Private Lessons Best Practices?

[u/notnattybeard]

Got a private lesson scheduled for my 10u player today. This will be his first one-on-one private lesson. We've had a few "private" lessons that ended being more like small group training sessions. No real diagnosis and specific drills to do at home, no training plan.

For those that get private lessons: what steps do you take to get the most out of the lessons? How frequently are you getting the lessons and does this change whether it is offseason or in season? I'm curious if you treat privates as one-offs, a block of sessions, or ongoing/open-ended.

[u/vjarizpe]

Ooooh ooh!! I got this one!!!

First, remember your kid will listen to their coach, but not to you, so:

1. Record the coach explaining the drill or technique and demonstrating it. Then your child doing it. Do this at every step.

2. At the end, record the coach telling your child what they expect them to work on between lessons.

3. Go home and review with child and get them to work on it.

4. Between lessons, send coach update videos of your child working to make sure he’s doing g it right.

5. Once coach says, “that’s it! Great Job!” Then you can go back for another lesson.

If you just go every week, but your child does t work on the skill between them, you’re just paying someone to give your kid reps, and not help them progress.

[u/Old_Veterinarian_472 → u/vjarizpe]

This is great advice, although different instructors will react differently to #4.

But generally, at the 10U level, lessons need to be buttressed with some documentation of what was instructed, some tangible drill(s) to be done between lessons, and some degree of between-lesson diligence to make what was taught a regular thing and not a “weekly” thing.

[u/vjarizpe → u/Old_Veterinarian_472]

I agree. None of the ones we’ve used in Houston have aver had an issue, and most appreciate the work…. But someone could take issue. I’d find a new coach at that point.

[u/jcrobinson11]

My son is 10U and gets privates 1-2 times a month. The first couple were mostly skills assessments. Seeing where he was hitting, fielding, throwing.

Each lesson is 1 hr, typically 30 min of hitting, 30 of fielding. But that can change depending on the lesson. In season is more about pitch selection, understanding the count, smaller tweaks. His trainer doesn’t like big changes during the season unless there’s a major problem at the plate. Offseason is about swinging aggressive and hard. Building strength and speed.

I text him before lessons with areas I think he should work on based on in game performance. My son likes his trainer a lot which is really important. He talks through the “why” and asks my son questions to get him thinking.

[u/notnattybeard → u/jcrobinson11]

I like the idea of mechanical changes off-season or as necessary in season, with approach/tactics focus in season.

[u/Scudr5]

Try to watch and listen as a parent without hovering. Take a few notes of working points, then spend a minute with the coach afterward and talk about what one or two things your kid should work on before the next lesson. Then reinforce those things at home. Coaches love seeing improvement between sessions and are usually happy to share what they want players focusing on.

[u/Bacon_and_Powertools]

Realistically, this is on the coach. A good coach should be actually using it as a training session with something to take home not just let me hit with you for an hour or let me pitch with you for an hour.

So these questions might be something you ask the coach about their style. Before signing up for a lesson to ask if you can watch him give a lesson, etc..

[u/notnattybeard → u/Bacon_and_Powertools]

Thanks. The coach offers a block of lessons at a discounted rate but we’ll use this initial lesson to get a feel for the coach and his process before committing.

[u/CreatedProfile42]

Honestly, most of this stuff is it depends.

If you do a good amount of work between, weekly lessons over a period of time can get the most benefit to eliminate or rework issues. Lessons can show you what and how to improve, the muscle memory and coordination are built outside of the lessons.

At 10u, you might consider weekly pitching lessons to get all the mechanics correct, but every other or every three weeks hitting lessons, with time in between to work on what is given.

Best advice is show up early and get warmed up before lesson to avoid spending lesson time warming up...although one or two sessions with how to warm up can also be good.

Talk to the coach about the goals you have, and they can help guide you to what is most appropriate.

[u/notnattybeard → u/CreatedProfile42]

Solid. Thank you!

[u/WhysoHairy]

Récord the lessons, use those as a progressive tool and to be able to show your kid what they were just thought.

After that continue to practice at home or when ever possible using why you learned in the lessons.

Don’t turn it into a job just continue to help and enforce wha the lesson was.

I on the other hand had a bad experience with a trainer who after 5 lessons wouldn’t make many adjustments and spent the majority of the time talking about how great the other kids he was training were compared to my kid. We moved on to other ways of learning.

Good luck out there 🫡

[u/gabev22]

Good advice above. Ideally book w/ an instructor who sees your kid play, or share gameplay video(s) with instructor at least 6h beforehand.

Don’t bother with lessons if your kid won’t have opportunity to practice what he learns in each lesson, preferably outside of team practices and certainly before any team games or it is a waste of $.

