Hitting coaches' philosophy beyond hitting mechanics

[kgertie]

Along with a travel ball teammate, my DD participated in a hitting lesson over the weekend with a new hitting coach for DD, regular hitting coach for teammate. Her first comment to me after the lesson: CAN YOU BELIEVE HE TOLD ME TO SQUISH THE BUG? One, I am glad she recognizes to ignore this cue. Two, after instructor started the lesson with an emphasis on squish the bug, then DD doubted most everything else instructor had to say. I originally thought that DD's doubting EVERYTHING this person said wasn't really healthy but it actually facilitated a great conversation of the mechanics that we have learned from HITTER. In fact, I actually think it reinforced HITTER'S mechanics even more. She is 16 so she has a decent foundation of knowledge to build on thanks to HITTER.

HERE IS MY THREAD TOPIC:

I firmly believe that this hitting coach tried to find something MAJOR wrong with DD hitting mechanics so he could produce the magical "fix". Every drill he put to her, to his surprise, she hit consistently and hit hard. He even tried to tell her she was casting and put her against the side of the batting cage to swing the bat to show her she was casting (TOLD HER SHE WOULD HIT THE CAGE) but she didn't hit cage once. DD's comment in the car: "Mom I know I don't have a perfect swing but I know I do not cast! Why did he say that?" I am certainly not saying DD swing is perfect by any means but I really felt that this hitting coach was fishing in order to come to DD's rescue by his obvious efforts to pinpoint a MAJOR defect to fix. He could not find it. As we drove home, DD question: Are we going back to him? My answer: Do you want to? DD reply: No.

What do other hitting instructors do when they have a potential new student? Do you have to find a major defect to create repeat business? OR do you fine tune what they are doing? What if the potential new client has horrible mechanics and hits VERY WELL? Do you try to change their swing to reflect your mechanics or work with what they have? What if the new kid has great mechanics? Do you tell them that and risk losing a new repeat customer? Just curious and thought it may start an interesting conversation about hitting coaches philosophy on purpose of a hitting coach and how to balance getting and keeping paying softball players and parents (ie: creating a steady income stream) as clients. I AM NOT SAYING THAT ALL HITTING COACHES ARE OUT TO MAKE LOTS OF MONEY SO PLEASE DON'T TAKE OFFENSE. This is really the first time DD and I have came out of a lesson thinking this.

I would guess the majority of parents on this thread have paid for some type of hitting lessons in order to allow their DDs to find success in softball. I know I certainly have.

FYI: Reflecting on the amount of money we have spent over the years for private hitting coaches, by far the best results come from HITTER'S approach, his willingness to explain and the ability of DD to understand. With that said, what I find the most frustrating is the never ending battle with this ongoing issue: EVERY SINGLE local hitting person that has tried to either coach (high school or travel ball) or teach hitting (lessons) to DD has tried to change DD back to squish the bug, level swing, back slap and/or chop down the tree. Feel sorry for all DDs constantly facing this disconnect.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

My first question is "do you take hitting lessons and from whom?" If someone ever said Howard Carrier, my job is done. There is none better.

Why are coaches still getting paid that are telling girls to squish the bug?

I would not look for flaws and try to fix something in everyone. I would encourage her and give her lots of reps. I am not afraid to tell someone not to change a thing.

Did they try to change her grip?

 

[kgertie]

He did not say anything about her grip at all which was probably the only thing he didn't have input on. Howard suggested the Bat Jack and we bought it. Loves it and uses that grip on her bat when she swings and puts the bat jack on her bat for hitting practice during her own time.

Amy, DD has not had one other local coach, clinic or private instructor teach her anything BUT STB.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I am afraid that I might be going off topic, but as things come and go in softball, STB was introduced in about 1990. So, I changed from my baseball swing and started teaching it, as all college coaches were doing. But, then, major college coaches got away from it and that trickled down to me about 5 years ago. My kids were very good ball players using STB, so it can be done. Their inside the park HRs were all very exciting. I told a friend of mine (Donnie S.) that I should write a book called Squish the Bug and get ahead of the next big thing. He encouraged me to do that. (sarcasm)

I am going to go ahead and order a Bat Jack, since I don't think he is just going to send me one. Amy

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

kgertie ... Sounds like the two of you made a good healthy decision ... "Are we going back to him? My answer: Do you want to? DD reply: No."

When in doubt ... and even when not in doubt ... apply the Hanson Principle. While not fool proof, it does serve as a filter ... assisting in filtering out the 'bad', and filtering in the 'good'.

