Commitment

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How do you teach commitment, can you? When you agree to something should you players follow through, when agreements are made in August how long do you let players and parents get away with not showing up to workouts and not showing up to practice. Is it the parents fault or is it dd's fault? How long do coaches have to put up with excuses on why your not thier, or late arrivals of more than 1 hr to practice?

sighned/ ticked

 

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That all depends on any misconceptions..Was there any mischievious foulplay???Did they tell you one thing and once you commited did another????Did the Coaches change there stand point? Even after they rode your DD's Coat Tail.Would they even have that Rep if it werent for her name??? Did the parents promise one thing and after you built the Tm around there DD decide that they changed there mind after you cut a few girls thinking they had your back???It all depends...like a rainbow....depending on where you stand in the spectrum,tells your true color.....Personally, if you don't play the game you wont be the blame. Either be Black or White......let em know where you stand and they can tell you where they are.Either you all are going the same place or you aren't.

 

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You have to let everyone know the expectations, and if they continue to miss, cut them loose. That's it.

 

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No, I honestly believe these girls were challenged on the move up from 12u to 14 u and one thinks she is good enough she dont have to practice, one dont take it serious enough because its the off season, and one just keeps taking advantage of the situation, coaches have been calm, and concerned during winterball, and are asking questions now, going from a 2nd and 1st place tournament placings to not wanting to commit to off season preperation. Its not right

 

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Cut em loose.

 

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Thats different..No practice....B Non-aDat!!!No Cottonpickin Play!! Either you a part of it or your a piece of it.You Reep it...123...Breath it ....123...Bleed it 123....MD... Help a Brotha out.

 

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i think all girls are different as all coaches are different.a athlete especially a child athlete will get away with as much as the coach lets its up to you where your breaking point is and where you draw the line

 

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How do you teach commitment, can you? When you agree to something should you players follow through, when agreements are made in August how long do you let players and parents get away with not showing up to workouts and not showing up to practice. Is it the parents fault or is it dd's fault? How long do coaches have to put up with excuses on why your not their or late arrivals of more than 1 hr to practice?

sighned/ ticked

Been There, Seen That, Done That, and Bought the T-Shirt Factory!
As a Coach, I handout a Team Rulebook at the beginning of each season stating what is expected of the Players/Parents. If it's in Print, you have something to back-up your decision on what your disciplinary options are.

When I first started coaching years ago, I was pretty lenient and let the Players/Parents get by with way to much. But that gets Old Real Fast. They will take advantage of you if you let them. "Nip in the Bud NOW"! Even if you have to make an example out of some of them by cutting them from the Team. I know it's a hard decision to do, and then worrying about finding replacements. As a Coach they expect you to attend all Team functions, if they don't feel they same about themsrlves as team members, They are not team members they are rogues and are wasting your time, the teams time and all your efforts.

Wow! An hour or more late for Practice? Go HOME! Such disrespectful Players/Parents. Maybe you should set-up a Practice and not attend, I wonder how they would like that done to them?

I give my Team members 3 strikes and they're OUT! (Exceptions a Viable Excuse!) Just like in the Real Game! And they know up front that I keep an Attendance Record for the Team during the whole Season.


FASTPITCH! Anything else, and you're playing to SLOW!

 

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calling cadence --welcome to the best fastpitch website in the universe ! MD

 

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Well here is another twist on this we have a girl that plays on my older daughters team that plays another sport, and so she does not attened anything even when she can. Right now the are not really practicing just playing games which are not really in full swing, but needed her a couple times. Not a big issue just wondering. FYI it is not my team but if it was I would want her there when she could be.

 

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multi-sport commitments is somehthing we encourage BBUUTTTT, that too gets old when they miss practice. Another reason they don't play for their local rec softball team either (see my post that got all kinds of feedback). Can't have it both ways and be "committed". As FastpitchBlue stated, some of this gets old. For us, once indoor practice kicks in, we 'strongly' encourage full attendance and once we get outdoors it's all us. That has been ok to date but our favorite indoor sport s-o-c-c-e-r has a serious committment in itself.

And, if they make it a habit (after 1 time) you must talk to them and the parents immediately and then make hard decisions on the second. That's more than fair and hard to do, regardless of talent. They were all hand picked and therefore talented. Tough issue!!!

 

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What happens to team when girl finally shows up and might take time from other players that were commited ???????????

 

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chaos

time for a long season if guidleines weren''t communicated at day one

here we go...

 

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I agree just was wondering other's opinion. Really don't matter to me either way, but I know it will to a few of the other girls parents

 

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What happens to team when girl finally shows up and might take time from other players that were commited ???????????

I think you know the answer and were asking it rhetorically. Extreme unhappiness from the committed players and their parents.

You can't force a player or the parents to bring her to a practice (and in a timely fashion) but you can remind them of the expectations and that failure to attend practices will lead to severely reduced playing time. Its better to address it now rather than later.

 

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Always a tough situation, and a lot of factors to consider.

Bottom line though is that Coach needs to set the tone and set down the expectations. If players don't follow along then they have left themselves exposed.

Our team takes things VERY seriously "in-season", and while we play year round we are a little *** with the off-season due to multiple high school sports participants, and maybe most importantly we "KNOW" that we have kids working year round with instructors and making most of what they can. In the end, we KNOW that "they" will be ready when it matters, so that "we" can be ready as a team also. In return for their outstanding dedication, we encourage them to enjoy a full teenage life, and happy experience overall, and stay "fresh". It's a balance, with some mutual trust involved, but that trust has been earned also, from past behaviors.

This wouldn't work for us if we had the wrong kids/families for our system. so, again, in my mind it boils down to setting expectations, having rules that apply to your own situation, and then executing the plan.

Like a few others have stated, make known what you want, be clear, then be judgmental ... if/when needed.

 

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Just to add more fuel to the fire, two of the three girls in question play other sports, which i understand, but we practice once a week inside just to keep swing, timing, defense, conditioning, keep group harmony, but it is always the same girls. The other individual girl is playing nothing, and has not answered any emails. But she'll be their when the games start. She even has missed last 2 outside practices in late oct. Early nov. And too add a twist of things, she and my daughter both play the same position, but she is better with the bat, and my daughter is better defensivly. She, as matter of fact is probably in the top 2 on our team with the bat. So this makes matters worse cause you don't want to cut loose the big stick. Or do you?

 

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I think once you start making concessions for big hitters who aren't acting responsibly, you're asking for trouble.

Do you have a known rule about practices? If not, then there's not a whole lot you can do. If you have rules, and they're being broken, you'd better hold everyone - even the big hitters - to it, or it will lead to more trouble and dissension.

 

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I am coming from a different standpoint....I have my daughter at every practice, you know the commitment thing!!!! Well, last year we played on a team lacking commitment....only 3 or 4 girls would show up in the winter for batting practice, and this irritated me! Afterall, we made sacrifices. When I brought it up to the coach, his words were "I never asked anyone to sacrifice anything for this team!" Are you kidding me? Why coach at this level if you are not going to expect a little extra from these parents/players? Trust me. I think you are going to have a lot of unhappy parents if you don't URGE your players to show up!!

We stuck it out for the season......you know, honoring the commitment thing! I will tell you though, this year we found a team that is full of committed parents, coaches and players!!!!!:yahoo::yahoo:

 

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Cut em loose.