Great Expectations

High hopes and low skills. That is the way we describe many students who come our way for the first time. Today let’s take off the gloves and be very honest with one another.

Nothing breaks our hearts more than kids who have been told they are on the right track, but are not even close. All you have to do to find these kids is go to any college camp. You will see 50 kids on the field, only 2-3 of which are remotely interesting to the coaches. The rest are waiting for a magical event to change their lives. That event may come your way, but it is not magical nor is it an “event”, rather being mindset, daily habits, and discipline with enthusiasm. Let’s start by discussing the things we expect from a kid who comes to us with goals. See how you score.
Our dream student:
1-Knows how to compete. I did a college camp recently and worked specifically with ten pitchers, most of whom we had never met. Eight of them were top-notch by the end of the second day, and it was time for scrimmage games. Seven of the eight kids slowed down, became methodical, were very careful, and tried to hit their little spots. They were “pitching to contact”. What!!!??? However, one of the kids stepped it up in the games and went right after hitters. She happened to be a student of one of our Certified Instructors, so that excited us. Give me a kid who wants to compete, please!
2-She brings a notebook and makes a lot of entries. When I do a camp, I ask the kids, “Where is your pitching notebook?” They look lost. We will give them 7-10 specific things that will make a huge difference in their pitching, plus drills to go along with them. And they have no notebook? Their answer is always the same. “Nobody ever told me anything worth writing down before”. My response is always the same, “Then, why did you stay with someone like that?” If you are not getting things worth writing down every lesson, you are in the wrong place.
3-Accountability. Give me the kid who says, “I will write down this week’s goals, I will learn the specific drills, I will do the required reps, and I will return to you far better than last lesson.” I can recite the names of kids like this because they stand out in a big way. Sadly there are far more kids who are waiting for someone to sprinkle magical fairy dust on them.
4-Tough on themselves in healthy ways. They always feel they can do better. They tighten up the location, make it break an extra couple of inches, add a couple of miles per hour so the batter has to make a quick decision. They absorb the things we teach and take them to the next level, often returning with little nuances that are so exciting that we borrow them to help the next student. And, here is a huge factor: They are disciplined in the classroom and serious in the gym. Without those two qualities their potential is extremely, extremely limited.
5-They are not Instructor dependent. We get so many new students who have no concept of how their hips should feel, how to make a ball break quicker or later, how to get off the mound explosively. Great students to not wait for us to spoon feed memorized movements. They want to know how it should feel, how to trigger certain movements, and they want us to stand back and let them experiment with it. Too many kids have taken weekly lessons for so long that they never learned to think for themselves, make adjustments, or get the feeling associated with a pitch.
6-Their parents “get it”. I can tell you stories of amazing parents who taught their daughters the values stated above, helped them stay motivated, knew when to push their buttons and when to leave them alone, and took as much responsibility for the kid’s success as she did. If parents are allowed to drop the kid at lessons or are told to wait in the lobby, you are in the wrong place. We demand they be involved.
Good parents demand much of themselves. Their daughters learn a lot about achieving goals just by watching their parents. I watch those parents and hope I was half as good with my daughters as they are with their own. There is no formula, but each is exactly what that kid needs at each stage of development. These parents are extremely rare. There are a hundred ways to fail, only a few ways to do it just right.
Next week, we will turn the spotlight on ourselves. What should you expect from an instructor? Are you getting your money’s worth? How do you measure results? Only 1 out of every 300 kids pitching 12U will pitch at the D1 level. Always remember, when it comes to being an elite athlete, there are a hundred ways to fail and only a few ways to do it just right.