What would you do?

[coachjwb]

This is a great thread with lots of thought-provoking opinions, and great advice. We will talk about this some on tomorrow's radio show.

 

[coop24]

I would use Boulder’s Dad as my hitting coach in Dayton ; I would make my pitcher practice 6 days a week; I would join the Hitting Leagues at Field of Dream; I would join the indoors league in Marysville; I would get Dr. Goldberg competitive advantage mental toughness CDs; I would put music on my recruitment video; I would let Freshman start if they were the better player and push my upper classmen to get better and last but not least………..I would buy a wristband systems from Coach JWB, for every team I know.

 

[JoeA1010]

As others have stated, the first problem was the coach handing down that zero tolerance rule. It is tempting for coaches and administrators to do this because it means they later won't have to make a tough decision; they just follow the prescribed rule and nobody can claim unfairness. But it is not a good policy for the people being governed and can lead to injustice.

The problem for coaches is that if the rules are general and a common sense standard is applied, then it is a guarantee you will have accusations of bias from players or parents when you do have to make a decision. If you're not tough enough, people complain that you're favoring that player. If you're too tough, then they complain that the rule wasn't clear enough or it didn't account for extenuating circumstances.

We don't have too many hard and fast rules and we use a common sense approach, but it leaves me open to criticism. We tell recruits that if they come here, they are in large part trusting the coaching staff to make decisions that aren't likely to be overruled by an Athletic Director or someone above him, unless we do something really stupid.

 

[coachjwb]

Coop ... no wristband system??

 

[coop24]

Coop ... no wristband system??

FIXED, lol

 

[coachjwb]

Lol ... thanks, Coop ... I could give you a great discount on that!

 

[FastBat]

Pitch her. I didn't read any other responses, I'm probably the only one who said that.

 

[FastBat]

I would then get the team together, minus the pitcher, and talk to them about the pros and cons of my decision and letting them know why I felt it was important to make that decision.

I would NEVER talk about one child to another child/children, no matter the age. The situation doesn't concern them (not the softball playing, the personal act of being tardy), it is between coach and this particular pitcher/player, no need to get the others involved. Regardless of reason or result, as a coach, you don't need to explain this to children. IMHO, children may have a hard time understanding the entire situation or there may be extenuating circumstances that they may not comprehend until they are much older, even if they are in their late teens. But, with children at any age, keep it simple.

This policy stands on boards, etc., personnel problems are not publicly discussed.

 

[Uber_jones]

I find myself questioning a player who would be late to a practice before a district championship game....add to it the penalty of sitting, seems there is a lack of respect for the team, teammates and the coach.

I'd sit her...that being said I wouldn't have had that rule lol.

 

[ApogeeDemon]

I know I presented a very difficult scenario. I find myself going back and forth as well. If you don't have a punishment, what would her teammates think about her and you as a coach. They might all say, "Heck, we will come late, nothings happens anyways." But then, if Mom is truly at fault, do you let that go? I do think about Pat Summit. She always said she always held her players accountable first. If you decide to not have a policy for tardiness, how do you handle it? I also do think about the "gray areas." Do you handle everyone differently because of their situations at home? Do you need to ask players if they have a stable home life? Lots of interesting discussion.

 

[DOKelm3]

Tough one, here's my take, I am not a believer in punishing players for missing or being late for practice. Only 2 reasons coaches do this, 1 control, or 2 they are trying to make the player into a great responsible young adult. Sorry coach 1 is not acceptable, and 2 is not your job, mom and dad should handle that. Beyond that, if a player is phenomenal, and has a clear lead in the position, she is doing the work, especially a pitcher. Missing here and there is not a sign that she lacks comittment, again no one on your roster out works a pitcher. Now, if a player is clearly slacking or taking advantage of the situation, she needs to be handled, however, having a policy where late = loss of start or playing time is not wise.

 

[ApogeeDemon]

Tough one, here's my take, I am not a believer in punishing players for missing or being late for practice. Only 2 reasons coaches do this, 1 control, or 2 they are trying to make the player into a great responsible young adult. Sorry coach 1 is not acceptable, and 2 is not your job, mom and dad should handle that. Beyond that, if a player is phenomenal, and has a clear lead in the position, she is doing the work, especially a pitcher. Missing here and there is not a sign that she lacks comittment, again no one on your roster out works a pitcher. Now, if a player is clearly slacking or taking advantage of the situation, she needs to be handled, however, having a policy where late = loss of start or playing time is not wise.

Just curious, would you tell your outfield/infield that it's ok for pitchers to be late because they outwork them? Also, so youre saying its not a coaches job to teach responsibility? Isn't that what coaches try to do or is it just about winning? If it is just about winning, as long as they win, the players can show up when they want to? I'm curious about what others think also.

 

[coachjwb]

I think if mom and dad haven't taught their child about responsibility to one's team, then the coach does need to teach this. If one of my goals as a coach is to prepare my players for bigger things down the road (e.g., college ball), then this can very well go beyond winning, the player's play on the field, and even their fundamental skills. There's responsibility, teamwork, sportsmanship, respect for authority (coaches, umpires), etc. Exactly how this is taught is the tricky part. Setting firm rules with either no exceptions or allowing exceptions all of the time both can be problematic and potentially do more harm than good. With that being said, my guess is that most of us grew up in a culture where firm team rules with no exceptions were commonplace, and my bet is that most of us not only survived but learned something from that. But things have changed, and philosophies have changed, and now it's tougher than ever to be a good coach partially because of those changes.

