Nice article, but it really does not address what the substance of the drills or techniques are. I do like the idea about the "tees" for positioning.
I love defense, and glove work. One of the key ideas that has been instilled in my son is to stay low, and come up with the ball, as the ball comes up. Hands out in front, fielding through the ball.
I've had two different sons with two different coaching staffs at the same HS. Son #1 plays college ball. Son #2 is a H.S. sophomore on J.V.
coach #1 was against all outside training. He was absolutely clueless when it came to hitting, but thought he was a genius. Felt he was better than the hitting coach in town who trained several of the top major league hitters (in fact he throws for them in the Homerun Derby).
Every single time my oldest moved towards his H.S. coach's hitting style, he tanked badly. By the way, so did everyone else on the team who hit his way. So we had to go to outside lessons and my son had to learn the following quote "thanks coach that really helps."
He used it regularly. Didn't change a single thing about his swing, but when the coach would come give him pointers, he repeated the phrase and the coach was happy. . .no harm no foul. On the days the coach was able to tell he wasn't changing his swing, he simply changed to then new style and purposely hit awfully. Then worked back to his style and repeated the phrase.
It's crazy, but the pro hitting coach turned out to be the better hitting coach for all the guys who went to him. Who would've thunk it? The same story held true for our pitchers. Apparently the local pitching coach who sent player after player to top SEC, SoCon and ACC schools turned out to be a much better pitching coach than our HS coach who never pitched a day in his life, but thought he was a stud pitching coach.
Son # 2 the reverse is true. Pro hitting coach has moved. And another hitting coach in town had minimal success with him. However the new H.S. coaching staff has trained him to be a much better hitter than the offseason training coach did. However, other coaches on the staff come over to advise him from time to time. When they obviously don't know what they are talking about, son # 2 has learned the drill well, "Thanks coach that really helps!" The coaching staff loves him!
coach #1 was against all outside training. He was absolutely clueless when it came to hitting, but thought he was a genius. Felt he was better than the hitting coach in town who trained several of the top major league hitters (in fact he throws for them in the Homerun Derby).
Every single time my oldest moved towards his H.S. coach's hitting style, he tanked badly. By the way, so did everyone else on the team who hit his way. So we had to go to outside lessons and my son had to learn the following quote "thanks coach that really helps."
He used it regularly. Didn't change a single thing about his swing, but when the coach would come give him pointers, he repeated the phrase and the coach was happy. . .no harm no foul. On the days the coach was able to tell he wasn't changing his swing, he simply changed to then new style and purposely hit awfully. Then worked back to his style and repeated the phrase.
It's crazy, but the pro hitting coach turned out to be the better hitting coach for all the guys who went to him. Who would've thunk it? The same story held true for our pitchers. Apparently the local pitching coach who sent player after player to top SEC, SoCon and ACC schools turned out to be a much better pitching coach than our HS coach who never pitched a day in his life, but thought he was a stud pitching coach.
Son # 2 the reverse is true. Pro hitting coach has moved. And another hitting coach in town had minimal success with him. However the new H.S. coaching staff has trained him to be a much better hitter than the offseason training coach did. However, other coaches on the staff come over to advise him from time to time. When they obviously don't know what they are talking about, son # 2 has learned the drill well, "Thanks coach that really helps!" The coaching staff loves him!
Floridafan;
How far are you from the Marlins complex?
If you are close, drive over and introduce yourself
to Perry Hill. Invite Perry to speak at a clinic which you can organize. Then you can ask the "inside" questions for benefit of the audience.
The SF Giants invited me to a clinic with Joe Morgan.
Morgan talked on base running and base stealing.
Joe said " I can talk for 10 minutes or 10 hours".
This is my concern to many players and parents.
They want a "quick fix" to a very difficult and "humbling game".
I am happy your son is performing strong. Maybe SSU will meet Tampa in the College World Series.
You have another of our Australia alumni at Tampa.
