Rating Players Skills

What order do you look for in players skills as they are working their way up to make a team?

Fielding, Throwing, Hitting, Speed, Knowledge, Attitude?

The areas are all important in finding that team player but what do you think the order should be? This may be harder than you think to answer.

Attitude, speed, hitting, throwing, fielding, knowledge.

Attitude and speed can go a long way. Neither can be taught. The rest can. That's why I put those two first and second. Hitting is next because any kid that can hit should be in the lineup. I put arm over catching because a good arm can make up for a fielding error.

I like it WG speed kills attidude is key a coachable kid is wonderful.

Good parents are also a plus.

We tally scores based on infielding, outfielding, hitting, bunting, and baserunning.
I wish you could plug in attitude and parents to the formula

"Coachability" should be #1 on that list. I remember when my son tried out for a baseball team as a pitcher. Before he even threw a pitch, the head coach talked to him (out of my earshot) for about 10 minutes on the mound. The coach later told me that my son "made the team" from that 10 minute talk.

Sammy said:

"Coachability" should be #1 on that list.

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Without a doubt. If you can find a fast kid that can be coached, thats half the battle. Fielding, hitting are learnable skills. If you have PARENTS that will work with the kid, all will be good.
So i guess it would be attitude, speed, parents. The rest is a bonus, at least at 10, 12u if your older than that wow i hope they can catch and hit.

1. Doesn't play same position as coach wants own daughter to play.

2. Nice parents who won't complain while coaches screw up a good team.

3. Money. (If she can't pay her fees, what good is she?)

4. A large home near Columbus, Toledo, Cincy or Cleveland. (Times are tough and we need to circumvent some of the traditional expenses of travel ball by having nice places to stay for free during tournament weekends)

5. A family-owned restaurant near Columbus, Toledo, Cincy or Cleveland. (See #3)

6. Hitting, fielding, speed and all that other minor softball-related stuff (Winning is for losers. We're trying to, we're trying to, we're trying to... a, I forgot what we're trying to do. I'll get back to you on that one)

truth:

Since you're so sure about what you think is happening in coaching, why don't you form your own team and try your hand? There are a few of us out here who don't have DD's on our teams, who look for the best possible competition opportunities for our teams, including rearranging our day jobs when those opportunities open up unexpectedly, who make the really hard decisions about SKILL even when it makes us cry (literally) to see a beloved team member leave, and who spend a bunch of our own money trying to develop our own coaching skills and our players' skills so they can attract college coaches. I'm thinking nothing would make us happier than to see you try to manage a team and try to beat our teams.

Just sayin'. And please don't bother to bring your DD to our tryouts. Life is too short.

Yeah, rdelawder, they struck a nerve, but what makes you think that struck nerves are necessarily wrong? We don't reject players based on parents unless we have reason to know that there is something definitely wrong with the parent and you are being extremely pollyanish if you think that it is wise to take a kid when you know that the parent is off the charts. I don't want the kid if her parent is already accusing me of being into coaching for all the wrong reasons, even if that parent doesn't know me. Simply put, I'm not taking on the job of managing the Truth given his consistent "Coaches are idiots" posts on here. I have a suspicion that doesn't make me in the minority.

As to the point about getting information about tryouts out so that families aren't wasting their valuable time, I've already recently posted about that. We try very hard not to have families at our try-outs whose time would be better spent with organizations who are looking for their daughters' position or a different level of play.

rdelawder said:

somebody a long time ago said to me, "I can find anybody to play to defense!"

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Talk to Donna Newberry at Muskingham, the most successful Division III coach in terms of wins. She is on record that what she wants for college ball is the BEST ATHLETE to play defense, specifically the outfield. I'm thinking she's not looking for just anybody.

Just a step up from H.S. Ball . . . um, ok, I give up, and I'm sorry I introduced Donna Newberry's name into this discussion. JoeA, I apologize to you too.

No, D-III ball is NOT just a step up from HS Ball. The difference is the fact they do not pay money for the athlete to play their sport; therefore, they do not get the elite players as these players rely on their athletic ability to get a full ride and not their academic ability alone. WOW! This OFC Site sure is educational.

CGS:

1. I already coach one baseball team and assist with a softball team. I have ZERO complaints from parents with my teams because first and foremost I teach their kids how to play the game. At the end of the season, they always thank me for helping their kids to improve by leaps and bounds both physically and mentally. When they have problems, I work with them. During the games, I interact with the parents when I make decisions. Sometimes I even ask them what THEY think. If I take one of their kids out of the game, I tell them why. ("Nick just got a hit, but as you know, Nick isn't a fast runner. We're only up one run and it's late in the game, so I would like an insurance run. That's why I'm pinch-running with Justin. He's got the steal sign first pitch. When he gets to second, I'm going to have Bobby bunt him to third. Then hopefully we can get him home. How's that sound?"). It really helps to know what you're doing, though.

