High School Softball

Lenski65 said:

Glen Este High School, Div I, around 14 tried out.

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daboss said:

I have a few opinions I'd like to share on this subject although I warn you ahead of time I am taking a few liberties away from just sharing some numbers.

I believe a handful of factors are directly related to how many girls show up and try out for ANY school. A few have already been mentioned in other responses. The support system before school age ball is a main factor. Not only with the number of kids that participate but the involvement of the family structure including aunts and uncles, grandparents, brothers and sisters, even neighbors. A strong backing normally continues to support which is encouraging to the girls to continue playing the game.

The other is the social aspect of the game. Girls strive to be accepted and it's such a cultural shock for them to enter high school without the added pressure of making the team. Not only acceptance by their peers but acceptance that if they don't make varsity, or make the team, they need to feel secure that there support group won't abandon them. It's important for a coaching staff to monitor the upper classmen and their social behavior with underclassmen. Many times without the adults knowing it there is a smokescreen of "hazing" that goes on, driving incoming freshmen away. No, they don't spank them with a sorority paddle but for some girls that would be easier to handle. Being shunned socially is devastating to many girls. Failure is not an option so in their minds they can't fail if they don't try out.

School coaching staffs need to understand the driving force of the majority of the girls that will come out for softball. Only those select few buy in to the win win win attitude. Perhaps you are lucky enough to have a daughter that is driven to succeed or happen to coach an entire roster of kids with this same attitude. You are either a lucky school coach or coach travelball. The rest of the kids just want to have fun. If the game isn't made fun, even at the earliest of ages, the girls will not want to play or come back to the game when given a chance to choose how to spend their free time. Mom and dad may demand the participation because they are not allowed to consider sitting at home doing nothing but this modern day parenting attitude needs to be enforced with their support and enthusiasm. You'll never get them to clean the barn stalls if they don't know the reward is to get to keep and ride the horse once in a while. Do you get my point?

Big numbers at tryouts can mean many things. In some cases it's not something a coaching staff likes. Many coaches like smaller numbers so they don't have to cut. Many like the idea of using the small numbers as an excuse for a poor season by claiming they did the best they could with what they had to work with. In a way, they have a point. In my mind, big numbers at tryouts represent a strong structure and support at the younger age leagues and programs. Pat yourself on the back parents and LL, Rec, and travelball coaches. You did a wonderful job. Now it's in the hands of school coaches To take these enthusiastic young ladies and continue their journey in front of the same support groups that got them there. Many school coaches are not up to this challenge while visions of sugarplums dance in the heads of players and parents alike. Coaches are faced with a dilemma. How to fullfill the dreams of those people when in many cases they may be the minority of the team? Remember, most are their to have fun. It is a fine line to walk but it can be done.

School coaches; here's the advice I share with you that I hope makes a difference in the outlook of your team and their support group. Buy into the fun side of the game. Approach the season with the enthusiasm of a 5 yr. old on her first day of Tee ball. If they sense the joy in your heart they will enjoy the experience. Coach them on the basics and the mechanics of the game at every turn but leave the outcome of the years of training alone. You are not a God but to many families and girls their private coaches and instructors are on a very high pedestal. If you want to be treated the same you cannot tear them down in front of the kids and families. Embrace the opportunity to use the fruits of their labor and refuse to punish a kid because it doesn't feel right to you. Approach the kids with an attitude to help not change them. Have them share what they have learned and grasp the concept, then enforce it with constructive tips by asking them to try this or that and see if it helps. Relate to a positive response by teling them you simply picked up on a few things they had probably learned from others but maybe they had forggotten a few of the "little things" that make it work. No need for credit as if it were a conquest but a simple subliminal message that you DO have your moments and understand the game and the teachings of others.

In time, this support of others will buy you credibility.

Quit making your job so hard. Don't keep trying to change or fix kids that have a positive "game" within them but focus on the less fortunate on your roster. In many cases, they will be the weak spot in your line up anyway. You don't have to dominate them all. Get the better players to help the less fortunate under YOUR supervision. This way you can critique both sides quietly while allowing your experienced players to feel wanted and believing it was their idea. Again, this gains trust and credibility.

Use your time constructively to get the chemistry your team will need to compete together. It's very hard to get girls comfortable with having each other's back. It takes time and careful leadership. Share with them the life lessons they are learning from the experience with scenarios they will have in real life such as a family experience. Common sense analogies hit home with girls and make more sense to them.

Remember; not every girl is Jennie Finch just as you will probably not have your name mentioned in the same sentence with Mike Candrea. Keep conflict to a minimum and never ever expect these young ladies will remember everything they have ever experienced in this game. Girls don't normally live and breathe our game. They forget. Enforce the basics and mechanics at every turn and expect none of them to remember what to do in any given situation. The strategy of the game at its simplest form is not embedded in the girls. Tell them what you want at every turn. Explain to them at every chance the reason "why" you wanted things done a certain way. Only this will give you peace of mind.

I hope every girl gets a fair chance to make a roster this spring and if you get cut, take it to mean with proper guidance and hard work over the summer/off season you can try again with a more positive result. Parents be supportive and offer to get them the help they may need. Coaches, walk a mile in the shoes of a freshman girl, understand her background in the game, and make smart decisions on and off the field. Remember; your are a mentor before you are a coach.

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Lenski65 said:

Glen Este High School, Div I, around 14 tried out.

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joboo1drew said:

wow. Not good.

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Jae13 said:

Tuslaw is Div 3 and had 23 girls tryout. Should have solid Varsity and JV teams

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