Bob
How far are you from the Marlins complex?
If you are close, drive over and introduce yourself
to Perry Hill. Invite Perry to speak at a clinic which you can organize. Then you can ask the "inside" questions for benefit of the audience.
The SF Giants invited me to a clinic with Joe Morgan.
Morgan talked on base running and base stealing.
Joe said " I can talk for 10 minutes or 10 hours".
This is my concern to many players and parents.
They want a "quick fix" to a very difficult and "humbling game".
I am happy your son is performing strong. Maybe SSU will meet Tampa in the College World Series.
You have another of our Australia alumni at Tampa.
Bob
quote:Originally posted by Jones fan:
I've had two different sons with two different coaching staffs at the same HS. Son #1 plays college ball. Son #2 is a H.S. sophomore on J.V.
coach #1 was against all outside training. He was absolutely clueless when it came to hitting, but thought he was a genius. Felt he was better than the hitting coach in town who trained several of the top major league hitters (in fact he throws for them in the Homerun Derby).
Every single time my oldest moved towards his H.S. coach's hitting style, he tanked badly. By the way, so did everyone else on the team who hit his way. So we had to go to outside lessons and my son had to learn the following quote "thanks coach that really helps."
He used it regularly. Didn't change a single thing about his swing, but when the coach would come give him pointers, he repeated the phrase and the coach was happy. . .no harm no foul. On the days the coach was able to tell he wasn't changing his swing, he simply changed to then new style and purposely hit awfully. Then worked back to his style and repeated the phrase.
It's crazy, but the pro hitting coach turned out to be the better hitting coach for all the guys who went to him. Who would've thunk it? The same story held true for our pitchers. Apparently the local pitching coach who sent player after player to top SEC, SoCon and ACC schools turned out to be a much better pitching coach than our HS coach who never pitched a day in his life, but thought he was a stud pitching coach.
Son # 2 the reverse is true. Pro hitting coach has moved. And another hitting coach in town had minimal success with him. However the new H.S. coaching staff has trained him to be a much better hitter than the offseason training coach did. However, other coaches on the staff come over to advise him from time to time. When they obviously don't know what they are talking about, son # 2 has learned the drill well, "Thanks coach that really helps!" The coaching staff loves him!
The above post is the reason that all the good HS Coaches are gone...Dad telling kids not to listen to the Coach doesn't make it all that rewarding to be a Coach...sadly more common than not these days.
BSballfan, not true--and I might add just a bit nieve. Obviously all the good baseball coaches aren't gone, we have a good one at our high school. But also all Coaches aren't good--and some are even not good people--believe it or not. In fact, the coach we all had to work around was so bad that all the kids who went to play college ball had to relearn and retrain the summer he was fired, by a person who himself was a baseball coach who also admitted the coach was a big mistake. Literally, the guys who did listen to his style dropped .100 to .300 in their averages.
College coach after college coach asked our pitchers, hitters and fielders, "who taught you that?" And then urgently made the necessary corrections. Our coach's stubbornness cost several of our guys any chance to play college ball, and definitely cost the ones who went a division or two.
The problem initially described about coaches not wanting outside training addressed a very common problem. And college coach after college coach and professional scout after scout told us, and many other players, that coaches teaching very poor fundamentals was a very big problem in the high school ranks. You wouldn't believe what some coaches were teaching as correct form.(For instance, starting with the bat waist high in the load).
It's very easy to pass for a knowledgeable coach in baseball, even if you aren't. More than most other sports, baseball is a game where individual ability overshadow's team ability. Therefore, mistakes can easily be passed off by the coach as player error, not coaching error or poor training by a coach. So bad coaches can float for quite a while before they are noticed. E.g., If I'm clueless on hitting form and force all my players to hit that way and some by some miracle are able to hit with the form, those players are hitters and the others stink.
In summer ball I heard scouts advise players not to play their senior year because some coaches were so bad and so stubborn, that they would do too much damage to a player before they got to college.
