Any tips?
A little backdrop. My DD has wanted to play tournament or travel ball since she was 7 or 8, she absolutely loves softball. I have coached her rec team since they were all in Teeball together and our teams have had a ton of success on the local level. Knowing my own limitations, i figured TB was out of my league so we've been waiting for someone to step up and put together a travel team so we could get her on it. By the end of her first year in 10U we realized nobody was going to do it so my coaching staff decided we would.
Now, we live in a small community, roughly 90 miles away Oklahoma City. Softball (or girls sports in general) arent a high priority here so we barely have practice facilities and most parent want to enjoy the fall freedom, rather than let their girls play. There some pretty respectable talent scattered through the rec teams and we were hoping to get 5 to 6 high caliber players to surround our girls with. It became apparent very quick that we werent going to get most of those girls as most of the interest was from the younger girls, coming from coach/machine pitch. Our biggest hurdle was simply pitching, we didnt have a pitcher show up who had thrown for more than 4 months.
Right away we knew we werent going to have a very competitive team so rather than pick up tent, we decided to go ahead and give these girls the experience and see what happens.......gotta start somewhere, right? We ended up with two teams, a 2004 team comprised of 3 2004 girls and the rest 2005. A 2005 team comprised of mostly 2006 girls. The 2004 team really had some solid talent while most of the 05 girls were very, very raw. This fall we have traveled all around the state, exposing them to 5 tournaments. As anticipated, the first couple were very rough, hard not to be when your pitchers have a strike percentage of 30%, 35% on a good day. The best thing about this was that after getting beat badly, it was the girls asking for more practice, gotta love that in them. Game by game, tournament by tournament we saw improvement. We started by playing our 2 GG and then in the next one competed in some close games, then by the 3rd tourney, each were winning a game or two (mostly against other rec level teams but still wins). Most of these tournaments have mostly A or B level teams with the occasional team like us. Its hard to win when you walk in several runs per inning but the girls were really starting to hit and the offense kept them in it. We were very pleased with the skill progression and how competitive the girls are starting to become, even though they are a long way from where they want to be and where we think they can go.
The biggest problem we are having is the girls lack of determination during those games, particularly one team (2004). When things are going well, you see some really good softball from them. As soon as one thing goes wrong, they shut down and the game is essentially over at that point. This weekend really highlighted that problem. We were in a small tournament with teams at our level. On paper, if you go down the list, my 2004 team blows my 2005 team out of the water in regards to experience and skill level at this stage of their development. Those 2005 girls have half the talent but beat the older girls twice this weekend, ultimately losing in an exciting championship game. You could see the 04 teams skill advantage plain as day but the 05 girls who made plenty of mistakes, never got down and always bounced back.
While the two teams practice together and i see them all then, i spend most of the tournaments coaching the 2005 team so i dont get to see the 2004 team as much as i did this weekend. The HC for that team is also my assistant on our rec team and his coaching style, attitude and tones are almost identical to mine. He told me that what we saw this weekend is typical of them, very little fight, very little bounce back and his exact words were "they have too much quit in them". Now, they've tried every tactic, hard coaching, soft coaching, rewards, demotions, etc...etc.... but ultimately it doesnt seem like any of it has worked.
Every one of these girls really want it, i can see it in their practice effort, i can see it in their faces after the games, but when they face a little adversity they tend to shut down. Some girls you dont have an issue with and theres no rhyme or reason to who shuts down and who doesnt (pertaining to ability or drive). We as coaches dont have unrealistic expectations. When we agreed to do this, we do it knowing it will be two or three years before we see a truly competitive team, we just want to give them the opportunity. In order for the girls to get the most of that opportunity, they have to be able to fight through adversity. That age is tough, every girl is different. Is it just dumb luck that we can get a bunch of 8 year olds to do it on the 2005 team? Why cant we seem to get that same energy and fight out of the older, better players?
Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas?
A little backdrop. My DD has wanted to play tournament or travel ball since she was 7 or 8, she absolutely loves softball. I have coached her rec team since they were all in Teeball together and our teams have had a ton of success on the local level. Knowing my own limitations, i figured TB was out of my league so we've been waiting for someone to step up and put together a travel team so we could get her on it. By the end of her first year in 10U we realized nobody was going to do it so my coaching staff decided we would.
Now, we live in a small community, roughly 90 miles away Oklahoma City. Softball (or girls sports in general) arent a high priority here so we barely have practice facilities and most parent want to enjoy the fall freedom, rather than let their girls play. There some pretty respectable talent scattered through the rec teams and we were hoping to get 5 to 6 high caliber players to surround our girls with. It became apparent very quick that we werent going to get most of those girls as most of the interest was from the younger girls, coming from coach/machine pitch. Our biggest hurdle was simply pitching, we didnt have a pitcher show up who had thrown for more than 4 months.
Right away we knew we werent going to have a very competitive team so rather than pick up tent, we decided to go ahead and give these girls the experience and see what happens.......gotta start somewhere, right? We ended up with two teams, a 2004 team comprised of 3 2004 girls and the rest 2005. A 2005 team comprised of mostly 2006 girls. The 2004 team really had some solid talent while most of the 05 girls were very, very raw. This fall we have traveled all around the state, exposing them to 5 tournaments. As anticipated, the first couple were very rough, hard not to be when your pitchers have a strike percentage of 30%, 35% on a good day. The best thing about this was that after getting beat badly, it was the girls asking for more practice, gotta love that in them. Game by game, tournament by tournament we saw improvement. We started by playing our 2 GG and then in the next one competed in some close games, then by the 3rd tourney, each were winning a game or two (mostly against other rec level teams but still wins). Most of these tournaments have mostly A or B level teams with the occasional team like us. Its hard to win when you walk in several runs per inning but the girls were really starting to hit and the offense kept them in it. We were very pleased with the skill progression and how competitive the girls are starting to become, even though they are a long way from where they want to be and where we think they can go.
The biggest problem we are having is the girls lack of determination during those games, particularly one team (2004). When things are going well, you see some really good softball from them. As soon as one thing goes wrong, they shut down and the game is essentially over at that point. This weekend really highlighted that problem. We were in a small tournament with teams at our level. On paper, if you go down the list, my 2004 team blows my 2005 team out of the water in regards to experience and skill level at this stage of their development. Those 2005 girls have half the talent but beat the older girls twice this weekend, ultimately losing in an exciting championship game. You could see the 04 teams skill advantage plain as day but the 05 girls who made plenty of mistakes, never got down and always bounced back.
While the two teams practice together and i see them all then, i spend most of the tournaments coaching the 2005 team so i dont get to see the 2004 team as much as i did this weekend. The HC for that team is also my assistant on our rec team and his coaching style, attitude and tones are almost identical to mine. He told me that what we saw this weekend is typical of them, very little fight, very little bounce back and his exact words were "they have too much quit in them". Now, they've tried every tactic, hard coaching, soft coaching, rewards, demotions, etc...etc.... but ultimately it doesnt seem like any of it has worked.
Every one of these girls really want it, i can see it in their practice effort, i can see it in their faces after the games, but when they face a little adversity they tend to shut down. Some girls you dont have an issue with and theres no rhyme or reason to who shuts down and who doesnt (pertaining to ability or drive). We as coaches dont have unrealistic expectations. When we agreed to do this, we do it knowing it will be two or three years before we see a truly competitive team, we just want to give them the opportunity. In order for the girls to get the most of that opportunity, they have to be able to fight through adversity. That age is tough, every girl is different. Is it just dumb luck that we can get a bunch of 8 year olds to do it on the 2005 team? Why cant we seem to get that same energy and fight out of the older, better players?
Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas?
