Be aware not all teams in an organization are the same!!!!

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We can't always be magicians as much as you'd like us to be. Coaches aren't issued a magic wand to wave over a player and give them talent and ability.

Agreed. Where ever did the idea come from that the TRAVEL team coach was the primary one responsible for player development? I've always been puzzled by that assumption! It's like expecting your employer to give you "on the jobe training" AFTER they've hired you. What criteria was used for making the travel team? Being a good listener? Great personality?

I always thought that a better formula was to PREPARE yourself skill-wise to prove to a team coach that you are capable of helping the team effort! That preparation comes BEFORE the team effort, NOT during games.

I never once expected my DD's team coaches to teach her anything about hitting or pitching. However, I fully expected my DD to work very hard on her own to improve her skills to help her team. If she failed in her team efforts, it was not because of her team coach, it was because she was not prepared: READ training away from the team effort. Practice at home, bring your skills to team practices, then use your skills to win games!

I guess I'm old fashion in this respect. It used to be you made a travel team based on your ability and existing skill level. To me, this ability came almost exclusively from individual skill development. I guess there is now a level of "developmental" teams at the travel level? I can understand this concept for a 10u team, where most of the kids are one level removed from rec. league. But at older ages, isn't it about competing for a spot? There is so much controversy over playing time in travel ball nowadays that it seems like a carryover mentality from rec. ball.

 

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Agreed. Where ever did the idea come from that the TRAVEL team coach was the primary one responsible for player development? I've always been puzzled by that assumption! It's like expecting your employer to give you "on the jobe training" AFTER they've hired you. What criteria was used for making the travel team? Being a good listener? Great personality?

I always thought that a better formula was to PREPARE yourself skill-wise to prove to a team coach that you are capable of helping the team effort! That preparation comes BEFORE the team effort, NOT during games.

I never once expected my DD's team coaches to teach her anything about hitting or pitching. However, I fully expected my DD to work very hard on her own to improve her skills to help her team. If she failed in her team efforts, it was not because of her team coach, it was because she was not prepared: READ training away from the team effort. Practice at home, bring your skills to team practices, then use your skills to win games!

I guess I'm old fashion in this respect. It used to be you made a travel team based on your ability and existing skill level. To me, this ability came almost exclusively from individual skill development. I guess there is now a level of "developmental" teams at the travel level? I can understand this concept for a 10u team, where most of the kids are one level removed from rec. league. But at older ages, isn't it about competing for a spot? There is so much controversy over playing time in travel ball nowadays that it seems like a carryover mentality from rec. ball.

Well said Sammy. The state of mind that because you paid fees to cover the cost of a travel team that it = set play time has become a huge issue. We all understand you paid hard earned money, but I ask each parent to remember one thing; so did the other players on the team and there expectations are to have the best talent play in bracket play. I am not talking about 10u, but the game in general.

So what it comes down to for me is no matter how we do the line up, somebody is going to be upset. We have utilized the DP/Flex rule as much as possible to get players into the game frequently. But, I beg to ask a parent. If your daughter was the slowest runner on the team and we had to score to win and be able to keep playing, would you expect your daughter to be put in as a pinch runner or courtesy runner? Would the other parents accept the fact that the coaches did not do everything possible to win?

This is a HUGE double edged sword and no matter which way it swings someone will not be happy. Love us or hate us, we do the best we can with the situation presented.

JHMO

 

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Oohrah, Devil Dog.....from one to another

Semper FI

 

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be more specific,what is the name of the team, or what tournament-dates location,12u 14u 16u ect???????????????? The Lady Orioles went to tournament 7-29-/8-01-2010. Dominated the pitching and still LOST.

 

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be more specific,what is the name of the team, or what tournament-dates location,12u 14u 16u ect???????????????? The Lady Orioles went to tournament 7-29-/8-01-2010. Dominated the pitching and still LOST.

they shouldn't name the team/organization, simply because everyone didn't have the same experience and to slander someone on here isn't the right thing to do. Being more specific I agree with.

On to your post, it proves that just because your can dominate with your pitching there are more avenues to Softball than just pitching, you need to be well rounded in all areas to succeed. Especially as the teams get older.

 

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It all boils down to the idea a coach should be straight with his players.