I also personally know many players who did what you are suggesting and blindly listened to a coach no matter what, because after all, we all know that every single adult and every single coach is completely correct every single time. Sadly, kids learned the hard way that thinking doesn't always work. With the unfortunate result that they either missed out on being recruited or fell down several divisions.
Minor league, and college player after player told me and my son, that it is an absolute necessity for a baseball player to figure out a way to respectfully ignore coaches. You simply cannot take everyone's advice/command or you will not be a good player. Not everyone knows what they are talking about. At the end of the day, the player, not the coach is the one who pays the price.
College coach after college coach asked our pitchers, hitters and fielders, "who taught you that?" And then urgently made the necessary corrections. Our coach's stubbornness cost several of our guys any chance to play college ball, and definitely cost the ones who went a division or two.
The problem initially described about coaches not wanting outside training addressed a very common problem. And college coach after college coach and professional scout after scout told us, and many other players, that coaches teaching very poor fundamentals was a very big problem in the high school ranks. You wouldn't believe what some coaches were teaching as correct form.(For instance, starting with the bat waist high in the load).
It's very easy to pass for a knowledgeable coach in baseball, even if you aren't. More than most other sports, baseball is a game where individual ability overshadow's team ability. Therefore, mistakes can easily be passed off by the coach as player error, not coaching error or poor training by a coach. So bad coaches can float for quite a while before they are noticed. E.g., If I'm clueless on hitting form and force all my players to hit that way and some by some miracle are able to hit with the form, those players are hitters and the others stink.
In summer ball I heard scouts advise players not to play their senior year because some coaches were so bad and so stubborn, that they would do too much damage to a player before they got to college.
I also personally know many players who did what you are suggesting and blindly listened to a coach no matter what, because after all, we all know that every single adult and every single coach is completely correct every single time. Sadly, kids learned the hard way that thinking doesn't always work. With the unfortunate result that they either missed out on being recruited or fell down several divisions.
Minor league, and college player after player told me and my son, that it is an absolute necessity for a baseball player to figure out a way to respectfully ignore coaches. You simply cannot take everyone's advice/command or you will not be a good player. Not everyone knows what they are talking about. At the end of the day, the player, not the coach is the one who pays the price.
quote:With the unfortunate result that they either missed out on being recruited or fell down several divisions.
I don't care how pathetic or horrible the coach is, if you have the talent, potential and desire you can be recruited and you can play at the level your talent deserves. To put that on a high school coach is...... well.....pathetic and horrible.
PA Dino,
I would have to agree with you.
I have seen players that were taught incorrectly by either a (not very good) coach or instructor.
In fact, we saw one of these players at our National Showcase last June. His swing simply will not work at the higher levels. Some might say that's just an opinion, but let's put it this way. If someone like this kid can be successful at the highest level chopping down on the ball the way he does, he will be the very first kid his size that has ever accomplished it.
Here's the thing, he might have to change some things at the next level and he will, but his next level will be DI or pro. His combination of size and raw ability is the reason why he's going up the ladder.
The bad coaching or instruction he might have had, will soon be a bump in the road.
I would have to agree with you.
I have seen players that were taught incorrectly by either a (not very good) coach or instructor.
In fact, we saw one of these players at our National Showcase last June. His swing simply will not work at the higher levels. Some might say that's just an opinion, but let's put it this way. If someone like this kid can be successful at the highest level chopping down on the ball the way he does, he will be the very first kid his size that has ever accomplished it.
Here's the thing, he might have to change some things at the next level and he will, but his next level will be DI or pro. His combination of size and raw ability is the reason why he's going up the ladder.
The bad coaching or instruction he might have had, will soon be a bump in the road.
Yes, and it's also the sport where there are more dads in the bleachers who know more than the coach...I just think it's bad form to constantly degrade the coach to the player...who does that help other than the Dad who is lifting himself up by putting the coach down??
