By special request this 2017 Blog was asked to be reposted, so here you go...

For the Sake of Comparison:

Baseball:
* Ages 4-6 (two years experience) = T-ball

* Ages 5-7 (three years experience) = machine or coach pitch

* Ages 7-12 (eight years experience) = kid pitch- little 'minor' league

* Ages 11-12 (eight years) = can make Little League major division

* Ages 11-13 (nine years experience) = may make intermediate

* Ages 12-14 (ten years experience) = junior league

* Ages 15-16 (12 years experience) = senior league

After ages 15-16 = no longer eligible for little league and would then move to Junior High School Baseball.

- or -

Look at it based on "practical experience". If someone started at the T-ball level they would accumulate 12-years of experience just to TRY OUT for Junior High ball.

To play High School ball they very well could already have 15 years of experience; and that's if they make the team.

They may not be good enough or know the game well enough.

I'll stop there but I could continue on to college, minors and MLB.
The point is that's a lot of experience.

Yes, I know many kids wait until Jr High to play but they still need a few years to gain the practical experience required to play - let alone coach.

Hell, just being in the sport for two years would be the same as a T-ball player trying to coach baseball, right?

I guess you could say many baseball little league coaches might have never played or may have played a few years of kid pitch. But until they have coached a few years, their teams suck and at best they only coach a few kids at a moderate level (if that). I'm also sure everyone (including these coaches) would agree that they would not make the best Jr High or High School coach.

Why?

Not enough "practical experience."

I know there are exceptions to every rule but "practical experience" in powerlifting coaching matters and potential clients need to REALLY look at what they are investing in.

Note I wrote "practical experience". This means they don't even have to be good, they just have the minimal required skills. So I don't want to hear how some people may not have the genetic ability to be great lifters.

I've been in and around this sport since '83 and was a good lifter in many classes. I had a few very good years but no World Records that matter. Almost 35 years now and I am still involved in the sport. I will say that when I see what others lifters and coaches do, say, teach, and how they train, it can drive me crazy at times....

When it's from those who have been doing this for 10, 15, 20+ years, there are always things I disagree with, and I am sure they would with me.

BUT, I will never discount anyone's ideas or ability who has over ten years of practical experience. Even if all they do in those ten years is fuck up and make mistakes, I'm confident that they know what 90% of all lifters they would ever work with need to know to become better. (Assuming they learned from their mistakes and if they lasted ten years they did learn from most of them. Plus, nobody screws up all the time)

There are many ways to reach the summit (or the base of the mountain) but you need to be on the ground. Judging by some of the things I see, I swear their heads are in the fucking clouds. As I noted, those who have been around and have practical experience will agree to disagree on many things but at least they are heading in the right directions. Many (most) with less than 5 years of practical experience are heading in 3-4 directions at the same time and don't even know it.

With under five years of practical experience in the sport, you are still working and coaching at the level of a kid playing coach-pitch little league.

If you think I am wrong, stick around for another five years and look back on what you know then from what you know now then and tell me I'm wrong.

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