Typical price for lessons?

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Jun 8, 2016
16,118
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At that age, the lessons will be a waste unless YOU are able to take what the instructor is teaching and then apply it at home. A once a week lesson will not do much in and of itself, more reps than what a once a week lesson can provide are needed (at all ages). So in other words, you will need to learn the why and how of what the instructor is doing which you can do, with some hard work, for free by using a reliable online source. If you have money to burn go for it, but IMO, with all of the available resources out there now, the only reason why somebody needs to go to lessons is if a kid stops listening to the parent.

I do realize that nowadays this opinion is probably in the minority so take it for what its worth (probably not much :LOL: )
 
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Jul 14, 2018
982
93
I'll echo what RichK said, at the early stage group lessons are the way to go. It's not just the cost, but the whole atmosphere of a group lesson. They're much looser than a private lesson, lots of girls throwing balls around and having fun. It's a great intro to a team activity -- learning to do warmups and drills in a group is just as important as learning individual skills at this early age. Maybe more important -- your girls will probably spend twice as much time practicing as playing.

The group lesson also reinforces the practice time. Yes, you'll want to take your girls in the yard and throw with them, but life gets in the way sometimes. If you have a group lesson every Wednesday night, it'll become part of your routine.

Finally, you'll get the most bang-for-your-buck from private lessons once your girls have the fundamentals down and there are specific aspects of their game that they need to work on. That's where individual attention from a coach can really make a difference.

To answer the original question, group lessons in the Philly area range from $10-$20 an hour per kid. My daughter gets private pitching lessons from a top instructor, and that's $90 an hour. She's doing a Wasserman clinic in a few weeks that's $150 for three hours, which is typical for a one-time clinic.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
Also at the younger ages, a kid may not even have the body awareness to be able to properly utilize instruction. At that point lessons become expensive BP (if the lessons are for hitting).
 
May 6, 2015
2,397
113
SAlso, be wary of them playing catch with each other. I know it sounds great, and can be, but if they are using bad habits, it can simply reinforce them. I am specifically thinking of

-basket catching above waist
-moving body out of way and reaching for ball
-turning head away as ball reaches them
-throwing dying quails (ie dies and drops as it reaches target) instead of solid throws

for younger girls, especially your youngest, I believe they get the most bang for the buck from intense catch sessions, nearly every day. see other threads on teaching them to catch to see what I mean. Got to install confidence in their glove and catching to avoid the top two issues above, otherwise they tend to revert back. hard to do this when playing catch with a girl their own age range who is still learning to throw.

I would work with them both individually until you and they are confident in their ability to catch anything thrown at them by a girls in their age range. then open them up to laying catch with each other.
 
Feb 26, 2018
328
28
$50 an hour for my DD's hitting lessons. $35 if she does it with another girl, but she prefers the one on one and more reps.
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
At that age, the lessons will be a waste unless YOU are able to take what the instructor is teaching and then apply it at home. A once a week lesson will not do much in and of itself, more reps than what a once a week lesson can provide are needed (at all ages). So in other words, you will need to learn the why and how of what the instructor is doing which you can do, with some hard work, for free by using a reliable online source. If you have money to burn go for it, but IMO, with all of the available resources out there now, the only reason why somebody needs to go to lessons is if a kid stops listening to the parent.

I do realize that nowadays this opinion is probably in the minority so take it for what its worth (probably not much :LOL: )

You can't buy your way to being good at softball.

It absolutely takes 5-10 hours at home for every hour of lessons. You gotta work on that stuff -- even the professionals you're paying will tell you that.
 
Jul 1, 2019
172
43
We're paying $45/45min private hitting, $30/45min when paired with another girl (DD prefers private and so do I). Our pitching is a little different, we aligned with a pitching coach who initially worked with our previous teams 3 pitchers. When we left he stayed with us privately and even comes to our house during good weather. We pay him $40/2hr but approx 30-40minutes of that time isn't necessarily pitching, it's talking about pitching, the mental side of everything, and having some breaks in between. His DD was DII pitcher and she normally comes along as well. We really lucked out as realistically he'd do it for free if I let him.

All that being said, 1000% agree on the time spent away and working on your own. We try to work approx 10hrs for every 1hr we spend with a private coach. After every practice we ask for homework, typically 3 things we can focus on until we see them again. We generally see private coaches every other week unless we're leading up to fall/spring season, then it's usually weekly for the month prior.
 

JOHNN

Just a dad of 3 girls
Aug 5, 2019
375
43
South Louisiana
You can't buy your way to being good at softball.

It absolutely takes 5-10 hours at home for every hour of lessons. You gotta work on that stuff -- even the professionals you're paying will tell you that.

I totally understand this and that’s not at all what I’m trying to do here. I work with the girls all the time. But I also travel a lot for work during the week so it’d be nice to be able to have a current college player work with them a bit each week. It helps me out a lot plus they are super excited that they are going to be working with a young lady thats in college and currently plays softball for her school. I think there may be some here that are looking way too deep into this and not the simple situation it is.

Also, I really do appreciate all the responses I’ve gotten so far. This has really given me a good idea of what to expect later down the road should they get more serious about the sport.
 

Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,854
113
I would post my rates but I don't want to be raided by government agencies. There are members here who I have given lessons to their dds. I feel bad for them since I charge so much but then again, I still took the money.

I believe lessons in my area from real private instructors runs around $50 per half an hour.
 
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Jan 27, 2010
1,871
83
NJ
Have two daughters looking to play rec ball this spring. My 9yo has no experience at all besides the little we’ve done at home. My 7yo played fall ball but still has a ton to work on just with being able to throw from the plate to the pitcher, doing more than an arm swing to hit, etc. Anyway, I’m looking to get them lessons on a weekly basis to really focus on fundamentals and basics to where they are confident to play spring ball. So what is the typical cost of 1hr lessons? I’ve seen prices all over the place so figured I’d ask here.
There is no reason to pay for lessons for that age. Watch some videos on You Tube and go spend time with your kids.
 

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