Also, if you have this many college coaches and scouts at your games and freely talking to players, parents, etc...it's hard to argue that he's costing them opportunties to play beyond HS
Also, if you have this many college coaches and scouts at your games and freely talking to players, parents, etc...it's hard to argue that he's costing them opportunties to play beyond HS
BsBall fan,
They weren't at our games. Scouts rarely ever came to our games. It was when our players were at summer ball and camps. They all had to unlearn what they learned in order to get looks. Sadly, that is easier said than done.
I agree with you. . .Dad's in the stands who denigrate the coach aren't good for anyone. In our case, our coach was fired for severely abusive behavior to our players, as well as general incompetence. Our administrator was a very experienced baseball coach, and agreed that the coach didn't know what he was doing in hitting or many other areas. We all were frustrated as he turned great players into mediocre to bad players. It was almost a gift.
Our new coach came and all the sudden our bad players learned how to play again. They hit, threw, won, and had fun. Scouts came to games, and our players got looks. So PG and Dino. . . While I think that great players may find a way. . .they are rare. Lower D1, D2 and D3 players can lose their opportunities if bad coaches force bad form which prevents success.
They weren't at our games. Scouts rarely ever came to our games. It was when our players were at summer ball and camps. They all had to unlearn what they learned in order to get looks. Sadly, that is easier said than done.
I agree with you. . .Dad's in the stands who denigrate the coach aren't good for anyone. In our case, our coach was fired for severely abusive behavior to our players, as well as general incompetence. Our administrator was a very experienced baseball coach, and agreed that the coach didn't know what he was doing in hitting or many other areas. We all were frustrated as he turned great players into mediocre to bad players. It was almost a gift.
Our new coach came and all the sudden our bad players learned how to play again. They hit, threw, won, and had fun. Scouts came to games, and our players got looks. So PG and Dino. . . While I think that great players may find a way. . .they are rare. Lower D1, D2 and D3 players can lose their opportunities if bad coaches force bad form which prevents success.
No offense to the few good hs coaches out there but most I've seen here are the teachers at the school that have to be hired who happen to have played in the day. Some take it personally if players get outside instruction. They feel threatened I think. Would a ban/choir director get upset if a musician gets outside lessons? We've done the lessons in the past and I find it funny that some think they can go two/three lessons and their son knows it all and don't need to go back. These are usually the ones that don't stick with the sport. Most go to lessons because they feel that their LL coaches(usu daddy ball) or HS coaches are not helping to develop them as a player. I say let the people go if they want, but it's the coaches choice to play who they feel is best in a position/lineup. The goal should be to help a player make it as far as they can. My motto-if it ain't broke don't try and fix it.
Look at some real life analogies to get your answer here. Baseball, even at the HS level is a business to both the Coach and P.Inst. Hopefully, if they are good, they love their subject matter and want only the best for their pupils.
In the business world, when I hear an employee of Company A "slamming" Company B, a red flag goes up. Let your actions speak loud about what you deliver, not what others cannot or what their faults may be.
As a knowledgeable baseball parent, I'd politely tell him that Junior will absorb all the good advice he is receiving and will use what serves him best.
If he has an issue with that, then he and I will have a real issue..
In the business world, when I hear an employee of Company A "slamming" Company B, a red flag goes up. Let your actions speak loud about what you deliver, not what others cannot or what their faults may be.
As a knowledgeable baseball parent, I'd politely tell him that Junior will absorb all the good advice he is receiving and will use what serves him best.
If he has an issue with that, then he and I will have a real issue..
This is an interesting thread for me right now. My personal feelings about the subject are changing, and that always forces a lot of deep thought for me. I’ve always believed HS baseball coaches generally did a poor job of developing players through their ability to teach baseball skills, but since my son has been a HS JV pitching coach for the last couple of seasons, I’ve gained a new awareness of why that happens.
