What do you do as a coach?

[Doug666]

The thread, "Intro to new roster" got me thinking. As loyalty has it from parents and the coaching staff, what is the right thing to do in pool play and showcase (16/18) tournaments ? Should the coach bat the roster or bat the nine starters? It's been my experience that most all teams in pool play and showcase tournaments bat their entire roster. Should parents be loyal and not say anything or is it in the best interest of the player to find another team. Do just so called,"showcase teams" do this or is it common practice in B and C tournament teams? The coach never mentioned his hitting philosophy to the team or parents upon formation of the team last August. What would you do as a parent? Loyalty and commitment goes both ways.

 

[hot corner]

Every players has the right and should do what they feel is best for them. Be upfront with the current coach. Let them know they are not sure and want to evaluate their options. But don't commit to their current coach/team and then go to other tryouts and except another offer.

 

[Hilliarddad3]

If a tournament especially showcase ones allows batting the all girls, bat all girls, it a showcase to showcase them! If there is a pitcher, or even a position player out of her real position and a certain coach shows up to see her and she's not pitching, or in her position, the coach should get her in those as well.

 

[CARDS]

This is an area where a lot of coaches make mistakes...
I coached 16/18u showcase teams for 5 years. During that time I had a great group of assistant coaches that helped make the process go smooth and I gained a lot of from college coaches working the NFCA events.

I required my players to CC me on all correspondence. I would follow up on emails and contacts from college coaches that had player request and plan accordingly especially at the 4-5 day events.

Naturally; we had the tournament walk ups but most of the time the coach did not make current game request. The coach was there watching another player when one caught their eye or, they wanted to know when the next game was so they could see player X.
(Having a coach as a college coach rep. is a big help especially at big events). We had a roster of 13 so batting the roster was not an option. I also had some pitchers over the years that were very good but hitting was not what was going to get them recruited so I would DP/FLEX in the events that did not allow free substitutions/open batting to field the most competitive team I could.
Like most teams we had to overcome or work around a couple ladies that were very athletic and solid softball players but, they did not do their work with contacting coaches and that had some impact on their playing time. I think every team has "that parent" ...the one that starts on Monday with XYZ, wants to see Sally pitch, play first etc but when it comes to game time no coach there and no CC on email or correspondence. The other is the player with no parental support for a variety of reasons that needs additional help with building profiles, emails and finding a good college fit. (This is another area your college coach rep is a big help).

Back then we did not have the electronic technology today with the stat tracker game summaries available real time so, I had relied on a parent that was balanced/fair and just plain great at keeping score and he was a real asset to the team. He was also good at trend charts, key game info that when sometimes the HC may be caught up in the game may need to know or be reminded of.

Opportunities should be available to all players on a "properly built showcase team" and there should be a degree of loyalty between coach and player. This however; does not guarantee equal playing time especially,if the player is not doing their part to help showcase themselves or their teammates. So keep accurate records, have good assistant coaches, establish team expectations and manage to those expectations while being fair and consistent...

If the coach/team does the above you do not have to bat 12 or whatever your roster is. You do not need to rotate players around just so everyone has the same amount of playing time. When a team resorts to this during tournaments, nobody wins on the field, with your players,parents or college coaches.
A parent looking to get college exposure, ask the following questions: how does the team help its players, what are the team expectations, look at the team make up and planned events. Does the events match the player goals, will the college of interest attend the events? What has the past experience of the coach team been? Is the coach part of a coaching professional network? Does the team organization have connections with coaches at a variety of levels?