@adbono posted:Yeah, I agree. You really can’t compare a situation in the rural south to what goes on in San Diego. Personally I don’t begrudge any coach/instructor for charging a fair fee. The more important issue to me is whether or not I was getting my money’s worth. My sons hitting coach is the AA hitting instructor for the Cubs. He was a college All-American, won an Olympic medal, and played 5 years in the big leagues. He isn’t cheap but he fantastic and is worth every penny. I never tried to teach my son to hit as my expertise is pitching. I think hardly anyone can be an expert at both. It’s one or the other. Once a kid is past 12 years old I would run away from any instructor that is trying to pass himself off as a hitting AND pitching coach. But I’m in a big metro area and there are a lot of options here. Only a few of them are really good options and it’s taken a lot of years to get to those. I work with a partner and instruct local HS & college pitchers. In normal times we usually have a group of 12 to 15 from half a dozen various schools. We decided years ago not to charge $ for our instruction. We view it as our form of community service. We both pitched in college and neither of us ever got good pitching instruction. We are self taught. So we do for others what wasn’t done for us. Having no fee involved gives us the freedom to be completely honest with players and parents and it eliminates any hint of conflict of interest. But this is our passion not our vocation - and that matters a lot. Almost all HS baseball coaches are underpaid. If they want/need to supplement their income by giving lessons I’m fine with that -as long as they are giving good instruction.
There are a couple of really good points in here. Are you getting your monies worth or are you trying to buy your way into the next level? In other words, is the money improving the talent or is it attempting to buy a piece of the high school coach’s heart for preferential treatment?
Like adbono I didn’t get any decent instruction until I encountered a former minor leaguer. Junior year of high school a former player came back to help after being released. It wasn’t until then anyone showed me the proper grip on each pitch. I grew up with, “if I hold it this way what does the ball do?”
The first time I got any hitting instruction was college ball after starting 0-16 with 7 K’s. Weights in high school? Stay away! Don’t get muscle bound.