Less is More

Okay. If you don't mind and I hope you understand that I am writing this blog to help and not pointing fingers or being critical because I get it. You are the parent and you really really care about your child's performance on the field but allow me to express some thoughts from a parent, a grandparent, a hitting instructor, and a former college coach.

Performing at your very best requires a lot but basically, you can break it down to your preparation and your performance. The preparation includes everything such as your practices, lessons, watching videos, reading books and etc. This is the time to think a lot and take in a lot and repeat the skill as often as possible. Our sports of baseball and softball are sports of repetition.

Then, once the game starts, we trust our preparation time. As a hitter, we need to keep it as simple as possible and I always recommend just thinking about SEEING THE BALL. Don't think about your grip, your stance...nothing really. Just see the ball. If you repeat your skill enough and repeat it consistently and properly, you won't need to think about anything but seeing the ball. Most of the other skills in our games are very similar.

Even as a college coach, I rarely would talk to my athletes about their technique before or during their at-bat. It was almost always about focus but most of the time, I didn't say anything but things like, "see the ball". If they didn't have the technique at game time, they certainly wouldn't get it from me just telling them something about their technique.

So, those parents that are in the stands. Encourage and cheer but during the game, let the coach do the job of coaching. If you want to coach, then volunteer to coach as most can use the help. You might be and probably are right about what he or she is doing wrong or what he or she needs to be doing but if they start listening to you in the bleachers they also have to listen to the coaches and it becomes really confusing. If this is confusing for college-age players, imagine how confusing it is for the younger players. Then, the time to think or to talk technique is between games. Prepare..prepare...prepare.