Being a softball parent, or a coach trying to increase your knowledge to help your players get better, isn’t easy under any conditions. But these days it’s become tougher than ever due to one simple factor – the overwhelming focus on being flashy versus offering substance.

You don’t have to be an expert on learning theory to understand why starting simply with basic movements and techniques, and then enhancing those abilities later once the foundation has been established, makes sense. You’re setting the learner up for both short- and long-term success while also protecting their health by not introducing concepts for which they’re not ready, or that work against the way their bodies work.

The downside of that approach, though, is that often times it can be boring. Requiring a pitcher, for example, to be able to bring her arm down from the K position with a slight elbow bend while keeping the overall arm loose isn’t nearly as entertaining as throwing her on the pitcher’s plate and telling her she’s going to learn how to throw a riseball.

So what ends up happening is coaches rush through the basics, or maybe skip them entirely, to get to “the good stuff” or the fun stuff so players and parents are happy in the moment. Parents gain bragging rights about how many pitches their daughter is learning and kids who are used to TikTok videos and YouTube shorts get the instant gratification they seek without questioning whether it’s going to set them up for success in the future.

In other words, they get so dazzled with the flash they don’t look to see if there is any substance behind what they’re learning.

Don’t fall for it. Your player isn’t going to a private instructor to be entertained – or at least she shouldn’t be.

Whether it’s pitching, hitting, slapping, throwing, fielding, or some other skill, she’s going there to learn how to execute a fairly complex set of movements that have to be sequenced and timed correctly in order to give her the best chance of a successful outcome. Skipping over some of the early steps because they’re “boring,” or giving up too early on those steps because her friends and/or teammates are supposedly learning more advanced techniques is an almost certain way to ensure your daughter’s playing career ends prematurely.

The same goes for a lot of the videos you see on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other social media platforms. To be considered a content creator or an influencer, you have to create a steady stream of content that’s flashy enough to capture the attention of your target audience in roughly three seconds.

Focusing on the basics isn’t going to get an aspiring influencer the attention they seek because A) there aren’t a whole lot of basics to work with, and B) they’re basic by definition so they don’t have the crazy, attention-getting visuals that will make unsuspecting parents and coaches stop scrolling long enough to click on them.

So, they resort to outlandish drills that look great on camera but have little to do with learning how to be a great softball player. And the longer they are out there, the crazier the drills have to be to keep the click machine working.

Again, don’t fall for it. If you really want your daughter or your player(s) to build a skillset that will allow them to grow and improve so they can perform at a high level, skip the flash and accept the fact that excellence is built by doing a lot of little things right.

Look for someone who wants to teach your daughter or your player(s) rather than entertain them, and who is going to make sure they have reasonable competence with the current technique being worked on before they introduce the next one. Also one who is measuring the quality of one pitch and making sure it’s game-ready before moving them on to the next one.

It may not be as fun or exciting as the flashy approach. But it’s far more likely to produce the results you’re seeking while keeping your daughter or player(s) healthy and safe.