Hey Coach, you said you wouldnt...

[FP26]

When I was still a team coach, we had a couple players that utilized private instructors for either pitching or hitting. I had regular conversations with these players during practice so that I could better understand their approach. Not to change anything, but so that I could better help them when their instructor was not there (games and practice). If they were struggling with something, I would ask "what does coach x suggest in this situation?" If they were unsure, I would explain what I am seeing and ask them to speak with their instructor about it during their next session. I would not personally seek out their instructors, but I was also not opposed to speaking with them if they were interested. I just didn't see it as my place. I would tell the player (or parent) that I would be willing to share notes if the instructor wanted to talk to me. One particular instructor taught at the same facility I did, so we talked often. Our theories are very close so we would often talk after lessons.

Oftentimes the biggest impediment to learning is ego.

 

[radness]

When I was still a team coach, we had a couple players that utilized private instructors for either pitching or hitting. I had regular conversations with these players during practice so that I could better understand their approach. Not to change anything, but so that I could better help them when their instructor was not there (games and practice). If they were struggling with something, I would ask "what does coach x suggest in this situation?" If they were unsure, I would explain what I am seeing and ask them to speak with their instructor about it during their next session. I would not personally seek out their instructors, but I was also not opposed to speaking with them if they were interested. I just didn't see it as my place. I would tell the player (or parent) that I would be willing to share notes if the instructor wanted to talk to me. One particular instructor taught at the same facility I did, so we talked often. Our theories are very close so we would often talk after lessons.

Oftentimes the biggest impediment to learning is ego.

^^

Great to read ALL the responses recognizing communicating with athletes includes connecting with the individual player about what the players approach is and importance of what mechanics the athlete is working on!

Really expresses paying attention to an individuals goals!

Thats RAD !

 

[John 800]

Communication! Big!
I have encouraged my girls (9,11) to talk to their coaches directly from early on. Here is a funny story about when that system failed: dd’s first year of 10u, my wife and i both encouraged her to try pitching and catching the earleir the better right? The coach amd hos wife who was helping had the same philosophy, the wife and dd had a pretty good connection personally. Dd shirt us down with pitching and catching without trying it. The coaches wife made a comment to my about about mom not wanting her to catch and seemed to think it was a bit funny. I thought that was odd, so i cornered dd about it. Turns out she didnt want to say no so she told the coaches wife that her mom did not wamt her to catch because she was worried dd would get head lice from the catchers helmet, which was completely fabricated.

 

[Strike2]

There are only two kinds of swings...effective and not effective. I've seen things that I would never encourage not matter a bit. Conversely, I've seen players with very good looking swings not be able to make contact. The worst thing a coach can do with hitting is be too much in love with their own techniques. Everyone is different.

Regardless of where it is learned, there are some basics to a solid swing that need to be present or success will be limited or nonexistent. For a good hitter in a bad patch, the fix is often something fairly obvious and uncontroversial. The question is will they listen and adjust. The worst thing a player (or parent) can do with hitting is be too much in love with their own techniques. Another set of eyes can be useful.

The worst situation I've seen is an older player with an obvious and fatal swing flaw. For some reason, possibly because she is fast and very athletic on defense, she was allowed to age with a dorked up swing. Perhaps she was able to beat out that weakly hit grounder as a 14yo, but against a decent 18U defense, she's out far more often. The comical part is that she can't see her own failure, both at the plate AND during practice. She actually thinks she's a better hitter than that kid with less athletic ability who is, in fact, outpacing her in every category. No doubt her parents think she's better as well.