Coaches poaching players

[tygerblood]

I think poaching players is a compliment..as parents and players we have our own free will where to play..so just relax and take it as a compliment to your kid

 

[JSad]

This forum has been opened for just a few days, and there are 26 posts from teams looking for players. all age groups are represented....hmmm

 

[dannyboy]

What if people just want to be part of what you have, and they make the team better? I feel like I am justifying "poaching", but the reality is that I am condoning "free agency". MLB has a trade deadline for teams to unload talent, and for good teams to get better. In travel ball there is a benefit to letting a girl go that is better than the rest because she is probably leaving anyway. Now you can develop talent or find a replacement before tryouts. I would rather know that Suzy is gone for sure. It is much better to find out before the tryouts, as opposed to after.

 

[Outlaws_Dad_78]

Its not poaching at all. If you have a good organization that offers more then the other organization, why would you not leave? We are all in travel ball to get exposure for our DD's and get them into college bottom line. Just like in our every day lives at work there are head hunters. They go in and look for the best person for the best fit for the position they need filled. Its life and its reality.

 

[coachjwb]

I'm not a big proponent of analogies between playing on an amateur sports team, and a career position a person is paid for. There are so many differences we can get into there, not to mention a discussion about value systems and what we teach our children.

But if you insist on comparing the two, how do companies feel about people who leave who don't give sufficient notice? And how do companies feel about hiring people whose resumes are a history of jumping frequently to the next opportunity? And do you see any difference between a contracted headhunter seeking out people to fill a position they will get paid for, and a company who recruits by standing outside the doors of their competitors (or even walks in the door) and tries to recruit their people away?

 

[Westler33]

man that's some good stuff. ^^^^

 

[jdcii]

More often than not, it's NOT the kids that want to leave, it's the parents. Kids come, kids go. If they are happy they will stay. End of story. We all like to have the holier than thou attitude on here, but let's be realistic, it's a competitive sport. The girls are competitive, the coaches are competitive, the teams are competitive and the organizations are competitive. Regardless, If I see a player I'm interested in, I'm sure as heck going to plant the seed. I have players being sought after. I don't sweat it. I'm proud that they allowed me to coach them for the time being and if I can't offer them what they need, then they should bring it to my attention and leave, if I am unable to produce. Quite simple really. We seem to have this thread every 6 months on here.

 

[Hilliarddad3]

Coach JWB, notice is notice and sometimes it's best to even say that's ok just leave yr keys today...... As for where you can find a good worker? In our industry it could be anywhere....a restaurant, bar, five guys, gas station.....if they have a great attitude, provide good service at whatever job they are doing and make a mark in my mind, we can train a position, but you usually can't train attitude and customer service....I'll give them my card right then and there....some will try and others won't, but that's ok, it's only cracking the door for those who may want to.....

 

[BouldersDad]

Why is it poaching. If another team offers something that the present team does not then there will be movement. People do not leave without reason. No one hops because they just think hey I want to jump teams. There is cause. Same in a job. Better situations are available and people will go after them. Pretty common sense if you think it thru.

 

[mike_dyer]

But if you insist on comparing the two, how do companies feel about people who leave who don't give sufficient notice?

Who cares?

I always give them them around the same amount of notice they would give me if they were cutting me loose. Full or half day if they're lucky. Sometimes they get "Hey, I'm not doing this anymore. Call someone and get my check out here." right before I split.

 

[doug1962]

More often than not, it's NOT the kids that want to leave, it's the parents. Kids come, kids go. If they are happy they will stay. End of story. We all like to have the holier than thou attitude on here, but let's be realistic, it's a competitive sport. The girls are competitive, the coaches are competitive, the teams are competitive and the organizations are competitive. Regardless, If I see a player I'm interested in, I'm sure as heck going to plant the seed. I have players being sought after. I don't sweat it. I'm proud that they allowed me to coach them for the time being and if I can't offer them what they need, then they should bring it to my attention and leave, if I am unable to produce. Quite simple really. We seem to have this thread every 6 months on here.

jdcii is spot on. Our team is in its last year of existance and I can think of only one instance in 6 years where a player has left our team to go to another team and it's been because the parents made the decision. Our core group of players comes back every year for a reason...they are treated well and can achieve their softball goals (most of our team play/will play at the next level). Some have "retired" along the way, but the rest come back every year. Kudos to our coaches who have picked the right players/families to join, communicate well, treat people fairly and with respect, and teach the game of softball well. I believe that if you are a coach, that is really all you can do to retain players which is to create the environment where they want to stay.

 

[coachjwb]

We can agree to disagree.

Just to be clear, I am not talking about players changing teams at the end of a travel season, or for that matter even in the middle of a season if the player (and not just the parents) are truly unhappy with the way things are going. I'm not a fan of that either, but this thread is about other coaches who come calling during the middle of the season recruiting for players. My feeling is that it's wrong to do this if you're wanting them to leave their team during the current season, and that there are appropriate times and places to recruit if you're doing it for the next season.

