Every student is different. The truly successful coaches/teachers are those that can recognize those differences and utilize them to enhance the subject matter. I don't care if that is hitting, piano, or basket weaving.
Honest question regarding amount of instruction
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Every student is different. The truly successful coaches/teachers are those that can recognize those differences and utilize them to enhance the subject matter. I don't care if that is hitting, piano, or basket weaving.
- May 17, 2012
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Some D1 hitters have bad swing mechanics. They are blessed with great athleticism and have a great mental approach.
Everyone likes to focus on mechanics but it's only one piece of the pie. Players that aren't blessed with athleticism and a great mental approach do need to have perfect mechanics.
Every player is different. The great players have all three.
Everyone likes to focus on mechanics but it's only one piece of the pie. Players that aren't blessed with athleticism and a great mental approach do need to have perfect mechanics.
Every player is different. The great players have all three.
pattar, I agree with you, I'm just saying some skills require some pro help. My DD is a good hitter and has never taken a lesson, but we have spent hours in the cages and at the fields hitting the ball. I started pitching to her when she was under 2. She did play from some good coaches who gave her some instruction but truthfully she could always hit. At her current age (14) she would need some help in order to get college recruiter after her if she wanted to go that route, but for now is just happy playing.
The problem with kids not playing on their own is that they don't really know how to play. They may be able to hit and throw better than we did when we were kids, but the ability to run bases and play freely seems be missing.
The problem with kids not playing on their own is that they don't really know how to play. They may be able to hit and throw better than we did when we were kids, but the ability to run bases and play freely seems be missing.
This is an excellent point. I call it Softball IQ. DDs travel team is blessed with players that seem to have a pretty good understanding, for the most part. Her high school team... completely different story.
- Jun 8, 2016
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Better check the boards to make sure there are not any Manny Ramirez baserunning instructional videos out there..
to pattar's point,
one could make the case that all the drills/instruction we subject our kids to today,
really hinder their mental approach. or make them "mental", orsomethinglikethat...
- Jun 8, 2016
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This may be where knowing the kid is most important I guess. Some kids (like I used to) tend to overanalyze everything which in my case led to not being able to let
go of ABs. Not sure how I would have reacted to someone analyzing my sequencing on a daily basis. Every swing and miss probably would have resulted in me
thinking about some aspect of my swing...not good imho. Some kids may just take the instruction, internalize it
and not let the mental aspects of the drill/mechanics bleed into game thoughts??
Some kids need instruction in order to be a hitter. Some kids are just naturally more athletic and just have a good swing from the beginning of their playing. DD has had some girls that she played with at younger ages that had never had any kind of real instruction that just had a natural athletic swing. May not have been technically perfect, but it worked for them. I do think that if you want your dd to reach a higher level of play, then a swing coach/pitching coach/ catching coach, etc are very valuable.
- Feb 7, 2013
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The competition is too great today not to get good instruction early. When I was a kid playing soccer, it was a seasonal sport (fall) and you could get by with limited instruction and playing around for fun with your buddies after school. No way in 2016 that I could play varsity soccer in HS without attending soccer camps with quality instruction at an early age. Same goes for softball. When DD was 7YO (now 14) I started weekly pitching lessons with her and she improved dramatically after a few months, seasons, etc. I don't think she could have ever practiced enough or figured it out on her own before the coaches would have benched her. You need reps to get better and to get reps you need to play well, early and often.
To some posters re: ingraining bad habits. I 100% agree with those statements. I played some tennis in middle school and high school and had a funky over-rotated western grip that limited my ability to play tennis at any real competitive level. Had I been taught at a young age a better, more proper grip I would not have struggled so much with my game.
With that said, the fear is over instruction and the "natural athleticism" of the athlete might be coached out of them if you are not careful.
To some posters re: ingraining bad habits. I 100% agree with those statements. I played some tennis in middle school and high school and had a funky over-rotated western grip that limited my ability to play tennis at any real competitive level. Had I been taught at a young age a better, more proper grip I would not have struggled so much with my game.
With that said, the fear is over instruction and the "natural athleticism" of the athlete might be coached out of them if you are not careful.
