first year 12 U

I'm the assistant coach on a 12u softball team. all but 2 girls are first year players. Head coach is dad of one of the returning girls. After 4 practices and a scrimmage, he has begun to tell girls they are outfield or infield only. Really, only 2 have been told they are outfield only, with a few others being told an infield position will be secondary. Full disclosure, my daughter is one of the 2. She is the #2 pitcher, so she will see playing time. All girls have been practicing infield and outfield. I am adamant that at 11, we need to improve ballplayers and not pigeonhole the girls. My daughter showed up early to practice with me Sunday and worked on taking throws at second on steals and force outs and take ground balls to put in extra work for about 30 minutes. 10 minutes into practice she is told she is finished with infield. She is not the best option at second, she is not the worst. Myself and the other assistant were not chosen by the head coach. We were selected by the organization. I learned of her and the others being primarily or only outfield at same time as the girls. The other coach and i are going to speak with HC in the next day or two to get on the same page about an upcoming tournament. I am very against this setup, but if the HC is not willing to give the girls opportunities going forward, what do you suggest?

Well unfortunately unless you can meet with the coach and get him to actually start treating you like assistants not sure what you can do. If you are the HC why wouldn't you solicit input from your assistants, if you don't take the advice fine but at least talk to them and get their input. Sounds to me like you are in a little mini dictatorship and just might have to live with it. I'm not a big fan of pigeon holing girls but after a couple weeks I would think it's probably not hard to start picking out at least primary versus secondary positions. Plus there is always the if you can hit we will find a place for you in the field thing. As the #2 pitcher if you can get 30-35% of the innings and be in the line up in the outfield the rest of the time I would consider that a good deal if she really wants to pitch, by chance is his DD the #1 pitcher? Now as a first year 12U I would hope he would continue teaching a giving girls opportunities to try other things but if he is chasing little pieces of plastic I would not count on it.

His daughter is not a pitcher. Great girl and really good ball player. He is doing wonders with the girls compared to what we sat and watched in 10u last year. the girls are getting better. Just a tough ride home when DD asks, "why do i not get to practice on the infield? I'm as good as the other girls." She will get innings and will get time in the outfield. Just a tough spot since it's not just about her. I want to see all the girls continue to grow as players. Someone has to play outfield, and my DD understands that. I am dealing with a stubborn and sometimes emotional 11 yr old and as a parent, you don't want to see your DD lose interest. As a coach, you want to see all the girls stay interested and push each other for playing time.

DD has always been in the position. She is a tall lefty (currently 5' 10"). She has always been pigeonholed as a first baseman and is very good at it (I realize I am biased). Unfortunately she never gets any work in the outfield. She is the fastest girl on the team and has a very strong arm. She can run down high fly balls very well. She struggles with getting a good read off the bat on hard hit balls to the outfield. Every team she has been on has said they want to develop the girls in at least 2 positions. She has played 95% of the innings the last 2 years of travel ball and has 4 innings of outfield in over 150 games. She is now 2nd year 14u playing very good competition and the opportunities to let girls work on secondary positions is much less. I am worried that we have missed the opportunity to get her outfield time during games. Currently we have to work on outfield practice outside of the team practice because she never gets any outfield reps during practice. Looking back at her first year playing 12u only 3 girls from that team are still playing travel softball. I feel strongly every girl should have a primary and secondary position.
I currently am an AC on DD's team and feel that it is my job to make suggestions to the HC. I am lucky in that the HC is glad to get opinions from the coaching staff. He also lets the ACs know that the final decisions are his. Often as ACs we will discuss things and if we feel strongly on something we will go to the HC as a group to let him know we are all on the same page. We are always respectful with each other and if someone's opinion is not taken it is accepted and we go forward. We also try to not get involved with decisions on our own DDs about playing time or batting order. I realize that all HCs are different and this will not work with all HCs. If I am a HC on a team I try and let the ACs know what role I see them playing just like a player. When I am asked to be an AC I always ask what role they would like me to play. We have 3 very good pitchers on our 14u team. They rarely play other positions but they always bat in pool or showcase games. 1 or 2 of them will usually bat in bracket play depending on how they hit on Saturday. We win a lot of tournament games on Sunday afternoons because our pitching staff is much fresher than our competition.

I really don't like forcing them into positions that young. At 11 and 12 there's still a lot of growing to do as players. Why would he limit his team in that way? I don't get it. We have a new 2nd year 10U team. We just played our 4th tournament and a ton has changed since the start. The pitching line up is different from what I thought it would be. The hitting lineup has changed entirely in each tournament as girls slump or catch up. Our straight from rec, bottom of the lineup player in our first tournament is hitting clean up now. Hidden skills come out as practices and games progress. If you only practice them in one spot how do you find all these things out about your players?

softball dad 6 said:

She is now 2nd year 14u playing very good competition and the opportunities to let girls work on secondary positions is much less. .

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This is --unfair comment removed--.

There are PLENTY of times and games to work girls in many positions Scrimmages, pool games, multiple set up for different pitchers, girls get sick or injured, practices, etc, etc. If anything it is easier at 14U to move them around because you no longer have to worry about if they can catch or field or throw at a decent level. As a coach you have to be strong enough to do it and work through them playing in unfamiliar situations - it is the coaches responsibility to get it done. It makes you stronger in the long run (and creates that real competition for positions coaches always say but rarely mean)

I am sorry to word this strongly, but it is the truth. The best teams we play in 14U-A - and our team for that matter - move girls around if not quite interchangeably, certainly a lot. Fielding wise our team can survive missing 3 players without dropping fielding quality too badly (as long as they are not all pitchers - we can only survive missing one of our three pitchers).

And it is vitally important - because by second year 14U they are entering high school - and now you may have to beat out an upperclassman for a spot... or as you get older, fight off the new freshman who wants your spot. And if you can only do one thing, that is really limiting. I have 7 girls on my team who are freshman this year - I believe all of them will make their high school varsity teams but only two will play their primary positions and that is only because they are both pitchers and their respective High Schools both graduated all their pitching. Our starting SS is probably one of the best fielders in the 14U age group nationally - she is HOPING she gets to play RF on her high school team. The junior SS at her school is going to an SEC school and the senior 2B is going to an ACC team (probably to play SS) so she is 2 years away from getting a realistic chance to start at SS. Even 2B next season will be a real fight.

And in college it gets even harder

To the original poster. You are quite correct At this age group they should all be doing both. It is not time to pigeon hole anyone. There is nothing wrong with having a 'best' line-up on elimination games or in 'must win' games (which are fewer than you think). There is something wrong with ONLY having a 'best' line up.