Which player would you choose ?

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Which player would you choose to be your DD's teammate on her travel team?

I have always had the opinion since my DD started travel ball 4 yrs ago that I didn't care how the other players on her teams conduct themselves on or off the field,as long as they could get the job done on tournament weekend.

As the years have gone by I see less concern from coaches and parents about how a player acts, especially if the player is very talented.The exception is that everyone should be concerned about how their player is viewed by perspective college coaches.

As far as I'm concerned, you could be the worst prima donna ever, and order your parents around like little puppets, while every girl on the bench hates you, and still I would not care.As long as you were the type of skilled player needed to help the team win a national event.

Im not saying my opinion is right.But I dont hear concern from coaches and parents about players morals and attitude now that my DD is playing in older age classifications.

Dont get me wrong,I feel like you should always help any child you can along the way.But were here to play competitive ball at the highest level possible.

With that in mind, here is a poll of which girl would you choose at your DD's or your teams age classification.


Girl #1 A team player, a pleasant girl ,a favorite in the dugout.Always shows up early for practice. Always stays late to help clean up the dugout.Hits .225 and will have to compete with another girl for an infield position.

Girl #2 A loner ,does not socialize much,girls on the team do not speak highly of her,comes to every practice but when its over shes out of there. Hits .350
and no one can even come close to taking here infield position away.

Have fun with it, Im curious to see if anyone out there shares my opinion.
P.S. Dont bother to ridicule me for speaking my opinion,I dont care.
Or go ahead, Im a big supporter of free speech.
God bless the the OFC. LOL.

 

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I've had this situation before and I've cut the problem kid every time. They create a cancer on the team that NO amount of talent can erase and it makes the entire year miserable for everyone. They better be batting 1.000 for me to put up with that, anything less is not worth my or the teams time.

 

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I'm with Klump. Team chemistry is much more important than one cancerous highly talented teammate. You see it all the time in pro sports. See T.O., John Rocker, Ron Artest, Randy Moss, Keyshan Johnson, etc.

Len

 

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I've had this situation before and I've cut the problem kid every time. They create a cancer on the team that NO amount of talent can erase and it makes the entire year miserable for everyone. They better be batting 1.000 for me to put up with that, anything less is not worth my or the teams time.

totally agree- i have suspended girls for bad attitudes. this is also about being a good teammate and showing sportsmanship. TEAM first... not individual first. You play for the name on the front not the back no matter how good your skills are. It's tuff to do because our adult ego's get in the way most of the time. ;&

 

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There are so many other factors here ... I didn't read anywhere that the girl was a cancer. Some kids are just quiet, and will come out of their shell over time. It does depend on the age some to me, and it also depends on the makeup of the rest of the team.

 

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I agree team chemistry is more important to the long term success of a team.

My question is how many teams that have won a national tournament had bad team chemistry? I would venture to say very few if any.

Plus that .225 hitter that is willing to work harder may turn into a .350 hitter herself an now you have the same hitter with a better attitude.

 

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There are so many other factors here ... I didn't read anywhere that the girl was a cancer. Some kids are just quiet, and will come out of their shell over time. It does depend on the age some to me, and it also depends on the makeup of the rest of the team.

I read into it with the "other girls do not speak highly of her" comment. It's one thing to be quiet; it's another not to be spoken highly of by your teammates. Maybe I'm not reading this correctly?

Len

 

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With kids it is more of a popularity contest when it comes to social interaction. If someone is shy or reserved they are much more likely to be considered an outsider and shunned by the main group. You have one or two very popular kids and all others tend to gravitate toward them. I have seen the popular egocentric kid cause problems more than a shy kid. The coach needs to make the effort to bring the kid out of her shell. This is a sport, it has winners & losers, and the idea is to win so you have to go with the best player if there is no negativity. Being shy is not a negative IMHO.

 

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Len ... yeah, not sure what that means. But I think we have all seen girls who talked about other girls, and the girls doing the talking were the not so nice/cancerous ones ...

 

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I think most of us would go with the .225 hitter, but the situations are rarely this cut and dried. But anyway, the longer I coach, the less I can tolerate the problem player. For me, the problem player is usually the "entitled" player who thinks she should be playing no matter what and who is never around to help after practice or any other time unless ordered.

As I talk with other college coaches, it seems the overwhelming opinion is that the entitlement mentality is the number one issue today.

 

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I'm with coachjwb about the opening post/scenario. A quiet kid, someone with limited social skills that's still polite and respectful to her coaches is not a problem player in my mind. I've heard girls talk smack about players like this for no good reason at all. In fact, I've put them in their place for doing so when they don't know the girl yet. Walk a mile in her shoes before passing judgement.

