Helped our players... other team's player showed how not to do it.

We attended a smaller showcase this weekend primarily looking for older teams and more experience as we really accelerate recruiting across the entire team. It was well attended by the local colleges and we got a lot of attention as the youngest team there (only 14U team in attendance) and by going 3-1-1. So we walked out feeling like we achieved quite a bit in terms of recruiting, getting our names out and had some excellent discussions with a good group of college coaches.

So our first game of the day was against the best team there (a local team) and we later found out that 2 mid-D1 coaches were specifically there to see their junior pitcher. As this team knew the organizers well, we were told that we were scheduled to play the game against them in 'prime time' because they knew that was when the coaches had told them they would be there , and as the youngest team, we would be a team she could really show off against.

It did not go well for her. She could bring it - clearly she was over 60mph - probably close to 62/63mph - on most pitches. But that is all she really had that she could throw for a strike - and it was clear she liked to throw it in the same spot. So 2 batters in (one walk, one strike out), we just start sitting on this pitch and spot every at bat. Our third batter hits a grounder up the middle which scores a run, our 4th batter nearly kills their 3rd base with a line drive and our 5th batter gets caught by the CF on the fence (scoring another run). And this girl is having a fit - she blamed the 3rd base for missing the liner (I guess she could have caught it in her mouth because that was where I thought it was headed), her CF for not getting the ball back in fast enough, completely lost her rhythm, terrible body language, slammed the ball down when she got the third out on a come-backer and threw her glove at the back of the dugout. Rest of the game didn't go much better and we ended up winning 6-3.

Afterwards, we were approached by the 2 coaches there to see her who thanked us for showing them what she was like and that that was probably the end of them considering her. They had heard it had been an issue from others but they had never seen it before as she had easily won the previous two times they had seen her. I asked if she had behaved differently what they would have thought - both said that talent-wise they would have probably chased after her as everyone has bad outings but they didn't need the headache and had other options and they would only come back to her if the other options didn't work out. Then we talked about some of our girls, camps, etc, etc...

So just to summarize:
- She put the work in to get these coaches out to see her
- She then behaved terribly when things went wrong for her
- If she had just had a better attitude, then the outing would have probably be a positive since she clearly had the talent and skills to pitch really hard.
- We got the benefit of her work. Thanks!

Wow thanks for sharing. And I'm shocked that the college coaches would tell another team that. Does this happen often? I am naive to this stuff.

Me_and_my_big_mouth said:

Wow thanks for sharing. And I'm shocked that the college coaches would tell another team that. Does this happen often? I am naive to this stuff.

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Just t be clear - they told me and my assistant coach that... not our team. It was kind of the conversation opener from them - "hey we were here to see the other teams pitcher and we like what your team brought to the table." - and the conversation went from there.

What's crazy is I think I can tell at 10U who a lot of those girls will be, if they keep playing. Their coaches (usually dad) aren't doing them any favors letting them get away with this at 10U and 12U.

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One of the frequent topics of discussion with my DD's 12U TB team is about attitude - on the field, in the dugout, with coaches, and with their parents. It's a behavior pattern that needs to be learned and practiced, especially if they tend to have issues in that area.

It's easy to be a model recruit when everything is going right. Coaches want to see what you're like when it's all falling apart. Do you keep your composure, do you fight, do you reinforce your teammates and of course, how do your parents act in the stands when their princess isn't performing. It's tough for some kids to battle through this.

I was coaching a 18U regional tournament game. Some D2 and a lot of D3 were out to see the CF for the team we were playing. Well she grounded into 3 inning ending double plays to our SS during the game and got burned on a shot to the fence in the first that ended up being the game winner in a 1-0 game. During the game she cussed out our catcher, slammed and cracked her batting helmet on the ground, threw a ball on the field in the middle of an inning and hit a teammate in the face with a water bottle. I talked to a couple of coaches at the end of the game and they all said that they didn't need the headache, gave me their cards and mentioned which players we had they were interested in. It was the oddest thing I've seen from a player. I've had girls cry after making 3 errors in a game or striking out multiple times but I've never seen a girl act like this kid did. Guess it happens more than I would like to think it does.

Jquick823 said:

It's easy to be a model recruit when everything is going right. Coaches want to see what you're like when it's all falling apart. Do you keep your composure, do you fight, do you reinforce your teammates and of course, how do your parents act in the stands when their princess isn't performing. It's tough for some kids to battle through this.

I was coaching a 18U regional tournament game. Some D2 and a lot of D3 were out to see the CF for the team we were playing. Well she grounded into 3 inning ending double plays to our SS during the game and got burned on a shot to the fence in the first that ended up being the game winner in a 1-0 game. During the game she cussed out our catcher, slammed and cracked her batting helmet on the ground, threw a ball on the field in the middle of an inning and hit a teammate in the face with a water bottle. I talked to a couple of coaches at the end of the game and they all said that they didn't need the headache, gave me their cards and mentioned which players we had they were interested in. It was the oddest thing I've seen from a player. I've had girls cry after making 3 errors in a game or striking out multiple times but I've never seen a girl act like this kid did. Guess it happens more than I would like to think it does.

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Again I can only say WOW. I don't care how old my kid is; she acts like this, I'm giving her an arse-whooping. That's awful. Act like a toddler, get treated like one.

Or the dad who pulls his DD from CF during a game and leaves, because she should be SS. She was lucky to get any interest, and it wasn't much.

We always tell our girls...and have been telling them since way before we started playing exposure events...that 99% of the time attitude will trump aptitude. Yes the talent needs to be there, but assuming that it is, what do coaches use to help differentiate a recruit's value? Unless you are a legit DI blue chip prospect (and in the grand scheme of things very few are), coaches are looking for talented athletes that are coachable and have a great attitude in both winning and losing. Coaches watch warm-ups, coaches watch how you interact with your parents (and absolutely watch how your parents behave because nightmare parents usually equals nightmare daughter), how you interact with your teammates, how you react when you make a mistake, how you react when a teammate makes a mistake, etc.

Marriard - This example is a great lesson for your young girls.

Watched a player diminish herself during a good performance too. She was the pitcher for the other team and she started out the game and she was on. Touching 60 with movement, we had a hard time getting anything going. Mechanically she was a sound pitcher. On the other hand my dd was off, she wound up grooving a couple early on and they built a nice 5-0 lead. At some point the other pitcher got cocky and started acting up, gesturing at batters, making comments.

At one point, she bunted down the first base line with 2 strikes and my dd fielded the ball in plenty of time, she veered out of the baseline across the foul line and crashed into my dd. Umps made the interference call and that was that.


But from then on she was more concerned with my dd then she was with the game, trying to show her up. After every pitch she would stare into our dugout at my dd, eventually my dd started waving to her and this girl got steamed. Next time she was up she grounded out and after she was already thrown out, she slid into first base, fortunately our fielder hopped out of the way. Her dad was the coach and he thought all of this was just hilarious. She stopped focusing on the game and lost her command, they still won but it was something like 6-5. After the game she went up to my dd and sarcastically said Nice Game, dd just smiled and said "you too" in as cheerful a voice as possible.

And yes there were colleges at this tourney.