged softballs and generally has been abused. She can hit the ball about as far with it as she can with her Phoenix, she hit a ball with that I was pitching to her at 35 feet and ducking behind a net. The ball whizzed by my ear before I could duck behind the net and hit the center field fence and never got any higher than my head. If it was a few inches to the right it could have been bad.

We went thru this in HS and are going thru it in college. My answer to your last question would be pride. If they see a stud they want their name on that horse. If its not, then they think they can help that horse become a stud. No adult coach, male or female, college, HS or travel wants to be shown up by anyone, much less a player and a kid to boot. A smart coach would have his team emulate her swing if shes the best he has. Or at least common sense would direct me that way. Contact her hitting coach and try to get as many of his kids there as possible. If I had a program I wanted to be successful I would do what the successful teams do.


Tim

I think that is the difference between the average coaches and the great coaches, the great ones continue to learn and consider their coaching skills a work in progress to be able to offer their players/students the best opportunity for success.

 

[JAD]

We HIGHLY recommend all of the girls on our travel ball team have an outside hitting instructor so the instructor can help her develop a swing that is best suited for her. There are hundreds of swing variations and most coaches are NOT fastpitch hitting instructors!