Thread: Playing D1 Softball not all its cracked up to be

I would have to agree on one thing said earlier: getting a degree and playing D1 aren't mutually exclusive. I too had the dream of playing D1 softball and getting a degree, knowing full well my education was more important. Yes, I gave up on my dream of playing at Stanford, because of the extra long hours, mandatory tutoring, and lots of games on the road. But, I did get the chance to graduate from a great engineering school and still make 3 appearances in D1 regionals. It is quite possible to have both.

Yes, it was hard work, but trying to balance softball, school, and a social life was just as hard before college. There are lots of competitive softball schools out there that value education very highly. The coaches should be very up front about this during the recruiting process, at least that's what I found to be true 90% of the time. My college softball experience was no different then I had expected or wanted. I still got to play a competitive game while making life long friends and getting the degree I always wanted. Isn't that what college is all about? The most important thing to do before heading down that path is for the player to know what kind of balance they are looking for between softball, school, and social life. If they are honest with themselves and their potential coach (as in before the signing), it usually ends up being the time of their life.

I know this particular thread has laid dormant for awhile, but it caught my attention earlier and I was sincerely disheartened by the notion that Division I softball coaches so singularly have their eye on the prize. So I wanted to offer my opinion, for what it's worth.

WIN BABY WIN.

I am a Division I coach. Of course we play to win. Of course we practice to prepare to play to win. But this is not all we do at the Division I level. In-season, I spend nearly 30-40 hours a week with my players. Yes, practice and games takes up the largest percentage of that time, but several hours a week are spent on buses and in restaurants and in hotel lobbies. I know their quirks, I know their favorite music, I know when they're having an awful day and when their excellent day will be the catalyst to inspire the good moods of their teammates. I have read their senior theses. I have watched them declare a major and know exactly what they want to do with their life...and then sat patiently and listened to them change their mind. I know their parents and their siblings and their boyfriends and their best friends. I teach our first and third defenses by talking about it, and then drawing it, and then doing it, because even if that's tedious, I know my players, and I know some are visual, some auditory and some just need to throw it around. I have seen them cry. I have watched them fail and succeed. And I have been there as they've grown.

We come together everyday to play softball. To work. To improve. To win. But certainly not at all costs. Just because we coach at a very competitive level, doesn't mean we lose sight of the fact that the people we work with are just that; people, and not expendable athletes to bolster the number in our win column.

I am a softball coach. And I teach softball skills to my team. But I don't coach softball. I coach people who play softball. So while winning is the destination, our journey along the way entails far more than swinging a bat.

Just because we coach at a very competitive level, doesn't mean we lose sight of the fact that the people we work with are just that; people, and not expendable athletes to bolster the number in our win column.

Parents eat this stuff up...which is why kid's sign with a school before really thinking about it.

The softball coach's salary is based on her/his performance. If she loses too many games, s/he gets fired. As long as that remains constant, the coach's priority is winning.

I've been through this with two different daughters and three different sets of coaches. Two sets of coaches were extremely successful. The other was moderately successful. So, I've got the "players are our biggest priority" talk many times, from a bunch of different coaches.

I would also love to know:

(1) what her players are majoring in
(2) what kind of accommodations she makes when school interferes with softball
(3) what happens when a kid is injured.
(4) how many pitchers she uses

My kids had a great time playing college sports. Neither would change a thing. But, parents and kids need to go into it with their eyes wide open. Coaches, for obvious reasons, play up the positives and avoid the negatives. Parents, for obvious reasons, don't consider the downside.

Had the coaches been frank with me and my DDs about the time commitment and how the sports took precedence over the education, my DDs still would have played. But, we would have planned for it better, especially for DD#1. (We did DD#3 much better.)

One of the sad things in college sports is these kids who are lost after their sports career ends. They have no real plan for their life after they hang up their cleats.