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Hello
My daughter was recruited in April to fill a spot on a new club team she had tried out for last summer. The coach came up to us after a rec game and said how much he liked her playing and wanted her last summer but did not have the authority to make decisions then as he was not the HC but the owner of the place. My daughter is a strong utility player and really has an instinct for the game.
She came on board in the Spring, went to practices and the first scrimmage where the team got slaughtered. Turned out this was the first slaughter of many to come, and most in tournaments. The coach kept telling us they will improve and it is the beginning. What he failed to ever share is that this team has been this way since last year.
The kicker is this: After the first tournament, she made great plays in left field and 2nd base. Lots of cheers by coaches and parents. This coach even told her she should count on playing that position going forward. She played first and third in practices and did them exceptionally well but never played in games. Seemed reasonable that this would continue based on that he liked what he saw and recruited us.
Sometime after that, she began being benched for no particular reason. At first, we thought there were lots of players and they had to rotate. She came in later so we took that as a possibilty. But then a pattern emerged that was disturbing. Only the players of the coaches played infield and they made routine errors. Over and over. No hustle and they were praised for trying. Did not matter that they missed critical plays and multiple runs were scored. They were praised for effort and it did not matter that each game but two we lost in the most embarrasing fashion - mercied. No instruction given for making changes and the same errors kept happening.
Right before the 4th of July, we were at a tournament and my daughter was benched for 2 of the three games. Then, she was put out in R field. I finally had enough and asked the assistant coach what was going on. He said she had attitude. The lamest excuse ever. She is in karate and has never been this way to any coach. That was a turning point for her. She was benched again for the remaining tournaments but one or two games where she made great plays and scored RBIs. All this time she has been play on our town's All-Star team and her coach is impressed on her progress and level of play. She has made incredible strides and loves playing here and with her coaches/team. They love her attitude and passion.
This past weekend we had our last club team tournament. The coaching staff changed yet again in two weeks. (this team has had a few before we got there and I have since learned about all the skeletons this weekend). The assistant coach benched our daughter and again said she had attitude. Meanwhile, his daughter played every infield position, never sat, and the other daughters did the same. They even brought in guest players! They made horrific errors and we lost games we could have easily won. The song and dance was that her benching "wasn't punitive" and she had to pay her dues as a first year. His daughter is first year and never sits. Apparently she was on another team and sat and we quickly figured out why. This coach threw around terms like "depth charts" which was a first because even her All-Star coaches don't use those terms.
We expected a much better experience in club but these coaches clearly only wanted to be there for their daughters. They have NO idea what they are doing. They fired previous coaches to be able to be their advocates. It sadly is a trend at this level.
My daughter wanted to continue to her playing but is now reconsidering her desire to do club. She has come into her own as a great player and has real potential but the toxic environments has her rethinking.
I am curious of others' thoughts on this experience. It seems to me that these coaches really don't know what they are doing and are just happy to collect money on empty promises.
My daughter was recruited in April to fill a spot on a new club team she had tried out for last summer. The coach came up to us after a rec game and said how much he liked her playing and wanted her last summer but did not have the authority to make decisions then as he was not the HC but the owner of the place. My daughter is a strong utility player and really has an instinct for the game.
She came on board in the Spring, went to practices and the first scrimmage where the team got slaughtered. Turned out this was the first slaughter of many to come, and most in tournaments. The coach kept telling us they will improve and it is the beginning. What he failed to ever share is that this team has been this way since last year.
The kicker is this: After the first tournament, she made great plays in left field and 2nd base. Lots of cheers by coaches and parents. This coach even told her she should count on playing that position going forward. She played first and third in practices and did them exceptionally well but never played in games. Seemed reasonable that this would continue based on that he liked what he saw and recruited us.
Sometime after that, she began being benched for no particular reason. At first, we thought there were lots of players and they had to rotate. She came in later so we took that as a possibilty. But then a pattern emerged that was disturbing. Only the players of the coaches played infield and they made routine errors. Over and over. No hustle and they were praised for trying. Did not matter that they missed critical plays and multiple runs were scored. They were praised for effort and it did not matter that each game but two we lost in the most embarrasing fashion - mercied. No instruction given for making changes and the same errors kept happening.
Right before the 4th of July, we were at a tournament and my daughter was benched for 2 of the three games. Then, she was put out in R field. I finally had enough and asked the assistant coach what was going on. He said she had attitude. The lamest excuse ever. She is in karate and has never been this way to any coach. That was a turning point for her. She was benched again for the remaining tournaments but one or two games where she made great plays and scored RBIs. All this time she has been play on our town's All-Star team and her coach is impressed on her progress and level of play. She has made incredible strides and loves playing here and with her coaches/team. They love her attitude and passion.
This past weekend we had our last club team tournament. The coaching staff changed yet again in two weeks. (this team has had a few before we got there and I have since learned about all the skeletons this weekend). The assistant coach benched our daughter and again said she had attitude. Meanwhile, his daughter played every infield position, never sat, and the other daughters did the same. They even brought in guest players! They made horrific errors and we lost games we could have easily won. The song and dance was that her benching "wasn't punitive" and she had to pay her dues as a first year. His daughter is first year and never sits. Apparently she was on another team and sat and we quickly figured out why. This coach threw around terms like "depth charts" which was a first because even her All-Star coaches don't use those terms.
We expected a much better experience in club but these coaches clearly only wanted to be there for their daughters. They have NO idea what they are doing. They fired previous coaches to be able to be their advocates. It sadly is a trend at this level.
My daughter wanted to continue to her playing but is now reconsidering her desire to do club. She has come into her own as a great player and has real potential but the toxic environments has her rethinking.
I am curious of others' thoughts on this experience. It seems to me that these coaches really don't know what they are doing and are just happy to collect money on empty promises.
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