egotistical coach

I have a couple of pitchers that have coaches like this. The one that refuses to call rise balls because she doesn't believe in them then pulls the pitcher for throwing them and striking out batters.

And yes, had a pitcher that asked me to teach her how to throw a high drop because her coach kept calling it.
Said he wanted the pitch to look high then "drop" into the strike zone. Same coach also wanted high change ups.

riseball said:

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."

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Here's the problem with some coaches. When I called pitches, I placed every hit back on me. So far as to say, "Wow that pitch got hit hard, has she been flattening that pitch out like before? Should I have known that? Does she normally get a little wild on that pitch when the pressure is one". I was a master at placing every hit blamed back on me.

Some coaches don't think that way. I call the pitch, the pitch gets jacked--you're a bad pitcher!

And yes I have instructed some of my pitchers to disregard the coach call. But this only in cases where the coach knows absolutely nothing about pitch calling and only knows how to call down the middle fastballs.

riseball said:

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.

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I know exactly how it works. There is another out than play for a bad coach. As I have stated before, I would rather my kid ran track than play for an awful coach.

As much as I enjoy watching my own DD play school ball, I am not a fan of HS coaches in general. There are too many bad one's out there, and not enough good one's. DD's coach does no coaching. At least they are not teaching DD any bad habbits. However, they do not correct anything and allow bad habbits to manifest. I have figured this out early enough to make simple corrections with DD to get her back on the track she was on before SB started.

smddad said:

I know exactly how it works. There is another out than play for a bad coach. As I have stated before, I would rather my kid ran track than play for an awful coach.

As much as I enjoy watching my own DD play school ball, I am not a fan of HS coaches in general. There are too many bad one's out there, and not enough good one's. DD's coach does no coaching. At least they are not teaching DD any bad habbits. However, they do not correct anything and allow bad habbits to manifest. I have figured this out early enough to make simple corrections with DD to get her back on the track she was on before SB started.

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Over the years my players that have elected to skip HS softball for track and field have not regretted the decision. What I have found is that the track coach is more than happy to help them even though track is not their primary sport.

My DD was blackballed in high school.
I was told this when she was just 12 years old. A friend of mine who took her DD out of the league (2 years older than my DD) said her DD was blackballed for it--was not allowed to play on Varsity, even though she was the best player since she was the only one that had been playing travel ball and not league. She told me she heard the rumors through the high school coaches that my DD had been blackballed as well--because I took her to play travel ball.
The parents and head coach were all buddies they partied together, etc, and the parents told the coach who to play and who to bench.
To be honest, I didn't believe her......MY DD?.... My DD placed runner up at 12u Nationals her first year, 3rd in 12u Nationals her second year and 3rd in 14U Nationals. And she's going to sit the bench? The coach would be crazy!

Guess what? That parent was right. In honor of my DD entering the program as a freshman the coach made a 3rd high school team, (freshman team) so that all the kids that never ever played ball before could play, guess who pitched for them? My DD.

The other freshman pitcher who had been playing league up until this time (and was in the "group"), got the JV team and back-up Varsity.

We discussed quitting, we really did, but my DD wanted to fight it and hang with it, and it was really, really, really tough at times.
One HS tournament he REALLY wanted to win, so he brought my DD up to varsity "just in case". He had her close every game they were losing and start every tough team. His team finished 2nd in the tournament and my DD won Tournament MVP. And then he promptly threw her right back to the freshman team.

This went on a another year, the other freshman pitched varsity and my DD went up to JV and the freshman team was disbanded. It was humiliating to my DD.
She learned so much about humility and grew so much as a person those two years.

Sticking it out did have it's rewards and the coach was fired that year for having an inappropriate relationship with a player(--yes she was part of the "group").

The new coach when my DD was a junior placed her on the varsity team, put the other pitcher in the outfield and we won district undefeated and played all the way to the last game that sends you state--lost by an error in the 9th. Unprecedented for her school. New coach won "Coach of the Year", My DD won numerous awards including "All County MVP".
It was hard it really was, but patience in this case won out in the end.

smddad said:

I know exactly how it works. There is another out than play for a bad coach. As I have stated before, I would rather my kid ran track than play for an awful coach.

