pitching student video

[Amy in AZ.]

I know I am preaching to the choir here, but how does a guy (in this instance), get such a following as a pitching coach and he turns out students like this?

I am taking down her video, now. Thanks for the advice.

 

[BoardMember]

I know I am preaching to the choir here, but how does a guy (in this instance), get such a following as a pitching coach and he turns out students like this?

I am taking down her video, now. Thanks for the advice.

It would seem this site is having issues with maintaining posts......

Spending time responding only to have my time waisted is just a bit un-nerving......

 

[Ken Krause]

It would seem this site is having issues with maintaining posts......

Spending time responding only to have my time waisted is just a bit un-nerving......

What do you mean, maintaining posts? Did you post something and it disappeared?

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Two people had replied after I did the last time. One basically said to give up on this student and the other one disagreed with that. There was nothing out of the ordinary with either post, but they are gone.

 

[BoardMember]

........ One basically said to give up on this student.............

The fact that I simply stated that IT MAY NOT be the coaches fault has nothing to do with giving up........

It had EVERYTING to do with YOUR rediculous statement that you were appauled that her coach had "PRODUCED" such a crappy student........

Also, the fact that I said I didn't comment on this student because I didn't see much use in saying START ALL OVER like many others did, doesn't mean GIVE UP ON THE STUDENT either.......

While its true that I don't see much future potential in this student, she still has a "right" to persue her goal, and probably best in your "free clinic" environment.

Sheez people...........

 

[Mark H]

I can understand everyone's point of view here but people get defensive about young girls so I think everyone can relax a little. We are almost all on the same team. Certainly everyone in this thread is I think.

 

[sjsss]

I read Board Member's original post and had no problem with what he was pointing out. There comes a point at which a pitching instructor should speak the truth for the benefit of the student and her parents. Not everyone has the aptitude to pitch. On the high school team I am helping to coach this year I have two of my long time students, neither of which are very athletic, but they have always had APTITUDE and are now solid pitchers. On the same team there are four very athletic players who I have given lessons to at some point in the past. I had to tell each one of them and their parents back then that they were probably never going to be successful pitchers and to devote their time to something else, possibly focusing on a position and hitting. In these cases, I knew what I was looking at and owed them the advice at the time from an ethical standpoint. All four are successful position players on the high school team. If they had devoted their time to pitching instead, they would either not be playing any more, or sitting the bench.

This is reality, even though we live in a time where we provide false self esteem to kids by telling them that they are good at something and have a future in it (music, art, tennis, pitching etc) just because they are engaged in that activity at the moment.

 

[ponytailpower]

I am definitely one of those that gets sensitive about younger players but in my own defense some of my comments (now missing) were also blown out of context a bit as well. I did state that you should not take money from the parents for a student who is not showing the aptitude. I do not allow a student to move up to private lessons until she is ready. The whole purpose of my post was that you should not discourage an 11 year old who wants to pitch. You do not lie to her and inflate her ego or let her believe that she is better than she actually is and you definitely do not let the parents believe that she is doing better than she actually is. You are honest with them and let them know they have a lot of work to do but encourage them that they can do it if they put in the work. Do not suggest she will be the next Cat Osterman but you never know what this uncoordinated young lady might become after she grows into her mature body with the proper foundation building.

To put things in perspective, there are 91957 high schools in the USA today. If each senior class had one pitcher (a low number) and each D1 college recruited five pitchers (a high number) that would be 1.5% of graduating pitchers would make it to a D1 pitching position in college. With numbers this low (reality being much lower), why would you discourage any young lady from learning to pitch regardless of her initial abilities? Most that try to learn to pitch at an early age give it up on their own well before college.

As for them focusing on another position if you discourage them from pitching in order for them to become good positional players and preventing them from becoming benchwarmers. That is a bit of an extreme I believe especially since every young player should be learning to play multiple positions before puberty anyway to make them an overall player. Most softball players do not focus on one position until 15 or 16 years old and even then any good player should be able to play multiple positions as well as her main focus including pitchers since the majority will not be playing at the D1 level. Most colleges have limited recruiting funds for softball and look for players that are multi-functional. Again, there is nothing wrong with that 1.5% who are serious contenders for a D1 scholarship to focus entirely on pitching but the majority of the girls out there that try pitching (especially those under 15) are not in this percentile and should be honestly encouraged despite the direction they may take in the future.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Boardmember - the posts are gone. I did not say that Boardmember said to give up on her, I said that someone did. Geesh. I was just trying to tell the administrator that posts are missing here and that I didn't see anything that would have caused them to be deleted. Are you always this self conscious?