by softball65 » Wed Nov 02, 2016 8:22 am
I know I am late to the party here but I wanted to throw my hat in on this "Hitting Instructor" thing. Sadly we've been to quite a few different hitting instructors, numerous who were ex-D1 coaches, a few former D1 players, and even a former Olympian. My opinion was that all of them know something, although perhaps only alittle something about one aspect of hitting in the overall theme of hitting, which has a lot of things going on in order to be efficient and consistently effective. I've been very disappointed with the quality of private coaching available.
We all only know what we know but there is a TON of info out there, much of it wrong, but some of it right also. Listen to and consider it all and educate yourself (as a paid instructor) on what is right (i.e effective) and what is wrong so that you as an instructor can teach the swing and know why a kid is coming to you lunging or squishing the bug or hand to or not to the ball, stride no stride, etc. etc. know why you teach what you teach. Understand the swing and why things are as the videos or pictures show them. Why?? Know why you teach what you teach.
We have a guy who is local in my community who has a ton of students. He knows enough to be dangerous. All his kids look the same and do the same stuff wrong. He claims to be ever learning but its obvious to me he doesn't understand what he is teaching , he just teaches what he thinks he sees in videos and photos, but doesn't really understand the swing at all. I know this because I see (and hear often) about these kids and they all do the same stuff. 2 examples, I had a kid who had no idea how to take the ball to the opposite field, had never been taught. She been playing since she was 8. Every student I've had knows NOTHING about the value of routine, mental preparedness, self talk, the process of preparing to hit, or literally any aspect of the mental game. I've never seen one hitting instructor I've ever been around even mention the mental game. As a former athlete, I can attest to the fact that I'd rather have a mentally strong hitter with weak mechanics then a mechanically sound hitter with no mental game. The mental game is a huge part of the game, especially at advanced and elite levels, and can not be separated out from teaching hitting, in my opinion, but no one that I have seen teach it and that is because either 1) they don't even know it exist or 2) they don;t know enough about it to teach it or both. You want to test a hitting instructor, ask them if they teach the mental game along with their lessons, that will narrow the field dramatically.
I know a few things but I would NEVER claim to be an expert because I find my thinking evolving and growing continually, as I learn and consider alternative ways. I teach a few kids who come to me and I tell them why I have them do everything I tell them to do. But there is no one way. None of my students (boys and girls) swing the same, but the absolutes are there in all of them. I had one kid who had some crazy issue with her front foot that we could not figure out how to overcome, so we tried everything I could think of and none of it worked. I was beginning to think I failed this kid but I finally had an idea I've never taught and we tried it, and it worked. I likely would not teach this to anyone else, not that it is wrong, its just not typical. My point is there is no singular way to teach hitting, but there are absolutes that every good swing MUST have. If someone wants to be a hitting instructor, don't just understand the absolutes, be able to explain them to a mom or dad who knows nothing about the game, know them that well.
Parents, there are "instructors" out there entirely for the payday and they will say all the right stuff but the results aren't there because their methods are out of a book or off the internet. There is good info on the internet but there is just as much bad info also and if you don't know anything about what you are hearing, it all sounds good. So don't look to whether he/she is a nice person, look at the results they produce. Are they pushing your kid or is any level of output good with them? Who have he/she produced? What teams they play on? Where they going to college (level of program)? No different than you would with anything else you are spending your on, you look to see the return that investment is getting.
Just my 22 cents.