Time + Space + X = Impact
One on one private lessons have been sold and executed in the baseball industry over the past decade and a half, to families like candy. Families who want more, or who are afraid if they don’t do the “private lessons” their son or daughter won’t be able to keep up with the pack.
Individual coaches have done this as a career, as a job, or as a hobby across varying price points, making mostly a positive impact on players in the process. They are able to get to know each player individually, making them feel important and praising them for spending their time working hard. They can provide new drills and information from week to week to keep training fun and exciting. Parents can usually watch and help guide the player at home, use reminder cues, or simply enjoy the experience of watching their child work hard and be passionate about something they love to do.
In the Time + Space + X = Impact equation the time is TYPICALLY one night a week for 30 minutes at a time, the space is usually a batting cage, X = Private Lessons, and the impact usually has great short term benefits. Some of those benefits are; quick adjustments, motivation, new mindset or just a “reset” from a bad game or bad practice with the team. In packages of 8 or 12 over the course of a few months, these can lead to long term benefits.
We view 30 minute lessons in 3 models:
- In 30 minutes, players can get a deep understanding of their swing/mechanics if that’s what they are looking for, which takes a great deal of focus and concentration from the athlete. Video review, working and talking through what they feel, while teaching and describing new or more efficient movement patterns for players to develop on their own.
- Coaches can also create an environment where in 30 minutes, players can get up to 150 – 200+ reps, with reminder cues, quick and basic instruction in between
- (Pitchers) In this model for pitching it wouldn’t make sense to throw that many pitches, so we would equate this to trying new grips, working through pitch-ability and simulating game like environments, sequences based on different counts, how to use missed spots etc. In our pitching lessons, we expect our pitchers to learn our warm up phases and show up early to properly prepare the body to throw.
- Hybrids of the above models based on the individual athlete.
A good lesson-program should include all three models. Our 8 week model to focus on Movements, timing, and control, looks like this:
Week 1: Model 2 (evaluation, questions instead of cues, lots of reps)
Week 2: Model 1 (evaluation continued, questions + new cues, new feels, video review)
Week 3 – 7: Model 3
Week 8: Model 2 (wrap up, ensure we accomplished our goals set forth in the program)
The majority of the time in a 30 minute lesson environment is spent in Model 2 and 3. Balancing reps and instruction, often times it’s the only opportunity to perform drills, or create a training environment outside of practice for players. Even if they do extra tee work, it may be the only place where they can actually work on their timing, with flips, batting practice, or live without being worried about their coach looking over their shoulder.
Where one on one sessions are most valuable is when a player who has seemed to plateau, and doesn’t know where to go next. We find that very rare at the youth levels, they simply don’t have enough basic information, or simply have the wrong information that the instruction can be so simple, and the value lies in how many quality reps they can take. Because of this, lessons are not always the most efficient way to train for youth players. Where a HS Varsity, College, or Pro Player with more access and freedom to additional reps, teammates to throw BP or flips with, can benefit a lot from a classroom style breakdown of their swing, movement patterns, and timing mechanisms. They are more self-aware, able to interpret the information and data better to be their own coach outside of the lesson. These are typically players who are working towards being in the top 2% of baseball players.
We’ve ALWAYS try to add as much value to one-on-one lessons as we possibly can, here are some things that we do with in and out of our one on one sessions:
- Collect real data, using Blast Motion, HitTrax, Stalker, Rapsodo.
- Assign Drills for HW
- Review video from parents from game/basement/garage reps in between lessons via e-mail or text message
- Go over in time (we’ll talk more about this below)
But, with all of the tools and resources available in our facility today…. Is 30 minutes enough for all athletes?
Ideally, we want all of our athletes to;
Hitting
Dynamic Warm Up (8 min)
Foam Roll (5 min)
Mobility work (5 min)
PVC Warm Ups (5 min)
Plyo-ball hitting program using backspin tees (15 – 20 min)
General Tee Drills using the backspin tees (5 – 10 min)
Bat Library (5 – 10 min)
Front Toss (5 – 10 min)
BP (10 min)
Live/Machine (20 min)
uHit Pitch recognition (5 – 10 min)
Pitching
Dynamic Warm Up (8 min)
Foam Roll (5 min)
Mobility work (5 min)
J-Bands (5 min)
Wrist Weights (2 min)
Dynamic Stabilization (2 min)
LAX Ball rollout (8 min)
Plyo-Care (10 min)
Throwing/Long Toss/Bullpen (5 – 45 min)
Recovery (10 min)
A total of 104 min+ of hitting training, or 97 min+ of throwing/pitching, and that is not including clean up, switching drills, taking a breather, or instruction. SHEESH! (Not to mention can you imagine the cost involved of 90 min worth of lessons 3x a week, plus the cost of lifting 3x per week?)
Our Solution: a NEW and improved Velo-Nation and Velo-Nation JR. platform that now includes hitting. The same program we ran this fall, but without start and stop dates and more flexible scheduling with coaches involved to give an equivalent amount of instruction that would be given in a 30 minute lesson or more, throughout the week with more consistency and adjustable programming for each athlete. Athletes will be able to be in the facility up to 7 days per week if they so choose. They’ll get our throwing program, hitting program, lifting program, nutrition program, in an environment where they’ll get to compete with their peers. Pitchers will be able to throw live bullpens to hitters, and compete with their peers for velocity, spin rates, spin efficiency, and strike percentage. Hitters will be able to face live pitchers, use HitTrax to compete with each other in Quality Hit Games, Exit Velocity, Distance, and Hard Hit Averages.
Older or more experienced players will be put into leadership roles to teach and help other players that come after them. This allows our staff to see how well they understand certain things for us to fill in the gaps while also providing a sense of responsibility to each player as they progress through the program.
In the Time + Space + X = Impact equation, time becomes left up to the athlete, space equals our entire facility, “x” becomes the Velo-Nation programs and the impact is what athletes put in they get out measured with HitTrax, Rapsodo, Blast Motion, in the weight room, and other variables. Our job as coaches is then to motivate them, help them with instruction while they are with us, and provide and environment that promotes success and making working hard really cool. These are transferable success tools that can be taken into the classroom, workforce, and building relationships.
Lastly, players will have the freedom to get in work when they can, if they can’t perform the entire workout on a specific day, we can help guide them on what to prioritize for the time they are here. This is also different than a 30 minute lesson where if we go over in time to help an athlete with a specific thing we weren’t able to quite wrap up, we don’t have families tapping their foot waiting for their spot, and it eliminates the pressure of feeling we have to rush families out to move onto the next player.
There is always a balance to the Time + Space + X = Impact equation, you want to make the greatest impact with the time and space you have, whether it is 30 minutes per week, one hour per week, 15 hours per week, or any variation in between. Velo-Nation is an adjustable program designed to create savage competitors. You tell us the Time variable, We’ll give you our space, and we’ll fill in “x” to make the greatest impact for each individual player.