This might go
slightly off topic....
I am a Daddy coach. I am NOT a Daddy Ball coach. Tremendous difference. Those of you who know me or know the team I coach, know that my daughter has more to prove than anybody else on them team, and this applies to all players out there whose parent is a coach. They have to prove above & beyond the other player every time she steps into the batter's box, every time she takes a position, every time her name is read off in that specific spot in the lineup that she DESERVES to be there. If she doesn't and you play her anyway, then you are a Daddy ball coach who is out to serve one player & potentially harm the rest of the team. That will be obvious.
If she deserves to be there then you, like me, are out to serve the entire team. That TOO will be obvious.
Let's get real guys...our days are numbered here. We are on borrowed time. I know this. I have read countless stories on here, many of which have brought tears to my eyes about the last day he sat on the bucket, or that final day of her senior year, when everybody knew she would not step on the field as a player again. That day...that final day will be here before I know it. Same for every one of you, whether your DD is 17 or 9. This stuff is flying by. Seems last week I accepted this offer of coaching a 10U travel team, and now we are in our 2nd year of 14U. 5 years....and it went by like THAT (image of me snapping my finger).
And...as long as I am able capable of coaching and teaching at or above the level they are playing...as long as SHE still wants to play for me...as long as GOD allows me to have this GIFT of being able to coach my daughter's team, then I am going to take advantage of that gift and drink in every minute that I get to spend with my daughter and the rest of the girls on the team. She will not play ahead of somebody because she is my daughter. She will earn it because she wants to earn it.
I thank every single parent coach out there. It's because of several of them that I am here today with the knowledge that I have. I owe it to them to pass this along. Some day, God willing, one of my own daughters might choose to become a coach, and the circle will be complete. The day may come when her playing ability exceeds my own coaching ability. (Some suggest that happened 5 years ago
. When that day comes I will encourage and support her to play for another coach.
Nevertheless...thank you, Ohio softball, and thank you to my daughters for allowing me to be a Daddy Coach.
I love this game, and I love them!!!!
Chris Zaker
Ohio Glory '01