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| - My daughter sprung the news on my wife and I that she's decided to go out for her high school freshman softball team. She's never played softball in her life, so we knew we'd have to seek professional help if we wanted her to have a chance of making it.
Having driven by a thousand times, on a whim we dropped in to The Cages. The owner, Mike, greeted us warmly and spent about 10 minutes telling us about the place - amenities, lesson options, fitness training, prices, etc.
His approach was genuine and no-pressure. He offers a 30 minute intro lesson for coach and student (and parents!) to evaluate each other for fit. If all goes well, he suggests taking 3 lessons on successive days to build on the fundamentals.
After discussing it at home, we scheduled the intro session the next day. After the intro, continuation with 3 full 1 hr lessons was a no-brainer.
Mike did an outstanding job of assessing our daughter's skills for a baseline, then implemented an incremental plan of attack to teach her the basics of a textbook softball swing. She started on the tee on the first day and moved to pitches on days 2 and 3.
A few things that I especially appreciated:
-He used a speedo to clock the speed at which she hit the ball off the tee on the first day (average of several swings), then again at the end of lesson 3. Improvements in her form resulted in a nice improvement in ball speed off the bat.
-He encouraged me to listen in to the lesson and pointed out specific elements of her form to be aware of so we could be more effective with our practice time outside of the instruction sessions.
-He used video software on his tablet to breakdown her swing in super slow motion, sometimes side-by-side with his swing. That helped her/us visualize both breaks in form and proper form. We could also see her progress from day 1 to day 3.
-His coaching style is comfortable and positive, yet focused. He identified problems, pointed out the implications, then broke them down into actionable corrective drills. He seemed genuinely excited to help her become a better player. He loves what he does and is very experienced - and it showed.
-After our 3rd lesson, he held true to his promise and followed up with her "velocity chart" (bat swing readings) and a list of the main points that he provided to her over the 3 sessions. We've printed them out so we can reference them during our own sessions and she can read them on her bulletin board to reinforce the positives.
At the end of the 3rd session, he recommended she hit 500 or so more balls on her own to solidify the fundamentals of her swing before doing any more lessons. Once she has her swing down, we'll be back for more lessons so she can work on timing and adjustments to different types of pitches.
If you're not in the market for lessons, The Cages also has (surprise!!!) CAGES in which you can hit off the machine or have a buddy pitch to you from behind the security of a protective screen. They also have bats and helmets and tees that you can borrow if you don't have your own. There's also a pitcher's mound setup on the back side that can be used for throwing and fielding drills.
The bottom line is that our experience with The Cages was a positive one, just as much because of the people as the facility. Coach Mike is a great guy that has the skills to build better players.
If you're looking for a cool, clean facility to take a few cuts and improve your softball skills, look no further...
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