ONE ON ONE

In the backyard of a home in a quiet Granada Hills neighborhood, four Halogen lights turn night into day.

One by one, teenagers drive up, park their cars and head toward the yard where, on a custom-built mound, John Bushart shows his eager pupils the fundamentals of pitching.

Not far away, at a park in Woodland Hills, Keith West is training a 7-year-old boy to dribble and pass a soccer ball.

Across the Santa Susana mountains in Valencia, Dennis Ford and his daughter, Samantha, are working with softball pitchers in their backyard.

On any given night across the region, aspiring young athletes are honing their skills with the help of private tutors. For a fee, they receive specialized instruction on an individual basis, just like taking piano lessons.

*

Athletes used to hire private instructors predominantly in sports such as golf and tennis. Now, there’s a coach or two offering services in just about any sport you can name.

Jim Parque, a former Crescenta Valley High and UCLA pitcher, concluded his triple-A baseball season for the Chicago White Sox in September, returned home and started offering private pitching lessons.

Soon, he had too many students. “I could have filled up my whole day,” he said.

Bushart, a Pierce College assistant who played for Cal State Northridge, earned praise for the way he helped develop his cousin, former Kennedy High pitcher Jon Garland, a first-round draft choice of the Chicago Cubs.

Bushart gives private lessons to about 45 students, ages 11 to 18. For $15, pitchers get 45 minutes of individual instruction.

“The big thing I do is try to correct their mechanics to where they’re not hurting themselves,” Bushart said.

Johnny Koegel, a junior who was the starting pitcher for El Camino Real in the City 4-A baseball final last season at Dodger Stadium, recently started taking lessons from Bushart.

“It’s helped a lot,” Koegel said. “He’s fine-tuned my mechanics. He knows what he’s doing. Little things he picks up and you can tell he’s making a difference.”

The most successful local baseball tutor is Nez Balelo, president of the 10-year-old West Coast Baseball School in Westlake Village. West Coast has six facilities offering private lessons in Agoura, Granada Hills, Burbank, Santa Clarita, Simi Valley and Bakersfield.

“It’s all about development,” Balelo said. “We try to get the kids to the next level.”

Balelo’s training program includes weight lifting, nutrition, videotaping and mental tests.

*

Some parents say they turn to private coaches because high school coaches don’t offer enough individual attention.

“I think people have lost confidence in the traditional system,” said Drew Yellen, a Northridge-based sports psychologist. “Consequently, they’re seeking out people with an expertise at a high level.”

Steve Clarkson, who runs the Air-It-Out football tutoring service, said high school coaches simply don’t have the time for everyone.

“The coaches are teachers,” he said. “There’s not a whole lot of time to give a quarterback, receiver or anybody else. What we do is go into detail stuff they don’t normally do during practice.”

Some athletes work with multiple coaches--one for strength, another for hitting, and others to improve speed and vision.

“I think it’s getting a little out of hand,” said Crespi baseball Coach Scott Muckey, who also gives private lessons. “Enough is enough. How much training do you need?

“Sometimes if you start to rely on an outside force for your success or failure, you’re kind of relieving yourself of responsibility for your positive or negative play. I think that responsibility needs to be on the player. That’s the fun of it.”

*

The growth in girls’ sports and the increasing availability of college scholarships for women is fueling the rise of private tutors in soccer and softball.

“Female soccer players are as hot as men’s basketball players,” Cal State Northridge men’s soccer Coach Marwan Ass’ad said. “Hundreds of universities go after the girls. Everybody is loaded with full rides. I work with some girls at 6:30 in the morning. They don’t mind.”

De Dow, Moorpark College softball coach, has been training pitchers for several years in the backyard of her Canoga Park home. She charges students ages 7 to 20 $15 for per half hour.

The Fords have put together perhaps the region’s most successful private softball pitching school. In the summer of 1996, their pupils played on American Softball Assn. national championship teams for 10-and-under, 12-and-under and 14-and-under.

“There are fewer [softball pitching coaches] than doctors,” said Dennis Ford, who is golf coach and a math teacher at Hart. “Most coaches and parents are scared to death of pitching. Everybody on the planet thinks they can coach hitting, but the people who can really coach pitching are few and far between.

“I think the end goal is to get a scholarship. Is it realistic? No, not for everyone . . . I would say unless the father or high school coach knows an awful lot about pitching, the girl probably would not develop enough to get a scholarship if she doesn’t have a private coach. There’s not enough time to discover how to do it by trial and error method.”

Ford’s daughter, Samantha, was a star pitcher at Hart and UCLA. She said players only become successful pitchers when they are committed to their sport.

“They get out of it what they put into it,” she said. “There are some people who don’t want to do it and they’re still paying [for private lessons]. Those people are out of their minds.”

