I happened to be at a TB winter facility today talking to a U18 coach when on the other side of the divider the first year U12 coach calls his team together and says that the hitting instructor arrived for the first group (10 players, 5 parents and 3 coaches) lesson. I asked the U18 coach who this was and he did not know. So we kind of peered around the divider and neither of us knew who it was. He was introduced as a former college coach. No schools or accomplishments are given other then 15 years of coaching.
So we watch the lesson which starts with a 10 minute speech that about 3 kids paid any attention to. It then progresses to the point where kids are swinging bats in a circle and he walks around spending about 2-3 minutes with each player correcting things and moving on to the next kid. 3 swings later each kid who had their technique changed was back to what they have always been. I'm not going to comment on the suggested changes because that's not the point of this thread.
They move to tees where following the suggested changes the same reverting back to their old style occurs. We are now 45 minutes into this lesson. They go to soft toss (can't move fast enough I guess, I say to the U18 coach). Now I know that you have to make these lessons interesting or you lose the kids attention, but this seemed a bit rushed to me
After an hour the lesson is done. The instructor hands some papers (examples of proper swing mechanics) to the coaches and parents talks to the players says I'll see you next week and he leaves
Later today I found out through the U18 coach that these group (min 4 players) lessons are $50 for a set of 5 and if you want individual lessons those are $30 each for 60 minutes.
I know that one hour one week is not going to improve these kids techniques, but it seems like group lessons for first year U12's are just a waste of time and seemingly a "come to my private lessons" if you want real coaching lure to the parents.
Please share opinions and experiences with group lessons.
So we watch the lesson which starts with a 10 minute speech that about 3 kids paid any attention to. It then progresses to the point where kids are swinging bats in a circle and he walks around spending about 2-3 minutes with each player correcting things and moving on to the next kid. 3 swings later each kid who had their technique changed was back to what they have always been. I'm not going to comment on the suggested changes because that's not the point of this thread.
They move to tees where following the suggested changes the same reverting back to their old style occurs. We are now 45 minutes into this lesson. They go to soft toss (can't move fast enough I guess, I say to the U18 coach). Now I know that you have to make these lessons interesting or you lose the kids attention, but this seemed a bit rushed to me
After an hour the lesson is done. The instructor hands some papers (examples of proper swing mechanics) to the coaches and parents talks to the players says I'll see you next week and he leaves
Later today I found out through the U18 coach that these group (min 4 players) lessons are $50 for a set of 5 and if you want individual lessons those are $30 each for 60 minutes.
I know that one hour one week is not going to improve these kids techniques, but it seems like group lessons for first year U12's are just a waste of time and seemingly a "come to my private lessons" if you want real coaching lure to the parents.
Please share opinions and experiences with group lessons.