I blame DD and DFP!

I've been hit with the dirt bug HARD. My 9DD is homeschooled and my wife and I were looking to get her in organized sports for her PE. We were both highly athletic IN HIGH SCHOOL. We let her pick a sport and of course she picks the one we know NOTHING about.....softball. She fell in love immediately and improved significantly under her coach for 8U. When the season ended, I asked her what is the next sport she wants to try for the fall. She says "I wanna do track so I can get faster from 1st to 2nd". Not exactly what I was looking for lol. Then, she thwarted summer plans of relaxation. The week after her birthday in late May, she goes "hey dad, I wanna be rare. I wanna know more and do more and you have to get me there". Keep in mind....I have NO experience with baseball or softball whatsoever....to be honest with you I hated baseball....found it boring and useless. So, I started scouring the net for help and searching for an adequate home to first time for 12U (that's her goal is to be on a 12U travel team), I stumbled upon......the other insane entity......DFP. One summer and alot of HOT practices where I have NO idea if she is improving or not (but having a blast watch my daughter have fun OUTSIDE instead of watching the idiot box all day), she goes to her 10U rec evaluation and does very well. Was highest rated player of 70 girls and drafted first non-frozen player (still don't know what frozen/non-frozen is, but I'll get it eventually). Her coach called me after the draft and encouraged me to be a 2nd AC for the team.

Fast forward to yesterday. I had a NASTY allergy reaction. I'm talking zyrtec and allegra did NOTHING for it. It's our third practice and I'm sitting out in the heat (terrible place to be with an allergy attack) holding my phone up to record the swings of every girl on the team from the tee and for live pitch (thinking how much easier it'll be when I can afford that LynkSpyder with cellphone attachment) so I can load them into SloPro (yes I learned about both from DFP) and go frame by frame to show the girls what I meant instead of trying and failing at a million analogies so they get it. Got home and took benadryl. Woke up and the first thing I did was watch each of the 40+ clips I took (with the volume on mute to avoid my sneezes and hacks). While in the cage, I had a 2nd girl receiving so we can get ready for the grapefruit game. I'm looking at the video like....this is not like the NECC youtube video I saw at all. Then, the thought hit me. This is DFP's fault! I am the 2nd AC and don't know what I'm doing. I need to register on DFP and thank this insane group for making me bite the bug. I've already put on my seatbelt. I have no idea how crazy this ride is gonna get, but my DD loves it and I love that she wants me to be a part of the journey.

So.....thank you (I think)

Welcome to the asylum...always room for one more...

Keep posting. We can help you. Or come to Tucson, I will help you.

Good luck. I have been in this sport 51 years.

Welcome to DFP. Enjoy the ride!

Nothing will serve you better than the willingness to educate yourself.

Hello fellow homeschooler. My softball player is almost 9. We have a similar story except only my husband was an athlete. I'm a reader. Lol

What encourages me about your post is you appear to be someone who cares about the kids which can be hard to find in a coach.

Keep up the good work!!!!!!

It's amazing how much great information is on this site. And what a wealth of resources too. Welcome!!

Clartin D man. Helps tremendously. Actually sounds like what Ive been going thru too.

Be careful of these crazy moms on this forum too. I hear they bite!!

MOMS OF DFP!! LOL

PEPPERS said:

What encourages me about your post is you appear to be someone who cares about the kids which can be hard to find in a coach.

Keep up the good work!!!!!!

Click to expand...

I was totally shocked at how selfish and self serving some (not most and not all) of the parents and coaches actually are after even 1 season. It's called REC....supposed to be FUN and developmental for all.....based on what they want....not a talent farm and not a "my daughter is 1b or ss or nothing at all" planet. At least that's what I thought going in. What was funny is my DD's coach from last season pulled up as my daughter was taking cuts in the cage and saw me recording outside. He actually thought I was making a recruiting video for her until he realized I was recording everyone. He's moved on to only TB now and I'm so fortunate to have had him as DD's coach last season. He told me I'd be surprised how early some parents start on that.

A recruiting video for a 9 year old? That's hilarious. Though we have made highlights videos to send family members who couldn't make the games. I admit to watching them sometimes when I'm bored.