The difference in skill level between a softball pitcher who has a private coach and a pitcher who’s learning on her own can be immense, Dennis Ford said.

“A girl came to me one time from Nebraska for a pitching lesson,” he said. “This girl went through her entire season and gave up six hits. They had taught her one thing--go around the circle very fast and let it fly. I worked with her one time because they were out here on vacation and in the course of 40 minutes, taught her to throw five different pitches with success.”

*

How much is too much and how young is too young are questions many private tutors face.

Kelly Paris, a former major leaguer who operates his own batting school at Woodland Hills Sunrise Little League, said he makes sure players who are taking lessons truly want to be there.

“I saw a kid taking lessons when he was 7, 8 and was taking two and sometimes three a week,” he said. “At the age of 12, I saw this kid and he was almost burnt out. I made myself a promise when I got into this that if I saw burnout in a child--if I saw a child who didn’t want to be there--I’d tell the parent [and] return the money. It’s happened probably a half dozen times in eight years I’ve been teaching.”

West, a former Northridge soccer player, trains athletes ages 7 to 18 and coaches club teams 10-and-under, 11-and-under and 13-and-under. He sees nothing wrong with giving 7-year-olds private lessons.

“I have a 7-year-old who has been playing for a year,” West said. “When I first got him, he couldn’t dribble. Now he’s beating kids one on one. He’s having so much fun.”

Tony Folk has sons ages 8, 10 and 12 who play soccer. The youngest, Erik, is taking private lessons from West.

“He’s doing it because he wants to become better at it,” Folk said. “If Erik says he wants to quit, we quit. Parents want to see their kids succeed, whether it be in sports or something else. If this is what they want to do, we want to give them the opportunity.”

Paris teaches hitting to players ages 7 to 19, charging $50 an hour and $210 for five hours. He believes his 16 years in pro baseball gives him a unique perspective.

“You can’t teach them to play the piano in one lesson and you can’t teach them how to hit in one lesson,” Paris said. “I guess what parents are looking for are their children to go out and participate with their peers and have some level of success. However good they are, they want them to be a little better, and they see me as an avenue to helping them.”

*

Whether private tutors are really worth their hourly fee depends on what the athlete expects to accomplish. If earning a college scholarship or reaching the professional ranks is the goal, then disappointment might be inevitable. But if individual improvement is the objective, then private tutors can be useful under the right circumstances.

Most importantly, parents and athletes should fully understand what they are paying for when they hire a private tutor.

“I think it’s a big misconception that somehow if you get all this support, you’re going to create a superstar,” said Yellen, the sports psychologist.

“If they’re looking to give themselves a better shot of getting to the next level, that would be the reason [to hire me],” Clarkson, the football passing expert, said.

Said Paris: “There is no guarantee. [The player will] know more about hitting, but whether he gets better or not, it’s up to the kid.”

Dave Buchanan, strength and conditioning coach at Valley College, has become a popular private tutor for athletes seeking to improve their speed. But he doesn’t guarantee a slow runner will suddenly turn into Carl Lewis.

“I’ll never tell the kid, ‘I guarantee you you’re going to run a 4.3 40,’ Buchanan said. “I guarantee they’re going to run faster than they were running before and most importantly, they’re going to run more efficiently.”

Ryan Hamill, a freshman catcher at Nevada Las Vegas who starred at Chaminade High and trained under Balelo, said, “It’s not just the fact you have a coach--it’s the fact you’re dedicated. If you love the game and want to do it, it’s a great way to stay involved.

“But if you’re doing it because your parents want you to do it, it’s a waste. I always had a dream of playing college and professional baseball, and that’s why I put so much effort into it.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Prominent Private Tutors

Here’s a look at some of the region’s top private tutors by sport, with name, specialty, price and comment by staff writer Eric Sondheimer.

*--*

NAME SPECIALTY PRICE COMMENT BASEBALL Nez Balelo Hitting $36-$45 an hour Owns West Coast Baseball School John Bushart Pitching $35 for 45 min. Helped develop Jon Garland Mark Davis Pitching $35 for 45 min. Highly respected in Ventura Co. Kelly Paris Hitting $50 for an hour Former major leaguer SOFTBALL Dennis Ford Pitching $20 for 30 min. The best around De Dow Pitching $15 for 30 min. Head coach at Moorpark JC SOCCER Keith West Youth players $35 a lesson Former CSUN player on rise Marwan Ass’ad Girls $50 a lesson CSUN men’s coach Mike Evans Girls $25 an hour Top club coach FOOTBALL Steve Clarkson Quarterbacks $35-$50 an hour Attracts the best BASKETBALL Robert Icart Ages 7-22 $45 a lesson Associated with ARC RUNNING Dave Buchanan Sprints $50 a lesson Valley College coach

*--*