Oh, the things they could know!

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My only problem with this post is: I can talk to my players till i'm blue in the face. When it comes down to the game it is up to them to do what they have been taught. Yes, some things are over looked and that is the coaches fault but for you or anyone to assume the things you posted about have not been taught is wrong. My dd's are 13 what would you have me do to them when they won't get it through their head about some of your points. Tell them to pack it up and quit the game. I think everyone of us has seen the look of frustration on a coaches face when the kids don't execute the play properly. Seems to me with your post why would we ever get that look. According to you we have not done our job.

Bottom line these are kids and no matter how many times we drill into their pretty little heads what to do in certain sitution's they ARE GOING TO MAKE MISTAKES. I believe I have witnessed grown men making millions of dollars make some of the same mistakes our dd's make and the should really know better. I guess it was the coaching.

 

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played....

You state that you were making observations....well so am I. You made the observation that almost no players/coaches no anything about the game. That's a huge statement to make with all the players/coaches that are busting their butts out there. As far as mistakes, I've seen college, pro, and olympic athletes tank plays that some could label as "ridiculous fundamental mistakes". I've watched college coaches make coaching decisions that normal folks actually start threads (on this forum) over.

Nobody has ever stated, that I know of, that they are the world's best coach (other than you). I do know of several coaches who are constantly trying to better themselves by watching, asking, reading, and taking coaching courses. This game changes just as fast as someone can learn it.

No, I am not a coach. Just someone who watches tons of it year around.

And regarding the little power trip....sounds like you are the cruise director of your own little power trip.

 

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Bottom line these are kids and no matter how many times we drill into their pretty little heads what to do in certain sitution's they ARE GOING TO MAKE MISTAKES. I believe I have witnessed grown men making millions of dollars make some of the same mistakes our dd's make and the should really know better. I guess it was the coaching.

C'mon riceman - that point has already been covered! And maybe the "look of frustration" on the coaches face, and body language has something to do with your player's game performance. Few if any kids want to disappoint their coaches! Believe me - your players are the FIRST to know when they've made mistakes or underperformed. A coach frowning, yelling at them, etc. WILL NOT make them better! This is part of that paradigm shift that's needed. If your players aren't listening to you, look in the mirror. Try a different tactic. Maybe they are visual learners and they aren't digesting the "talk" you give them. You need to find out - if you can't demonstrate it yourself, try showing them video of proper technique.

Great learning strides are made when you catch your players doing something CORRECTLY (look hard) and PRAISE them for it - NOT constantly chastising them for doing things INCORRECTLY! Practice, correct things, practice the corrected things, PRAISE. Rinse and repeat...

 

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X-static:

I NEVER said "almost no players or coaches know anything about the game." That would be silly. Re-read the post with a slighly less hysterical attitude. Rice: No one is saying that the players don't sometimes fail to heed their coaches' advice. Of course it's true. But just as it is "unacceptable" for a three-year-old to pull his sibling's hair, it must also be made unacceptable for a 12, 14, 16 or 18-year- old to NOT KNOW HOW MANY OUTS THERE ARE!

 

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Played....

It was a good thing I did re-read your post.......

9 "Almost NO" statements and a handful of other negative remarks. And I'm hysterical???... ;D

I stand by my "observation" that all players/coaches are constantly learning the game. It is a never ending battle. I've talked with college players who say they are still learning different methods/tactics towards the game at their level. Even college players have their faults.

 

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Playedout I have to commend you for paying such close attention ........Me personally I would have spent mor time at Christies Cabaret....Any way I think your post backs up my previous post about what to do with the gallagher filed of dreams property....This so called travel ball is extremly watered down with kids who want to play durring the summer but dont have the talent and the instructors who are willing to put the instructional time in when it comes to coaching a team. As I said before teams and orginizations should all be classified at the begining of the year A-B-or C. and this should allow the strong teams to play only the good teams allowing each game to go 7 innings. This develops the teams ability to play the game in its entirety and may game changing situations will arise because the games arent 12-0 after 4 innings. The games will be more defensive and it will alow batters to fase the best possible pitching. Also I think these stronger A caliber tournaments should pay out cash to the first second and third place teams. Who really wants a plaque or a trophy?

Now as far as the bad player play the happens on the diamond this in DADDYS opinion is a direct link to too much parent infleunce on the kids. How many of the girls are just playing ball because they feel pressure about playing Highschool? or the fact the daddy and mommy are acting as agents placing there kis on teams they do not belong on. Playedout I blame all the bad common sence inattiquicies on parents kotteling their kids.(sorry for the buchering of the spelling) If these kids are going to play sports competitively some parents need to know their place.!!!But DADDY understands there ar plenty of bone head coaches out there that think they know whats up.

