This might be a little off subject from the original post but, there is fairly routine discussion of families leaving teams on the OFC the majority of the angst seems to revolves around the issue of communication and transparency. If a girl isnt playing game after game, she and her family should know why.
How many teams are proactive and individually meet with girls routinely to discuss the issues surrounding the lack of playing or at bats during games? Or better yet, tell them what they have to achieve in order to play or bat? There are coaches who clearly do not want to have these conversations and would rather not discuss these issues and there are parents who may not want to hear what the coach may have to say. It doesnt mean that the conversation doesnt need to happen. I dont think the burden of initiating this conversation should fall entirely on the girl or the parents, especially at the younger ages 10-12-14u.
I believe transparency can be a good thing. I have great respect for those organizations/coaches who embrace this approach. It is important to create a competitive environment because as a sport, the environment must be improved for all players not just those who adults label as successful.
I found a longitudinal study of why adolescents in competitive sports drop or stay engaged in the sport. For those who drop out the reasons included: early peak performance and difficulty moving up into the older age brackets, coaches with poor communication skills; coaches who demonstrated autocratic or authoritarian styles, had short tempers, and could not relate to or communicate with adolescents; coaches ignored weaker players and interesting all of those in the study (even those who stay engaged in the sport) agree that coaches demonstrated some favoritism and to a degree ignored weaker players; parents wouldnt let them have unstructured time away from the sport to do developmentally appropriate activities, parents who coached at practices or during events, pressure from friends to attend peer activities.
For those whose stay engaged in the sport the number 1 reason cited, was having a coach who demonstrated belief, passion, and encouragement and acted as motivators, number 2 reason cited was having coaches that were excellent communicators (genuine interest in each individual and ability to clearly communicate constrictive feedback), having parents who are unconditionally supportive, and the organization gave them time for participation in other activities outside of the sport.
A great example of a competitive environment is the Ohio State Marching Band, each week the band members who didn't get to take the field have the opportunity to formally challenge one of their team members to earn back the spot on the field. The competitive spirit drives every member on the field to improve for fear of loosing their spot and it creates a motivational climate where everyone improves.
I acknowledge there can be cases where families leave teams for superficial reasons, but wouldnt clearly communicating what is happening during the year help with retention and help prevent the angst and make for a better experience for all?
