Facts from a California Coach

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I met a coach today from the Southern California Firecrackers (One of the top orgs. in the country) at a camp at EMU. They do not charge for tryouts, they are sponsored by Worth so most equipment is free and their families pay about $1200.00 per season. He says he does not know of an organization that charges for try-outs. In addition, he said So Cal used to be the "hottest" in level of play but he sees things balancing out around the country. In general I got the sense that they take themselves and the game seriously and work really hard on fundamentals. That can be done anywhere!

 

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Maybe Cal is suffering with the rest of the U.S. I have heard it both ways, one from a reputable source that came from the west coast.

Seems money may do more to help even the playing field between east and west coast more than anything else.

$1200.00 is the cost of a Gold team here, I would hate to see what they charge for a gold or PGF caliber team in Cal.


Tim

 

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Simple fact that it will never balance out. The weather patterns will ensure that. Given similar commitment the teams that can get outside sooner and stay later will have the advantage. Only if California and other similar states slack off and colder weather teams turn it up would it ever even out.

 

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I met a coach today from the Southern California Firecrackers (One of the top orgs. in the country) at a camp at EMU. They do not charge for tryouts, they are sponsored by Worth so most equipment is free and their families pay about $1200.00 per season. He says he does not know of an organization that charges for try-outs. In addition, he said So Cal used to be the "hottest" in level of play but he sees things balancing out around the country. In general I got the sense that they take themselves and the game seriously and work really hard on fundamentals. That can be done anywhere!

Last year at the 12u nationals in Alabama I talked about this with a few of the california teams parents. They all said "Do you think we are Crazy" an laughed of course in turn I said well it is California....Some of them orgs if you make their team the fee is "time at fundraisers" for fees and trips.

Also watching these teams warmup they are fast. They do a full blown practice with different stations 3-4 coaches overseeing touching on all the aspects of the game. and they hustle. Then they play the game. Repetition is the key and it definatly shows, they are truly confident in their abilitys when they take the field.

 

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That is kind of my point...We might not have all of the facts and we might be assuming warm weather 12 months a year is the only way to be at the top of your game. I talked with a parent from North Canton Hoover, Defending D1 state champs and they have won multiple times...they have no field at their school they practice and play at a local park. So the same point applies ,we can always blame the weather or other circumstances or we can out work our circumstances and work for excellence, even indoors a few months out of the year.

 

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CA and AZ starts with the same raw product as does PA and OH. Our players are just as physically fit and mentally strong as any left coast player. There are plenty of excuses out there for not being the best but it certainly is not the girls that we have to work with. Did you ever experience a AZ summer day? They can't go outside 2 months a year at noon. They've got their troubles too.

Get off your can and learn to teach this game and perhaps with a little luck OU, RMU or KSU can advance to the NCAA Finals using local talent , year in and year out. the kids are ready.

 

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fairman, good post!

 

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Does CA and AZ have rules like we have which limit how, when and with whom you can practice and play? Is it common among the states or are we unique?

 

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I have said this since I moved to Florida. Pound for Pound Ohio kids can play against any team down here. The biggest difference I see now is at the older age groups - 16s and 18s. At those ages the best kids gravitate to the top 3-4 teams and then those teams compete for National Championships. I had a guy from Cali ask me why younger Fla teams don't qualify or even show up for ASA or Premier championships. The easy answer is there are just too many teams.

There are no stead fast rules govering when travel teams can play down here. Most of the time HS coaches advise their players not to play with their travel teams during HS season. Teams still practice on the weekends though.

 

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Agreed. Stubbornness and egos (I.e. we do it this way because this is the way It's always been done.) Is never good for any sport or walk of life for that matter. This coupled with the coaching staff playing only to win, and not to challenge their athlete or for bragging rights (I.e. "MY (a word that should never be used when referring to the team you are fortunate enough to coach) team is 53-2) Well guess what brother. You weren't playing in the right tournaments. You should have recognized your dominance and made an adjustment to your schedule. There are plenty of good organizations and plenty of good tournaments to participate in.
It is our responsibility as coaches to help our athletes get better and to advance our region in the softball arena so that the athletes gain the respect they deserve. Having said that, I DO believe this is happening more and more. We have a team down our way titled "Team Pa". These guys are a progressive team and they are doing very well and I admire what Sean and the rest of the staff are doing for their athletes. But of course there are plenty of "coaches" who will openly bad mouth them for their accomplishments??? Clearly they are jealous of their accomplishments and when I hear this I think "Wow. Are we in grade school???". I will bore you with another quick example. I, and another coach took several Slappers to a slap camp which was being held at Tennessee University and was hosted by Ralph and Karen as the LEAD instructors!!! Our organization president was ecstatic that we were going. However of course the ney sayers "why would you go there? They don't take players from up here. Why would you waste your time." Ummmm, the athletes wanted to go and they are already advanced Slappers. Is that really a waste of time???