Now if the comment in the scenario refers to the player being disrespectful and openly confronts her team making her a social outcast, I'll cut that kid in a heartbeat as mentioned by others before the cancer can disrupt a season. As mentioned, she'd better be hitting .1000 and the greatest defensive player in the game or I'll have no use for her. Worse yet, if she's being supported by parents that believe her attitude is OK.

 

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A quick point of interest; after writing my post I returned to vote and view the results. At that moment, the younger aged group coaches are picking the 1st player while 16u was a tie and 18u was a runaway in favor of team chemistry over a statictically better player. I found this interesting after reading all the posts on the thread.

 

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Daboss ... I thought this was interesting as well. If I could have voted more than once, I would have gone just the opposite way, figuring a younger player is more likely to have not come out of their shell yet and probably doesn't have much control over how early and late she can be at practice, while I was envisioning an older girl more likely being moody/antisocial and being one who might cause issues. I do agree with you, JoeA and others that I no longer have any appetite at all for an "entitled"/cancerous player no matter how talented she is.

 

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If your intent is to say the .350 hitter is a problem player, I'd take the .225 hitter. Being a problem player can be subjective. Being quiet and non-social is not a problem for me. One of the best teams I've been around was Dave Day's Magic White team. They had every type of personality you could think of. At tournaments out of town they pretty much all went their seperate ways. The had the least amount of team activities of any team I've been around. But when they played they seemed so relaxed and appeared to have so much fun playing the game together.

I think chemistry on the field is far more important then in the dugout.

College coaches are in a whole different world. Dealing with their players from the start of school until the end. There is a lot more to the team dynamic in college then travel ball.

 

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Hard to choose in this scenario. The girl doesn't sound like a problem, its more like a case of being shy and the other girls taking it the wrong way and a bit of jealousy if she's that good. My thought would be that its the coaches job to build the team spirits and nix the bad talking by the other players. Now if she was disrespectful and disrupting, then yes cut her or work with her on her attitude......sometimes that's all that needs done. It would help her in the long run to have an attitude adjustment. And always remember, one must give respect to get respect.

 

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Sounds like you either take the weaker player and make her better or take the disruptive player and make her less disruptive. Either way you have some work to do. So as a coach which are you better at? ha

A disruptive player will make the others less effective. In the pro's you see less talented, low payroll teams beat the talented high payroll teams because team bonding is that important. It makes all the players better.

I would go with the weaker player, who works hard and make her a better player.
Playing on a team with a disruptive player s u c k s.

I'll add, would you want a college coach scouting your daughter to watch her game and see a disruptive player on the team?
Also add that I hope this is hypothetical. I not sure if the example you gave if that girl would be considered "disruptive". Being shy and quite isn't. Leaving right practice or a game isn't. But I was thinking that's what you were going for.

 

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Musty - 'Love your avatar...

I'm with the majority on this one.

When you have team chemistry, the losses or bad plays or "unsuccesful weekends" don't affect you as much. When you've got a prima-donna or two, anything less than winning becomes an issue.

 

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One bad apple can , make the rest of your team walk real fast. Sometimes the greater good is what important, if you don't have a team left then you won't be doing any winning or losing.

 

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I've had this situation before and I've cut the problem kid every time. They create a cancer on the team that NO amount of talent can erase and it makes the entire year miserable for everyone. They better be batting 1.000 for me to put up with that, anything less is not worth my or the teams time.

Agree. Give me the kid that's a little greener, with the better attitude and more potential upside.

An uber talent that is a drama case or whose attitude affects the team in a negative way won't be tolerated for long.

The old saying: "Hitting is contagious"? Nah...ATTITUDE is contagious.

 

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Girl #2 A loner ,does not socialize much,girls on the team do not speak highly of her,comes to every practice but when its over shes out of there. Hits .350
and no one can even come close to taking here infield position away.

Maybe this merits a re-reading. What's really going on with this girl? What are her parents like? Do we have some bratty girls in a clique who make fun of her why? Not pretty? Poor fashion sense? Parents can barely afford for her to participate? We don't really know why she leaves as soon as practice is over. Could be due to parents work schedule she has to be there when the ride shows up? We don't know any of this.

Obviously we are missing a lot of pertinent information. I am looking through the eyes of a 12u coach, (not yet dealing with a bunch of teenagers) and I see what is perhaps an opportunity to teach the current players a lesson in humility and teamwork, and also to help a true talent blossom as a player and teammate.