As much as I enjoy watching my own DD play school ball, I am not a fan of HS coaches in general. There are too many bad one's out there, and not enough good one's. DD's coach does no coaching. At least they are not teaching DD any bad habbits. However, they do not correct anything and allow bad habbits to manifest. I have figured this out early enough to make simple corrections with DD to get her back on the track she was on before SB started.

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HS softball hasn't been a very good experience for my DD. She started with dreams of playing college ball. Things have just snowballed for her. It's been a rough four years to watch. I did talk to a college coach yesterday. He was there watching our game. He remembers my daughter being a standout player 5 years ago in travel ball. He's asked me to bring her in for a workout. Asked if she would want to be a walk on. Maybe a new beginning for her. Where I'm at politics have played a major role in team sports. Kids are stuck with the ghosts of past problems among coaches, teams, and players. The problems are 20 years old and still affect today.

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.

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I like this advice. I had to do this with my dd when she was playing AAU Volleyball. After every error or screw up by herself or a team mate, she would look over towards me and make eye contact or a facial expression towards me. It was almost like she was looking for my acceptance or displeasure on every play. So when game time would roll around, I would leave the gym and come in another door so that she would focus on the game and not her father. I used to have to tell her, "Let the players play and the coaches coach."

Game day is her day. It is her dad's day to sit back and enjoy the game. I enjoy her accomplishments and feel her pain in defeat. If she wants help, reps, extra practice, advice, or a shoulder to cry on, I will be there for her in between games, during the week.

Earlier this year, I watched my High School Senior dd pitch a game that ended in a 13-4 score, where she was the losing pitcher. The other team and parents were celebrating like they had just won the State Tournament. I could tell that my dd was disappointed and hurt(emotionally) in the final score and it didn't help when one of the opposing parents yelled at my dd and told her that his dd's team really hit her hard and that she wasn't as good as she thought she was. I stepped in front of the parent that was yelling at my dd and agreed with him, "Your team really hit the ball well today, maybe next game, your team will hit the ball hard enough to get the ball out of the infield."

As we talked about the game, she asked me what I thought that she could do better. I told her, that she pitched well enough to win and that I was happy that she competed until the end.

This is so weird on timing. I have let some of the league know that my older DD will not be playing all stars or returning to the league for second year 12U and that we are moving to a more competitive league in fall for 10U lil DD. All star tryouts are Friday and this little part of me thought they may blackball the little one, I don't think anyone would do that, she has always been one of the best in the league, coaches love her, but there is this sneaking feeling that if she has a really bad tryout she could give a couple of the coaches just enough cover to slide their DDs in there and kind of justify it that since they need to develop the girls that stay in the league. I doubt it would happen but boy if it did, it would be great validation of my decision to move on

riseball said:

Over the years my players that have elected to skip HS softball for track and field have not regretted the decision. What I have found is that the track coach is more than happy to help them even though track is not their primary sport.

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DD is thinking about playing lacrosse next year (her senior year) rather than play softball.

JJsqueeze said:

This is so weird on timing. I have let some of the league know that my older DD will not be playing all stars or returning to the league for second year 12U and that we are moving to a more competitive league in fall for 10U lil DD. All star tryouts are Friday and this little part of me thought they may blackball the little one, I don't think anyone would do that, she has always been one of the best in the league, coaches love her, but there is this sneaking feeling that if she has a really bad tryout she could give a couple of the coaches just enough cover to slide their DDs in there and kind of justify it that since they need to develop the girls that stay in the league. I doubt it would happen but boy if it did, it would be great validation of my decision to move on

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JJ - just trying to understand what you said above. Before all-star tryouts you let the coaches know that you will be leaving the league for a more competitive league but are still having your younger DD tryout for all-stars and this information that you shared to them will not be a factor in whether or not she makes the team?

My experience with all-star voting is that its highly political and that player talent is secondary to favoritism, nepotism, and reciprocity