Dos and Don’ts for Hiring Professional Coaches

Parents need to be cautious when thinking about hiring a private, professional coach for their young players. There are many ways to mess up a youth baseball player, and one good way is to poorly manage his professional training.

I’ve talked with many parents over the years about professional coaches. It’s very common for a desperate parent to grasp for straws in an attempt to raise a child’s game. Parents have asked me for my opinions regarding professional coaches when their children were just 7 and 8 years old. It seems kids can never be too young to start grooming for excellence.

Before we get into the discussion of how to get a coach, let’s begin by understanding the reasoning for seeking professional training. Making mistakes while playing is not a reason to use a professional coach because we all make mistakes. Wanting to hit more home runs is not a reason to use a professional coach. Nor is wanting to strike out more batters a good reason. We all judge our effectiveness in specific ways, but increasing home runs or strike outs in the absence of the bigger picture is not healthy. The bigger picture is that we want to improve specific aspects of our game like hitting, pitching, fielding or running. If a player wants to be a better pitcher, he may be a good candidate for a professional coach.

My advice to parents has never changed. There are a number of things to keep in mind when considering professional coaches. Much of it isn’t as straightforward as it seems.

A child who is too young should not have a professional coach. The first goal we should all have is instilling a love of the game and an excitement to play. I readily admit that kids have more fun when they are confident and successful, but no child should be thinking of winning and being a stud at 8. I’ve seen many 12-year-olds who are competitive in nature but don’t care about winning enough to attend regular lessons.

Parents must consistently support the private training sessions and see the process through. Baseball is a game of repetition. It takes thousands of reps to build good mechanics or correct mechanical problems. These reps happen over the course of years. It also happens only through timely and consistent reinforcement. If a player can’t attend coaching sessions at least once a week for years to come, he won’t set in place the good habits needed for his success.

I’ve had many parents say that their kids will get something out of one or two visits to a professional coach. That may be true in one case in a thousand, but the vast majority of children cannot learn that way. It’s usually more confusing to get and store partial information than it is to not get the information in the first place. Few sessions or infrequent sessions with a professional coach will do no good.

Choosing a professional coach is a very tricky business. A player must be able to establish a good report with his coach or he will not learn as effectively. A family needs to be fairly certain that a coach is equally committed to the relationship. It is helpful that parents understand and agree with a coach’s approach to teaching, learning, playing and improving.

Changing coaches might be helpful for older players. Once a player has grown enough in his game to understand what he does and why he does it, he can compare one coaching approach to the next. Older, more mature players are able to ask questions of their coaches. They can also synthesize examples and information, and later test their own results. This ability usually doesn’t develop earlier than high school, and some players are never able to think at that level. Younger players simply don’t have all the tools that maturity and experience can bring. So, changing coaches often may do more harm than good.

When looking for a professional coach for children younger than 14, we need to avoid confusing the player. Coaches should be researched carefully and interviewed to find out what they teach and how they teach it. Players should join in the selection process to make sure they are completely invested. Parents must understand that this coach-player relationship needs to remain constant for years. Without appropriate commitment, hiring a professional coach is a waste of money at best and damaging to the player at worst.