2. With few exceptions, softball organizations, (yours included CGS), should have only one goal: To identify and to work to fulfill the expectations your parents have for their individual daughters. Think about it. Why are these girls playing travel ball? They're hoping to get college scholarships. How can they achieve that goal? Playing against good competition at the positions they hope to play in high school and college is the only way. If you select a player for your team, and that player's parents pay the fees, then you have an obligation to that player to work to fulfill her expectations and those of her parents. Afterall, CGS, what else is there? Your team and most of the others are never quite good enough to get the trophy. Right? You win some games against the weak and the decent teams and lose to the better ones. You take your trip to the Nationals, win a game, lose two or three, spend a buch of money and go home. So, if you're not getting trophies and you're not helping the girls get better, tell me what it is you ARE doing. Enjoying the atmosphere? Enjoying yourself? Great. You're part of a club-- like the fishing club or the chess club or the knitting club.

3. I DO coach, CGS. And I teach. And I do it because I hate that some kids get into their teens without ever having a coach who knew what the heck he was talking about. And I'll tell you one other thing. When I watch a softball team and I see players who don't know where to postion themselves; don't know what their responsibilities are; don't know what to do with the ball; don't know how many outs there are; don't know how to run the bases properly, etc., I look at the coaches and I look at the parents and I shake my head and say, "They deserve each other, don't they?"

4. I think you do a nice job -- and I know you're good people.

Wow talk about a snowball rolling down a hill. Truth(making a joke, or a stab at someone) and this gets some britches in a bunch. Glad a aint in the way of the stone throwing.

Time for a internet beer here for all! Positive actions get positive results!

By the way rdelawder, your daughter is a true ball player, I have seen her play in several games and she will make it anywhere she puts her mind to it.

AceGRC said:

Time for a internet beer here for all! Positive actions get positive results!

By the way rdelawder, your daughter is a true ball player, I have seen her play in several games and she will make it anywhere she puts her mind to it.

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Thanks AceGRC, I appreciate the kind words!!

rdelawder

I wasn't attacking your daughter, but I'm removing the "daughter" sentence from my last post because if that's the way my words are being interpreted, it needs to be deleted. The comment was more about what I interpreted to be your sense that Division III college ball is below you even though the Division III coach to which I was referring in response to your assertion that anyone can play defense is in the National Fastpitch Coaches Hall of Fame, named there in the same small class with Jay Miller (now head coach for USA National Team) and Eugene Lenti (head coach at DePaul) . It's possible I was wrong in that interpretation that you believe anything to do with Division III is below you. In any event, the wish of good luck was sincere, because there is much luck involved in the process of being able to play college ball and if you are ruling out Division III because you've heard it is a step below high school ball, that will make your opportunities all the more limited.

You are right about there being more important things to do than continue to debate this. It's 6:00 am and I'm headed out the door to go coach a game. BTW we have no daughter on this team. Our DD graduates from college this year and we expect to be "paying it forward" in thanks to her coaches until health precludes that.

speigleme:

I stand by my responses to the Truth. I love parody, but his posts across several different threads make it hard to say "oh, he's just joking" when he continually bashes volunteer coaches with outrageous comments. Your response about not getting so upset is well taken, however. As I said, life is too short. It's been a long week with visits to grave markers where the life was literally too short and I probably wasn't in the best mood for posting last night, but as I said, I'm not backing off my responses with respect to the Truth.

I will say my first 2 years at 10u and due to the wonderful fact that SWO is riddled with slow pitch... we have been looking for athletes that are true athletes. Like to know what other sports they play. If they play AAU BB, So-qu-er, and made their slow pithc All-Star team (all of which we have them fill out on the registration form... ) I have gravitated towards them as appropriate. Naturally if we get a stack of registrations where everyone says they played short or third we might get more excited but some of that could be due to "daddy ball". Beings we are going into year 4 as an organization we've been lucky enough to pick-up more DD's that played on the travel circuit and our teams are getting so much stonger each year.

So... speed, agility, good glove skills, hustle, a strong arm, tracking the ball while in the cage, strong plate presence, a "hitter", and coach-a-bility have been huge in what I've looked for at 10u for 2 years. Reaction to motivation and positive critiquing is another good one as others have talked about. At 10u I've not been so lucky at getting a crop of girls going to hitting instruction (again due to being a young org. and SWO) but that too has changed. In our area the sport is growing and people are looking for options other than the few in our area that offer a 10u program. Not a dig, just gives them teams on all sides of town. As I move into the 11u next year, some of the same aspects will be reviewed but the focus on the microscope will change and the selection process will become a little tighter and skill set focused at how they truly hustle and show the finer points of executing throughout the entire tryout. Also having discussions with our existing parents about talking with the families watching have been good too.

The "straight jacket" police as I like to call it...

after seeing "the debate" in this thread and not just this thread...but on OFC in general, it would be hilarious to rate the coach's abilities/knowledge...:lmao: from a parental POV. This would get real ugly quick. Trust me I'm NOT going after you guys in this thread, just laughing at how easy we (including myself) get into competitive situations---on the field and on OFC. I'm sure you guys know the game better than me and I'm not opening that up for debate.

Hope to get this thread back on track. It's a good one and it too has helped me as OFC does on a regular basis.