Pitching and Pitchers Discussion Fastptch Instruction Question

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Long time viewer, first time poster. Here's my question.

Can a parent instruct their own kid on how to pitch? I've never pitched, but I am the guy on the bucket day in and day out. I feel I may have picked up enough from her instructer to go this on our own.

Is there anyone out there that goes this route, and what advise could you give me?

My DD is 15 and has had 2 very well respected instructers over the last 3 years who have for one reason or another (retired.) I just don't know if it's worth it to find another coach.

 

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If she wants to pitch in college noway. if not first find another catcher you won't be able to catch and follow her mechanics.JMHO.

 

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If she wants to pitch in college noway. if not first find another catcher you won't be able to catch and follow her mechanics.JMHO.

I so agree with this. My oldest catches my youngest so I can see what may be going on mechanics wise. I don't think I could ever teach her everything that a pitching coach can. I know enough to be dangerous but would have a fear of screwing something up. LOL..

 

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I would say find a knowledgable instructor. I have spent many hours on a bucket and know two things :

1. I can pick up the obvious mechanical problems, but her instructor can pick up the minor ones because she isn't worried about catching the ball.

2. My DD will listen more to other coaches than Dad. :lmao:

 

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I would say find a knowledgable instructor. I have spent many hours on a bucket and know two things :

1. I can pick up the obvious mechanical problems, but her instructor can pick up the minor ones because she isn't worried about catching the ball.

2. My DD will listen more to other coaches than Dad. :lmao:

So true. Even if we know what we are telling them, they will listen to someone else every time!

 

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Take Strohbro's advise along with Gopher's. I can only attempt to help fix the major things because I ask. Concerning the minor things, that is what the instructor is for.

 

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Ok. I think I understand. Thanks for the input. Need a new instructor.

 

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Ok. I think I understand. Thanks for the input. Need a new instructor.

What area are you located in ?

 

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South of Canton OH. New Philadelphia.

 

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South of Canton OH. New Philadelphia.

I'm sure that some of our fellow OFCers from that area can point you in the right direction of a good, knowledgable instructor to check out. Good Luck !

 

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Thanks Gopher. It's just frustrating cause we have been through this before. We have had to switch (twice) through no fault of our own.

 

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Thanks Gopher. It's just frustrating cause we have been through this before. We have had to switch (twice) through no fault of our own.

I completely know where your coming from. Our first one, she was CSU's pitching coach before going to Case. College got in the way and understandable. Second one received a promotion and headed to Chicago. We are on our third and hopefully final one.

 

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Thanks Gopher. It's just frustrating cause we have been through this before. We have had to switch (twice) through no fault of our own.

You may not realize it until further down the road, (and some may disagree) but I think having several different instructors may actually be a blessing in disguise. Here's my reasoning:

Let's say your DD is having trouble understanding how a certain pitch works. This misunderstanding could well be a miscommunication - it's simply HOW it's being explained. Different instructors have MANY different ways to show the SAME pitch, but use different expressions and techniques. Obviously you wouldn't be taking instruction from two different instructors at the time. Also, some instructors are better with young beginners, while others may excel with more advanced students.

Ultimately, you as a parent must decide how well your DD is progressing. This means you have to educate yourself to some degree to recognize "age appropriate skill level". If your DD isn't progressing beyond a certain point, it's time wasted staying with the instructor. You don't need to be an expert, but you DO need to do some extensive research from MANY different sources.

Now, are you "self teaching" because of quality, convenience or cost? Believe me, I know how expensive lessons can be! So affordability is certainly a huge part. Self teaching can be a dangerous path unless you know exactly what you are doing. If your DD grooves a bad habit, it is doubly hard to break as she gets older. If you are really serious about getting her to an advanced level, teaching the mechanics is probably best left to a professional, and having dad in a supporting role.

 

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Sammy. I appreciate your input. Quality has not been an issue. The instructors we have been with were very good. They just don't offer their services anymore. Convience has not been an issue either. We drove over an hour to get instruction from both of the coaches. Cost is always an issue, but you do what you have to do.
I do agree that the different coaches brought different things to the table. My frustration lies with this all happening in such a short span of time. After we lost our first instructor, it took a while to find a new one that we liked. Now she is unavailable and the search goes on I guess.
We live in an area where there aren't any instructors (that we want to go to) so we know we will have to drive an hour plus.

 

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From your previous post, I now know who your instructors were, and I can appreciate your frustration in losing them... very talented indeed! There are some very well known travel orgs in your area - maybe those coaches can put you on a trail?

We were very fortunate to have several great instructors close to home in the Columbus area. Our focus was nearly all on pitching, but had I knew then what I know now, we would have been driving to Cinci quite often for hitting too... . P.S. Don't forget the hitting!

 

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Hitting is taken care of. Thanks again for your insights.

 

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Have you tried Duck or Spidell.

 

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The original question was can you catch instruct at the same time?

The answer is absolutely not. You can either catch and not get hurt or you can instruct. As your dd adds speed and movement you can not catch the ball and watch the pitcher. You will be injured. You can help your dd apply her lessons and self correct but to actually pick up stuff from the bucket that is of much use is practically impossible. Also you can not afford to learn how to be a pitching instructor when you only have one dd. Your learning curve is simply not not steep enough and by the time you figure it out she will be gone. I have never seen a first class instructor of these older pitchers attempt to catch and teach at the same time. They move around and look from different angles and make tiny adjustments. Most dad instructors tend to be nags repeating things they have heard in lessons by rote. Resist the urge to think you know anything about pitching simple because you've been at the lessons. Your daughter will appreciate the support and sometimes the silence, allow her to become her own best coach.

Find another good instructor (you seem to be doing a good job at that) and keep on catching. You don't become an expert instructor simple by catching a million practice pitches.

Good Luck.

 

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Thanks Fairman,

I pretty much figured as much, although I do have someone to catch for her. I really just wanted to see if anyone else has done this. Apparently so, and not with much success. I have gotten a lot of info from this post and am currently (as I have been) looking for a new instructor. I do appreciate the info and wisdom that everyone has given me on here. I am just frustrated and looking for answers. I certainly don't want to take an easy way out just out of convienence. I want the best for my DD, as any parent would.
Thanks again to all who responded, and any more advise about instructors is certainly welcome.

 

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Mark Hamilton out of Spano Dome is less than an hour away from New Phila