Softball IQ....

djcarter1966 · Oct 25, 2016

Yeah its pretty amazing HS semi finals. Team is up by 2 runs and just needs 1 out runners on 1st and 2nd last inning. Bloop to RF she picks up the ball and literally holds it while runner from 2nd and first scores she could have thrown her out by a mile and BR advanced to 2B in all they confusion and screaming, its now tied next batter bloop to RF she is maybe 20 ft behind 1B...you guessed it she froze and held the ball while the runner from second scored game over and the other team is off to the state championship.

Could go on and on about players running into outs, dropped third strike miscues and outfield back up responsibilities and on and on. I get you need reps to really understand the game but in a lot of cases kids show no interest in understanding the game at all it just baffles me.

reagansdaddy · Oct 25, 2016

One thing we do as a family is score games. Almost every game we go to, we score it and discuss the situations as the game unfolds. I think this has been extremely valuable in helping my kids to understand the game. Plus, it's fun for us! In 2012, my DD was 8 and we hadn't started travel ball so we attended about 30 Reds games. She scored everyone of them and keeps those scorecards in a binder on her desk.

Me_and_my_big_mouth · Oct 25, 2016

reagansdaddy said:
One thing we do as a family is score games. Almost every game we go to, we score it and discuss the situations as the game unfolds. I think this has been extremely valuable in helping my kids to understand the game. Plus, it's fun for us! In 2012, my DD was 8 and we hadn't started travel ball so we attended about 30 Reds games. She scored everyone of them and keeps those scorecards in a binder on her desk.

What a cool idea!

canyonjoe · Oct 25, 2016

I can't even believe the questions I hear. I had a kid who was on my 14U team ask what happened if someone hit the ball over the fence. Others thought that when you tagged up you just had to go back and tough the base not knowing you had to wait for them to catch. The other team ran on a dropped IFF this weekend. We had a kid on our 18U team this weekend wonder why the batter was out on a foul tip caught for strike 3. I can't even begin to count the number of players in the past at all levels on all teams who don't run with 2 outs. I finally learned not to assume a new player knows anything.

Ironically my son who plays rec little league and doesn't really practice or watch much ball knows the game inside and out.

I also think coaches sometimes don't think. I see teams automatically play the infield in with bases loaded. It doesn't matter the score. We played one earlier this year with 1 out bases loaded up 5 runs play in. A hard hit ball that likely would have been second out turns into a double second and third now a 3 run game. Coach walks the next batter to set up a force at home.

IRONMAN · Oct 25, 2016

CoogansBluff said:
Many kids today are dependent on what they've been taught and don't really think for themselves. Today's TB players are the products of years of structure and organization in their sports.

You really hit the nail on the head with this post. My DD will sometimes wait till the ball is bounding off the fence before running advancing a base, when it was an obvious gap shot off the bat. She steals bases all day, but will never go on her own. ARGGG. She also "throws doubles" too often from the OF when trying to throw out a lead runner instead of keeping them other at 1st. And she's been playing since she was 4 years old (16U now).

canyonjoe · Oct 25, 2016

I remember a few years ago we played a team who had this Australian coach (12U) . He didn't give any signs or tell them what to do. He would ask them after the play why they didn't go,etc. Evidently he worked most of the practice on how to hit bombs as they just killed the ball. I talked to him after the game and he explained that he wanted them to learn how to play on their own. I think back to the hours we played wiffle ball or pickup games in the yard and you really learned how to play the game.

Cannonball · Oct 25, 2016

The idea that players have a "Softball IQ" really rest on the assumption that their coaches actually know what they are doing. That isn't always the case. For example, I can think of a coach who is supposed to have a huge reputation for how successful his teams are and yet, he has never had a practice with any of his teams in all the time I have known him and that spans a very long time. I once heard him yell at a girl for not turning a double play on a ball off the pitcher's glove. This player tried to explain to him that once that ball was touched, she had to make sure she got an out and that going to 2nd with that ball was not a sure thing. This young lady came to me after the game and asked me what she should have done. GET AN OUT. She remarked that she was so frustrated because what she knows to do is not what she is told to do.

I know this one young lady and let just say that she might have graduated a couple of years ago from college. She was asked to help out at practices for her former team since the HC had taken another job. The AC was running practice. Right away, the girls were begging for her to run practice. Why? No one knew what to do and they were being instructed wrong. I don't know who that girl is but she has a pretty high "softball IQ" and so, she broke everything down to basics again, reintroduced all the stuff they knew already and then, the girls could play the game as they knew it. So, not all coaches at the college level know what they are doing.

