Hello Elbow making me become 'That' Parent

[left turn]

But the coach can't completely lay off the kid either. The private instructor could be on the wrong road. The team has to have some group sense of how to attack skills or else the team will have a jumbled approach to playing the game. They also get a mixed message about whether to listen to the coach at all and that certainly won't work. You have to know and say enough to get the kids through games with solid performance. Or else team practice is a waste of time and should just be canceled.

I understand the perspective and the coaches should be treated with respect. But in this case the coach is not respecting the child or the wishes of the parents. If the parent tells the AC that his instructor is messing up his daughter, the AC should stop immediately. If he doesn't the parent should take it up the chain of command or take his daughter off the team until the conflicting coaching stops.

It sounds to me the AC wants to be right more than he wants to help the child be a better player.

 

[JJsqueeze]

coaches need to evaluate which players are being left in their care for instruction on hitting/throwing/pitching and which have a parent or a private coach involved. By all means, do your best with the kids that have parents who are looking to you for instruction in all things softball, but for the kids that have obviously knowledgeable and involved parents, leave them alone on the mechanics.

Parents need to back off and let coaches have some leeway to occasionally over step the bounds and give advice that you might not agree with. if your daughter is trained correctly then she is not going to change anything based on what a coach says a couple of times. Lord knows that it takes months to get most things to sink in anyway.

I've been on both sides and the truth is that many coaches think they know more than they do and only feel like they are contributing if they are correcting, and softball junkie parents are overly concerned about the effect errant instruction will have on their daughters.

not being holier than thou either....I've been the coach giving the bad advice and the parent getting too prickly at the bad instruction.

 

[Doug Romrell]

What coach thinks he/she is giving bad advice?
What parent recognizes fully his/her own ignorance?

 

[left turn]

What coach thinks he/she is giving bad advice?
What parent recognizes fully his/her own ignorance?

The problem is the young child is being taught 2 mutually exclusive processes. The parent should pick one way (to the best of their ability) and go. It is possible a rec pitching coach knows more than the child's professional pitching coach, but unlikely.

 

[Doug Romrell]

It is possible a rec pitching coach knows more than the child's professional pitching coach, but unlikely.

That is true!

On another note.... Who gets to decide when someone is a "pitching coach?" Some would argue that you can't be a true pitching coach unless you've been a pitcher. However, IMO, having been a pitcher isn't a necessary nor sufficient condition to be a good pitching coach.

 

[JAD]

Just out of curiosity, what credentials does the AC have to makes him/her a pitching coach? All of our rec ball coaches were volunteer parents who had never played a game of fastpitch in their lives.....

 

[Doug Romrell]

What constitutes "credentials?" The only credentials I accept is the understanding of and ability to teach the top pitching mechanics that are generally accepted here. I realize that not all are able to teach even when they understand. Not all who can do these mechanics can teach them.

 

[Elk Grove Hurricane]

The good news is that I had to look up what Hello Elbow is. The better news is that I'd never seen anyone do it before.

 

[Doug Romrell]

The better news is that I'd never seen anyone do it before.

YOU HAVEN'T??? I'll bet you do now.

 

[Caldad]

Without going into the our PC is better than your PC (or Rec AC) rant, let's just say they both have the standard experience. The thing that mattered to me most was our PC continues to learn, attend clinics etc.. to keep his knowledge updated. He freely admits he was a HE coach till 5-6 years ago. I've went to 1 clinic he's invited me to, which was a great learning experience for me.

My DD is taught to nod her head, give 100% effort and do whatever the coach is telling her to do, even if it conflicts with what I or another coach told her. DD is pretty new to pitching (9 months pitching) and doesn't think in terms of this is the right way to pitch or not yet. She is still learning. So when she was getting instruction from AC, she did what she was told to the best of her ability. Which started to mess up her mechanics & I believe was a cause of her shoulder soreness. (or not) I need to teach DD to do it once the way the coach tells her to, then go back to the way she knows how to. (Good point/idea sluggers)

1st time I've ever spoke up to a coach about what they teaching my DDs besides what would you like me to work with DD on this week. Hope they understand my point as well.