If you feel that is wrong. Something is wrong with that picture.

The situation I am posting about. One extra player never left the field for 3 straight games.

We had needs. They was not addressed. Like everyone says: that is just my opinion.

I am not to name the Team. Does not really need to come out. Just wanted to vent a little and read other opinions.

 

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I am so glad we play for a coach that has good communication with girls and parents. we picked up a couple with the understanding they bat last and do not start in front of our regulars. Every team has thier problems,thats just not one of ours.

 

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Well said Sammy. The state of mind that because you paid fees to cover the cost of a travel team that it = set play time has become a huge issue. We all understand you paid hard earned money, but I ask each parent to remember one thing; so did the other players on the team and there expectations are to have the best talent play in bracket play. I am not talking about 10u, but the game in general.

So what it comes down to for me is no matter how we do the line up, somebody is going to be upset. We have utilized the DP/Flex rule as much as possible to get players into the game frequently. But, I beg to ask a parent. If your daughter was the slowest runner on the team and we had to score to win and be able to keep playing, would you expect your daughter to be put in as a pinch runner or courtesy runner? Would the other parents accept the fact that the coaches did not do everything possible to win?

This is a HUGE double edged sword and no matter which way it swings someone will not be happy. Love us or hate us, we do the best we can with the situation presented.

JHMO

I totally agree. The player needs to improve on their own. The basic idea of this thread is a coach bringing in girls who did not pay a thing. Every one gets into travel for the opportunity to win. Win with your team. You stick it out with your team. THAT is what a coach is supposed to do. Not give up on them. They are the ones that chose them. I feel that alot of people would agree with me.

The guys that do coach travel ball good for you. I could not do it at that competitive level. You can tell it has to be alot of pressure. I am probably one of them parents who makes it difficult. Never intend to be. Just want to enjoy ball. I have a hard time watching even when something isnt fair to other players on the team.

 

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Agreed. Where ever did the idea come from that the TRAVEL team coach was the primary one responsible for player development? I've always been puzzled by that assumption! It's like expecting your employer to give you "on the jobe training" AFTER they've hired you. What criteria was used for making the travel team? Being a good listener? Great personality?

I always thought that a better formula was to PREPARE yourself skill-wise to prove to a team coach that you are capable of helping the team effort! That preparation comes BEFORE the team effort, NOT during games.

I never once expected my DD's team coaches to teach her anything about hitting or pitching. However, I fully expected my DD to work very hard on her own to improve her skills to help her team. If she failed in her team efforts, it was not because of her team coach, it was because she was not prepared: READ training away from the team effort. Practice at home, bring your skills to team practices, then use your skills to win games!

I guess I'm old fashion in this respect. It used to be you made a travel team based on your ability and existing skill level. To me, this ability came almost exclusively from individual skill development. I guess there is now a level of "developmental" teams at the travel level? I can understand this concept for a 10u team, where most of the kids are one level removed from rec. league. But at older ages, isn't it about competing for a spot? There is so much controversy over playing time in travel ball nowadays that it seems like a carryover mentality from rec. ball.

You make excellent points. I would ask a couple of questions. Why would you have more than 9 girls on the team? How did you pick those 9? Why have practice if you are not going to hone the team members skills? Some folks drive 2 hours to practice only to see an hour and a half of molasses? With all the "travel" teams in Ohio do you seriously expect me to believe that all 16 year old teen girls are going to prepare for an Iwo Jima landing? Again I like your points but just asking a few questions.

 

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It's been addressed on here many times ... the younger ages seem to be about winning, conquest, making a name, bragging rights, etc. While the older ages are more about showcase, experience, development, etc.

When someone plunks down their $600.00, and loads up their Visa over the summer for another $2-3000.00 in bats, shoes, gloves, pre-wrap, fuel, hotels, pizza, and margueritas .... they deserve to get their money's worth in playing time, development, ... and commitment (both ways).

Okay, that is just a single independent philosophy .... but what are teaching here? What is the end goal? How will you feel when you look yourself in the mirror when you are 80? What did you really accomplish? A 12u trophy, or impacting those that commited to you? And not talking about your dd, only, lol.

As a coach, why do you do this? What is your mission, really? How do you wish to be remembered by those you led?