And it's pretty easy to rationalize that we can offer someone something better ... haven't we all seen coaches who have promised players "something better" who were nothing more than snake oil salesmen? I know one young lady who got poached from our team (I wasn't the coach) in the middle of a season with big promises from another organization, and the family was back the next year trying out for our team again admitting it was a huge mistake to have left. In the meantime, our team was left to scramble to finish the rest of the season with 9 healthy players. On another team which I did coach, we had our best all-around and very well liked player who appeared to really enjoy playing with us actively recruited mid-season from our team by a "more elite" organization. She remained with our team for the remainder of the season, but all her parents talked about the rest of the season was how she was going to this organization the next year and how all of their players ended up getting D1 full-rides. This was not a big help to our team chemistry. As it turned out, she didn't even make this team the following season, and a year later quit playing altogether.

 

[Hilliarddad3]

Ok coach, I understand now.. I was mis interpreting the question of just recruiting side of it. I agree they should and we made ours stay in any sport the commitment to the end of that timeframe. But do think it's ok for others to discuss at appropriate time about future season opportunities, not immediate opportunity...

When it's good, It's great when you can still go to an event by your organization years after the girls are done and pick up right where you left off with the people you consider almost family.........

 

[Coachemup]

I've read this poaching thread with great interest. "Poaching", in it's truest form is a bad thing. Coaches shouldn't be actively pursuing players of other teams within a current season. This website alone encourages it to some extent with threads specifically for teams looking to add players. But I would submit that for the most part, it is the parents that are the driving force behind kids jumping from team to team, and not coaches trying to steal players. This time of year especially, parents become disgruntled by losing games, lack of playing time, or any number of reasons, and you see a lot of them looking to jump ship for the rest of the season to join the "hot" team. There are many great coaches out there who still lose players to other teams because parents get caught up in the idea of prestige and want their daughter playing for the so-called top tier teams. I believe these parents are in no way interested in the development of their child, but rather their interest is only in being associated with the bigger name organizations. Good coaches can't do anything about this type of behavior, and to some extent there is always going to be a certain amount of turnover mid-season due to this issue.

 

[dawgpound19]

It's something that will not go away and parents/coaches will be talking about it for the next 10-20 years. I think the aspect that is lost in all of this and what makes it bad for both teams are the girls that are NOT jumping teams and get their playing time or positional playing time reduced. This has never happened to my daughter but we've seen and heard of girls that make a team in August and they are one of 10 or 11 girls on the team and get significant playing time. As tournaments start the team might be getting knocked out in the semis or even the championship games so the coaches think they are one or two players away so they "poach" other girls and promise them pitching time or to play SS, etc. The girl(s) quit their previous team and now join this new team meanwhile the 10th or 11th player on this team now do not get to play at all or maybe half a game here and there in pool play. Is that fair to the 10th or 11th girl on the team? She didn't do anything wrong yet she is impacted by the coaches "poaching" new players to try and win at whatever cost even if it is at the expense of a girl he/she made a commitment to back in August. That's the part of poaching that is bad and causes bad blood between parents/coaches and the girls involved. So what happens next? Those two girls not getting playing time jump ship to join another team just to play, it's an endless cycle. I say you dance with who you brought and if you aren't good enough to win then maybe you should be more selective during tryouts or try and coach them more, just my .02.

 

[wylee89]

I'm not a big proponent of analogies between playing on an amateur sports team, and a career position a person is paid for. There are so many differences we can get into there, not to mention a discussion about value systems and what we teach our children.

But if you insist on comparing the two, how do companies feel about people who leave who don't give sufficient notice? And how do companies feel about hiring people whose resumes are a history of jumping frequently to the next opportunity? And do you see any difference between a contracted headhunter seeking out people to fill a position they will get paid for, and a company who recruits by standing outside the doors of their competitors (or even walks in the door) and tries to recruit their people away?

As a manager that hires, when I see a "hopper" I have to think twice before considering for an interview.

I don't like the fact that it happens during the season, I don't nor will I ever, but every parent/player has their own goals so if they leave they leave. Old saying " the grass may be greener, but it is because of all the Bull@#&t"

 

[Westler33]

People think the grass is greener until they get there and find out it's not.

 

[mstat00]

I don't know if the grass is greener????
But it still needs CUT!!!!!

 

[okiedad1961]

I don't know if the grass is greener????
But it still needs CUT!!!!!

Grass don't grow well if it dosn't have good soil (foundation) under it ,and isn't watered with encouragement and exposed too positive correction. (sun)

 

[ApogeeDemon]

If a player is going to leave, then leave at the end of the season and let the coaches know. A "hopper" that leaves in May and creates an issue with trying to fill a crucial position such as pitcher, catcher is going to get bad press from me if any coach asks me about her. I have seen one player actually hop to 3 teams in one summer! She should've just put a rent sign on her back instead of numbers.