This is why its so important for a parent to start early with your DD's mechanical understanding .
1- Girls that Apply their mechanics , but ignor the work it takes understanding their mechanics ,..can be influenced by misleading instruction .
2 - Girls that apply their mechanics and also understand their mechanics , Can instinctively deflect 95% of misleading instruction .
I simply tell my DD ,.. first an foremost be respectful ,..listen to the suggestion and weigh it out .If its something you feel worth considering ,then try it. If it effects you in a positive way , spend some time exploring it. If its a hair brained idea and you know it ,.play dumb , smile an focus on what youve been taught .
My DD is a catcher and has been receiving instructions form a former college catcher that has been teaching "proper" catching skills for some time. The catching coach (CC) also works very well with my DD and others. CC teaches the "what's" and the "why's" so DD knows what she is doing and why.
At the same time, CC is also teaching DD how to "read" the runners, manage her pitchers, signal plays to the infield and outfield, analyze the batter and her swing to know what pitch to call, analyze the batter on deck, remember what each kid did up at bat, what pitches not to call depending on the play of the infield, etc., etc., etc.
Why all this for a HS sophomore? Easy, because DD wants to learn it. She absolutely loves catching and wants to absorb everything she can. She pushes herself, not the CC, not me (trying to keep up makes my head spin), not anybody but her. And she is a pitbull behind the plate and has tremendous success with the help of the catching coach. And there's more to learn as well. But DD wants to learn all this.
As far as deflecting the misleading instruction, it gets really hard when you're dealing with a young drill sargent style dictator coach with a big ego that has to have everything their way and will berate, intimidate, and disrespect and player to force their will. Even if that coach really doesn't know what they are talking about and even admitted so.
This coach has refused talking with the CC, coming to catching lessons, and even the supporting information I emailed to demonstrate that DD is being taught proper softball catching skills. There is no logical reason why a kid should be put through this kind of ****. This is a BAD coach and the only reason DD is playing softball is she loves the sport and wants to play for her HS.
Because we (parents) got involved at the request of DD, the coach has agreed to work with us but really hasn't kept their word on that either (no surprise there). The coach has moved DD to a different position which a reasonable move but I believe a cowardice one as well. I like DD being able to play multiple positions and seeing and learning the game from different points of view. So we'll see what happens this season.