Baseball Training: Pay What You Want

I think that is fine but....

If you do this you should maybe look at some of the other local training facilities in places like Olympia, Tacoma, Spokane and of course the Seattle area and let people know what similar programs cost. That way someone has an honest idea of what this level of training would cost someplace else.

Likewise I would have the player and parent sign a contract at that rate. What they pay and that they can be discharged from the program for not working at the level they should. If it was me it would be a monthly thing. They join up, they pay by the month and if they don't live up to expectations then they are gone. Likewise if you don't live up to their expectations they can go too.

If I lived closer to Seattle I might take you up on that. It sounds like a pretty good deal. I'm not dissatisfied with the situation here but if I lived up there I would certainly take a chance on it. I know my son wouldn't disappoint.

Thanks for your comments. I've been coaching for about 16 months charging reasonable rates, but I'm primarily interested with just getting a bunch of kids who want to work hard in here. We've got a few kids who are in semi-private training with me, but I wanted to open it up to low income families and kids who are otherwise unable to attend.

Too bad you're not closer! Too many kids are in these select programs, hitting once per week and doing some agility drills and calling it "training" because the coaches are telling them they're working hard.

I tell them to look up what your average college player is doing, and then compare it to the average minor leaguer. I promise they aren't taking BP once per week and running poles on Sundays to prep for the season

It takes more than a few half alecked practices to get ready for the season, if you want to be that kind of player. My son is 13 and works out constantly. We are lucky that there is a place in Yelm (of all places) that caters to his wierd love of practicing for the game. It is part of a 'select' program but the guys the owner is pretty motivated in his desire to give the boys the best baseball experience that they can, for the cost.

He is in the cages around 6-10 hours a week; generally two hours of it in speed and agility, one hour straight pitching (bullpen work), one hour fielding drills, one hour hitting drills, and another two hour Sunday thing where they do mostly live hitting and pitching. Add to that the private lessons for pitching I take him to (yea, he likes to pitch), the 2-3 hours a week I spend hitting ground balls and fly balls to him and you get the idea. My knees are killing me. Personally I think he is nuts but I remember doing the same thing with my brother (9 years younger than me) so I guess it must be a family thing.

I would add one more caveat to your program. To keep whatever reduced rate on your services I would make sure that any kid that is in your program maintains at least a 3.0 GPA. One of my big fears when my son started doing all of this stuff was that his grades would suffer. He knew that if he didn't have at least a B in every class that he wouldn't be doing all of this training. He assured me that he could do it and he has but he also knows that if he lets his grades slip he can quickly find himself going from player to spectator this summer.

I like the idea of minimum grades. It was beat into me as a kid (and my dad made good on it one quarter!) and definitely very important. Thanks for your contribution!