This same general question came up yesterday, as our team lost a very close game in the 2nd round of playoffs. This is the 5th year I’ve been scoring for this same team, and for the last two we haven’t had what you’d call a “true” pitching coach who actually attempted to modify what the pitchers were doing. What the fellow who has the job now does, is stand in the bullpen when pitchers about to go into a game are warming up so he can tell the HC when they’re ready, count pitches on his “clicker”, and verify the count with me when the pitch counts get close to whatever limit the HC has set. After the very beginning of the season, the only bullpens have been during games, and even then they haven’t been “teaching” pens, but rather just something the pitchers could do to maintain whatever skills they had, or try to develop some new pitch on their own.
While my son doesn’t pretend to know all the magic secrets the gurus claim to know and understand, he does have one gift that seems to be generally lacking. Rather than trying to get his pitchers to change this or that because some new study proves its beneficial, or throw lots of numbers at them to show where they have to improve, mainly he just LISTENS to what they have to SAY or ASK, and talks TO them, not AT them.
In my estimation, the results have been pretty impressive. Not in how much success they’ve had, but in how many of them actually seek him out and ask for his help on both baseball issues as well as personal ones. What’s happened is, he’s established a bond of respect and trust, and in kids HS ages, that’s extremely important because it gives them a bit of control over a situation that many kids have little control over.
A couple of the boys he coached last year that are on the V now, still seek him out, but although he never turns anyone away, he’s been very reluctant to get involved with the V players. Having gone through it himself, he’s a big believer that too many voices whispering in a kid’s ear will do more harm than good.
But getting back to the main thrust of the thread, many HS coaches feel the same way, and really don’t like to get into coach “tug-of-war”. So what seems to happen is, rather than “developing by teaching”, they “develop by managing”. IOW, they just stick with the very basics combined with their personal philosophies, and let the players and parents go outside the team system and into the private system to get any real skill development. It comes down to them just moving players around, trying to find the combination that works best with the players they have.
This same general question came up yesterday, as our team lost a very close game in the 2nd round of playoffs. This is the 5th year I’ve been scoring for this same team, and for the last two we haven’t had what you’d call a “true” pitching coach who actually attempted to modify what the pitchers were doing. What the fellow who has the job now does, is stand in the bullpen when pitchers about to go into a game are warming up so he can tell the HC when they’re ready, count pitches on his “clicker”, and verify the count with me when the pitch counts get close to whatever limit the HC has set. After the very beginning of the season, the only bullpens have been during games, and even then they haven’t been “teaching” pens, but rather just something the pitchers could do to maintain whatever skills they had, or try to develop some new pitch on their own.
While my son doesn’t pretend to know all the magic secrets the gurus claim to know and understand, he does have one gift that seems to be generally lacking. Rather than trying to get his pitchers to change this or that because some new study proves its beneficial, or throw lots of numbers at them to show where they have to improve, mainly he just LISTENS to what they have to SAY or ASK, and talks TO them, not AT them.
In my estimation, the results have been pretty impressive. Not in how much success they’ve had, but in how many of them actually seek him out and ask for his help on both baseball issues as well as personal ones. What’s happened is, he’s established a bond of respect and trust, and in kids HS ages, that’s extremely important because it gives them a bit of control over a situation that many kids have little control over.
A couple of the boys he coached last year that are on the V now, still seek him out, but although he never turns anyone away, he’s been very reluctant to get involved with the V players. Having gone through it himself, he’s a big believer that too many voices whispering in a kid’s ear will do more harm than good.
But getting back to the main thrust of the thread, many HS coaches feel the same way, and really don’t like to get into coach “tug-of-war”. So what seems to happen is, rather than “developing by teaching”, they “develop by managing”. IOW, they just stick with the very basics combined with their personal philosophies, and let the players and parents go outside the team system and into the private system to get any real skill development. It comes down to them just moving players around, trying to find the combination that works best with the players they have.
At our local HS, the Head Coach is one of my former Legion players. He requests the assistance of my son Robert [ a local hitting instructor and Tim [Marlins catching coach] All played on my Legion team with John Wetteland [World Series MVP].
