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Member
I know this is like preaching to the choir but I need to share/vent/rant.
DD?s 14U team is new, have never practiced with all 11 present, and picked up their coach the weekend before the first tournament. Half the team just finished freshman year and the youngest just fininshed 7'th grade. 4 capable pitchers and 1 catcher. Each girl is skilled or they wouldn?t have been brought into the organization. The coach is a college D1 player who brought along a teammate, both ladies with impressive backgrounds and want to run DD's team with the same expectations as their college team.
The need to vent and rant is regarding parental units. Why do adults need to hassle coaches about bench/playing time or DD sitting a game because she missed practice? It doesn?t matter if coaches are college-aged or near retirement, they are in charge of the team and should be supported in their efforts. Parents should be modeling for their DD?s the way to cope with coaches and teammates who let them down, in whatever way that is perceived. Parents should be cheering their kids even when they make errors. Parents should be thanking blue for the effort instead of arguing every call that they question. Parents should be applauding every girl (yes, even the other team) when she makes a fantastic play.
The need to share is because before this Saturday afternoon, this group of girls wouldn?t chant/cheer because the majority of them out-voted the few who want to. 2 girls sit the bench each game-usually the ones sitting had long faces and didn?t cheer the team. Girls didn?t hang together between games. The sideline was quiet. Parents were busy giving their DD?s direction/instruction/criticism as well as giving the coaches a very hard time about rules, expectations, and consequences.
The coaches agreed to some team-building activities between games on Saturday so the girls grudgingly went along with it. We had fun, the girls laughed, learned about each other, exchanged phone numbers, and started forming a true team attitude. The next 2 games were amazing, we only won one of them but the girls showed more enthusiasm, played better, made fewer errors, and smiled while on the field and while sitting the bench. They still won?t cheer or chant but their chatter is impressively loud. The parental sideline was rowdy-mostly in a positive way. :yahoo:
We?ve won a total of 2 games so far but there is now a light shining to guide them toward more. Now to work on the parents. . .
DD?s 14U team is new, have never practiced with all 11 present, and picked up their coach the weekend before the first tournament. Half the team just finished freshman year and the youngest just fininshed 7'th grade. 4 capable pitchers and 1 catcher. Each girl is skilled or they wouldn?t have been brought into the organization. The coach is a college D1 player who brought along a teammate, both ladies with impressive backgrounds and want to run DD's team with the same expectations as their college team.
The need to vent and rant is regarding parental units. Why do adults need to hassle coaches about bench/playing time or DD sitting a game because she missed practice? It doesn?t matter if coaches are college-aged or near retirement, they are in charge of the team and should be supported in their efforts. Parents should be modeling for their DD?s the way to cope with coaches and teammates who let them down, in whatever way that is perceived. Parents should be cheering their kids even when they make errors. Parents should be thanking blue for the effort instead of arguing every call that they question. Parents should be applauding every girl (yes, even the other team) when she makes a fantastic play.
The need to share is because before this Saturday afternoon, this group of girls wouldn?t chant/cheer because the majority of them out-voted the few who want to. 2 girls sit the bench each game-usually the ones sitting had long faces and didn?t cheer the team. Girls didn?t hang together between games. The sideline was quiet. Parents were busy giving their DD?s direction/instruction/criticism as well as giving the coaches a very hard time about rules, expectations, and consequences.
The coaches agreed to some team-building activities between games on Saturday so the girls grudgingly went along with it. We had fun, the girls laughed, learned about each other, exchanged phone numbers, and started forming a true team attitude. The next 2 games were amazing, we only won one of them but the girls showed more enthusiasm, played better, made fewer errors, and smiled while on the field and while sitting the bench. They still won?t cheer or chant but their chatter is impressively loud. The parental sideline was rowdy-mostly in a positive way. :yahoo:
We?ve won a total of 2 games so far but there is now a light shining to guide them toward more. Now to work on the parents. . .