By: Jerry Hart,
I found out last year that teaching teenagers can be very challenging. They don't know what they don't know, if you know what I mean. Most dads who coach have experienced the problem of not having credibility with teenagers, especially your own son. Last year, I was fortunate enough to establish credibility with my son's teammates fairly early. Even he had to finally acknowledge that the old man might, just might, know what he was talking about. I'm not sure exactly when or how the breakthrough came about, but I think 2 things were responsible. What became apparent to me was the kids had never before had any real coaching, didn't recognize it at first, but once they began to experience success with their newly developed skills, they couldn't get enough. I then taught them a few things to have fun with like delayed steals and the "stumble-start" double steal with runners on the corners. Also taught them a few dekes and how to use a superior knowledge of the rules to fluster their less-well-prepared opponents. They loved it. As to your original problem, I agree with those folks who say you shouldn't try to DRASTICALLY revamp someone's swing during the course of a season. Any learning involves learning curves, plateaus and sometimes regressions. A slump is to be expected and the kid(and his parents) are likely to place the blame squarely on YOUR shoulders for tinkering with his swing. OTOH, a rec. coach seldom has an opportnity to work on a kid's swing during the off season so you are stuck between a rock and a hard place. What I do is tell all the kids I will be setup and ready to practice a half-hour before the scheduled practice time. Anyone who wants some help with
some aspect of their game should show up a half-hour early and I will work with them. If I notice a player having a problem with a fundamental during practice or a game, I will tell them what I see them doing and offer to work with them before practice. If a kid shows up early ready to learn, I'm ready to teach. If I have to go to them, they aren't ready to learn and we both will end up getting frustrated. It helps for the kids to know they can win or lose a starting spot at any time. Same thing with batting leadoff or cleanup. I go by the numbers and they know it. In a perfect world, I would have a parent with a quality video camera tape every at bat by every batter. Each kid would have his own tape that I could review at my leisure after each game before the next practice. I could look for breakdowns in mechanics and differences in mechanics between successful at bats and unsuccessful at bats. It would be nice to have video of each pitch by my pitchers for the same purpose. Hope this helps. If you want something to worry about when you're in the batter's box, worry about the pitcher getting hurt when you hit the ball.
Date: May 03, 1998 at 23:20
(1) We did some drills that were fun, fast-paced and competitive. Everything was a competition. Losers ran and winners got candy. It amazed me what a teenager will do for a "Fireball" or Bazooka gum.
(2) After the guys learned something about fundamentals(w/o realizing it) they began to see positive results and enjoyed some success.