If I was a high school coach, I would invite Robert, Tim, John, and a track/conditioning coach to provide a seminar early in the season to all the baseball players. Of course, I would volunteer to speak to the parents as to their role in supporting this team.
Bob
If I was a high school coach, I would invite Robert, Tim, John, and a track/conditioning coach to provide a seminar early in the season to all the baseball players. Of course, I would volunteer to speak to the parents as to their role in supporting this team.
Bob
I’m gonna address this to coach2709, but its really a statement in general. Its just that he hits a lot of the points.
Posts like the OP really have no way of being address on anything more than a very personal basis. Whatever the reply is, it can’t be applied to all HS coaches in all situations.
I understand the concern of a player going to some of the wonks I’ve seen who pass themselves off as coaches, but the thing is, I doubt any HS coach could possibly be fully aware of every coach’s resume and history that every one of his players was seeing on his own time. Because of that, unless a HS coach knows without a doubt that the private coach is doing something that will for sure cause the player injury, or that he’s some kind of pedophile or child molester, he should really do nothing more than contact the parent/guardian, and deal with him/her/them.
In doing that, the coach should present any proof he has that should concern the parent/guardian, and explain any reasons he feels that players should refrain from seeing the private coach. That’s called being, honest, upfront, and is an honorable way to deal with this situation. Anything less would make any honest person question the morals and integrity of the coach. For sure it wouldn’t do a lot to instill respect.
I’ve been involved lawsuits 2 a private coach brought against HS coaches, and both times the private coach won damages. What was stupid was, in both instances, the HS coaches were proven to have said things that weren’t true, and in both the HS coaches were proven to be inferior in expertise to the private coach.
Now that doesn’t mean ALL HS coaches lie about private coaches or are inferior in expertise, anymore than it means all HS coaches tell the truth about private coaches, or are superior coaches! In the end, I understand how too many voices whispering in too many ears can cause “issues”. But the way to deal with that isn’t to take a “my way or the highway” approach or to say things that might actually not be true and could hurt someone.
I have to take issue with your characterization of what would happen in a ”perfect world”. Not because there aren’t some excellent HS programs, but that even in a perfect world, there would still be some that weren’t. HSB only lasts for the duration of the season the stat assn defines. Normally, that’s from some time in Feb to some time in May. That’s only roughly 1/4th of the year. If a player chooses to play ball outside of that, who’s to say which is the most important time?
I agree that a private coach is “normally” practice only, but usually that practice is 1 on 1, and that’s difficult to do in any team setting. FI, if my kid gets a half hour of private pitching instruction from a qualified instructor, what are the chances of that happening in the school team setting?
I’ll bet money every HS coach in the would love to spend 30 minutes of uninterrupted time with each of his 6-8 pitchers, but that would take 3-4 hours every week. Where’s he gonna get the time, even if he is qualified and wants to do it? How many HS teams have that kind of time during a season? I know ours sure doesn’t. By the time they get done practicing defensive situations and field maintenance, there’s just no time. Besides, our asst coaches don’t get paid, and many of them can just leave work at 2PM to go to a practice, so the HC is trying to do everything by himself.
In the end, you message that to: pay attention to what you're spending your money on, and to become as knowledgeable as possible is really the right one. Its too bad more parents don’t take the time to do that. Those of us who participate in forums such as this are really in the minority, and many are like myself who no longer have a child playing the game. but there are 15,000+ HSs playing baseball, with an average of 2 teams per school. When you run the numbers assuming a roster of 14 players, that would be over 400,000 parents participating on these board, just for the active players!
I know HSBBW, BBF, and ETEAMZ just to name a few have a lot of people posting, but something tells me that all together there aren’t 400,000 posting or lurking.
We can all only do our best to take care of our own business, and hope everyone else does the same.
Posts like the OP really have no way of being address on anything more than a very personal basis. Whatever the reply is, it can’t be applied to all HS coaches in all situations.
