Can I get a poll?

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Is this site a coaches site or can I get an honest players poll? How many coaches have out right lied to a recruited player? We just quit a team because a coach promised our dd that she would either play 1st, 3rd, or catch. She would also bat 4th. He kept his promise up until her first tourney in Dayton. We were travelling 3 hours just to get to practices down their. He also promised he would sign up for some tourneys around here. Nope. Why would you move your starting 1st &/or 3rd baseman, (depending on where he put her for that game), as well as 4th in the line-up to right field and 7th when you played against a well known select team?

 

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Dont know the team, and dont know both sides of the story. I'm assuming to the Coach (unless it's his dd) somebody was more valueable at the said positions and at that spot in the line up. A parent should never choose a team because of promises. A parent should want their dd to earn the spot and have to work for it every practice and every game. If your unhappy as you obviously are then take your kid to another team, but keep in mind that most teams are set, so now she will have to earn a spot if she plans to play at the "A" level, otherwise you can take her to a "B" team and get what you want. Good Luck either way!!

 

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DISCLAIMER:
If you are looking at a new team and the coach is making promises, such as you have stated.....RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!!!!

OK...My 2 cents
No good coach should ever make promises about positions or playing time, or they have taken away the competitive nature of the game. You as a parent/player should never accept promises because it creates lethargy, and the unwillingness to have to work to earn something.

"Nothing worth having was ever obtained without hard work!!"

 

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A coach making promises is setting her/himself up for a rough way to go. The best coaches and teams I have seen and been with never make a promise because there is a strong chance to break the promise. Good coaches want to have options always open and strive to be flexible. Injury prone players can tilt the roster positions as well. Having players able to handle 2 or 3 positions is a good thing.

Right field is not a weak position when you have a fast pitcher, those batters swing late and the right fielder has the ball.

A 2 to 3 hour drive can make you frustrated when wanting a promise fulfilled.
I say question a coach when they make promises........get it on paper if they are true to their word have them write it down and back it up.

 

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Not smart as a coach to promise someone they will bat 4th. But we,as parents, tend to see things through Mommy-goggles. Meaning sometimes we over rate our kids.

Also, are you saying right field is not important??? It is one of the most important spots on the field, as is every other position. That is what I call "REC- ball mentality"

 

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DISCLAIMER:
If you are looking at a new team and the coach is making promises, such as you have stated.....RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!!!!

OK...My 2 cents
No good coach should ever make promises about positions or playing time, or they have taken away the competitive nature of the game. You as a parent/player should never accept promises because it creates lethargy, and the unwillingness to have to work to earn something.

"Nothing worth having was ever obtained without hard work!!"

Exactly! Coaches that make promises are trouble and parents that want promises are trouble.

 

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Come on Gumby, my kid throws 78mph overhand, runs 2.2 from home to first and 11 seconds from home to home and hits the ball 320'. Oh dont let me forget, she has 8 pitches and top speed is 89mph. I dont mean to use my daddy goggles, but those numbers should of kept her in the 4 hole and playing defense any where she wanted and she is only a 96. I couldn't resist, lol!!!

 

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First let me clarify...Not saying r-field is not an important position. My dd is not a fast runner. She hits home-runs instead. Her foot & glove work make her infield more than adequate, ask anyone around here that sees her play. Believe me she surprises a lot of people. "Mommy goggles"? People say I'm way too hard on her. BUT, let's get back to the original question for players, NOT coaches. Have you ever been lied to by a coach.

 

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Answer the question, I will.
No, because I dont ask anything nor do I want anything guaranteed. If my kid made the team during a tryout, then it's her job to do what is needed to guarantee a spot in the lineup as well in the field. My job is to be her postive reinforcement and work with her on improving when she is not with her coach, but yet working the weaknesses the coach may have pointed out. My job is to be her #1 fan and father, what ever the coach decides is what he/she decides and that's why I pay the player fee's because he/she I felt was qualified to keep my kid on the correct path and hopefully get to the next level of play and make her a better athlete and person.

 

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My dd is not a fast runner. She hits home-runs instead.

No "mommy goggles" there...;&

 

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Oh yeah, by the way...We weren't even looking for a team this year. He came looking for us. She does play rec, also H.S., ACME, and summer all-stars. She hits otf 245'+. Her stats speak for her as well. I can see a coach moving a player if she is not the best player for the position, but what if she isn't. Not even saying my dd was the best. I think the coach was playing local players and for parents that complained about why their dd wasn't playing in the infield. (I just happened to hear them and...).

 

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Sorry to be so blunt - - -

Don't know about most so-called travel teams today, but when a kid tries out for a summer college showcase team, they are ONLY trying out for a position on the team. My DD pitched in college, BUT when she was 14, if the coach needed her in left field, that's exactly where she trotted her butt out to. She didn't need any explanation either, because she accepted at an early age that it was the coaches decision where (and IF) he needed her that game. Believe me, there is a LOT less drama when families take that approach - and it will help the kid down the road. It's all about helping the team win the game at hand.

Any kid who is NOT willing to play ANY position, or bat anywhere in the order should stay in rec. ball.

 

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Sorry to be so blunt - - -

Don't know about most so-called travel teams today, but when a kid tries out for a summer college showcase team, they are ONLY trying out for a position on the team. My DD pitched in college, BUT when she was 14, if the coach needed her in left field, that's exactly where she trotted her butt out to. She didn't need any explanation either, because she accepted at an early age that it was the coaches decision where (and IF) he needed her that game. Believe me, there is a LOT less drama when families take that approach - and it will help the kid down the road. It's all about helping the team win the game at hand.

Any kid who is NOT willing to play ANY position, or bat anywhere in the order should stay in rec. ball.

I agree. Let's put the kid where she BENEFITS the team the most. And if she doesn't want to play where she was put, then she doesn't want to play and sit her down.

 

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DD plays 3 positions and will be willing to play wherever and whenever the coach needs her. At 16U, they have injuries from high school ball and girls still playing in the state tourney to require flexibility by all players for their 1st travel tournament next weekend. No one should be promised playing time.

 

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Look. I don't think you are getting where I'm coming from. IF my dd ever plays for a travel team again, I want to know up front what is going to happen. It costs way too much $$ and time to travel for us, (ergo not looking for a team). Our weekly schedule is filled with camps and practices and other extra curricular activities. BELIEVE YOU ME! What is the purpose of spending all that time and money to learn how to play a position she won't play anywhere else. I'm sorry, but I didn't put her on a travel team just to say that she is. I want her to get all the experience she can. I wanted her to play for a team that was more interested in what they looked like ON the field, not what they looked like walking to it.

 

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Sorry I can't help you. I think you and I are polar opposites in our view of travel ball, and I'm too old to change my viewpoint...

 

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I guarantee my players one thing and one thing only. That they will be better players by the end of the season. That is the only promise I make. When you try-out for a team and make it, you have earned a spot on the team NOT a position in the field. My players are told up front that they will learn 3 positions...outfield, infield, and the bench. By pulling your kid because she didn't get a position she was promised, you aren't teaching her a good lesson. Make her work harder for what she wants instead of quitting and looking for a sure thing. It's her first year in travel ball, she has to take her lumps. If you pull her everytime she isn't starting where you want her to, she will get a bad name and believe me, people talk!!

 

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The best quote to hear as a coach when you ask a player what position they play is
" where ever you need me coach" Im with Sammy on this one. If a player needs to know where they are going to play, or hit before they take a spot on a team I would think they dont understand that every player is trying to get better, and batting orders need to change from game to game. I have seen teams that dont change their batting order ever. I have seen teams that change it from game to game to get the hot bats in order.
IMO the batting order and defensive positioning needs to change from time to time to keep the team hungry. If a player thinks they are due a position on the field or in the lineup they have alot to learn.

 

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On the flip side though, my dd played for a coach who promised her many things and didn't deliver on his promises. Leaving the team NEVER entered our minds because we had made a commitment for the whole season, she just worked harder. She got to learn a new position she never played before and ended up loving it. You never know when an opportunity to better yourself might come along so you have to be willing to try anything and sometimes you just have to stick it out.

 

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So he promised you that your daughter would play certain positions and bat a certain place in the line up...and when he didn't do just that in ONE tournament, you took your daughter and quit, without even talking to the coach? I am curious, what do you think you have taught your daughter?