Should instructors be made to get certified?!?

[curveballerguy124]

Why do I bring this up??? Because I see too many instructors in this for the money too many parents paying and there kids not getting better. Granted I’m sure there are kids not putting in the work but discounting those kids I see plenty with skills that make me wonder who the hell taught them. In pitching I truly believe there is a right and a wrong I think there is a little more gray area when it comes to hitting. Nonetheless, things need to get taught correctly to these kids and instructors I think need to make sure they are teaching things correctly. Maybe it would help if they were required to take a certification or something. I know it sounds lame but I get kids all the time that come to me and what they were taught leaves me scratching my head....Just a thought

[GIMNEPIWO]

Devils advocate:

So, who then instructs the instructors ? You ? Everyone teach your method or they can not get certified ? Suppose that in order to get certified that you would have to teach another method and not the one that you believe works ... Would you then support that ?

[eddiez577]

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

[Hinky]

So, who then instructs the instructors ? You ? Everyone teach your method or they can not get certified ? Suppose that in order to get certified that you would have to teach another method and not the one that you believe works ... Would you then support that ?

good point made here.

to your point about the feedback of students coming to you curveballer, people who are struggling are not always the best at interpreting feedback they've been struggling with.
especially people who bounce around and pick up bits and pieces trying to have instant Perfection instead of working with mechanics over a long-term to produce.

What would be the criteria you would use?
should it or would it include background check, criminal or financial and fingerprinting?
maybe offer a course in communication with do's and don'ts? remember if there's a certification process that means that now there's a place where people can go with complaints.
which might be good but on the other hand could be a pile of BS. I tend to think that private instruction is more offering guidelines to the students. just like homework that they need to work on- 'on their own'. the instructor is only with the student for a very limited amount of time compared to all the time the students are participating in their sport.
So the question would be-
- who is more responsible for the outcome of performance,
is it the instructor or the student?

[eclipse09]

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Carla Dean: Well, who's gonna monitor the monitors of the monitors?

[Battle]

Yep...as Blackwidow would say...Who is going to police the police?

[dusty]

Why do I bring this up??? Because I see too many instructors in this for the money too many parents paying and there kids not getting better. Granted I’m sure there are kids not putting in the work but discounting those kids I see plenty with skills that make me wonder who the hell taught them. In pitching I truly believe there is a right and a wrong I think there is a little more gray area when it comes to hitting. Nonetheless, things need to get taught correctly to these kids and instructors I think need to make sure they are teaching things correctly. Maybe it would help if they were required to take a certification or something. I know it sounds lame but I get kids all the time that come to me and what they were taught leaves me scratching my head....Just a thought

There's nothing stopping you or any other PI out there from starting their own certification process for teaching pitching in a manner that you view as correct. To have it catch on though you would need to have students achieve a high enough degree of success to draw in both students and instructors seeking certification. My dd worked with such a PI for last 7 years while he was starting and growing his pitching instruction and certification business, Denny Tincher.

Honestly, we just went to Denny because we liked him and my dd saw immediate improvement after working with him but I was skeptical of the franchising of his style of instruction. We did do several small group lessons where he oversaw his apprentices as they gave instruction and my dd learned a lot from them, maybe more effectively because several were recent former college pitchers themselves.

That said, I don't think Tincher, or anyone else for that matter, has a one size fits all instruction solution for every student pitcher. There are students that might do better with a Rick Pauley or that guy who posted the lengthy "Internal Rotation" post on DFP that all the posters there now parrot.

[curveballerguy124]

I am not the person to run a certification program by any stretch of the imagination!!!! No no, all I'm saying is it should be held or taught by a group of pitching gurus like Girly, White, Kirk Walker, Osterman, Hillhouse etc. A clinic that at the end pitching coaches from everywhere can attend get educated and get a certification of some sort. Something parents can ask, 'hey by the way do you have ABC certification"??? Something that would help them make a better decision on coaches because at the very least that coach would have had the wherewithal to get the certification. They would care enough about their craft to look outside the box to learn something more then they already know, in my book that's a good thing.

Sure there are a lot of downsides and opinions but in the end its a coaching clinic for coaches, I for one would attend. Believe me when I tell you folks the number of parents that hit me up out of frustration because of their kids lack of progress is pretty alarming. I usually will meet up with them for a lesson to asses where they are at skill wise. Sometimes its a few small tweeks or something small to get them going and on the path. Then there are those that need to start from scratch and those are the ones that I'm referring too. How can a coach that "KNOWS" keep letting that kid pitch incorrectly, they either know and are allowing that to happen or don't know any better in either case that's a problem!!

I don't know much but I think a certification program would help that's all I'm saying and I think the pro's outweigh the cons

[Hinky]

Uhm just thinking it through ....show up for a 3 hour or maybe 6 hour softball clinic. Where you listen to an explanation of mechanics. learn say...four different pitches mechanics and grips.
Maybe then take a written test or some sort of physical pitching test at the end the day....
and get a certificate.?
that says "those people certify" you've been at their course that day. BUT they can't certify that you know how to teach. to actually certify that you can teach would mean having you take someone who doesn't know how to pitch and teach them how to pitch over a time frame say 2 -3 months or something.
Just sayin whats the real value
of the certificate?
( sounds like the same camps that are already offered to pitchers without test & cert.)
so in your area there are 30 other pitching instructors within 20 miles of each other (which could possibly be a real number in so cal ) and each instructor goes to the clinic and get a certification. What's changed? did because they got the certification mean that they changed their philosophy of pitching mechanics or it's just another piece of paper you have to renew every couple years?

I think what's difficult with specifically pitching instruction is there is a lot of hand-me-down Mechanics where bits and pieces get left out. sometimes crucial foundational fundamentals. Plus people who may not have been teaching very long and their own observation skills and applying teaching have not been refined.

IMO the student athlete has the most responsibility in their development. especially if they are being given instruction.
people who are using the internet to learn how to throw pitches helps to some degree and for a few that helps a lot. So there has to be something said for an athlete who is a student of the game and applies practicing.
know matter where they get their instructional knowledge from. the student doing their homework is the most important factor!

[curveballerguy124]

Good point Hink.....