What Is a Private Baseball Lesson, Really?
There are thousands of coaches out there telling you their way is the right way. Here's ours.
At CageList we have a different philosophy. The only "right" way is to show up every day and get after it: to build a work ethic out of your love of the game and your drive to get better.
How that looks depends on the player's age, maturity, desire and personality. Whatever level your player is at, private training will make an impact.
We do need to keep it in perspective. When a parent shows up with a seven-year-old, talking about swing mechanics and signing up for ten lessons before we've even met, that isn't the best approach.
01
What to understand about youth players
- 1Youth players probably don't care about improving their game as much as their parents, or even their coaches.
- 2Baseball is fun, but it's also really hard, no matter what level you're at.
- 3Coaching baseball and understanding the ins and outs of the game takes a lot of time and experience: not only playing it, but working with players at many levels and ages.
- 4This game is about repetition and refinement. It's not about finding a coach with a magic bullet for a swing or the perfect piece of advice.
- 5Baseball is a portal to mentorship and to forming good habits through sport. Never forget that.
- 6If your player is going to make it, it will happen because you stayed out of their way and let them drive the boat. If you schedule lessons for them without their input, the lessons lose their value on all sides.
02
The lessons should be the kid's idea
The child should be the one asking for lessons. Once they've said they want them, build in some way for them to earn the lessons, so they understand how valuable they are.
03The word to remember
As coaches we do have answers for mechanical problems, but we have to explain them where the player is on their path, in a way they'll actually take in.
Isaac Hess founded CageList after seven years of professional baseball and a coaching career of his own. These are the principles we share with every coach on the platform. They come from his academy, MADE Baseball, CageList's sister company. More of the story at isaachess.com.
Keep reading
Talking to parents about this
If a parent is weighing whether to add a second or third coach, this is the piece to point them to first.