School Politics re: Softball Team

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Hi, I?m fairly new to OFC and have found this to be a very, very good place to go for information. I need some advice from the OFC land of all knowledge in softball. :yahoo: Sorry the info is so long. My dd is 14, and played for the 7th grade middle school last spring. She had 2 very, very good coaches, one is a parent and the other is a grandparent to my dd teammates. Both coaches have travel-ball experience, parent about 5 yrs, the grand-parent has 12 yrs of experience in travel baseball and now about 5 years on travel softball. Our 7th grade team surpassed the 8th grade team easily. Our 7th grade coaches are superior to the 8th grade coaches but are not being allowed to follow the girls to the 8th grade to coach them due to speculations of friendships between the 8th grade coach and the vice principal/athletic director. Each year a new contract is made up. The 8th grade coach is not a teacher. The 8th grade coach didn't even have the team practice hitting (day before a game) after not playing for over a week due to a class trip . Say the least, they got killed at their game. When the parents found out that they would not be returning to coach next spring, granted there?s 11 girls on the team, six email letters went out supporting these 2 coaches. Only 3 did not reply. Each parent, including myself, stressed how these 2 coaches taught our dd's so much in the little time they had with them (February to the end of May), each letter stressed how their dd had played ?rec? ball and didn?t learn how to play the game properly and how these 2 coaches corrected whatever the girl didn?t know. Each letter had stated how excited their dd was to go to practice! Because of these 2 coaches, I was given information on OFC, they told my family if dd wanted to improve she needed to get on a travel ball team, etc. She had already signed up for the local rec department ball and was committed to that, and I tell you the truth, she lost some of the skills she learned from these 2 coaches by playing rec ball this past summer and we feel like we're starting all over again. My dd made a travel team (has 3 very good coaches) and is now playing fall ball with them. We were looking so forward to these 2 coaches preparing her for the summer travel games when she meets up with her travel team after school ball and now with this news, well, we don?t want to go backwards, we did that over the summer playing rec ball?we?re afraid she?ll lose even more skills if she plays school ball next spring.
Anyway, I?m asking what you would do if you got this information knowing you had 2 good travel coaches versus getting a rec. ball league coach? I guess my point in all of this is: WHAT'S BEST FOR THE KIDS? Shouldn't it be about them? Do you encourage your daughter to play anyway or do you look for alternatives for the Spring season? Also, a parent mentioned bringing this to the attention of the Superintendant and to the board of education--what do you think on that as well? Another parent wanted to bring it to the attention of the local newspaper, that's how strong they feel about what's going on. Oh, and by the way, no one has heard anything from the vice principal/athletic director regarding our letters to him...

 

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1. Schedule a face-to-face meeting with the Vice-Principle/AD. Any correspondence should also include the VP's bosses in the "TO" box. School politics can get very nasty. The waves you create could end up overturning your boat also.

2. School ball, especially Middle School ball, is more of a social outing than instructional ball. That's just a fact of school ball. This will not hurt your DD in any way IF she keeps working on her own during down-time. She will not be able to work with her travel team so it is important that she does some work on her own. But school ball is an important community/social aspect that your DD probably doesn't want to miss out on.

 

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2. School ball, especially Middle School ball, is more of a social outing than instructional ball. That's just a fact of school ball. This will not hurt your DD in any way IF she keeps working on her own during down-time. She will not be able to work with her travel team so it is important that she does some work on her own. But school ball is an important community/social aspect that your DD probably doesn't want to miss out on.

This is good advice. It is what it is. You have to decide whether it is worth the time, energy and lack of travel team access. But there are definately benefits from a community/social aspect.

If it were me, I would give up trying to influence who coaches. Unfortunately one of the things you will figure out is coaching ability does not always equate to opportunity to coach - especially at the middle school level - high school is somewhat of a different story.

 

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IMO if you have a good travel team with good coaches forego the middle school ball experience and work with the travel team through out the winter and spring. She'll be better off in the long run especially if the 8th grade coaches you described are there to coach her in 2010.

 

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I agree with playing with her travel team in the spring unless they are not playing together because they are all playing middle school ball instead.

