Coach, Please Give Them a Break

While conducting a college camp this past year I noticed a guy standing at a distance taking notes. I walked over and introduced myself and was pleasantly surprised to learn that he was a high school coach who had paid his own expenses to come and learn ways to do a better job. He had my respect.
I love great coaches who want to get better.

We have a whole list of those who come to lessons with students, some even paying for the lessons, so they can help the kids get better. And, then, there is the other side. Our pitchers often arrive in tears because a high or travel ball “pitching coach” tried to change their form, made them change the way they throw a certain pitch, or simply won’t call a certain pitch because they don’t understand it.
The sad thing is that these pitchers work year-round to be great. Their school coach tries to make them pitch one way, a travel coach is pushing for another way, and then they take lessons from someone who has a third approach. Even worse, we will ask about the qualifications of the person trying to force the changes and learn that the person’s total experience was watching a video on pitching, going to a clinic, or perhaps pitched in high school for a year or two. That is a bit light on experience for suggesting changes in a kid who has demonstrated college potential.
Is it limited to pitchers? Not at all. A kid hires a hitting coach who was an All-American and has successfully taught many who made it big in college. Suddenly the kid goes to school and a coach tries to change everything about her hitting. The kid wants to be respectful, the parents try to give the coach space, but now the form goes to pieces because the kid is trying to balance two entirely different approaches.
I am not trying to put down school coaches. I was fortunate enough to coach alongside one of the legends and we enjoyed a couple of state championships together. There are fabulous coaches on the high school and on the travel ball level. The difference is that kids on the travel ball level can change teams to find better coaching, but high school kids are stuck. And, a small group of those coaches are totally out of touch with a game which changes almost daily. It is unfortunate for those kids, many of whom have college dreams. This is one reason colleges do almost all of their recruiting at travel tournaments.
What can school coaches do? Let’s work together. Good instructors are passionate about their job and the kids they teach. We will sit down and talk with you. We will invite you to lessons and patiently explain where this student has been over the past three years and where we are trying to take her. We want to work with you to develop kids to their full potential, so take a minute to call or email.
Travel ball coaches spend nine months a year with these same kids that you only see for three months. They receive no pay so their only motivation is to see kids learn and grow. They will sit down and talk with you. Most will welcome you to their practices so you can work together to develop kids. Again, there are good coaches and bad coaches on both levels, but kids in travel ball can move to find the level they want. On the school level, they are stuck with whatever they get. Most are excited about their programs, but unfortunately many of them will tell you that school ball actually hurt their skills.
We would never come to your school and offer unsolicited advice, but most of us have given a lot of hours to helping schools who simply asked. So, if you wonder why a kid hits a certain way or pitches a certain way, talk to the person who has been with her since she was ten-years-old, see where she has been and where she is going. Good coaches want to know everything about a kid and how to get help her bring her best to the game. As travel ball coaches or instructors, we don’t have to look for those coaches. The good ones come looking for us.