The Hidden Skill of Exceptional Hitting Coaches
Spending hour upon hour in the Batting Cages with hitters, studying batting mechanics online every night,
going to coaching conventions across the country to get batting tips, new batting drills and maybe a whole new approach, talking with anyone and everyone you may think can elevate your knowledge, maybe just maybe get video of every national league player and watch 2 months worth of video...most of those are processes all good hitting coaches partake in but the most important skill may have little to do with any of those.
Its 2015, long gone are the dictatorship coaching styles that truly get the most out of the players. They exist all over the country but it is rare that a young athlete maximizes his or her talent with the proverbial, " Do what I say and don't ask questions style." There are multitudes of researched, documented reasons why this is the case. In some ways it is good and some ways it is a challenging time to be a coach.
Becoming a master technician is CRITICAL if you want to be an exceptional coach. You have to know what the elite hitters do "mechanically" in their swings so you can teach the facts.
Being known as a "Batting Cage rat" or "Cage Rat" is the highest of compliments within the coaching ranks!
Depending on which level you are coaching at, it is always a positive to know as many good people in the industry to use as a knowledge base, a think tank partner or group, as a link to get or place players to and from your program. So positive,strong relationships within the game are a must for an exceptional coach.
Luck be my lady, I have been able to have fantastic coaches around me from the first time I grabbed a baseball bat and put on a baseball uniform when I was 8 years old! (I know it's 3 years old now... but i don't understand why?) I have lived in the middle of 'Baseball Disneyland' aka Scottsdale Arizona most of my life.So with a minimal amount of effort, I have an unlimited knowledge base at my fingertips daily.
I have tried to paint a picture of the skill set and effort it takes to become and exceptional coach and also that some hands dealt are better than others... some of the best coaches I have ever met were from cold weather places making access to the elite group very difficult.
After being involved in the game for as long as I have, the roles I have played in it and the traveling across the country regularly... I see trends and when you see as many as I do, the data becomes very clear. One of these data points is there is a direct correlation to "The Hidden Skill" and overall individual, team and program success.
*Hidden Skill
It's not all that hidden, it is just not talked about as much as the others we have mentioned It is usually described in cliches such as motivator, pushes right buttons, hard worker, etc... and it is never broken down into detail!!!!
The ability to observe the player individually and evaluate his/her:
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| Learning, not Teaching |
Its 2015, long gone are the dictatorship coaching styles that truly get the most out of the players. They exist all over the country but it is rare that a young athlete maximizes his or her talent with the proverbial, " Do what I say and don't ask questions style." There are multitudes of researched, documented reasons why this is the case. In some ways it is good and some ways it is a challenging time to be a coach.
Becoming a master technician is CRITICAL if you want to be an exceptional coach. You have to know what the elite hitters do "mechanically" in their swings so you can teach the facts.
Being known as a "Batting Cage rat" or "Cage Rat" is the highest of compliments within the coaching ranks!
Depending on which level you are coaching at, it is always a positive to know as many good people in the industry to use as a knowledge base, a think tank partner or group, as a link to get or place players to and from your program. So positive,strong relationships within the game are a must for an exceptional coach.
Luck be my lady, I have been able to have fantastic coaches around me from the first time I grabbed a baseball bat and put on a baseball uniform when I was 8 years old! (I know it's 3 years old now... but i don't understand why?) I have lived in the middle of 'Baseball Disneyland' aka Scottsdale Arizona most of my life.So with a minimal amount of effort, I have an unlimited knowledge base at my fingertips daily.
I have tried to paint a picture of the skill set and effort it takes to become and exceptional coach and also that some hands dealt are better than others... some of the best coaches I have ever met were from cold weather places making access to the elite group very difficult.
After being involved in the game for as long as I have, the roles I have played in it and the traveling across the country regularly... I see trends and when you see as many as I do, the data becomes very clear. One of these data points is there is a direct correlation to "The Hidden Skill" and overall individual, team and program success.
*Hidden Skill
It's not all that hidden, it is just not talked about as much as the others we have mentioned It is usually described in cliches such as motivator, pushes right buttons, hard worker, etc... and it is never broken down into detail!!!!
The ability to observe the player individually and evaluate his/her:
- Current state of skill and what is background of what they have been taught?
- Potential of skill
- How the hitter learns- what is their most effective way to learn, the rate at which they learn
- Emotional state in general- each kid has different emotional states for infinite reasons and until they are in the optimal learning state... not much good is going to happen
- Mental state-most of the previous can be put in this category but the main point I believe is that every kid has their own mental state in which they perform best...focused, relaxed, pumped up, a little angry, etc... we have to know this and implement it.
- Physical state-are they functionally strong enough to 1. do the things they are trying to do now and 2. strong enough to be able to execute the skills they are about to be taught... their brain may tell the body to do something it is physically incapable of doing.
- Can the hitter truly see the ball well... sounds elementary, IS elementary, but you can have Tony Gwynn's swing and if you see something white and fuzzy coming at you...good luck!
So we mentioned swing mechanics, judging skills and learning capabilities, becoming a Psychologist, Anthony Robbins and a Bio-mechanics Professor... CAKE!!! Haha!
It is as simple as this... DO YOUR *HOMEWORK.
Find out what a good swing is...
Find out what the best way young athletes learn and in particular yours...
Find out about the young PERSON... you know the young ATHLETE... what makes them tick?
Learn about bio mechanics and athletic performance training.
Learn about visual training...
Learn about...EVERYTHING!!!
Exceptional hitting coaches do their *homework- yes, you have to work to become an exceptional hitting coach.
It's the "hidden" skill because its the skill you obtain behind closed doors.
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