Travel vs. School vs. Private Coaching Conflicts

[ANNASDAD]

That sounds more like an intro to an old Twilight Zone episode.

It was pretty impressive!

 

[softball dad 6]

DD was/is a good softball player. All State since sophmore year. Fast forward to her first year of college ball and her coach has completely changed her swing; hand position, bat position, stride, location in the box. DD had always been so successful coaches had never wanted as many changes as she has been required to make. DD is also what I would describe as an instinct and reaction player. Both of the things make it harder for DD to quickly make the changes the coach wants. She is trying and her swing mechanics are completely different than they had been. She has had trouble making the adjustments as fast as the coach wanted. Lack of much fall practice, limited spring practices, and starting and stopping due to COVID related issues have made it that much more difficult for a freshman. At first DD thought the coach didn't like her. The coach would follow her to the every station and talk about making corrections just about every swing. She was talking to the other freshman and they were commenting how much more the coach liked her than the other freshman because he spent so much time working with her and watching her during practice. It really is what perspective you are viewing things through.
Bottom line is that listening to a coach and being able to make adjustments is a skill just like the other skills that get talked about on this board. If you want to play the next level up from wherever you are at you had better be able to make those adjustments or someone else will get your playing time.

 

[ANNASDAD]

... and I commented that you don't really know the whole story. Imagine, if you will, a 13-year-old who has become so advanced at playing TB at the B level that she feels empowered enough to tell the MS coach that this coach's drills suck. Imagine as well that this might be a drill that the young hitter is struggling with and so would not opt to understand the drill might expose the hitter's flaws but instead the young player decides instead to blame the coach. In this setting, I can't imagine that this young player would then take this to all aspects of the game where the player believes that they know more than the coach. Imagine, if you will, that the player's parent knows this coach's resume to the point that the parent knows that his 13 year old knows more than the coach. Finally, imagine, if you will, any parent wanting their child to play for such a pathetic coach. Why not instead be the parent and remove the child if you think that this coach is so inept. Imagine if you will, a parent sitting in the stands telling anyone who will listen just how inept the coach is ... but I digress. DON'T "TOLERATE" THE COACH. REMOVE YOUR DD FROM THE TEAM.

Watch out, Cannonball is rolling!

We lived through the TB is superior to HS ball in everyway, HS ball sucks, blah, blah, blah for years. I used to tell Anna, we can easily fix this......do not ever step one foot on the field, don't show up for the first team meeting, don't even think about playing school ball, focus on conditioning and get ready for TB.

But, if you step on that field one time for anything, pre-season practice, meeting, etc. shut your mouth, you're in!! There will be no leaving once you've given the impression you're playing!

She played varsity from 8th grade on, I can promise you that no one here had worse MS coaches than she did in the 6th & 7th grades, it was beyond the stupidest thing I've ever witnessed! So bad they closed off practices so no one could watch!

8th & 9th grades were much improved she had the best Little League baseball coaches from 1975 our County had to offer! again.....!

Great post Cannonball.

 

[Towny9]

Haahhaaaa i was being gentle...

imo
When a dedicated player shows up. Who has been investing effort, time, money and has an instructor, to any technique of hitting...
THEN ANY coach who wants to change batters swings immediatly, without using game/live pitching practice performance to look at success or not,
is a red flag.

Will add this ~
As an instructor, I do have a particular set of hitting mechanics that I believe works really well and it works really well for a lot of people. it's what I teach. Also have set of mechanics that I believe in that works really well that I teach for catching.
That said
Also know that when I'm coaching players there are people who are dedicated to mechanics that I don't do or teach. However i respect they are purposely training to achieve success with the mechanics that they are using.
As a coach I find it much more worthwhile to pay attention to what the players are trying to accomplish with mechanics that they are utilizing.
By doing so I can find successful athletes to build a team with, coach to what they are doing.
Not build a team based on changing them all.

Look for dedication in athletes.
Look for what they bring as individuals.
Hold a standard to performance on the field.
Not hold a standard to what mechanics they use.

The performance on the field
imo is whats important.

When I was coaching high school I had a player come to us in the eighth grade who had a nice swing, but I didn’t like his back elbow action. I told myself as soon as he slumps I was going to make the adjustment that I wanted to make. He was all-state as a freshman and ended up having one of the better high school careers of any player I coached. He went on to win a National title at UVA where he was on scholarship all 4 years....

...every so often I remind myself that I never got around to fixing that back elbow...

 

[sluggers]

The player went to the coach and said this drill is messing with her swing.
The coaches response was #'s of players do this drill.

The point is the player recognized theres something awkward.

If a kid her age walked though the door soaking wet and said, "it is raining outside," I would still look out the window to confirm.

You assume automatically that the coach is stupid based upon a teenage girl complaining... Which, by the by, is what teenagers do constantly.

What if the drill was soft toss? What if the drill was hitting off a tee? Should Daddy or Mommy run to the school and complain?

Also, if a drill done for 10 minutes it going to ruin her swing, then she has a pretty bad hitting coach.

 

[Fury_Mike]

When I coached high school, the first thing I would ask is who had a hitting, pitching or catching coach. I would proceed to tell them I would not try and change what they have been to tought or are paying money for BUT, I wanted them to remain open to suggestions and on occasion would send questions back with them to their training coaches. In many instances it was confusion based on how something was communicated, not on what was said.

 

[CoachJD]

DD was/is a good softball player. All State since sophmore year. Fast forward to her first year of college ball and her coach has completely changed her swing; hand position, bat position, stride, location in the box. DD had always been so successful coaches had never wanted as many changes as she has been required to make. DD is also what I would describe as an instinct and reaction player. Both of the things make it harder for DD to quickly make the changes the coach wants. She is trying and her swing mechanics are completely different than they had been. She has had trouble making the adjustments as fast as the coach wanted. Lack of much fall practice, limited spring practices, and starting and stopping due to COVID related issues have made it that much more difficult for a freshman. At first DD thought the coach didn't like her. The coach would follow her to the every station and talk about making corrections just about every swing. She was talking to the other freshman and they were commenting how much more the coach liked her than the other freshman because he spent so much time working with her and watching her during practice. It really is what perspective you are viewing things through.
Bottom line is that listening to a coach and being able to make adjustments is a skill just like the other skills that get talked about on this board. If you want to play the next level up from wherever you are at you had better be able to make those adjustments or someone else will get your playing time.

The weird part about this is that a college coach recruited a good hitter whose swing needed to be completely remade.

 

[CoachJD]

8th & 9th grades were much improved she had the best Little League baseball coaches from 1975 our County had to offer! again.....!

Best Little League baseball coach from 1975? So...the guy in your avatar?

 

[softball dad 6]

The weird part about this is that a college coach recruited a good hitter whose swing needed to be completely remade.

I felt like dd had pretty good swing mechanics but there were things that were not ideal and like everyone she had things that she could improve. Everything he has told her has sounded like it has a sound basis. Some of the things seem to be more coaches preferences to me. We will see how it goes. It has made the transition harder for her as she has tried to make these changes during the season with limited live pitching reps in practice. We have told her if she wants to play she had better do what the coach says.

 

[ANNASDAD]

Best Little League baseball coach from 1975? So...the guy in your avatar?

Real real close, seriously!!