Is it unreasonable to assume that club coaches will develop hitting?

[kibadbo]

My DD's team does not spend a lot of time with batting practice. At first I thought that maybe it wasn't a top priority. They have a lot to work on. But it is pretty common for her to get at most 5 swings a week at practice.

The coach does individual lessons for an additional fee, around $60 an hour. Is this normal? Should we be handling hitting on our own like we do for pitching? I don't mind investing in her game, but with pitching and regular practice time, we are having trouble fitting it all in. I'm also beginning to wonder what I'm paying for. Am I expecting too much?

 

[radness]

My DD's team does not spend a lot of time with batting practice. At first I thought that maybe it wasn't a top priority. They have a lot to work on. But it is pretty common for her to get at most 5 swings a week at practice.

The coach does individual lessons for an additional fee, around $60 an hour. Is this normal? Should we be handling hitting on our own like we do for pitching? I don't mind investing in her game, but with pitching and regular practice time, we are having trouble fitting it all in. I'm also beginning to wonder what I'm paying for. Am I expecting too much?

That first sentence stands out.
'Team doesn't spend much time hitting'

What age?

Is it normal that a coach would charge for private hitting lessons? Well that's not abnormal but it is peculiar the coach is not working on hitting at practice. Or have a weekly practice that is dedicated to hitting...
Like a hitting night at a facility at least.

as to hitting lessons
Can get a heck of a lot accomplished in 30 minutes.

 

[docnsx01]

like mentioned above age is dependent but hitting should be mainstay of any team development. one of the teams we were part of was very heavy on fundamentals and defense as the kids got older it became a deficiency on our team,, we had some talented pitchers and never did live hitting which would benefit all, the team defense , the pitchers work, and to see live hitting is priceless. crossed paths with a grad assistant coach from a power five school and was able to pick brain and she said that the program EVERYDAY did live pitching, she said most of the girls at this top five ranked university at one time had pitched in there career growing up so everyone threw live... hitting alone via lessons and daily tee work is a must to help develop the game as it is muscle memory and technique that helps get better... best of luck. it is double edge sword taking lessons from the head coach of the same team you play for I don think I have to explain why..

 

[Butch18507]

That definitely does not sound right in my opinion, especially the fact that he offers private FOR $60/HR! All I can speak from is my experience, our 12U travel team works on hitting EVERY practice, each girl first works with a coach on a t session then moves to live pitching while the defense works on every hit as if it's a live game. We'll call out different situations during each hitters time at the plate to get the defense working on knowing what to do, where to throw cut, who takes cut, bunt D, etc... And as an organization any specific instruction is provided for the team, hitting, pitching, catching, or anything that is needed.

 

[_MIA_]

Most kids nowadays have somebody working with them privately so, unless the coach wants to get up to speed on what every player is being taught and/or invoke the ire of parents, IMO hitting in practice should involve reps and work that cannot be accomplished easily in most private sessions (eg live arm). When they get older things like approach are fair game though.

Now if a kid isn’t getting any private help then the coach can offer to help and probably should if he/she is comfortable doing so.

 

[cnardone]

We rarely hit in practice. Our HC has told me that the directive from the Org is you won't hit in practice until you can play defense.

 

[quincy]

Lot goes into Team hitting practice, maybe they do not want to deal with it. Also do not know if they have enough help to do a good job. Nothing is worse then 1 player batting and the others standing around the the field shagging balls.

If you take up hitting yourself try to get a couple more players to work with you and your DD. Practice goes so much better if you have 2 or 3 players. I have done it by myself and shagged the balls while DD sat down and rested a little bit. Hitting non stop can wear them out.

One year we invited random teamates to join us. Most, if not all, hit more in an hour with us then they did in all the Team practices combined.

Lastly if you do not want to pitch you have a couple options depending on age. A mechical pitching matching is great because you can set them up anywhere problem is the ones I know about max out at @50. Other thing you can do is contact HS and see if they might know a P that wants to make a few bucks.

 

[justAdad2]

DD's team does and 1hr of soft toss and tee work and 2hrs of defensive work every week. they also do live pitching and hitting every 2 weeks. if the kids that pay for hitting lessons are always in the top of the order no matter how poorly they hit, i would find another team.

 

[kibadbo]

That first sentence stands out.
'Team doesn't spend much time hitting'

What age?

Is it normal that a coach would charge for private hitting lessons? Well that's not abnormal but it is peculiar the coach is not working on hitting at practice. Or have a weekly practice that is dedicated to hitting...
Like a hitting night at a facility at least.

as to hitting lessons
Can get a heck of a lot accomplished in 30 minutes.

Sorry. I forgot to mention she is 13 years old. I wonder if the amount they practice is part of the problem. They usually have four hours a week in practice. After warm ups, conditioning etc there never seems to be enough time for BP.

 

[radness]

Sorry. I forgot to mention she is 13 years old. I wonder if the amount they practice is part of the problem. They usually have four hours a week in practice. After warm ups, conditioning etc there never seems to be enough time for

Regardless of the practice schedule the coach should have reiterated to everybody how critical it is to work on hitting on your own. Especially if they weren't going to be working on hitting at all.
Communication on both the coaches part and the parents part to pay attention and ask when things are uncommunicated is critical.
yes for the most part hitting is worked on on your own yet still incorporated into practice or a hitting practice of its own. I would say most teams at 13 year olds are doing some hitting at practice but time may be a constraint. The coach should have communicated about this to everybody.
So parents like yourself would already know.

I wouldn't want to pay for a team to play on that it's just up in the air if people are working on it on their own or not. The coach should at least be keeping tabs on if people are working on hitting.