Anyhow, my rule, newish rule is, "Try to never buy what you can make." That covers many different avenues, one of which happens to be coaching tools.
And why not? Coaching tools are expensive. Very expensive. And I believe that you get what you pay for - mostly. So if you spend a little, you're going to get a little. Pitch meters alone can cost upwards of $40 dollars. A pitch meter? The rigging tools I desperately want? Almost $200. Each. Ow.
Last time we chatted, I was in the process of building a height stick similar to the one found on a certain website. That project? Highly successful. Cheaper? Well, once you figure in the cost, plus shipping, yes, but not by a wide margin. Satisfying? Absolutely. So while you could order one, I prefer to build my own. And the bonus of it is, there's a rigging issue that seems to spring up every time I've used an "original" one of these that has been eliminated by me building my own. No more guess work which means while the cost difference was about $10 dollars - that helps these days - the headache issue has been completely negated. Win win.
The latest thing that we've built: A sit and reach box. With some help, I've built one that we'll be using later on this season. Again, ordering, not an issue, but why order when you can built it? Check out the link, and you'll understand why. And while the one you can build isn't as fancy as the ones you can buy - though I can make one that will have the sliding scale on it - at $17 dollars for the pieces needed, I can build 9 of them for the price of the cheapest version.
Granted, building or making all of your coaching tools isn't feasible, so you'll need to do some research. I won't make my own measuring tape because that's just silly though I may alter one that I buy. I won't build my own tool box because I'll never build one light enough and strong enough - mostly light enough - to rival what I can buy - and who has the machinery necessary to do all the bending and cutting right?
But I will say that if you sit down, take the time to do some research, you will find that you can produce what you need at home - still talking tools of the trade here though you can see what I'm getting at - for a fraction of the cost to buy it.