Think about it ...... ;&

Pickeldad,

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's right up there with Jerry McGuire's Vision Statement. ^_^. Really, I love it. Wish more Coaches would look at the big picture. IT"S ABOUT THE PEOPLE!

 

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Iwo Jima landing?

 

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Iwo Jima landing?

More than 6500 killed SEMPER FI

 

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Pickeldad,

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's right up there with Jerry McGuire's Vision Statement. ^_^. Really, I love it. Wish more Coaches would look at the big picture. IT"S ABOUT THE PEOPLE!

Pickel is always the voice of reason.

If you're not spending extra time in developing your weaker players, there's nobody to push your stronger players. Ultimately, the "team" has to produce, but you get that through individual development first. The benefit is to all caliber of players.

As far as the game goes, finding and growing that right mix of players into a team that stays together takes time. Attitude, ability, coachability, and teamwork aren't going to be achieved in 1 year.

 

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Sammy I agree with you...and so do others :lmao:

Read some of the following please...." Now comes the hard part ? getting to the root of what is holding us back. In my opinion, it is a lack of understanding of the substantive issues concerning development for ages 9 to 14. We also must deal with many of the procedural issues, such as numbers of games in a day, training-to-game ratios, substitution rules."

"The underlying rationale is flawed. It posits, erroneously, that we can spot future elite players at age 13, contrary to all research worldwide concerning athletes at these ages, as well as everything written by development experts. There has been much ado about creating ?purposeful? training environments, and having players play in ?meaningful? games. But at these ages, the ?environment? must be improved for all players, not just those who adults think will be successful at the highest levels."

"We have proceeded with the mistaken notion that development should be something different for the ?serious player,? than for the ?recreational player.? The result is that no one is interested in developing the ?general? level of play. We ignore the fact that no one at these ages before puberty is a ?player.? Each player is a 10-, 11- or 12-year old, in various stages of mental, physical and social development. What we term ?serious play? is predominantly the earlier manifestation of a particular stage of development in certain kids nothing more."


"We need to create environments for our 9- through 13-year olds, and even older, to have the freedom and encouragement to experiment, and to develop tight skills through playing smaller sides.?


?Our attempts to date have been to create high-quality, structured environments for our ?elite players,? where they train ?purposefully? and play in ?meaningful games.? We automatically pursue these themes for all players, so that we continue to separate the ?serious players? from the ?recreational players? for travel play at younger and younger ages.?


"The same limited numbers of coaches will vie for the same small numbers of players, and the result still will be that we narrow the pool of potential players at ages when we need to increase the numbers playing. Essentially, it will be like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."


"This is the age-old approach of trying to fit players into the game as played and defined by adults. It ignores the fundamental facts of how youth develop, but also ignores the scope of the game itself.
From a physical standpoint, youth, from the ages of 11 to 15 are going through the most significant changes in their lives, with great disparity in rate of growth, coordination and maturity."


"When we were younger, we played in neighborhood sports games. We competed as hard as we could; we tried to make the sides even so it would be fun and challenging. But no matter what the result was on a particular day, the next day brought a new game, new challenges, without the albatross of a season record determining how we would play the next day."


This was written by a Zoccer coach who has a lot of insight to youth in my opinion! By Gary R. Allen
US Youth Zoccer National Staff


I found his insights to the youth and adults interesting and fitting for the fast pitch community as well and the entire article was right on as we the adults spoil it for the kids and cause them to quit the sport as we take the fun out of it.


Thanks for the article Polly

 

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Polly also sent me another article....just a portion of it.

Coaching Behaviors, Motivational Climate,
And Psychosocial Outcomes Among
Female Adolescent Athletes

"The findings of the current study increase our understanding of the factors that may maintain or enhance female adolescents' positive experiences and continued participation in sport and physical activity. Coaches' positive and informational feedback following successful performance attempts was associated with athletes who reported higher ability beliefs, greater enjoyment, and a desire for challenging and mastery experiences. Further, the motivational climate coaches emphasize made a difference in the way athletes perceived coach feedback?a focus on learning, effort, and improvement was positively associated with psychosocial responses while a focus on norm-referenced criteria for rewarding and evaluating success was negatively related. Coaches play an important role in the lives of adolescents. Future research should continue to evaluate the most effective
ways of providing feedback, shaping the environment, and adopting interpersonal styles that maximize the likelihood that adolescents will continue to engage in sports and physical activities and experience social, emotional, and physical health benefits."

