10U Strategy question

Coaches can set whatever playing rules they want, and it's up to parents to decide what they're looking for.

As for me, and 10U, I don't believe in any players sitting out 1 whole game, much less 2-3, unless it's a discipline/commitment issue. I'd be happier w/ 11 players and not adding a 12th, unless you have a lot of absences. At 10U, everybody showed up every weekend, so I never needed 12. In fact, I had no more than 10.

CoogansBluff said:

Coaches can set whatever playing rules they want, and it's up to parents to decide what they're looking for.

As for me, and 10U, I don't believe in any players sitting out 1 whole game, much less 2-3, unless it's a discipline/commitment issue. I'd be happier w/ 11 players and not adding a 12th, unless you have a lot of absences. At 10U, everybody showed up every weekend, so I never needed 12. In fact, I had no more than 10.

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This is the issue. I don't think a 9 year old who's good enough to make the team should have to sit an entire game. An inning, sure. But not a whole game. And I especially don't think a girl picking up should take priority over actual team members just because the coach is trying to woo her mom.

I doubt we're going anywhere for now but it has definitely been a learning experience for us. In many ways. I don't think the coach is wrong necessarily, but we clearly have different philosophies. I don't care about another plastic thing I have to dust. Winning is fun, yes. But not at the cost of developing your players. That is my opinion.

Is the mom good looking?

Been a little bit since I have been a HC but the bottom of the order was deadly. They knew at a minimum they were going to start every other game and were expected to perform. They also knew they could move up in the order.

I dunno, one girl he sat first game has the 4th highest batting average and OBP on the team and she's fast as lightening. I can't figure it out. His mind is a mystery to me.

ETA, she is at the bottom of the lineup though.

grcsftbll said:

I dunno, one girl he sat first game has the 4th highest batting average and OBP on the team and she's fast as lightening. I can't figure it out. His mind is a mystery to me.

ETA, she is at the bottom of the lineup though.

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DD I presume?

I don't see an issue if he's sitting girls one game at a time since 10U only play 3-4 innings before time runs out. I don't get going all out to win at 10U, but it is still travel ball and he may have had his reasons. I do think you're going to have to learn how to let some of this go. It's just fall ball and not worth getting stressed out over. It sounds like your DD is improving and still enjoys softball. Focus on the positive.

No, not my dd I was talking about. My DD is fast but this girl is lightning.

I was just curious what other people's thoughts were. Like I said, I'm not saying one way is right and the other wrong. But I don't love sitting girls for whole games at this age level. I'm not particularly riled up about it, I just haven't been on a team that did it before.

I do think it puts winning ahead of development, since the point is your weaker hitters getting fewer at bats. I can also see it lighting a fire under them to work on their hitting.

Probably not what you want to hear, but parents (AND coaches) need to take the long view re: the development of both teams and players, and understand that playing time in any individual tournament isn't THAT important. Is your daughter being developed? Is the team? Are there lots of good, fundamentals-focused practices? Is the goal to develop a team that can compete and grow over the course of years? Same with individual girls? Does the coach have development as his focus over his own ego? That's the best approach.

Alternatively, if you are in a truly competitive environment where the cream rises and the girls aren't the very best don't play move to other teams, that's a reality too and works for some girls in some situations -- even at 10U. Cut throat but one way of going about it.

The worst case scenario to me is a team where everyone plays, there's no focus on high-level standards, training or accountability, the girls don't develop or improve and the team breaks up anyway in the end because it can't compete and freshman year in high school the girls move onto jobs and boyfriends

All that said, original poster, there aren't too many scenarios where sitting girls for 2 or 3 games in a row at 10U makes much sense.

That's helpful actually. It's a good way of looking at it.

quincy said:

Is the mom good looking?

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LOL! I missed this before. The coach seems very happily married and he is, I'm pretty sure, not remotely this mom's type. Good question though, haha.

No girl ended up sitting more than one game due to how things went. We swept through undefeated and only played 4 games. 2 girls were going to have to sit twice, but the pick up got sick and missed the championship. He didn't want to sit only one girl for the whole game by herself so he played all 10 (one of our girls had to leave halfway through) and we won 1st place. I definitely heard some grumbling about sitting whole games from some of the parents. But I think they're probably the minority. Y'all have probably noticed I'm figuring out a lot of things and just trying to get input from those who have BTDT, who are outside of things so more objective.

The pick up is definitely a rock star. Much as I hate the idea of adding another pitcher (since my DD pitches), I don't blame him one bit for wanting her. All 3 of our current pitchers are very good but I think this girl is better than any of them. I could tell when she worked out with us she was good but watching her pitch yesterday in a game, I was pretty blown away. One of the best 9 year old pitchers I've seen for sure.

For this particular topic it was more philosophical than personal. My DD's right in the middle of the pack on this team. She sits some but not excessively, and she's the kind of kid who likes to rise to a challenge. I foresee her working on her hitting to get into the top of the lineup so she doesn't have to sit (she hates sitting! But I have warned her STRONGLY about keeping her negative feelings out of the dugout). She's tied 5th place for batting avg and OBP, up from probably 7th or 8th towards the beginning of the season. I don't have any doubt she'll rise to the occasion so I'm not particularly concerned. This was more trying to understand the reasoning/strategy/big picture. Remember I'm totally new to 10U, and to A ball. So I have a lot of this type of thing come up. I'm a drama avoider so I prefer to discuss here than start crap on the team

If it's a competitive travel ball team, I see no problem with giving the better, harder working and more talented players more playing time. When DD played rec league they had rules in place so that all kids got to play a minimum amount of innings and infield.

Travel ball is a different animal and fielding a competitive team is important because players and families will leave if they can't compete or they have opportunities to win and the coach plays all the bench players and lose many games. IMO, scrimmages and friendlies are where you rotate many of the players but during tournaments, especially bracket play single elimination, you play your best 9 and find ways to rotate in others as needed.

I would be more concerned with daddy ball coaches who only play their DD and the assistant coaches kids.

I would pick your battles, determine the top 3 things you (your DD) want from a TB team and join that team. A lot of times what concerns the parents, isn't an issue with the player.