egotistical coach

"Coach-Im just not hitting my spots well tonight. Ill work on it at home."

"And oh by the way-I don't know how to throw a high outside peel-can you teach me "

The way it works with my pitchers is they throw where the pitch is called. They are allowed to shake it off if they do not have confidence in their ability to execute the pitch as called. They are not allowed to shake it off if they disagree with the pitch and/or location that is called. If they execute the pitch as called and it gets jacked I am responsible. If they leave it fat and it gets hammered then they are responsible. Once I set these ground rules with my pitchers and catchers we rarely have issues. I talk to the battery every inning as to what is working and what is not and constantly adjust our game plan. If they tell me a particular pitch and/or location really effective I work it. It they tell me a pitch sucks we stay away from it or call it when it will not matter. Communication is the key as it is truly a team effort.

I would suggest that the young lady throw the pitches as called and one gets jacked tell the coach - "I just don't get it. I threw a great pitch exactly where you called it. I do not understand why it landed in the next county."

i say stop playing for this guy. IMHO, if any coach in any way, shape or form causes player's morale or confidence to be wiped out, there is absolutely NO reason to play for that coach.

moreover, that title of 'coach' should be stripped from that person.

Now that DD has a few pitches and some control, one of the focuses has been learning how to choose pitches. I think that the catcher and pitcher have the best chance of making the right call if they are trained well. Along with this is some coach management training. We talk about finding the umps zone early and talking to the coach between innings if the pitch calling is at odds with the zone. We talk about taking the sign and thinking about the "why" of the call. And we talk about her ability to go back into the dugout between innings or even call a timeout to report to her coach what she is seeing if she sees opportunities for better pitches.

Mind you, she's 11 so her judgment is way off sometimes. Her and her catcher have called some really bad change ups just because they like tricking the batter. But the point is that with time and experience any good battery should be able to call it better than most coaches, simply because they have a better viewing angle.


I don't understand why so much pitch calling does not include feedback from the battery in high school and below.

As for this coach, if he really called a high drop then he should be sued for malpractice.

CoogansBluff said:

Seems you are asking whether the coach is making good decisions. Answer is likely no.

But is your daughter making good decisions?

Not judging. You are there, not us. But I do think it's fair to ask --

Should DD be having non-verbal communication with a parent during a game? Is her body language negatively affecting the team? Could your daughter have a calm, respectful conversation with the coach about how she doesn't trust his pitch selection and how they can work together to make the team better? Is DD being discouraged from that sort of solution by any validation she might get when looking in the stands, or by hearing her mother's comments when she is pulled? What would you want to teach her about handling problems with people in authority?

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There is some good advice in this post. I do not know the young lady from the post but there is one locally that I can speak of. Im sure you know the type. When she does well it is because she is so wonderful. When she does poorly it is everyone elses fault but hers. She will blame teammates, coaches, umpires, not enough sleep, wet ball.... you get the idea. I am not trying to say that your DD fits this description but I have seen the antics I mentioned affect a team negatively.

That said, if the coach blamed the loss on one individual he is not much of a coach. I cannot think of one valid reason for a coach to do that regardless of the situation.

Only the pitcher is in charge of the speed of the pitch. Sounds like your daughter is getting a good lesson regardless of enjoyment. Sounds like a little polish to the turd which is floating in the glass half empty (his sequences) might be wise.

Why is she still playing for this guy?

smddad said:

Why is she still playing for this guy?

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High School Softball - You either put up with an inept coach or don't play. Most would be happier and way ahead in terms of skill if they spent the time on something more productive. At least with TB you can find something else if the environment is bad. Kind of like life in the real world.

Any coach who singles out one player to blame for a team loss is an a** in my book and someone who should not be coaching young women. That being said, you need to play the hand your dealt. It does not sound to me like talking to the guy is going to do any good- he either is clueless or deliberately setting your DD up to fail. What does she want to do? She can still play for him, but not pitch and that would alleviate the stress that is being put on her or she can talk to him about what pitches work best for her. Yes, he is a jerk- an an unfortunate early "welcome to the real world". Our job as parents is to try to give our DDs the tools to deal with people like this, by helping them to decide what is best for them given the challenge they face- this allows them to get some control of the situation and feel better about themselves- (as best we can).

BTW I think people should be allowed to vent about an obviously distressing situation, without the negative rain.

Can your DD, the catcher, and the coach have a civil discussion about pitch calling and game strategy so they can get on the same page?

I did notice a few red flags though: DD looking at you after every pitch is not a good thing for any pitcher, at any level and you stating that the coach and you are like oil and water, shouldn't even be in the equation.

I would watch the game from a vantage point somewhere far away so your DD can focus on the game and nothing else. Good luck.