The Time Table For Developing Your Players Skills

As a parent the only thing that should matter to you is developing your player into the best player he/she can be. Not winning or losing. Development. 

The basic mechanics need to be automatic by 12 years old. I have found over and over again working with kids that if they don't have proper swing and throwing mechanics by twelve they are in big trouble.

This is sort of scary turf. If I would have known this when my son was this age, I'm not sure if I would have had the same approach with him. Which may have helped or hurt. Who knows? But, looking back in retrospect I'm just glad that I worked hard at researching and learning the game I love. I have a small baseball library and video collection. It was fun learning and fun teaching it to my son. Let me make it clear that he has passed me by long ago in his professional career. I'm talking about the kid and playing with him in the backyard and teaching him the game as best I could. Not the professional today. 

Both my son and I have worked with kids and at about 8 or 9 many of them are ready for some basic instruction. My experience with kids between 13 and 16 has been poor. And, what's sad is those older kids are really wanting to learn and become better players. Unfortunately they have performed bad mechanics over and over. They have etched the wrong movements into their brains, or into their muscle memory. And, they just can't get these bad habits out of their systems. 

A book that made me feel that I was right about this fact is, "Why Michael (Jordan) Couldn't Hit, and Other Tales of the Neurology of Sports", by Dr. Harold Klawans. This is an interesting read and I will be mentioning it again latter. His knowledge of the development of the brain and nervous system tells us that by 12 years of age, players with bad mechanics and kids who haven't played are unlikely to develop proper mechanics. Or, they won't be able to develop the mechanics that will make them successful as baseball players. 

I've had parents ask me since my son was 6 years old how he had become a good player. At the age of six I just told them the truth. When he wants me to play with him in the back yard I do it ever chance I have. As he got older I'd just tell them we have a batting cage and he loves to take grounders. Basically he liked to hit, throw, and field. I never felt comfortable talking like I was some baseball guru because I wasn't and I'm not. But, I found what worked for my son and numerous other young players too. 

So the window in time to develop proper mechanics is from 8 to 11 years old. Maybe a little younger depending on the kid. 

The biggest hurdle you are going to face is instructing and keeping it fun. Remember when you are playing with your youngster in the backyard he/she doesn't need to understand proper mechanics, they just need to do them. 

Next: Where and when to start teaching your son proper mechanics. 

Batting Cage? To buy or not to buy?

Hopefully you learned from my first post that youth baseball has changed drastically. More games, more money, and more travel. And, much more commitment too. Usually the kids are up to it. The question is are you as a parent up to it? If you have more than one kid playing sports it can become a full-time job getting to games and a financial burden too.

Speaking of finances. Should you buy a batting cage? And, of course if you have batting cage you should buy a pitching machine too. Right?

I put in a heavy duty batting cage when my son was 10 years old. And, of course I bought a pitching machine. A real nice Aztec that threw some nasty breaking pitches. The one thing that I tried to save money on was an L-Screen which would protect me "DAD" from getting drilled with a line shot. But, after getting drilled several times I decided to make my own screen out of chicken wire. After almost losing a knee cap I decided to invest in an L-Screen.

So if you do decide to buy a batting cage, get an L-Screen. Its worth every dime.

Having a batting cage was definitely helpful. But, not in the way that you might think. First, my son didn't like hitting off the Aztec pitching machine and refused to use it. So it sat idle until I sold it. Second, we didn't use the batting cage as much as "I" wanted to. We might have used it once a week of once every ten days.

So how was it an advantage? It gave my son a psychological advantage. How so? Well word spread that he was the kid with a batting cage and a pitching machine in his back yard. Several times we would walk into a local park and a kid on our team would be telling someone on the other team, "there goes the kid with the batting cage in his backyard." My son and I both over-heard this on more than one occasion.

The result was the other team and their coaches would approach my son differently than the other hitters. The fact that everyone thought he was better prepared than they were, equated into causing many of them worrying that he was better too. I heard a coach tell his pitcher be careful with that kid he can really hit. When in fact that coach had never seen him hit before. Having a batting cage gave him a reputation as being a dangerous hitter.

The advantage to my son was the other teams had already lost the battle before the first bullet was fired.

The best example (and a bad one at that) of how not to talk to your team or kid(s) is this one. We were in a ten and under tournament in St. Louis and had made it to the championship game. Our team was easily the best in the tournament, not that we had a great team.

Before the game our coach took the kids and gathered them into a circle and told them that the other team was really, really good and that we would have to play our best game ever to beat them. Well we played terrible and a team that should have never beat us, beat us bad.

Just like the batting cage example the coach put fear into the heads and hearts of our kids and we played tight, didn't have fun, and played like we had never seen a bat and glove before.

My humble opinion on buying a batting cage and pitching machine? If you decide to buy one get an Iron Mike style pitching machine. Teach your kid how to use it and let him/her play. The Iron Mike doesn't require a parent to feed each ball into the machine. They come with basket that holds lots of balls. And, they are about the same price as a better Juggs or Aztec from that time period.

Next blog: The short window to develop proper mechanics in your kid.