After talking to a few professionals the other day at our facility and some of the challenges High School athletes face, it got me thinking about overall development, and how “showing face” is becoming a detriment at the High School and Travel Ball level. “Where we train, the HS athletes are there everyday with us, they are committed to their process and understand that based on their goals this is what they need to be doing” I build context around this in the text below, and to clarify, I’m not saying every High School program falls into this category, or every Travel Program falls into this category. These are simply common issues, and struggles that we see not only in our own facility but on social media and talking with families around the country. I hear “he has to go, but he doesn’t want to” wwwwaaaayyyyy too much in regards to high school and travel practices.
“It used to be that if you train as a team you win as a team, now a guy can go get really good on his own, training his own way, doing his own thing, shove, and help his team win every time he throws” -Former Professional Pitcher
The challenges we face are dealing with HS coaches who try to incorporate throwing programs with scattered scheduling, sub-par programming or a limited understanding about how the body works and learns new motor skills (i.e. Pitching Mechanics). Players feel like they need to “show face” in order to impress their High School coach and it can throw off the strategically designed progression. When coupled with “lifting class” and “lifting for baseball” at the HS, it presents more challenges because we, or another pitching coach for that matter, who are expecting the body to be able to move a certain way cannot dictate how the body is training for movement outside of holding a ball and a glove. Anybody can simply tell a player what to do, but there isn’t a drill or a cue that will help a player get to certain positions if they cannot physically accomplish it.
Because of this, the constraint led model is good, because the body needs to learn efficient patterns inside of what it is capable of (i.e. arm slot, degree of hip/shoulder disassociation, etc.) While we have bio-mechanical information on what may be “ideal” of course, and while some coaches know what is is supposed to look like, it is highly unlikely a 1-on-1 pitching coach, high school coach, or travel coach is going to have a training model, or is set up for that matter where a player can do all of his desired warm up and recovery arm care for a “bullpen” day. They may have preferred shortened routines and it’s never bad to gather information and pick up new things from new people, but in our area we don’t have 1-on-1 coaches or HS coaches who do this effectively. This is why we no longer offer the “lesson packages” because we understand these just aren’t nearly as effective long term. The “Pitching Programs” that are sold as group camps over 6-8 weeks also fall short in comparison to their ability to come here and have 4 months of programming built out for him 6 days per week.
A professional pitcher just walked out of our building no more than an hour ago and we were discussing this exact point. Every day of training is a day less that each player has for preparation and the higher the level the less we can take each day for granted, it doesn’t mean we need to do MORE, it means that we need to do BETTER. And the challenges high school players have right now don’t make it easy to stick to one program and trust the process completely. Warm up, throwing, recovery, lifting, nutrition all working together in one system, because it’s more than just simply “throwing with a coach” or “lifting at school” under the premise of “Doing work.” They do ‘x’ one day with one coach because that coach thinks it’s good, they do ‘y’ one day because that coach thinks it’s good, and then they are all of a sudden three weeks or more behind in their specific phases to prepare for the season with no time to make it up.
In terms of how I manage my time, I will double down on player development over “admin work” etc. So taking time to explain our process is important to me, if I thought a player should be doing 1-on-1’s I would try to sell a lesson package to work with me, we would use 4D motion sensors and Rapsodo every time to capture kinematic sequencing and spin-rates to design specific pitches etc. (which is more than anybody within an hour geographically can do, and outside of that place, the next radius is much larger) However, those devices aren’t gimmicks, they are designed with specific tasks in mind to be used in specific situations. Lots of people in our industry even across the nation, who have access to tools like that just sell the fact that players can use them and don’t really know what to do with the information, all while charging a premium to use it. And not having technology or any objective data while doing a “lesson” is purely guessing anyway, in hitting or pitching.
We certainly have players in our program with the Lions and at Johansen Baseball in general who will enjoy a high school career, no matter what they do just because they are good “enough” but either 1. Don’t understand the process, or 2. Don’t want to keep playing that badly. For example, a pitcher who maybe will throw high 70’s to low 80’s and be decent in an average conference might feel like they had a “great career” so their lack of intensity, desire, and scattered approach to programming won’t matter much, and that’s fine, if that’s their motivation level.
In my conversations with certain players, I think they want more than that, and I think the difference for them is that they are actually willing to work for it. They are not just showing up because Mom and Dad think they should, or because they have to show me as his “travel coach” that he is in the facility “working.” They are showing up because they truly want to touch 90mph, 95mph on a radar gun, hit homeruns, play college baseball and have a chance at the MLB. Of course the chances are still slim even going through the process, but it’s an opportunity to live without regret and to learn how to pour into passions, a life tool that can be applied to being a good husband, father, employee, future business owner etc.
With that being said, we have got to find a way to overcome the challenges they may face that might prevent them from accomplishing that. Which might mean betting the farm on the development system that they feel will catapult them the most.
I’m willing to help in anyway that I can, and they are more than welcome to have any conversation with me about how they choose to develop. At the end of the day it is their career and so they have got to buy into something that they truly believe in and run with it even if it’s not our program.
I’m willing to continue to provide as much context behind ‘why’ we do things the way that we do, but I have no horse in this race other than to provide helpful feedback and quality programming. If players decide to do different things then I will try to help them in any other way than I can. It won’t hurt my feelings at all.
Lastly, we have changed our business model entirely, and are in the process of transitioning. We are really focusing on keeping a specific type of athlete in our facility and are starting with the players that we already train (where we currently are), and once we have solidified who that is, and what that looks like, we will begin to market to NEW athletes that fit that profile. One of our biggest challenges is explaining why our program/style is so different and why we are so far ahead of any other facility in our area to say the least. Because it’s not traditional, it’s not what people think of when they think about development, so taking the time to explain it is important to me. In doing so, players will be able to train with very like minded individuals, under the premise of “You are the average of your five friends.” If everybody is throwing 90+ and hitting 100+ around you pretty soon you’re going to figure out how to do those things. So instead of being forced into a cookie cutter program, players have the freedom to develop in an environment with programming that still allows them to be themselves, compete with others, set specific goals that are measured etc. We certainly are not the only facility around building that culture, and I think overtime, especially with the MLB High School Summer league starting, it’s going to be more and more important that you are GOOD if you want to keep playing, and people will understand that being really really good, is more important than “showing face” no matter whatever that development system looks like. It may be with us, or elsewhere, but players need to pick what they feel is going to help them the most and bet the farm on it, trust the process, and go to work. One of the biggest lessons, and mistakes we make as humans is that we shouldn’t worry so much about pleasing everybody, it’s impossible and you’re the one who gets hurt in the end.