Breaking in to coaching school ball

Easton33 said:

Careful with that. I know you want to be there but rules are rules and you don't want show you can't follow them. What sense does it make to jeopardize your potential job? Just instruct your assistant coaches on what to do and relax a bit. Stay away from the practices if you are supposed to.

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What is this "assistant coach" of which you speak?

Actually, I'm allowed to "observe" practice as long as another certified person is there with me, and the 8th grade HC is always there. So what I've been doing is talking loudly to the other coach from the other side of the gym lol!

[RANT]
Too many of them, not enough of us. That's problem #1...that, and more than half the girls can't throw.

I know that with 2 AC's that I can get through 3-4 skills per 90 minute practice without to much hassle, and I run a tight ship when it comes to time. With us 2 and 16-20 girls, there are just not enough hours in the day. The 8th grade coach is pretty insistent on working the girls together, but her time management skills need some work. Add to that the fact that we're not on the same page as far as skill teaching (she's old school, used to play, no idea who Kobata or Wasserman or Hillhouse are - though I'm not real surprised about Austin). I honestly do not want my girls picking up or reinforcing bad habits.

We have very different visions about how to go about this. My 6th grade DD could start on the 8th grade team, easy, and I can get the girls there, but not the way it's going right now.[/RANT]

Ok, had to get that out of my system. Not sure how I will proceed. I told the 8th HC that I wanted to take either the 7th graders or the worst throwers tonight and work the water bottle and other Wasserman drills.

In HS you have the luxury of being selective. This 7th grade stuff is still very developmental, and I'll be lucky to have 10 actually try out.

And TBH, I have no idea what gain there would be in requiring the girls to perform the same drills if they're not at similar skill levels. I've got a few 8th graders who can fire the ball, and some who are shot-putting it. Some 7th graders can get it where they want more than 50% of the time, none of them have good mechanics/movement. If I make the girls who can throw well work the same drills as the girls who cannot, I am not doing my job as a coach/teacher.

BuckeyeGuy said:

...And TBH, I have no idea what gain there would be in requiring the girls to perform the same drills if they're not at similar skill levels...

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It is called dumbing it down to the lowest common denominator and is a pervasive trend in public education. It has been heavily embraced down here in the Sunshine State. This way there are no losers or winners. Everyone is equally mediocre with their self esteem intact. To your point the better coaches/teachers, such as yourself do not buy into the nonsense.

riseball said:

It is called dumbing it down to the lowest common denominator...

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I was deliberately avoiding that conclusion lol!

Well, not having any AC's is certainly making this difficult, especially with the 8th grade coach on a somewhat different page than I am. I'm trying to get my girls "Kobata-ized" and "Wasserman-ed" and the other HC is trying to run infield drills because the 8th graders are bored (they already know it all, even though only one throws at a high level, and none of them field exceptionally well). I've created "buy-in" with the 7th graders, they know the goal and the steps needed to get there. 8th HC doesn't have a plan. I'm trying to stay relaxed and let her do her thing, but it's hard for me to get past my control issues lol!

Out in Left Field said:

Can you explain the difference between the other coach? She does not work on fundamentals or she disagrees with yours? She just goes to square two or three and skips square one? We never do that.

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I think the best way to describe it would be to say that her fundamentals aren't as fundamental as mine. An example: she accepts poor throwing technique if they throw hard and somewhat accurately; I don't. She wants to move on because the girls are bored with drills; I won't let mine move on until they can do the drill somewhat competently.

She also has (had) no plans for practices; I have fully written plans with times assigned for each portion (she has adopted my time mgmt strategies, though, so that's better).

She's a good kid, we'll get along with it. Just a little frustrating at times.

Out in Left Field said:

I get bored first so that is not an issue, but sometimes I bore the girls on purpose so they can handle that in games. The coach runs the show, not the players, and no one skips fundamentals even in college. Softball is boring; just the way it is. If you can't deal with it, tough I say.

Written plans are required and you get reviewed on them at my school. If someone gets hurt, they are all over your documentation. I would not want to face that without my lesson plans.

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Some very interesting insight into high level coaching! Did you learn that technique in your coaching classes in college or as part of your ongoing education effort?

Tons of good fundamental drills out here if you look a bit. We do conditioning with our tb team 12u but all teams in our area do. We include strength training as well and it is showing up in our players. I think it's a big part of off season work especially. We do a lot of short burst quickness exercises, ac handles this part we are fortunate to have a personal trainer as a coach!

Boring??? I call it fast paced and very exciting.