I understand the concern of a player going to some of the wonks I’ve seen who pass themselves off as coaches, but the thing is, I doubt any HS coach could possibly be fully aware of every coach’s resume and history that every one of his players was seeing on his own time. Because of that, unless a HS coach knows without a doubt that the private coach is doing something that will for sure cause the player injury, or that he’s some kind of pedophile or child molester, he should really do nothing more than contact the parent/guardian, and deal with him/her/them.
In doing that, the coach should present any proof he has that should concern the parent/guardian, and explain any reasons he feels that players should refrain from seeing the private coach. That’s called being, honest, upfront, and is an honorable way to deal with this situation. Anything less would make any honest person question the morals and integrity of the coach. For sure it wouldn’t do a lot to instill respect.
I’ve been involved lawsuits 2 a private coach brought against HS coaches, and both times the private coach won damages. What was stupid was, in both instances, the HS coaches were proven to have said things that weren’t true, and in both the HS coaches were proven to be inferior in expertise to the private coach.
Now that doesn’t mean ALL HS coaches lie about private coaches or are inferior in expertise, anymore than it means all HS coaches tell the truth about private coaches, or are superior coaches! In the end, I understand how too many voices whispering in too many ears can cause “issues”. But the way to deal with that isn’t to take a “my way or the highway” approach or to say things that might actually not be true and could hurt someone.
I have to take issue with your characterization of what would happen in a ”perfect world”. Not because there aren’t some excellent HS programs, but that even in a perfect world, there would still be some that weren’t. HSB only lasts for the duration of the season the stat assn defines. Normally, that’s from some time in Feb to some time in May. That’s only roughly 1/4th of the year. If a player chooses to play ball outside of that, who’s to say which is the most important time?
I agree that a private coach is “normally” practice only, but usually that practice is 1 on 1, and that’s difficult to do in any team setting. FI, if my kid gets a half hour of private pitching instruction from a qualified instructor, what are the chances of that happening in the school team setting?
I’ll bet money every HS coach in the would love to spend 30 minutes of uninterrupted time with each of his 6-8 pitchers, but that would take 3-4 hours every week. Where’s he gonna get the time, even if he is qualified and wants to do it? How many HS teams have that kind of time during a season? I know ours sure doesn’t. By the time they get done practicing defensive situations and field maintenance, there’s just no time. Besides, our asst coaches don’t get paid, and many of them can just leave work at 2PM to go to a practice, so the HC is trying to do everything by himself.
In the end, you message that to: pay attention to what you're spending your money on, and to become as knowledgeable as possible is really the right one. Its too bad more parents don’t take the time to do that. Those of us who participate in forums such as this are really in the minority, and many are like myself who no longer have a child playing the game. but there are 15,000+ HSs playing baseball, with an average of 2 teams per school. When you run the numbers assuming a roster of 14 players, that would be over 400,000 parents participating on these board, just for the active players!
I know HSBBW, BBF, and ETEAMZ just to name a few have a lot of people posting, but something tells me that all together there aren’t 400,000 posting or lurking.
We can all only do our best to take care of our own business, and hope everyone else does the same.
If a player is having success and has solid fundamentals, why the hell would a HS coach care if a player is gettng hitting instruction from a private instructor? He should be glad and if he isn't, it's because he needs his ego stroked.
Even pitching..The HS coach shouldn't get in the way of a player seeing a private pitching coach since most schools don't have real pitching coaches on their baseball teams. The only thing the head coach should expect is his pitchers be ready to pitch on game day so the pitchers should know to scale back throwing on the side with a P.I. until the season's over.
Even pitching..The HS coach shouldn't get in the way of a player seeing a private pitching coach since most schools don't have real pitching coaches on their baseball teams. The only thing the head coach should expect is his pitchers be ready to pitch on game day so the pitchers should know to scale back throwing on the side with a P.I. until the season's over.