For example I had a coach of a big time team try and tell me that my kid getting 7 at bats and no field time was worth being part of his team...after paying 600 dollars for hotels and all the good stuff. I guess my point is that this travel ball is just a an intersting animal!

 

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I am sorry but I have to disagree with some of your post, I do not think that all parents are "inadequate" nor do I think that the majority of parents "coddle" their kids. We spend a ton of time driving our daughter to pitching lessons, practices and tournaments because she wants to play and she loves the game. It has nothing do with us wanting her to play, we do it for her. She is a good batter ( she does not have a hitting coach and her batting average is around .405) because we help her and we make sure that if she is doing something wrong we tell her, we also let her know if she does something good. Don't blame bad coaching totally on parents, obviously parents are going to look out for their kids if they aren't looking out for their kids then they should be. We have had some good coaches and we have had some inept coaches if our daughter isn't getting the instruction and fundamentals that she needs then at try-outs we ask more questions and try to find better coaches for her.

 

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There are four levels to learning, Rote, Understanding, Application, and Correlation. ?Things have to be taught in the correct order or things will not be learned.

In Ohio, this is what I see:

At 10U, you will see a lot of rote and a little of the understanding.

At 12U, you will see rote, understanding and a little of application.

At 14U, you will see rote, understanding, application and a little of correlation.

At 16U and above, you should be seeing, rote, understanding, application, and correlation.

If we try to shove it all into their heads at the 10U level, then the kid will be overloaded and will shutdown.

Why are the California, Texas, and Florida teams more advanced? ?Because their learning sessions are longer (year-round). ?They probably also have coaches who thoughly understand the game and the learning process.

One good example is the Ohio Slammers. ?They train year-round. ?They are light years ahead of the Ohio competition that only trains part of the year. ?They also have instructors who are knowledgable of the game and of the learning process.

 

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All players have faults. Baseball and softball are games of failure. At the highest levels, a good hitter only succeeds three times out of ten. No one who plays a full schedule of games finishes with a 1.000 fielding percentage. All managers have faults. None makes the correct decision 100 percent of the time. But the nonsense has to stop. And coaches should NOT be "constantly learning the game." They should already KNOW the game.

 

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Everyone involved in Select Fast Pitch is aspiring to grow and produce, much like the Boardrooms across the country. However, a SELECT team needs to have a SELECT Coach and 12 SELECT players and hopefully a mature(SELECT) organization behind them.

Too many teams jump into the SELECT arena without all the pieces in place. MOST of "Played" points are valid with these "NEWER" or "Select Lite" teams I'm talking about. Much like the BOGUS Financial Reporting over the last 10 years across America, Company's were trying compete in an arena with unrealistic potential, which lead to unrealistic profit earnings, which forced Leaders to make WRONG decisions which diluted if not sunk their companies.

Yes, I'm comparing SELECT Fast Pitch to US Boardrooms.

To many Leaders making bade decisions. Don't get in the game if you or your TEAM is NOT READY.

We have Dads/Coaches wanting to make it in the big leagues jumping into SELECT and taking all their DDs and REC League friends with them, regardless if they are actually ready for the SELECT world. I agree with earlier post, many TRAVEL/ SELECT Teams we played this year wouldn't have a chance against the REC Team we left.

So where are the CONTROLS for Organizations, Coach's, Players, Parents that ensures the integrity of Travel Ball is maintained instead of growing an organization for the sake of growth vs. maintaining the INTEGRITY of the HIGHEST Levels of play.

My DD had better competition in Jr High Ball last April from a day in and day out compared to the 12u "A" Select she played June and July. That alone told me there are too many Travel teams out there calling themselves SELECT.

We all have some blame on this one, especially Organization Directors, Coach's, & Parents taking their team's select. I wasn't impressed with "A" SELECT ball until we came to Nationals in Columbus where we did see the level of ball I had hoped for all season.

Where are the mentor's to guide REC League Coach's / Players into stepping stone progressions instead of Rec ball to ASA "A" competition.

Just some viewpoints from a NEWER SELECT Dad. Not impressed either, but there are obvious flaws in the system causing these scenarios.

 

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I would have to agree with 90% of these remarks -- Sounds like a High School coach I know Actually one I really hat is when coaches tell there third baseman to move back when there is two strikes on the bunter/hitter,a good bunter should be able to lay it downon the third strike. Another is "Yelling at a team before a game because of the warm-up they just stumbled through.

