That Off-Season Program Wasn't Built for Your Son.
It Was Built for Nobody.
The Harsh Reality of Skill Development · Part 2 of 5
Somewhere right now, a pitcher is starting a twelve-week off-season program.
It came from his travel team. Or a trainer. Or a big leaguer's Instagram. It has phases and a logo, and every kid in the building got the same one.
Here is the harsh reality.
That program was written before anybody looked at your son. It doesn't know he exists. It was built for the average pitcher... and the average pitcher does not exist.
A Template Fixes Somebody's Problem. Maybe Not His.
Every pitcher who is stuck is stuck for a reason. We call that reason his constraint... the thing that is actually limiting him right now.
For one kid it is strength. For the next it is mobility. For the next it is a mechanical inefficiency, or an arm that isn't recovering, or a body that grew four inches in a year and no longer knows where its parts are.
A template can't know which one it is. So it guesses. And it hands every kid the same guess.
Picture two sixteen-year-olds on the same program. One is 6-foot-4, 170 pounds and loose as a rubber band. The other is 5-foot-11, 205 pounds and stiff as a board. Same lifts. Same stretches. Same throwing schedule.
One of them might get lucky. The other is about to spend twelve weeks working hard on something that was never his problem.
Your son doesn't need an average program. He needs one built around HIM.
It Gets Worse Than Wasted Time
Wasted time is the GOOD outcome.
The bad outcome is a program that trains a kid deeper into his real problem. The loose-jointed kid who needed stability gets more stretching. The stiff kid who needed mobility gets more mass. The kid whose arm was already barking gets more volume.
They all worked hard. They all followed the plan. And in March they are no better... or they are hurt... and nobody can figure out why, because "he did everything right."
He did everything he was told. That is not the same thing.
And remember what the off-season is. It is the one stretch of the year long enough to fix something real. Spend it on the wrong thing and you don't get it back until next fall.
What to Do Instead
Three things. None of them is complicated.
1. Assess before you train. A doctor examines you before he writes a prescription. Development should work the same way. Before the off-season work starts, somebody qualified needs to look at how he moves, how he throws, and how his arm is holding up.
If a training program doesn't begin by identifying what YOUR son specifically needs, how can anyone know whether the program is addressing his biggest limitation?
2. Find the ONE thing. Not ten things. The one or two constraints holding everything else back. Fix the real bottleneck and other things often start to improve with it. Work on everything at once and nothing moves.
3. Decide what you are NOT going to work on. A real plan has a priority order. That means some good things get set aside for now... on purpose. If a program has no "not now" list, it isn't a plan. It's a menu.
Ask whoever wrote his program one question: "What did you find in my son that you wouldn't have found in the kid before him?"
If the answer would fit any pitcher alive... get stronger, get more mobile, stay connected longer... you are looking at a template with his name on top.
The line to remember: Hard work on the wrong problem is still the wrong problem.
Next in the series: why the busiest kid in the building is often not the one getting better.
Ron Wolforth
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Free Ranch Resources:
1) A special 90-minute webinar hosted by Coach Wolforth - “The Velocity Code: 3 Secrets to Improving Velocity and Staying Healthy”. Register here: https://keap.page/m130/velocity-webinar-registration.html
2) Get a free copy of Coach Wolforth’s book, Pitching with Confidence.
Visit: www.freepitchingbook.com
Ways to train with the Ranch:
3-Hour Private Training Session - designed for athletes who are needing immediate attention for a performance constraint, especially related to arm health. Call for details (936) 588-6762.
Elite Pitchers Bootcamp (EPBC)
Join our 3-day event for pitchers ages 12+. EPBCs are held every month except March & April. Details, dates and current availability at: www.texasbaseballranch.com
Want to see what makes EPBC different? Request our detailed information package “What Makes This Bootcamp Different?” by emailing Jill@TexasBaseballRanch.com.
Private Lessons & Fall Classes (Greater Houston Area)
For details, email info@TexasBaseballRanch.com or call (936) 588-6762. Classes are held Monday and Wednesday beginning in September and running through January.