[u/TheMikeyMac13]

We got private lessons for our son from the former MLB player who owned the org, and he is still my son's private coach to this day when needed. He offered and we asked for him to make my son as sound as he could in technique, and to be honest with my son and me about where he was.

It took a long time, but it worked, he rebuilt how my son played defense, threw, pitched and hit, and all got better.

[u/External-Peanut-7077]

Listen to the corrections the coach is making, find your own drills to solve the same issue. Fix 1 at a time. 1 fix a day and you’ll be amazed how much progress is made in 10 days.

[u/Square_Body_Steppa]

My oldest is a HS aged catcher and we do lessons 2-4 times a month, because catchers usually don’t get a lot of defensive reps in most practices. We used the same coach for probably 3 years now. Not sure what position your child plays, but find a coach that can coach that position or positions your child wants to play. We share game film with the coach. Our catching coach also played Juco ball for our current HS head coach so he knows what our current HS coach is looking for in players. The coach we use also does a lot of hitting lesson for surrounding high school players in our area so he gets a lot of feedback from other players and parents on his ‘students’. I have found that I can tell my son the exact same thing the coach does and he will listen to the coach and make adjustments, but when I say it, it is in one ear out the other. Also the technology that our coach has is a game changer. He can get immediate pop times, catcher velos, exit velos, and slow motion video to show what needs adjustments. Then can show how the minor adjustments can make a huge difference. One of the biggest piece of advice I can give is let the coach control the lesson. I see to many parents try to ‘coach’ during the lesson thus distracting the coach and the player. Listen for the cues the coach gives during the lesson and use those when you are working with your player. They could be anything from deliver the barrel, show the pocket, don’t be late to the party, meet it out front, etc. If you don’t understand what he is trying to get your kid to do ask the coach to explain it to you after the lesson and use those same ‘cues’ when working with your player. During lessons as a parent it is better to be seen and not heard.

[u/Necessary_Wish_5853]

We do private and group with the same trainer depending on what he’s teaching them. Pick offs, base running, etc better with more than one kid

[u/gbaker1a]

I take my boy to see his hitting coach once a month. I get a different set of eyes, probably a better set of eyes, on my boy and we look to correct any bad habits from forming and just go from there.

[u/JackyRaff]

One thing I’d add is that a good private lesson should start with a diagnosis, not a drill.

Before I give the athlete a solution, I want to understand why they are moving the way they are. Two players can have the same problem on the surface but need completely different solutions based on how they naturally organize movement.

I also think the best lessons give the player something they can actually work on between sessions, but that work should be specific to them. “Do these 3 drills” isn’t much of a plan if nobody has explained what the drills are supposed to change or why they’re appropriate for that player.

For me, a productive lesson should answer three questions:
What is the athlete currently doing?
Why is it happening?
What are we going to do about it, and how will we know if it’s working?

The goal shouldn’t be to make every player look the same. It should be to help each player become more effective at being their best mover and baseball player.

[u/notnattybeard → u/JackyRaff]

Appreciate the perspective from a coach. This is pretty much exactly what I'm hoping for - nothing more, nothing less.

[u/JackyRaff → u/notnattybeard]

Exactly. I think sometimes we overcomplicate private instruction. The coach’s job is to figure out what the athlete actually needs, communicate it clearly, and give them a practical way to work on it.
The hard part is that “what they need” isn’t always the same thing from player to player. That’s the part I think deserves more attention.

[u/Professional-Mud3373]

Younger private lesson coaches will be looking at their phone every 2 minutes, so try and find an older guy. Seems older coaches look waaaaay less at their smartphones.

[u/Happy-Ad7859]

My son has had a couple of private lessons. Hes only 9, so the "goals" of both lessons were directly from me to the coach and the focus was improving mechanics. 

When he was 7, I took him for throwing/pitching "evaluation" and specifically engaged a guy who said "7 is too young for formal lessons". He took videos of my son, had him throw a variety of balls, showed him slow-mo videos, gave me specific phrases to tell my son, and exercises to do at home. It was 45 minutes and $90 and crazy effective. 

This past winter, my son was 9 and took hitting lessons for 8 weeks, the goal was to change his swing for less weak contact and more line drives. It was mechanics, giving us tee work at home, and some mental changes at the plate. 

Realistically, lessons at this age should be about improving mechanics and stay very, very positive.  

[u/Happy-Ad7859 → u/Happy-Ad7859]

Also, it turns out that if your kid is a 50 lb string bean who is crazy fast, you should just let him be a weak contact hitter who is an on base machine in rec baseball with lots of fielding errors. His line drives on the other hand never got out of the infield and were fielded pretty cleanly for outs! 

:P