 

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Triple - Sounds like you hav ea good grasp of the situation.

I am one of the Rec coaches you mention looking for "something more" for my team than 12 regular season games and maybe 6-8 more in a rec tourney or 2.

The problem I see is that there is no "in-between" state. A team is either Rec or Travel/Select.

If I want to play more ball, I have to play against travel teams who I just can not compete against 80% of them. It would not be fun for my girls or the girls we would play to enter these tourneys and be run ruled in 4.

I use the USSSA classifications as the extreme of the example. 95% of the Teams are "B", with the others "A".

We need more levels of classifications, and I hate to say this, but like slow pitch where we have A, B, C, D, E....

Thoughts?

 

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There is another thread started on OFC requesting that team tryouts listings be grouped by geographic region. To me, that really speaks volumes about the state of "Select" or "Travel" softball in Ohio. There's nothing wrong with wanting to stay close to home, but face it, THAT'S NOT WHAT SELECT BALL IS ABOUT! Granted, OFC is here to serve ALL fastpitch teams in Ohio, from community rec. to top level Select. Maybe that thread is meant to address a group of community based rec. teams and not Select Travel??

The A caliber teams are high caliber teams simply because they put a high priority on recruiting talent. As long as the C teams recruit players solely on a "friend of the coach" basis, they will continue to be mediocre. The kids who get to the college level are not afraid to get outside their circle of neighborhood friends and seek a higher level of play. You simply can't compete on a regular basis against the likes of the Lasers, Indy Dreams, Stingrays, etc. with a community based team.

As parents, instead of complaining about your DD's current team getting cheated by not being accepted into Stingrays, Compuware, Best of the Best, etc., I give you a challenge. Have your DD try out for several of the top level Select teams to see where she stands. If you're serious about softball, you chose "Select Travel Ball" as a path for continued improvement, and a gateway for college ball. You'll never know unless you try. You just might be surprised...

 

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WOW played...i actually agreed w/ most of what you said....it really does seperate the elite teams from the not so elite teams..from the down right terrible teams! But please refrain from calling a first baseman named jessica and IDIOT...and some coach a moron.....Treat ppl they way you want to be treated mr.......btw>>>do you have a daughter that plays? or are you just some guy (or girl!) that goes around all summer following softball who thinks b/c he's watched a ton of games that he's an expert.....or are do you just think you are the softball god ;D

 

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Point taken, LUV2. I DO have two daughters who play. I'm not speaking to one of them currently because of a bonehead play she made recently. Inexcuseable mental error. I will have to walk around the community with a brown paper bag over my head for at least a week due to embarrassment. As for my credentials, LUV, they go well beyond having "watched" a lot of games. You could play every day until you're in a nursing home and never play in as many fastpitch games as I have (and at the very highest level).

 

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The fundementals are only as good as not only the one teaching but the one listening,i.e. (player,parent)etc there needs to be more parental teaching at home but the parent needs to learn as well as the player.now I dont mean you have to go to the back yard every night for 2 hours but I do know that you can always find a game of somesort on tv pointing out situations or whaty I do is every once in a while present a situation just out of the blue and ask were is the play little stuff like that seems to soak in or have the player ask you to answer about a situation that she plays out in her mind.That is just my thought

 

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alot of good points but you can say the same thing in the work force. People
do not want to do more then they have to. Why would you expect kids to be
different, I think society as a whole has gotten lazy. I think most of these kids
have been taught to run on and off the field, they have practiced over and over
taking cut off's and what bag to throw to. You can tell the kids who get it,
when they are playing in front of college coaches its getting done. But then once
they are there is it still? Good post!


reminds me of one of the RED's games over the weekend. And those guys get paid to play.

 

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hermom,
I agree you have to want it to get it,some kids are agressive and want it and others are just killing time,(If it were easy everyone would do it).

 

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There are (at least) three things all great athletes have:

1) THE MENTAL ASPECTS: The desire, passion and love of the game. They play because they LOVE to play. Not to please mom & dad, and not for the scholarship (college) or money (pro). They are coachable and have a keen desire to learn how to be better at their sport. They accept the fact that hard work is a necessary ingredient in anything worthwhile, realizing that their reward is becoming great at their sport.

2) Great athletic ability and skills.

3) An instructor to teach them skills, who is not only knowledgeable, but has found a unique way of transferring their knowledge to the athlete.

If any one of these three are missing, things will eventually fall apart.

 

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Bear,
I originally put a post on this thread. Where did it go? I didn't delete it, and I know it wasn't offensive at all.