 

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Some of this comes down to dedication to the sport, you can have great weather year around but if you are not practicing year around then weather makes no difference......It is very difficult to play other sports and still practice year around with softball team.......Do the girls and parents decide on one sport earlier out west and down south or do they just work everyday if thats what it takes? I know some people use the words (burned out), well I don't buy that......I just think other things come along that they would rather do.....and burned out is the excuse that is used......

 

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I have said this since I moved to Florida. Pound for Pound Ohio kids can play against any team down here. The biggest difference I see now is at the older age groups - 16s and 18s. At those ages the best kids gravitate to the top 3-4 teams and then those teams compete for National Championships. I had a guy from Cali ask me why younger Fla teams don't qualify or even show up for ASA or Premier championships. The easy answer is there are just too many teams.

There are no stead fast rules govering when travel teams can play down here. Most of the time HS coaches advise their players not to play with their travel teams during HS season. Teams still practice on the weekends though.

You are right, "too many teams" is the easy answer but not a good one. You can't have too many teams. There are teams for as many girls that want to play and that is a great thing. These are children wanting to play a game and adults try to turn it into a business.

I think the problem isn't too many teams, it's no org is doing a great job of putting together top caliper teams at whatever age level. They are not recruiting and enticing the best of the best players and coaches to come together. From what I hear it sounds like they have that in Cali. Denying some kids the opportunity to play so you can condense the better ones into teams is not a good option. I'm NOT saying anyone proposed that but when we say too many teams dilute the talent it seams to be the thought and it has been said many times on OFC.

 

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You are right, "too many teams" is the easy answer but not a good one. You can't have too many teams. There are teams for as many girls that want to play and that is a great thing. These are children wanting to play a game and adults try to turn it into a business.

I think the problem isn't too many teams, it's no org is doing a great job of putting together top caliper teams at whatever age level. They are not recruiting and enticing the best of the best players and coaches to come together. From what I hear it sounds like they have that in Cali. Denying some kids the opportunity to play so you can condense the better ones into teams is not a good option. I'm NOT saying anyone proposed that but when we say too many teams dilute the talent it seams to be the thought and it has been said many times on OFC.

Let me add to what I originally said. There are too many teams at the younger ages in Florida!!! Now lets look at the context in which that is stated. When looking at the main reason why lower age teams down here do not go to, or play long into, ASA Nationals the reason is absolutely that there are too many teams. Because there are no less that 10 tournemants a week - 45-48 weeks a year down here there is no reason to move outside your area, or comfort zone. Because of that the teams are not challenged. Players are not challenged for playing time - or positions. There are so many options it is not necessary for teams to think outside their borders. The coaching is average at best at the lower levels and player movement is constant. That is why teams at the 10u, 12u, 14u age groups don't compete at Nationals. Only when players move into the Showcase age do teams change their make up. Those interested in playing major college softball consolidate and the others simply play the local events. We are fortunate that we have MANY ex-college and pro players coaching these showcase teams. They compete with the Az and Cali teams.

Florida offers tons of softball opportunities for the kids and it is great. Little League, Rec softball, local travel, and tournament softball. You are right - the more the better. But the fact remains that down here it is up to the player and family to move the aggressive player into the situation that fits their goals. The days of staying with a team from 10u through 18u is gone down here.

BTW - there are 100's, if not 1000's of Cali teams that are average, rec level at best. They have such a huge population base that there are many, many more top level teams than other states. That will not change.

 

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Some of this comes down to dedication to the sport, you can have great weather year around but if you are not practicing year around then weather makes no difference......It is very difficult to play other sports and still practice year around with softball team.......Do the girls and parents decide on one sport earlier out west and down south or do they just work everyday if thats what it takes? I know some people use the words (burned out), well I don't buy that......I just think other things come along that they would rather do.....and burned out is the excuse that is used......

Do you really think that warm weather kids are better because they specialize and that it takes playing a sport year round to be proficient.

Having played, coached, and raised a collegiant player in California I can tell you that most kids are multi sport athletes, just like here. I suggest that lifestyles are a little different overall and more active creating better base athletes. Ultimately it is just a numbers game. California dwarfs Ohio in population thus many more athletes to choose from.

