rural high school programs

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I know I am preaching to the choir here, but I need some help with my parents. ?I am in my second year as a high school varsity coach, and realize that we are not going to consistently compete against the top teams if we do not change current traditions.

? ? ?For the most part, in the summer, my players have played in the local rec league where there are 4 outfielders, and you have to wait for the ball to cross the plate before you can steal. ?A few girls were excited to tell me they played in a coed slowpitch league. ? This past summer, while they still played in this league, I convinced the parents to play in a much more competitive league against many area high schools, most of which are in a higher classification. ?As bad luck would have it, I don?t think we won a game, and were only close in a few, so I doubt that I can convince enough of them to go back. ?Not only do I think we need to do this and play in a fall league, but I also would like for many of them to play in some tournaments.

? ? ?We are a small, rural high school, where transportation is always a problem. ?Most parents don?t know the extent of what top teams and players do. ?If any of you are from rural communities, have you experienced the same problems, and what you have you done or seen or heard that could help me. ?I would like to be able to explain success stories from similar backgrounds. ?We are also a very low income community, and our low number of businesses have been over-killed with requests for money. ?Fundraising for tournament fees will be difficult. ?While I understand these problems, I refuse to allow them to keep me from giving my girls every opportunity possible. ?I just need to get the ball rolling.

?? ? ?Any help any of you can give me, whether you are a coach, parent, or player, will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

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Your community sounds a lot like ours -- smaller, rural, few businesses. ?I would say that right now we are a few steps beyond where your program is, but we have definitely been where you are currently.

You are talking about changing the local culture which is a very difficult thing to do. ?Parents and players don't understand what the "next level" is all about, and are slow to change their views.

Honest opinion....you HAVE to start with younger players and build from the ground up. ?By the time they get to high school, you are fighting a losing battle in trying to change "culture". ?Look for another parent somewhere who has some clue about competitive softball and try to work out a new program for the younger kids...maybe starting at 7-8 years old. ?You can try running regular clinics or open gyms. ?If you can get the parents and kids to watch a top level youth tournament or at least a game, they may get some idea of what you are shooting for. ?You have to somehow get some more parents to buy off on your goals of improving the program.

I would recommend reading Denny Throneburg's essay in the "Softball Coaching Bible" which you can buy at bookstores or from NFCA.org. ?Sometime back, three was also a link posted to a story about how Strasburg built their winning program. ?That mirrors pretty much the essay. ?Some great ideas in those.

We have a county wide rec league here which is far from ideal as far as teaching skills, but it has provided an opportunity for hundreds of young girls to play very competitive softball. ?Several that have done well in this forum have looked beyond the league to do more. ?We have gradually picked up interest in travel ball. ?Fortunately, Tim Gallegher's "Field of Dreams" facility was built fairly close to us and has provided a lot of additional opportunity for girls to play ball at a higher level. ?Parents have become more knowledgable, more interested, more supportive. ?We established a Junior High team two years ago. ?With additional parent interest, we were able last year to take a more elite team and play in a 20 team 15U league outside of our local area, and to also play in a tournament. ?

I will email you some info that might be of interest. ?Good luck!

 

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Witz,
Long time no talk, how have you been, looks like your still plugging away at developing your program. I have worked very closely with PurpleJack and others in our community to develop athletics.
PurpleJack and I are from adjoining communities but the problem remains the same, parents want to win, are mad that were not winning, criticize coaches and programs because they are not competitive, but don't bring their kids to open gyms times, don't get them to practice, don't get them to free or inexpensive clinics or training.
Until we, or youself can change the mindset of your community and parents, we are beating our heads against a wall. I work endlessly trying to get more girls involved in my program, and I'm slowly seeing results, problem is it takes time and patience and an unwillingness to never stop striving to get better. You have to be commited and get the people in you area to buy into what your trying to get accomplised, people will begin to believe if they don't think your just a splash in the pan!!
Someone once told me that there is no magic dust that you can sprinkle to get better, it takes hard work and determination.
Good Luck, and if you do find that magic dust let me know!!
Coach Yeater

 

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It's good to hear from you too. ?I've been busy with basketball while gathering my softball thoughts. ?I don't know if I told you, but I bought the RightView Pro software. ?I am going to change a few things, even though I firmly believe in what I did before. ?I just don't think it was for everyone. ?It certainly worked for my 2 kids (.431 my daughter's senior year, .583 for my son's) . ?I am also changing my bunting and stuff- we are going to let the bat slip through our hands until the top hand starts hitting the barrel, and pivot bunt from there. ?I don't know yet how far apart we are going to put our hands. ?We are also going to push and slap bunt from this position. ?Did I get that idea from you?

I believe in the Kobata fielding method, but found it difficult to put in last year in the limited time we had- I want to get our summer coaches involved. ?We had so many errors last year...

The head of our local youth league's daughter is trying out for me this year (a freshman). ?I have already told him I want to meet with all of the coaches. ?I will show them the RightView Pro and Kobata stuff that I have.

I have also written an email to every coach in our conference- over 40 teams in 4 divisions. ?I'm hoping the successful ones will reply with what they do. ?I will then meet with every parent if possible and fill them in on what is done. ?I will do my best to let them know that I am human and not ?a miracle worker.

The key, it seems is to start with them when they are young, and hope that the youth coaches teach the game and make it fun at the same time.

 

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I don't have any silver bullets for the problem of developing a program in a rural setting (we've partially cracked the nut in our community, but it took a lot of time and we also benefited from our relative proximity to Columbus, which allows girls with commitment and economic resources to opt out of the local slow pitch infrastructure), but I do want to give kudos to Witz and Lady Knights for all their hard work. ?I hope their communities have at least a semi-clue regarding the lengths to which they have gone in trying to ignite fast-pitch fever. ?If memory serves me correctly, Witz is from West Va and traveled to Columbus to attend one of the Kobata clinics. ?

