It’s winter here in Ohio, and that means if you’re a family looking to advance your child’s baseball career, you’re turning to indoor baseball venues. Supporting parents will shop around for facilities, camps, and instructors that promise ground breaking insight for their children’s sports future. And, like vultures, many of those aforementioned baseball avenues will offer unqunatifiable guarantees concerning a child’s potential to become the next big thing just to make money, and keep parents on the hook.
You’d think baseball lessons would be a simple matter. I mean, it’s game of simple ideas, after all—throw ball, catch ball, hit ball. But, there is so much competition in the sport now it’s created a veritable economy outside the field. Competition is reaching younger ages every year. I’m not talking about team on team competition, I’m talking about competition for kids who want to make a team, any team. The demand for specialization in baseball skill sets is growing with the same rapidity manufacturing plants strive to make things more efficient by cutting underperformance.
I take issue with this, even though I live in a world where production is the key to one’s next paycheck. Children are children, and they should be allowed to enjoy the game with out feeling like, from day one, if they can’t play with a certain aptitude, they must turn to outside help and investments to get them up to code. Baseball is an expensive sport for a kid to play to begin with; gear gets worn through fast and pants tear when sliding. Parents have to wash uniforms every night of the summer. It seems throwing expensive lessons on top is damn near immoral.
I digress. This sounds a lot like ranting, but the rampant growth of the amateur baseball economy is unforgivable in my eyes, and, for all intents and purposes, unstoppable. I hate seeing the sport I love become so expensive and privatized for young kids. However, there is little I can do to fix it’s direction save for offering you my advice if you are thinking of putting your child in lessons this winter. Please allow me to humbly offer the following five tips:
First, make sure your child understands that lessons are a commitment. They will require a sacrifice of his time. They are not baby sitting or something to do in the winter because you are board. Your child should try to learn and improve at these functions. The attitude they take to the lessons is just as important as what they do there.
Second, YOU should understand that lessons are a commitment. Do your homework. If you get involved in lessons, they’ll cost you. And you should shop around. Most baseball lessons instructors are good, but, some are salesman that are teaching your son right off an instructional video or camp they went too looking for information themselves. In other words, you need to find an instructor that treats your child like an individual and has his own experience and knowledge base. Those who teach children like they can be placed into a mold and punched out are not ideal. Solid fundamental teachers who can adapt their teaching is what you want. Call your local college, or email a local college coach- they tend to give the best information on lesson providers as they want the best, most polished athletes and usually know who produces them.
Third, your child is NOT you. If you love baseball and he doesn’t, why are you taking him to lessons? Are you hoping he’ll be what you thought you could be? This is a tough bullet to bite, but do it soon and save yourself some drama later. Instructors work with kids like this all the time; kids who don’t want to be there but don’t want to disappoint their parents. No instructor can teach a kid to feel for a sport the way you do.
Foruth, Multiple teachers is a good idea. Everyone sees a particular side of the sport different and has different tips and tricks. Ultimately, your child will be the one who synthesizes the information into his play style. I had a pro coach tell me once, “if what I’m telling you doesn’t work for you, throw it out. But at least try it and see first.” This is sound advice as over your child’s career there will be many people, knowledgeable and ignorant, who try to manipulate your child’s play style. You’ll need to learn what works for you and what doesn’t and how to discern early on. Don’t trust any one person to know it all, and work to become your own best coach.
Fifth, don’t neglect weight room knowledge. What I mean here is, it’s not a bad idea to have your kid (13 and up) work with someone who does weight and athletic training. In fact, this is, in some cases, more beneficial than a baseball coach. Why? Because there are a lot of compound, athletic movements in baseball and most kids don’t get anywhere near the type of training they need for this in their school environments, even when they get to high school. Most school programs are based on easily administered, bigger-faster-stronger type workouts which paint with a broad brush. School coaches, in most cases, aren’t dynamic weight coaches. Some are better then others, but, for a real, in depth, and comprehensive understanding of what your body can do, take a few lessons with a trainer. You might see pay offs in other areas aside from baseball.
These are just my opinions and everyone will have different takes. I encourage you to list your advice in the comments portions below. Hopefully we can all learn something new.