We tell all parents that we will carry 12 players .. once the 12th player is rostered we will go with those girls until the season ends. I tell our coaches to be sure you have the 12 players you want all season, if they choose to idle at 11 or even 10 I am fine with that. But, we do not want to toss a kid and family aside just for a few more wins. As a coach you have to be sure you 'want' the players you roster - if you add a girl and she is not 'getting it done' it is up to you to train her up. But we tell all parents that the 12th girl added may upset the 'nature' of things and bump the line up around - our goal is to have the BEST 12 players we can and let them earn their spots from there...
We played against a team a few years ago that brought on 3 players the last two weeks and sat the girls they replaced - all to try and get a WS bid ... 2 of those kids lost all interest in softball after that and still are not playing...
Well said, Doug. We assemble our team in September and commit to that group right then with twice-a-week practices beginning immediately thereafter.
I see our job at this level as teaching, teaching, teaching - not win at all costs. We also have a responsibility to foster a lifelong interest in the game. We would consider it a failure if we doused that in any way to win a game or qualify for a tournament.
We just ran into a rash of injuries and schedule conflicts, but stayed the course with the girls we had remaining. Was it a tough stretch? Sure. But we maintained our chemistry and our younger girls stepped up. I know that our program will be better in the long run.
We "graduate" 11 girls to the 12U level next season. This is a special group of girls and a great set of parents. This group could be together for eight years. We consider this to be precious and something that should be guarded.