 

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PS, I'm sure PurpleJack deserves kudos, too, I just don't know who he/she is and therefore I'm not aware of his/her efforts.

 

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Thanks so much for the compliment. ?Yes, I made it to the clinic in Columbus thanks to Joe A. ?I know there are HS coaches who get knocked around for their efforts, or lack there of, but I will not stop looking at getting the kids better, no matter what we achieve. ?The moment you become satisfied someone passes you up. ?The problem is, there are already teams ahead of us who aren't satisfied.

Both of my kids have had the opportunity to play college sports, and I would love it if this was a bi-product of hard work and self-discipline by my players. ?First and foremost, I want these young ladies to become the best players possible, while maintaining good grades and good character.

Our parents have to realize that winning in the local rec league isn't winning at the level needed to compete against teams who have travel players. ?I ?do think that it is important to develop the habit of winning, I cetainly can't object to that, but I want the blinders off and eyes wide open. ?With the help of this group and others, a rural community will catch up with the rest of the world.

Thanks again

 

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Thank You cgs for the shout out, and you are correct in your references to PurpleJack. He works tirelessly in the grade school programs and jr high as well. He has a freshman DD that has matured into a great ball player due to his efforts.
Witz, what are your thoughts on the Right View Pro software that you got. I've considered getting it myself, but I wanted to see it in action first to see if the results would justify the cost. Sounds like your doing some great things in your area, so keep up the great work and stay in touch.
CGS, I'm giving you and your husband a shout out for working so hard in the Mt Vernon area, keep on them down there and no back sliding, with reference to slowpitch.
Shayne

 

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$65 is a good bit for something you are unsure of. ?To be honest, I probably won't be able to personnally judge it until I see how my players do. ?What I am going on is the fact that the top programs in the country use it. ?Now, does it work because they are the best athletes, the best method, or a combination of both.

What I didn't like was that I could only use it on my computer and had to keep changing my settings.

Shayne, I am sending you an instant message slash email to discuss all of this further.

 

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Thanks Lady_Knights.....just take it easy on DD this year ?;D ?

cgs, you can click on the little house on my profile info and read my blog....I am not bashful. ?I've read and enjoyed your many posts, so keep up the good work!

 

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Coming from a select organization that started from the ground up. Here is what we did to get this started in our community.

You have to have a core group of individuals who are willing to start a program at the youngest level. Down here we started at 8U. There were probably 6 core individuals who shared this vision. When that team had to move up to 10u we then started another 8u team and kept building. We all stepped in to coach and keep the program alive. We reached 18u last year. We are now big enough that we are now adding age specific teams each year.

That works if you live in a metroplex. In rural Ohio it will be much harder. First you have to have a player base. If I was to come back to Ohio I would be inclined to be getting the word out about a select organization to many different rec organizations in many different towns and counties. Your problem boils down to several different issues.

1. Finances and funding. - How do you fund this new organization? Do you make it a non profit organization to raise money so that business and individuals can write it off on the taxes? That is what we did with ours.

2. Location. - It has to have a central location for the area you hope to draw players into the orgnanization. Practice both indoors and out are a must. It has to be a year around commitment by all involved with the organization. Contact all the HS coaches and let them know what you are building and how it will help them in the future. Ask for their help too. Make sure you contact those that you know run good programs.

3. Community of interest issues. You will have to be willing to expand your organizational thought process beyond your small rural community and be willing to train your competitors players at the HS level. You will not be able to keep the numbers in place to keep a program alive if you do not. It cost too much to travel and finance for a lot of parents who make under $50.000 a year. That is reality in a rural town. Its the same here in Texas.

I have had a player who traveled 4 hours one way to come play on my team. That is commitment by a parent. Which leads to my next item.

4. COMMUNICATION. - This is critical. It is one thing to start a select organization its another to make people understand what the ultimate goal is of the organization.

Ours started out as a way to improve the local HS programs. In our case we would only take players in our school district. Didnt matter what school but they had to come out of our district.

After a while we found out that to compete at the upper age groups and levels we needed to change our rules concerning taking only district players. There were teams out there that were recruiting players all across the state to play for them. Getting the best of the best. Made it real difficult to compete.

We also realized that our girls would not have a problem making a HS team 5 years into their development as a select team, so the focus became getting them a college scholorship. THAT IS WHAT YOU NEED TO COMMUNICATE TO YOUR PARENTS going into this organization.

You need to make up flyers to give to the schools in your area's to get the word out on the organization and tryouts. You need to advertise your organization in the local papers and state the intent of the organization. Get the organization information on local cable channels. Contact all your Rec organizations and let them know you will work with them to help develop players. That is your farm system and your best resource. Do not alienate them. Some of them get real touchy when some of the better players leave to go play select.

Here is the hard part and its in every rural area. You have to tell players and parents that softball is the PRIMARY sport and your first obligation is to the team and organization if the player wants to be a part of the program. Then you have to ENFORCE that rule regardless of the players athletic ability. If they do not intend on playing college ball do not waste your hours on teaching them. The key word. Commitment. That may sound harsh but it is about competition and getting to college.

Last but not least. Its about the players you teach and mentor, not about you as a coach. Check your ego at the door of the new organization.

There is a reason I picked ifubuildit as a screen name. I have built or helped build many youth organization in my past. Will help any of you as much as I can.

Just ask or send me an email .

Elliott.

 

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Thanks for all of the ammunition I need to go to my parents. ?They may choose not to do much, but it won't be because I didn't try. ?We'll get there one way or the other.

Thanks again.