I can also say that many of the men coaching teams in California were also fastpitch players as the sport still lives out there. I have seen many daughters who followed their dad's to thier games and were team junkies that went on to satr at different levels.

 

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Let me add to what I originally said. There are too many teams at the younger ages in Florida!!! Now lets look at the context in which that is stated. When looking at the main reason why lower age teams down here do not go to, or play long into, ASA Nationals the reason is absolutely that there are too many teams. Because there are no less that 10 tournemants a week - 45-48 weeks a year down here there is no reason to move outside your area, or comfort zone. Because of that the teams are not challenged. Players are not challenged for playing time - or positions. There are so many options it is not necessary for teams to think outside their borders. The coaching is average at best at the lower levels and player movement is constant. That is why teams at the 10u, 12u, 14u age groups don't compete at Nationals. Only when players move into the Showcase age do teams change their make up. Those interested in playing major college softball consolidate and the others simply play the local events. We are fortunate that we have MANY ex-college and pro players coaching these showcase teams. They compete with the Az and Cali teams.

Florida offers tons of softball opportunities for the kids and it is great. Little League, Rec softball, local travel, and tournament softball. You are right - the more the better. But the fact remains that down here it is up to the player and family to move the aggressive player into the situation that fits their goals. The days of staying with a team from 10u through 18u is gone down here.

BTW - there are 100's, if not 1000's of Cali teams that are average, rec level at best. They have such a huge population base that there are many, many more top level teams than other states. That will not change.

See that's the part I don't get. Here in Ohio the excuse is we have too many teams, it dilutes the talent pool so we don't have highly competitive teams. Cali has too many teams to. Why do they manage to put together elite teams? How do they get the elite players together on one team and we can't? Guess the closest we have is the Laser's. My DD wouldn't play for them if she could. She doesn't like the lack of time spent together as a team which you get with more of a local team. Maybe Ohio doesn't have enough teams or enough players so an elite team would have to go all over the state to find players.

 

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Maybe its because teams out west are willing to be divided within the organization by skill level. Was looking at a Gold team in Texas that had two 18u teams, Team "A" had 17 players and all but 2 were committed to top universities. Team "B" had 16 players and only one was committed. They obviously grouped these girls by talent level. Something I don't think parents around here would buy in to. They would just start another team.;&

 

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mustohiofastpitch - the difference certainly is shear numbers. spirit1 has an insight. Instruction is key for the "good" teams. I am sure they have a ton of former players coaching there as well. We are seeing more and more of that down here. Heck there are 3 former m*ch*g*n All Americans with pro experience heading teams down here now. That will only help.

 

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Maybe its because teams out west are willing to be divided within the organization by skill level. Was looking at a Gold team in Texas that had two 18u teams, Team "A" had 17 players and all but 2 were committed to top universities. Team "B" had 16 players and only one was committed. They obviously grouped these girls by talent level. Something I don't think parents around here would buy in to. They would just start another team.;&

As I said in another post about the numbers of teams in an organization. We have 21 teams. The #1 team in each age group is put together before the #2 teams starts, then on down in the same manner. Sometimes girls are picked on a #1 team and refuses because of commitment level or cost. #1 teams typically will play in more tournaments, more out of town tournaments and higher profile tournaments.
I think that the answer is to develop players at the younger age groups and keep working with them. While some programs raid and steal from other programs, we are content on developing players....(no, I am not saying that we have not "persuaded" a girl or two to come over from another program) but on the most part, there are not many girls from other local programs that we want because our system is starting to work. The majority of our girls stay with us from year to year.

 

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As I said in another post about the numbers of teams in an organization. We have 21 teams. The #1 team in each age group is put together before the #2 teams starts, then on down in the same manner. Sometimes girls are picked on a #1 team and refuses because of commitment level or cost. #1 teams typically will play in more tournaments, more out of town tournaments and higher profile tournaments.
I think that the answer is to develop players at the younger age groups and keep working with them. While some programs raid and steal from other programs, we are content on developing players....(no, I am not saying that we have not "persuaded" a girl or two to come over from another program) but on the most part, there are not many girls from other local programs that we want because our system is starting to work. The majority of our girls stay with us from year to year.

I think what you are doing is the key. It's just a matter of time before your top teams will be able to hang with any Cali or AZ team. More org's need to adopt that modal in my opinion.

 

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I am not saying the Static 12 and 14 year old teams have the model however they seem to have a plan and have had success with it.

Maybe you can get them to explain what they do.

I have a pretty good handle what the California teams do since Crystl came from there and is a product of the system verses what others say they know or what they do in their opinion and I will leave it that.

Howard