 

[spartansd]

I find this topic funny.

And I can not help but feel some parent of a backup is trying to find a loop hole to have their DD play due to the "poor moral fiber" if some kid who is late to practice.

I know when I played HS sports the punishment for being late was punishment. Like sprints after practice. Like carrying all the equipment in. But it never seemed to involved keeping a player that would help the team win off the field. And I will tell you now that I grew up in the sticks where my coaches did things to us that would get them fired or worse today. So do not think that they were soft or we had it easy. It was just a known fact that being late would entail some horrific physical punishment. Once a guy had to be the bull in the ring like 3 times in a row. I am confident that he had a concussion by the end of that drill.

So while we all wax on about the lack of responsibility and poor parents and what ever moral high ground we want to take the fact is that the coach will mettle out punishment that he/she feel fits the crime. And it will not be the same for everyone or every time.

All I know is that when I played our coaches did not give a long list of crimes and punishment. If you made the man unhappy thing got bad and they got bad real quick. And everyone knew that upfront.

I do not remember girls sports being much different. The girls had to toe the line just the same.

 

[Chad Strahler]

Tough one, here's my take, I am not a believer in punishing players for missing or being late for practice. Only 2 reasons coaches do this, 1 control, or 2 they are trying to make the player into a great responsible young adult. Sorry coach 1 is not acceptable, and 2 is not your job, mom and dad should handle that. Beyond that, if a player is phenomenal, and has a clear lead in the position, she is doing the work, especially a pitcher. Missing here and there is not a sign that she lacks comittment, again no one on your roster out works a pitcher. Now, if a player is clearly slacking or taking advantage of the situation, she needs to be handled, however, having a policy where late = loss of start or playing time is not wise.

Isn't a coaches job about life lessons, responsibilities and discipline and the rest will follow? If they are a decent coach. I am not one to spout about benching players but should be some form of punishment when tardy or missing. Just like working in the real world...hence teaching life lessons and responsibilities.

 

[Lester]

HS rules always get people roweled up.

My POV, she sits 1 inning if not 2, even at State. Zero tolerance rules need a zero tolerance schedule of events ("if-then's") and communicated plan laid out. The communication to the team is key as to how they will help the situation (if they want to as a group of young ladies, that will work itself out on it's own). Easier said than done... just score more runs, minimize walks with the limited exposure of 2nd pitcher, and play some solid defense. I do agree that dental visits, schools activities, and events that require adults to drive them to other functions needs an approval or accepted list of action based upon the event, i.e. CARDS list of events (within reason, I know, that's debatable and where does it start/stop).

Think of it this way... what if she had the stomach flu? In that case she very well me done for the day or week. The team is on the hook either way. They didn't get to State by dumb luck. Now, let's go play some ball.

 

[brownsfan]

It should not have come to this. Teenagers need to learn responsibility. Parents need to be held accountable for their actions. If I recall right..for our high school, if you're late without a legit excuse (meaning death in family) warning and team pays penalty. If second time, game(s) suspension and team penalty. Third time I think you're off the team.

If the parent is responsible for taking pitcher to practice, coach should have addressed this the second expecting the athlete to address this to her parent after the first time. As a single parent, if I had any doubt I could get my dd (who graduated) to practice/game on time, it was her responsibility to get herself there-no questions asked. I wouldn't care if in a snowstorm and she had to walk. Luckily, it never came to that as she took the responsiblity to already have a ride or just stayed at school on a school day.

Now if it's coming from one school function to another-completely different ballgame. As my dd was in the high school orchestra and had concerts the same day as the playoff's.

 

[MD 20/20]

Tough one, here's my take, I am not a believer in punishing players for missing or being late for practice. Only 2 reasons coaches do this, 1 control, or 2 they are trying to make the player into a great responsible young adult. Sorry coach 1 is not acceptable, and 2 is not your job, mom and dad should handle that. Beyond that, if a player is phenomenal, and has a clear lead in the position, she is doing the work, especially a pitcher. Missing here and there is not a sign that she lacks comittment, again no one on your roster out works a pitcher. Now, if a player is clearly slacking or taking advantage of the situation, she needs to be handled, however, having a policy where late = loss of start or playing time is not wise.

Sorry Dave, I couldn't agree less with everything you stated. I guess that's what makes the world go round' LOL

 

[Coach Sonny]

I constantly talk to my players and their parents about how as coaches we are teaching so much more than just how to play the game...the game itself teaches a lot! We are so fortunate that our sport and sports in general teaches so many VALUABLE life lessons...good and bad! I stress to my players that although it is our goal to be champions in the game of softball that it is so much more important to me that they become champions in the game of life! One day our players will apply for a job...I tell my players if they want to get that job over another 100 well qualified applicants then they need to be the best candidate. In softball the "candidate" on my team who gets the job is the talented player that has a good attitude, is a TEAM player, does well in school, listens, is dedicated, works hard on her game, respects others and SHOWS UP ON TIME! EARLY is on time, ON TIME is late and LATE if accepted will not allow everybody else to get as much done. How long is the boss going to keep her if she shows up late at work and doesn't get as much done? If you allow it for one then you must allow it for all and then in that scenario nothing will ever get done...lol. We can not only be coaches we must be MENTORS too.



Coach Sonny