And there is no excuse for sitting in a dugout and talking negatively about your current players on the field in front of the players on the bench but my daughter's coach did that almost every tournament. Same coach brought in his new recruits to the last 2 summer tournaments and played them over the girls already on the team. I don't understand why organizations don't do a better job of weeding out bad coaches.
Thanks for your post. I saw your comments on another thread as well. I am not going to defend the coach. I don't know them nor do I know you. It's the context of your posts I would like to address. Please take my opinion/opinions as constructive observations.
Almost all of the travel ball coaches are volunteers. Some are great. Some shouldn't be doing it at all. At least they stepped up to volunteer. All have their faults. I'm the worst. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment because I reach out with my opinions on forums and still coach kids. This is a delicate fine line I am walking. I'll try to get to my point.
Let's start by asking a question. What did you expect from the team experience and the coach this season? I'm not condoning what actually happened to you but what would you do differently? What personal experience do you have in organized sports? If any, were your days as an athlete a good experience? Were your days always a positive reflection of your past?
Molding a child into a well-rounded person means there are times when they will fail and at times somebody is going to call them out on it. You probably have done it as a parent. Example; When a toddler learns how to walk they start out by crawling. A young parent's excitement is to encourage them to stand. The parent lifts them onto their feet, only to relinquish tension or their hold on them and allow the toddler to fall to their behind. All so innocent to us, but the baby may be getting frustrated. Are you being cruel? Ultimately all the coaching makes the toddler reluctant for your help. After all, the "bouncy baby thing" eventually is annoying and the toddler crawls away. The toddler figures out if I lift myself up on my own 2 feet by holding on to a coffee table that's just the right height, I can steady myself till I can stand. You are so happy--------but you didn't do it---------they did it on their own. When they took their first steps you were their to catch them. Over time you got farther away. They would fall. They could see you but they still would fall. You would pick them up and they would try again. In some parents lives they would leave the toddler with a relative or babysitter only to come home to find their child is walking. When asked, the babysitter says the toddler kept trying and falling but the next thing they know they were walking across the room. Are you happy or are you upset because they let the baby fall?
My point to you; Kids are going to fail. It's how they learn. As a parent you need to be objective and at times you need to get farther away. Could your interaction and attitude/approach have been better? A coach has to deal with a team of players AND their families. You deal with your child. Are you a working part of the solution or a part of the problem? If your daughter lost playing time was it because of your approach to real issues. Volunteer coaches are not miracle workers. If your daughter cannot field a ball, how much time did you spend with her away from the team working to fix and improve her fielding? If you don't know how, did you get somebody to work with her extensively to improve? Some girls simply have more talent than others. To reach that level of success some need to work harder. Same goes with hitting and every other aspect of the sport.
Every experience can be a learning moment. Some times reality can be hurtful. Maybe the game at that level is simply too much for her. You can always aspire to be better but to make it a reality it takes an extremely large amount of effort. Your attitude can help her get there but being in denial or outwardly blaming others is simply another way of being too close all the time so if she falls you catch her before she bounces.
That's not how you taught her how to stand..........