 

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You should CC any letters to the AD to all those above them, the Principal, Super and all board members. Make sure everyone knows whats going on. You will get a response and have a better chance they will do the right thing. I wouldn't waste to many levels but go right to the Board Members and let them work it down. Board members are elected and more inclined to work for voters. In your situation I would write each board member now.

 

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I have to say that if you have her signed up for a travel team, just stick with it. My dd will not be playing Jr High ball this year. Our school still has it as a Club Sport, but they want you to commit to just this team during the time period they play. (Which is understandable) But I and my dd are not willing to give up the caliber of play for a club sport. So she will be waiting until High School when it is a actual school sport to play.

 

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Excellent post! I have a similar (but different) situation only I'm a couple years away. We pulled our DD out of rec ball last year and she made a travel team. The local Director of Softball for the youth assn. weasled her way into coaching at the Middle School. This year she gave me a veiled threat because she wants her (my DD) to come back and play for her "select team" next year.

Her exact words were something like this: "If you plan to stay in the school district you really need to think about what you're doing with (DD). I'm the Middle School coach now and I'm not saying she won't make the team, but it's something you need to consider".

I decided right there that if this woman was still the MS coach when our DD hits 7th grade that our girl would just do travel ball all year. Turns out we're not the only parents with that opinion. Her threat isn't the only reason but you get the picture.

Bottom line is that if you stick with travel ball you certainly won't be alone.

 

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You should CC any letters to the AD to all those above them, the Principal, Super and all board members. Make sure everyone knows whats going on. You will get a response and have a better chance they will do the right thing. I wouldn't waste to many levels but go right to the Board Members and let them work it down. Board members are elected and more inclined to work for voters. In your situation I would write each board member now.

I agree with this. Once you tell the super you are going to get on the agenda for the next board meeting, the responses and decisions will improve.

 

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This is good advice. It is what it is. You have to decide whether it is worth the time, energy and lack of travel team access. But there are definately benefits from a community/social aspect.

If it were me, I would give up trying to influence who coaches. Unfortunately one of the things you will figure out is coaching ability does not always equate to opportunity to coach - especially at the middle school level - high school is somewhat of a different story.

I second both of these.Being a middleschool and travel coach,I saw some players faced with the situation of not playing schoolball and just do travel.Those girls stayed with school and had a great experience.They were able to grow thier leadership skills-they were alsmost my assistants to the kids new to softball-and they hung out with friends.

If parents feel they are lowering thier talent level,relax,at thier age they will not fall behind and most of those kids are seeing private coaches in the off season anyway.

Not to mention,good to get your face into the program now,get into highschool and add some all-ditrict,regional,state mentions or even a state championship to her resume.I know people believe the 75% travel/25% schoolball for kids wanting to go to the next level but highschool accomplishments wont hurt thier resume.

However,the coach will make a difference.I aim to suggest to my AD teams that we need to play to make our schedule as competitive as possible.It will either be just an experience or a great experience.Pray for the best and let them play school ball.Maybe I'm biased because I was blessed with great players and parents.

 

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Unfortunately one of the things you will figure out is coaching ability does not always equate to opportunity to coach - especially at the middle school level - high school is somewhat of a different story.

yup - great point ........ and in some high schools it's not any better. Thank goodness for other opportunities.

 

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School ball and board members. Just smash me over the head with a Rocket Tech!

 

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Most have been good posts with reasonable logic. However, one thing has been left out. What is all this doing to the player. If the player is going to be miserable playing junior or senior high ball do not make them play. It is far more important to play travel ball. Not many college coaches are very interested in what happened in high school ball. They are at schools too, they understand the politics. The worst thing that can happen is your player quits ball altogether because of all the trash that is going on.

 

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Most have been good posts with reasonable logic. However, one thing has been left out. What is all this doing to the player. If the player is going to be miserable playing junior or senior high ball do not make them play. It is far more important to play travel ball. Not many college coaches are very interested in what happened in high school ball. They are at schools too, they understand the politics. The worst thing that can happen is your player quits ball altogether because of all the trash that is going on.

I agree with the statement above. We are going through this right now with the HS socker team. She will stay with her club, as the coaches have done what they could to get her to quit and are truly glorified babysitters.

PS. My other daughter plays softball. Hopefully things go better there in HS.