IMO, many of us have "coach's kids." What I have found regardless of sport that I coach is that "coach's kids" have developed a sports IQ which, believe it or not, translates to all sports. IOWs the know how to compete and a part of that is learning the intricacies of the game. That would mean all games. That one girl I mentioned before is a stud at bocce ball, racket ball, ... since she knows how to break all games down into basic parts. JMHO!

Edited to add:

One other thing, I have found out that many dds like ours need to have a sit down with Mom and Dad concerning those things called boyfriends. (BFs were brought up in another thread.) You have to tell your young lady that she has to let the BF win once in a while. Mine didn't with the first one and actually embarrassed him a 3 point shooting contest. (He was our school's stud at every sport.) The second one actually said once that he couldn't beat her at most sports but hockey. So, BFs don't like that. Just a heads up for those of you going through this.

JAD · Oct 25, 2016

Cannonball said:
The idea that players have a "Softball IQ" really rest on the assumption that their coaches actually know what they are doing. That isn't always the case. For example, I can think of a coach who is supposed to have a huge reputation for how successful his teams are and yet, he has never had a practice with any of his teams in all the time I have known him and that spans a very long time. I once heard her yell at a girl for not turning a double play on a ball off the pitcher's glove. She tried to explain to him that once that ball was touched, she had to make sure she got an out and that going to 2nd with that ball was not a sure thing. This young lady came to me after the game and asked me what she should have done. GET AN OUT. She remarked that she was so frustrated because what she knows to do is not what she is told to do.

Just like recruiting I think parents need to take an active in the development of their DD's softball IQ. Not all coaches are created equal, and some are outright idiots (did I say that out loud?). Softball IQ can be developed while playing, watching, watching baseball, playing baseball video games, and I am sure I am missing a couple.

Cannonball · Oct 25, 2016

One of the things I miss most since my dd is out of the house now is those types of conversations. Still, we text during Cardinal baseball games and breakdown various elements of the game. Enjoy those special times when you get to have these conversations with your dd. You'll end up amazed at how much they really know.

grcsftbll · Oct 25, 2016

Cannonball said:
The idea that players have a "Softball IQ" really rest on the assumption that their coaches actually know what they are doing. That isn't always the case. For example, I can think of a coach who is supposed to have a huge reputation for how successful his teams are and yet, he has never had a practice with any of his teams in all the time I have known him and that spans a very long time. I once heard him yell at a girl for not turning a double play on a ball off the pitcher's glove. This player tried to explain to him that once that ball was touched, she had to make sure she got an out and that going to 2nd with that ball was not a sure thing. This young lady came to me after the game and asked me what she should have done. GET AN OUT. She remarked that she was so frustrated because what she knows to do is not what she is told to do.

I know this one young lady and let just say that she might have graduated a couple of years ago from college. She was asked to help out at practices for her former team since the HC had taken another job. The AC was running practice. Right away, the girls were begging for her to run practice. Why? No one knew what to do and they were being instructed wrong. I don't know who that girl is but she has a pretty high "softball IQ" and so, she broke everything down to basics again, reintroduced all the stuff they knew already and then, the girls could play the game as they knew it. So, not all coaches at the college level know what they are doing.

IMO, many of us have "coach's kids." What I have found regardless of sport that I coach is that "coach's kids" have developed a sports IQ which, believe it or not, translates to all sports. IOWs the know how to compete and a part of that is learning the intricacies of the game. That would mean all games. That one girl I mentioned before is a stud at bocce ball, racket ball, ... since she knows how to break all games down into basic parts. JMHO!

Edited to add:

One other thing, I have found out that many dds like ours need to have a sit down with Mom and Dad concerning those things called boyfriends. (BFs were brought up in another thread.) You have to tell your young lady that she has to let the BF win once in a while. Mine didn't with the first one and actually embarrassed him a 3 point shooting contest. (He was our school's stud at every sport.) The second one actually said once that he couldn't beat her at most sports but hockey. So, BFs don't like that. Just a heads up for those of you going through this.

I hope neither of my DDs ever thinks she needs to let a boy win for the sake of his ego. I'd much rather they find boyfriends who admire strong women instead of thinking they shouldn't be better just because they're girls. I hope they end up choosing men who are like their dad.

Softball IQ....

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