Group lessons....effective or not? (sorry, long)

[CanOfCorn]

I found through trial and error (spending money) that 2 kids for batting, 2 or 3 for pitching (depending on age and level) and 3 for fielding based on an hour seem to work best.

It still provides a decent number of reps vs the cost otherwise too much standing around. Just my opinion based on past experiences.






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[Beeg]

It depends.
DD (12U) always took private 1-on-1 lessons. Her pitching lessons sometimes had 2 girls at most.

When we moved, DD went to a new pitching coach with group lessons. It was the most unproductive lessons ever. I pulled her out after 2 lessons.

Thanks to this forum, we connected with a Tincher coach, who also held group lessons for the younger players. These were the most effective group lessons I've seen. The coach went from player to player to instruct her what to do. Each player was supposed to make the proper adjustments on her own while the coach was with the other girls. By the time the coach came back to the player, she could then see if additional adjustments needed to be made.

DD took perhaps a few lessons like this, and her pitching improved quite a lot. That's because she didn't have a coach hovering over her while she was figuring out what to adjust. I think this worked because the coach only focused on one thing for each girl to work at one time.

It really depends on whether the coach understands how to run group lessons. Sounds like the guy you described didn't know how. Unfortunately, many parents are drop-and-run, so they don't know what they are paying for.

 

[The Man In Blue]

@Beeg — I really agree with your thoughts. Granted, every person learns differently, but I have always liked the “Give direction, give time (and independence), give feedback, give time, give feedback” approach. Working in small groups can facilitate this well.

As you said, a coach hovering constantly and nettling at every little action can be very intimidating to a kid. Giving small ”working instructions” and then allowing her to “find it on her own” can be very rewarding and build confidence.

 

[Cagman]

My first experience with a group lesson was pitching at 10U. The facility said $40 for a 3 person group pitching lesson. I thought - $40 doesn’t divide into 3 too well, but what the hell, I’ll give it a shot. I felt like I had just been robbed after handing over $40 to participate in 1/3 of a pitching lesson.

But like others have said, Group lessons can be affective. But until the rates make sense, I won’t participate in them. At least not for pitching.

Buy 1 on 1 lessons in bulk and you make out better.

 

[Rolling Hard]

If the hitting coach is good enough to draw the attention to do a clinic then the coaches/parents should be taking notes.

 

[ChrisSB]

My 13 year old DD has been in group lessons for the last year and a half. They work fairly well, although I'd consider switching to private lessons for more 1:1 time if we didn't love our hitting coach so much. There are around 4 or 5 girls in a group, the coach and an assistant. All girls start off on tees to warm up (usually with wrist snaps, extension, etc), then rotate through 2 cages. When someone's not in the cage, they go back to the tee where they have different drills every month, sometimes those drills are modified or changed completely, depending on each individuals need. It's run pretty efficiently and the way they have it set up the coaches in the cage are also able to keep an eye on the tees. If there's extra time at the end they have bunting or line drive contests, which the girls seem to like.

 

[Rick M]

When someone's not in the cage, they go back to the tee where they have different drills every month, sometimes those drills are modified or changed completely, depending on each individuals need.

I can see where this would work with older hitters. From the responses here, it almost sounds like there's a donut effect to group lessons: at the earlier ages, where they are just learning the basics, a group lesson can be an effective introduction to proper mechanics. From 12U-14U, girls may benefit more from a private lesson where they are fine-tuning specific aspects of their swing or delivery. By the time they are in 16U, they have the maturity and body awareness to get a bit of feedback and then go work on it independently.

 

[radness]

Funny comment that applys...

How we brush our teeth
can be effective or not.

Get it?

The responsibility for the out come of what we choose to do is in OUR hands.
Individual or group

Pay Attention To Results



Enjoy

 

[23and9]

My DD does a one hour hitting lesson with 4-5 other girls. It is well structured, and the girls are always working as the coach is moving around from girl to girl.

I think “group” lessons work when the coach is well organized and can remember what each girl needs to work on from lesson to lesson. My DD has done 5 lessons now in this setting. Her TB coach and I can already see an improvement in some of the flaws she’s had.

We’ve done lessons before with 2 girls max for 30 minutes with a different coach. I had to bail my DD out after 2 months because it was not working. The coach was all over the place basically.

DD’s 10u team last year hired a hitting coach 1 hour a week to come to the facility. 10-13 girls each time and it was absolute chaos.

 

[KPower]

DD had always had a private hitting lesson. Her hitting coach moved out of state last summer forcing us to find a new hitting coach. We went to one coach who has 3 students (mix of baseball and softball) in each 30 min time slot. There were 3 stations tee, soft toss and front toss. The girls rotated and the coach just wandered thru offering tips here and there. DD is a lefty who slaps and can hit away. She will never be a power hitter but she is great at placing the ball where she wants it. She had the best Avg and OBP on both her 14A team and Varsity HS (4th in our state) teams. So she is a decent contact hitter. The hitting coach knew nothing about her and within the first 10 minutes tells her she has no business slapping and that she is only to hit. Nope. Done. I truly feel that he is a good coach if everyone has the same goal and he can cookie cutter coach. But for anyone who specializes or does something different he is not a good fit. He does have some good hitters, but it seems like they either hit home runs or pop out. No in between. We have since found a good one on one coach.

On the other hand - DD catches for her pitchers lessons and they have a 1 hr lesson with 2 students. It does seem to push the girls to work hard when they have another girl pitching right next to them.


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