The Hanson Principle (… the one to use)
“Always compare what anybody tells you about the swing to slow motion clips of the best hitters in the world”.
-- Mark Hanson

 

[quincy]

Only had experience with 2 individual instructors, happened to be for pitching but I think it still applies to your question.

They asked us if we were currently in season and what our goals were. Was our goal to be a better next week or a better in next spring? They obviously would prefer the 6 month answer because it gives them a clean slate to work with, they would have also been OK with the next week answer.

 

[kgertie]

Not seeing much response from the hitting gurus on the forum. Maybe I am the only parent wondering about this?

 

[kgertie]

Amy, if you are teaching the grip that the Bat Jack promotes, it is a cheap investment.

 

[softballphreak]

HERE IS MY THREAD TOPIC:

I firmly believe that this hitting coach tried to find something MAJOR wrong with DD hitting mechanics so he could produce the magical "fix". Every drill he put to her, to his surprise, she hit consistently and hit hard. He even tried to tell her she was casting and put her against the side of the batting cage to swing the bat to show her she was casting (TOLD HER SHE WOULD HIT THE CAGE) but she didn't hit cage once. DD's comment in the car: "Mom I know I don't have a perfect swing but I know I do not cast! Why did he say that?" I am certainly not saying DD swing is perfect by any means but I really felt that this hitting coach was fishing in order to come to DD's rescue by his obvious efforts to pinpoint a MAJOR defect to fix. He could not find it. As we drove home, DD question: Are we going back to him? My answer: Do you want to? DD reply: No.

What do other hitting instructors do when they have a potential new student? Do you have to find a major defect to create repeat business? OR do you fine tune what they are doing? What if the potential new client has horrible mechanics and hits VERY WELL? Do you try to change their swing to reflect your mechanics or work with what they have? What if the new kid has great mechanics? Do you tell them that and risk losing a new repeat customer? Just curious and thought it may start an interesting conversation about hitting coaches philosophy on purpose of a hitting coach and how to balance getting and keeping paying softball players and parents (ie: creating a steady income stream) as clients. I AM NOT SAYING THAT ALL HITTING COACHES ARE OUT TO MAKE LOTS OF MONEY SO PLEASE DON'T TAKE OFFENSE. This is really the first time DD and I have came out of a lesson thinking this.

I would guess the majority of parents on this thread have paid for some type of hitting lessons in order to allow their DDs to find success in softball. I know I certainly have.

FYI: Reflecting on the amount of money we have spent over the years for private hitting coaches, by far the best results come from HITTER'S approach, his willingness to explain and the ability of DD to understand. With that said, what I find the most frustrating is the never ending battle with this ongoing issue: EVERY SINGLE local hitting person that has tried to either coach (high school or travel ball) or teach hitting (lessons) to DD has tried to change DD back to squish the bug, level swing, back slap and/or chop down the tree. Feel sorry for all DDs constantly facing this disconnect.

There are many coaches that are unaware that what they teach is wrong. Even at the college level. It wasn't that many years ago that even the great Mike Candrea was teaching a different style than he does today.

I don't believe there are that many, if any, instructors that purposely teach bad fundamentals just for the sake of a dollar. Most coaches are in it because they believe they are helping, IMO. Perhaps you could do that particular coach a favor by recommending that he look at Howard Carrier, for example. It surely might benefit the students who don't know the right way. Give them a link to this forum.

When evaluating a new instructor it seems to me that much time could be saved just through conversation. Ask them straight up to explain their overall hitting philosophy. It should be pretty obvious if they are current with their knowledge.

I have one student in particular who really doesn't need lessons from me and I have more or less told them that. But when we do have lessons we experiment with various techniques or we will do what amounts to live hit conditioning. She even has what most instructors would attempt to "fix". She steps in instead of neutral. I believe in neutral. But she can turn so fast on an inside pitch and turn it into a double that I told her I wasn't going to "fix" it.

Any coach that has finished learning has actually finished teaching. I truly appreciate the kids that taught me while I was trying to teach them.

 

[Ivy's Dad]

My DD was hitting great this Winter until the team she was on disbanded. We went to another team, but in 1 month the coaches had totally destroyed her hitting. I tried speaking with the coaches over that month, but they were very determined to "fix" my DD's swing. We left that team and she joined another team. It took several months for my DD's hitting to become decent again. She's still not back to where she was. I'm hoping to get her with a well respected hitting coach in this area to try and get her back to where she was.

In hindsight, we never should have had her join the second team. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, and we were kind of desparate given her previous team had disbanded. I know first hand that it doesn't take very long to ruin what took years to build, especially with young girls. If any coach tries to "fix" something that isn't broken, run away as fast as you can.