Please High School Coaches,Don't Tinker!!!

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Just my opinion but game time is good time regardless of who you may be playing for. Good players are team players and tend to absorb and make adjustments very quickly. I may not agree with everything the HS coach does or says but it is not something I cannot fix or adjust pretty quickly once we get the girls back.

 

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Now, there is a team player for ya!

 

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I'm just curious, If the rolls were switched and the HS coach did change something and it was an improvement to the player. How many travel coaches and parents would try and change it back because a Travel coach or Clinic Instructor did not make the change.

 

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Hey if someone can help my DD game.....and it works I really don't care if it was the Grinch who implemented the change! Being a travel coach I don't think it is a we they thing.....after all aren't we all here for the same thing .........make the girls better ball players while never losing sight of what it is all about....FUN!

 

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.........make the girls better ball players while never losing sight of what it is all about....FUN![/

Very well said

 

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I think because the majority of college scholarships are being awarded through travel ball exposure creates the mentality that the best coaching is done there. The fallocy (spelling ?) of that is that the majority of the players playing travel ball are so dedicated that most take extra lessons and put in extra time honing their skills, making them better skilled. This is not true of all the high school players. Some only want to play softball for fun.

Another thought is that just because someone plays travel ball means that they are a high level player. I have seen some travel teams lately loaded with average players and players that would not have made a travel team 10 years ago. There are just so many teams out there. And many of those travel teams are being coached by dads that really have no training or experience. It's just that if they coach, their kid plays.

I am one to cringe when someone tries to change my daughter's swing after 5 years and thousands of dollars in lessons. I try not to go to practices. It doesn't bother me if I don't see it. I tell her that she needs to follow the coach's advice. But I have to tell you, with success in the box, kids are normally left alone by a quality and experienced coach. Someone that has been around the game long enough knows when not to tinker.

There are quality coaches and average coaches both in HS and travel ball.

 

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At least in our travel organization, there is respect granted to outside coaches - at least from a technique standpoint. Pitchers who have outside coaches aren't told that they must throw pitches a certain way (say a peel drop instead of a turn drop). Hitters aren't told to modify their swing.

BUT, if the hitter isn't hitting, or if the pitcher is ineffective, they certainly are pulled from the lineup (or moved down), and pitchers get less work, and never at a critical time.

I think it is important in this discussion to separate the method from the results.

Some people (including some coaches) believe that their method yields results - so they want everyone to use it. My angle is to see if you are already getting the results before tinkering.

This is definitely about things such as defining bunt coverages and other fielding situations where there are lots of moving players and moving parts. Some teams run different coverages - for whatever reason - and the coach has the perfect right to insist that a player conform to those coverages.

 

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Those are all good points, sideliner, and I agree with all of them. ?

First, any coach certainly has the right to make whatever changes (s)he desires. ?Of course, it is incumbent upon the coach to be able to explain and justify those methods. ?If a coach says he wants change just because "this is how we do it," then you know you're probably dealing with someone who does not go to clinics and does not keep up with current research and literature. ?If a coach hasn't changed his thinking on at least a couple of things for many years, you know you have a coach who is not a student of the game and who is complacent. ?

Yet, if a girl is going to play for that coach, she has a responsibility to try to do the things the coach wants, no matter how inane they might be. ?Otherwise, don't play or move to another school or travel team. ?The lesson of respecting authority is more important than learning how to properly hit or pitch. ?I know that's easy to say on a message board and difficult to swallow in a real-life setting, but it is nonetheless true. ?

Personally, I teach (or at least try my best) Howard Carrier's hitting techniques. (I've been meaning to meet with Leon Woods, as I have great respect for him and I know his methods are very similar or about the same as Howard's.) ?But rather than just gathering everyone in a group and telling them "this is how you're going to hit," I prefer simply instituting his drills to the extent we can without all of his equipment, making a subtle change or suggestion here and there, and then when girls inevitably ask what they're doing wrong, giving them the appropriate instruction based on Howard's teaching. ?We coaches have a right to push our methods on a girl, but are typically more effective if the girls arrive at those methods when they are fully prepared mentally to receive instruction. ?

This is different than a college situation. ?There, the coach is basically paying the players to play softball and the players need to be expected to adopt the coach's methods, similar to how an employer will tell the employee what to do and how to do it. Again, we have that right as high school/travel coaches, I just don't think it's good strategy on matters of technique.

Now on game situations, I am much, much more of a "my way or the highway" type of coach. ?There are decisions that are simply right or wrong. ?If we're down three runs in the 7th inning and my leadoff hitter in the inning is trying to stretch a double into a triple and it's even a remotely close play, she is going to receive a lesson on that game situation after the game or the next day (and if I'm mad enough and she's safe at third, perhaps before the next pitch). ?If we're on defense and up two or more runs in the 7th inning and the other team does not have the tying run on base, our defense had better take the easiest out and not go for a more difficult lead runner. ? Those are things that are either right and wrong in the game and will remain so for as long as 1 + 1 = 2. ? Those things should be taught in a right vs. wrong manner.