Playing D1 Softball not all its cracked up to be

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Oct 19, 2009
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I’ve had the pleasure of meeting coaches at Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and UTC Chattanooga and all seem to be of great character and seem to put the players first.

As 3,sDad advised I hope my daughter gets to play for a coach who thinks like you.

Good luck to YA!!!!!
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
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
 
Dec 3, 2008
161
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(1) They've not all declared majors, yet, but here are some who have: Philosophy/Pre-law, Environmental engineering, Civil engineering, International law, Sociology, Business Administration.

(2) From August - February, tutoring takes precedence to softball practice 100% of the time. In-season, coaches meet with captains and make adjustments to the length, type and time of practices to help accommodate collectively challenging academic days/weeks.

(3) Assuming this is in regards to a career-ending injury, in which case the player retains her scholarship through her academic tenure.

(4) Depends on the season. Two or three is our ideal.
 
May 7, 2008
468
0
Morris County, NJ
Softball_2: As contribution here is anonymous, it's easy to pick at an issue. Slugger's kids have been through the recruiting drill and speaks from experience, both good & bad.

Not all collegiate coaches outline, then implement the plan for their student-athletes you discussed, thus the skepticism.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
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.
 
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