Thread by @SteveEnglishbey

In the first 40 seconds , Paul explains his ideas about the role of a coach. Essentially it is that of guiding the trial/error process and minimizing the degree of error, eg., practicing irrelevant things, not really understanding flaws and how to effectively correct them, etc.

https://twitter.com/setprosports/status/1437669565333389312

I agree with this and I'll cite a particular ex. which is representative of much of my long experience as a teacher working with players.

Yrs. ago I was working with a 14 yr. old softball player. Pretty athletic, very focused, and very serious about wanting to develop.

I had set up a tee very low and away. I then demonstrated how to create the kind of movement and postural dynamics that would optimally yield good exit trajectories as regards ball flight.

Those who are very familiar with my basic teachings would understand this as the basic "tilt and turn" posture and movement dynamics.

I hit the ball a few times [with a ball flight trajectory along the lines of 10 ft. over the infielders] and I ask her what she thought about my swings.

Her reply: "That's a long swing and you are upper cutting way too much." [Not the first time I have heard such a critique I should add!!].

I said: "Oh ....ok ...let's think about this." Now, I I happen to have a rope of about 18 inches. And I used this rope to actually measure HER hand path vs. my hand path.

HER posture was very upright and thus in order to get to this low /outside location she had to drop her arms and extend[elbow extension] her arms to get to contact.

Conversely, I created about a 30/35 degree tilt angle of the spine [ consistent with MANY MLB hitters], and I aligned the lead arm along the shoulder line. AND created a flexion angle of the lead elbow -about 70 degrees which I MAINTAINED ....INTO CONTACT.

How could I create THIS kind of flexion angle stability from initiation to contact? Well, simply by creating very good initial bat/body alignment at initiation and from that alignment I "simply " turned....rotating the trunk ..INTO contact.

The bottom line? My hand path was about HALF AS LONG as her upright/extension hand path.

And when I actually showed this [via my rope] I'll never forget her reaction. When I showed her the difference I could almost see that ALL of her energy had been drained from her as she realized that she was DRASTICALLY WRONG.

As I saw this---an instant before she replied---her reply was......."I have been taught wrong." And in that horribly depressing moment [for her] she realized that ALL of what she had been practicing ...was wrong...horribly wrong.

I saw this in not only her face but her entire body---a kind of existential gut punch that rendered her entire effort to be a good hitter up to that point futile...worthless.

Having seen versions of this before----but not this dramatically really----I immediately told her: "Look, you cannot undo the past...you cannot think about the past. Look forward. Start working on this now and in the future."

To return to Paul's notion of a good coach: My job is to help as may as possible avoid the many kinds of minefields and dead ends----like this young girl suffered----that are promulgated by all too many well meaning coaches.

As the well known phrase states: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

And in the Darwinian world of athletic competition [and life in general in many ways], good intentions are not sufficient. Really effective teaching requires a rigor, focus and supreme dedication to trying to master the requisite subject matter that really great teachers achieve

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