 

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Pickel is always the voice of reason.

If you're not spending extra time in developing your weaker players, there's nobody to push your stronger players. Ultimately, the "team" has to produce, but you get that through individual development first. The benefit is to all caliber of players.

As far as the game goes, finding and growing that right mix of players into a team that stays together takes time. Attitude, ability, coachability, and teamwork aren't going to be achieved in 1 year.

This is so true IMHO.

 

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It is no different than those crappy piano lessons I use to take... I had some lady come to our house every week - We reviewed what I was supposed to have been working on, she showed me some new stuff and she left - I was to practice on my own until the next lesson to engrain and learn what she had shown me. Of course I never did and I suked at it and played horrible at the recitals. After a year I quit. She did her job, I did not do mine.

As a coach, we try and show them the proper technique during practice, drill them on it and then it is up to them to work on it between practices. Weekends are the recitals - some girls come ready to play -others fumble their way around... all based on how hard they are working at home. As parents, we should not set there in a chair reading the paper, sleeping etc during practice. We should be watching the practice and able to go home and softtoss with our kids.. it is our investment as well..

 

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It is no different than those crappy piano lessons I use to take... I had some lady come to our house every week - We reviewed what I was supposed to have been working on, she showed me some new stuff and she left - I was to practice on my own until the next lesson to engrain and learn what she had shown me. Of course I never did and I suked at it and played horrible at the recitals. After a year I quit. She did her job, I did not do mine.

As a coach, we try and show them the proper technique during practice, drill them on it and then it is up to them to work on it between practices. Weekends are the recitals - some girls come ready to play -others fumble their way around... all based on how hard they are working at home.

Glad that someone brought that up. I use the music analogy all the time, since just about every kid has taken an interest in learning an instrument at one time or another in their youth.

The concept came from a player years ago that blurted out in a post game huddle (after losing a game 19-1) "but we had fun". I took this as words that were being parroted from a parents conversation and decided to give that a new perspective. To somehow define "fun" in a positive and encouraging way that a little girl can understand.

The first day with the new violin is "fun" for the kid...for an hour or two. But not fun for anyone else. It becomes much more "fun" once you've put in the time and tedious work in getting it to actually sound like something that others will recognize. That's when a small audience emerges and encourages the student to continue. While the hard work that it took to get there may not always be fun, the progress certainly is.

 

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More than 6500 killed SEMPER FI

I know what it is lol. I had just never heard softball and iwo used in the same sentence ;&

 

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It is no different than those crappy piano lessons I use to take... I had some lady come to our house every week - We reviewed what I was supposed to have been working on, she showed me some new stuff and she left - I was to practice on my own until the next lesson to engrain and learn what she had shown me. Of course I never did and I suked at it and played horrible at the recitals. After a year I quit. She did her job, I did not do mine.

As a coach, we try and show them the proper technique during practice, drill them on it and then it is up to them to work on it between practices. Weekends are the recitals - some girls come ready to play -others fumble their way around... all based on how hard they are working at home. As parents, we should not set there in a chair reading the paper, sleeping etc during practice. We should be watching the practice and able to go home and softtoss with our kids.. it is our investment as well..

Doug good point on the soft toss as there are parents that get involved and without understanding it they mess up their swings by soft tossing the ball in on their hands or looping it like a free throw to some degree. Then after practice time they can not implement it in a game and the kid becomes frustrated even though they practiced.

There are a lot of what I would call social issues discussed on here however the fundamentals of how to use a tee, grip the bat, measuring off from the plate, weight shift during throwing and hitting do not even take a place in the top ten subjects and then the parents blame the coaches for lack of playing time associated with skill levels.

I laugh at the coaches who bring on replacement players towards the end of the year or do not play a kid and loose 11 to 1 and blame it on the kid who never got on the field for three games and they lost all three games. How did they score 11 runs and why did you only score 1 run? Maybe the replacement player hit a home run! Should have replaced all 9 of them however you would have still come up short!

Then it gets funnier when a kid leaves a team or organization and goes to another coach/ team and then they want her back :lmao: