Coaches lose....

[default]

A very good coach that my daughter had in the past told his players that "players win games and coaches lose them". Our family was impressed and have a great deal of respect for him. This story http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2011/04/27/softball-elyria-blows-lead-loses-in-8-innings/ shows a coach with quite the opposite view. I was shocked by the way the coach threw some of his players under the bus. These are teenage girls, not multi-million dollar athletes. Calling them out in public shows a lack of respect for his players and, IMHO, a lack of class. I used to respect this coach and his program, as they have been THE team in our area for many years. My view has changed significantly after reading this.

 

[default]

Don't think his comments are bad. Was your dd one that messed up ? Sometime we

need to be a little thicker skinned. Our school has played against him and I would say one of the best High School coaches in Ohio.

 

[default]

Are you referring to his remarks about the outfield? No names were specifically called out by the actual coach. I don't see anything bad about the comments either. It was the journalist who put perspective on his remarks by mentioning a play by a specific player. It is doubtful when he was interviewed the coach knew that part would be written in the article. Apparently it was a significant turning point in the game. The writer does mention it was a nice catch though.

 

[default]

You gotta tell it like it is... If your outfield didn't play well, and everybody knows it, just admit it. No one particular player was criticized unjustly.

I'm all for positive reinforcement, but also, if players know that the coach will say they played badly when they did, in fact, play badly, then that could entice them to focus better.

 

[default]

I agree didnt seem too harsh, too much of this stuff going around these days that you cant say anything to anyone anymore without someones feelings getting hurt. Its part of it and I agree with Louuuuu if everyone knows it was bad then no reason to console anyone.

 

[default]

Here's how I see it. Coach Fenik wants to find others to blame besides himself. The truth of the matter is he has had these kids every school day since late February, and it is HIS job to make them better. He obviously did not work enough on outfield play and stress his philosophy enough on his players. Out of the five runs scored against his team, four were earned. All of the runs coach Fenik's team scored were unearned.

?Our outfielders have got to start making some plays,? Fenik said. ?The outfield killed us. And until we start making some plays out there and people take a little initiative to start working to get better ? I mean, we?re coming out of the outfield and not even hitting our cuts. It?s too bad.?

It sounds like this is not a one game situation. It sounds like he has not been happy with his outfield play the entire season. Who's fault is it? Who's coaching these kids? Who's putting these kids in the lineup? I wasn't there but it sounds like the LF made a great catch down the line and noticed that the runner was scrambling to get back to first base so the LF tried to double up the runner. Somehow the runner was able to get back to first base, tag up, and advance. That tells me that first base was possibly not being backed-up properly by the RF. Who's job is it to teach and stress the importance of backing up bases??? Well, it's the coaches job and if it was backed up properly chances are the runner does not advance. Coach Fenik states that he wants his outfielders to make plays yet when a young lady tries to make a play she, including the rest of the outfield gets ripped in the press. It appears all he is doing is deflecting blame away from him....not a trait one wants to see in a coach. I'm sure coach Fenik is a very good coach and I bet he will eventually regret what he said to the reporter.

Len

 

[default]

Here's how I see it. Coach Fenik wants to find others to blame besides himself. The truth of the matter is he has had these kids every school day since late February, and it is HIS job to make them better. He obviously did not work enough on outfield play and stress his philosophy enough on his players. Out of the five runs scored against his team, four were earned. All of the runs coach Fenik's team scored were unearned.

?Our outfielders have got to start making some plays,? Fenik said. ?The outfield killed us. And until we start making some plays out there and people take a little initiative to start working to get better ? I mean, we?re coming out of the outfield and not even hitting our cuts. It?s too bad.?

It sounds like this is not a one game situation. It sounds like he has not been happy with his outfield play the entire season. Who's fault is it? Who's coaching these kids? Who's putting these kids in the lineup? I wasn't there but it sounds like the LF made a great catch down the line and noticed that the runner was scrambling to get back to first base so the LF tried to double up the runner. Somehow the runner was able to get back to first base, tag up, and advance. That tells me that first base was possibly not being backed-up properly by the RF. Who's job is it to teach and stress the importance of backing up bases??? Well, it's the coaches job and if it was backed up properly chances are the runner does not advance. Coach Fenik states that he wants his outfielders to make plays yet when a young lady tries to make a play she, including the rest of the outfield gets ripped in the press. It appears all he is doing is deflecting blame away from him....not a trait one wants to see in a coach. I'm sure coach Fenik is a very good coach and I bet he will eventually regret what he said to the reporter.

Len

Good points Lenski, I guess my statement was more of a generallity and not specific to this interview. I agree but you know as well as I, sometimes you dont have the right people to put in spots to play and you have to put the lesser of evils in some spots. He does sound like its been an all year battle, maybe the girls dont take the game as serious as they should and he seen this as a last ditch effort because nothing else has worked. Girls get motivated in different ways. Maybe he will regret it maybe it will work, would be interesting to know later. JMHO!!!

 

[default]

Lenski, I also didn't consider that it could be a season-long problem.

Unless we've been around the team for a period of time, we could interpret that small newspaper story in a number of ways...

 

[default]

If you have a problem with anyone, it should be the person who wrote the story. He made it a point to mention the young ladies names after bad plays or a base running mistake. I really don't need to know who made the base running error. If the reporter feels he needs to mention that play, just use the team name and mention a base running error. The coach really didn't seem to want to give the other team credit for anything.

 

[default]

It is very apparent that the journalist put the perspective on his remarks by mentioning a player by name....in my opinion, that is why you save certain remarks for the locker room, not the press.

Perhaps. Even still, I don't see it as the end of the world. I remember my first year of varsity when I was a sophomore I gave up 3 home runs in a game against Licking Valley (my dreaded hanging curveball - as the article said "Vince Souslin added insult to injury by hammering a seventh inning pitch over the trees past right field at Panther Park"). The article the next day was not very flattering of my performance but I had to own it because I was the pitcher! All that did was motivate me to get better so I could look forward to some good press later on. I still have the article from that game - I think it's pretty funny now.

 

[default]

Hmmm! I guess the interpreter can interpret the interpretation differently than other interpreters!

 

[default]

The truth is the truth and you can't hide from it. We are way to sensitive in this society. If you screw up own it and move on.

If you are focused on the coaches comments and not improving your play maybe theirs your sign !!!!!!!!

 

[default]

Good points Lenski, I guess my statement was more of a generallity and not specific to this interview. I agree but you know as well as I, sometimes you dont have the right people to put in spots to play and you have to put the lesser of evils in some spots. He does sound like its been an all year battle, maybe the girls dont take the game as serious as they should and he seen this as a last ditch effort because nothing else has worked. Girls get motivated in different ways. Maybe he will regret it maybe it will work, would be interesting to know later. JMHO!!!

You also make some great points. Different people do get motivated in different ways. Sometimes you do not have the right people in the right spots. I honestly don't know anything about Coach Fenik's team, but it does sound like he believes they have a very good infield and a suspect outfield. To be honest with you though, if kids are playing out of position or the kids playing are suspect, it would be even more reason to hold your tongue. I have told kids that they need to work harder to get better. I have told parents that their kids need to work harder to get better. However, I will never publically out my team. All Coach Fenik really needed to say was that mistakes were made and that's what cost them the game....if that's the way he really feels. If you look at the box score though, his team did not earn one single run; they were essentially spotted those three runs. It appears the other team made more costly mistakes than his team did, yet somehow battled back to earn the victory.

Louuuuu, you are absolutely correct. The story could be interpereted a few different ways.

Len

 

[default]

The truth is the truth and you can't hide from it. We are way to sensitive in this society. If you screw up own it and move on.

If you are focused on the coaches comments and not improving your play maybe theirs your sign !!!!!!!!

Maybe the coach needs to focus more on improving his teams' play and not making negative public comments. Maybe there's his sign!!!!!!!!

Len

 

[default]

I am sure it is the coaches fault and it is McDonald's fault we are a fat society !!!!!

 

[default]

He says stupid things to the papers, I remember ours played them in the 09' final four and our dd had the only infield hit against Sito who pitched lights out that day. He said in "his mind it wasn't a hit because of the shift they had on or something like that"....

But coaches do lose games... I lost plenty from my own stupidity when i coached.

two of the best coaches our DD's ever had, asked the girls at 14's what did they as coaches do wrong each game as well....

 

[default]

I personally think a high school coach needs to show a little more restraint with the media. The comment I would make to the girls but never to the press was "until those people (i.e., implying outfielders from his previous comments) decide they want to get better ...". Sorry, but I think when you're dealing with high school athletes, if you can't say something good to the press, then don't say anything at all unless it's something very general ... like "we need to play better defensively" or "we need to play a more complete game" or "with all of the bad weather, we haven't had much of a chance for our outfielders to get quality practice in". And, by the way, if I were a journalist, I would refrain from using quotes likes that in my story about a local high school team.

 

[default]

Have to agree the coach was blunt, but I didnt see anything wrong other then he as the coach could look at it as his team is a direct reflection of them.. So maybe I would say we as coaches have to continue to work with and improve upon the weakness that were exposed today.. I've coached for a long time and Ive told parents from the start every season " I dont patronize my own kids and I won't yours.. These girls are smart enough to know when they did something right or wrong.. If the girl makes a mistake and we dont tell the player and try to correct it, then the player feels one of two ways, like either I don't care or I don't know... And I do care and I do know... I'll do my best as a coach to create an eviroment were there is healthy competition that they feel secure and safe in and can compete. And the players that bring us the most success on the fld will dominate the playing time.

 

[default]

I would say our girls expect to hear it from the head coach when they don't live up or work up to the set expectations, which are high. Every player on the team the last ten years ours have been playing for them know that. Listen to the message and not the tone is what they should do when it comes across bad.....

 

[default]

The fact remains, the team on the field is a product of the players you have,( whether they are great or not), and the coaching they receive. The COACH is a part of the team. There's no reason to seperate yourself as the coach from the team. That's why in coachjwb's comments, it's important to stress more generalties and "WE" in post game comments. What he says to his players in private or team meetings can be more pointed and critical, but not for public consumption.