"I've made a huge mistake"

Classof2020 said:

I am glad to say that we were able to tell the pitching coach right up front that we just moved away from what he is teaching and are not planning to return to it. So we got that out of the way right from the beginning . . . so maybe we won't need to decide they may boot us

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Your DD may not even get to see the circle at all now. They may make her walk around it on the way in from left field now !

RubberBiscuit said:

I know you probably know this but the allure to be on a team with well known "name XXX" so that the coaches that come see team XXX can see MY DD too is mesmerizing (not accepting that DD may be on the bench or not in prime position most the time). Not saying this is the case for you here but it was for us at 14U. It's a very easy mistake to make when you're a young emotional DD parent.

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True...we want to get the girls college exposure and are planning to go to NE Finest and another college showcase in NJ!!

Rocketech1 said:

Sorry to hear that. My question is why a head coach would want 5 pitchers on his team if he wants to maximize pitching time for his daughter. Why not just take 3 pitchers and eliminate some of the competition.

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My experience says that the HC is not confident in his own DDs pitching abilities and needs to have "stud" pitchers to clean up the mess when the s@#t hits the fan. Just guessing though.

Unless you are playing on a 16U showcase team, I would not put your DD on a team with more than 3 pitchers - 4 max if the pitchers also play another position.

I think the only way to "solve" problems such as this is to run for the hills really, really fast! The problem won't go away, so you need to!

Coaches DD plays same position. Red Flag
Too many girls at your DD's position. Red Flag
Team has a pitching coach. Major Red Flag

guero_gordo said:

Team has a pitching coach. Major Red Flag

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I think this depends on the pitching coach.

Well I definitely do feel that bringing on the 5th pitcher would give us a really easy out at this point - if we saw a better pond to jump into. The one team that is close to our area that is also a first year 14U is coming straight from rec and she played for the coaches once before and they don't belong in ASA. Team we were coming from also had a coach's daughter pitching and we KNOW for a fact that she wont get any time with them because we did a whole season of that. As you all know finding the perfect place is not always as easy as we'd all like when your daughter is not an ace . . . yet

So I guess I'm going to be skewered after this post but 5 pitchers so what! No Team can find 5 good pitchers. Half the teams can not even find a legitimate #1.Lots Of coaches take players as pitchers because they need a good fielder somewhere else. If your DD works her Tail off and builds enough self confidence to claw her way into significant circle time great lesson about sport and life right there. Learning to work hard and believe in your self even when the coaches don't, another great lesson and I would put forward as important in her overall development as circle time. Seen lots of pitchers leave my younger DDs team because they wanted more circle time. watched them struggle all the next year behind a poor fielding team that has weak offense. Not the best situation either. If the coach has a good reputation for developing players overall Fastpitch skills and has a good record for success I would not just walk away because my DD would have to compete for circle time. The scariest thing to me is the hello elbow pitching coach.I would make sure that they understood that IR is non negotiable. If not walk for sure, But as far as the 5 pitchers Id want my DDs reaction to be BRING IT ON!

I managed a 12U team years ago. I went into the season thinking I had it good, because we had 5 good pitchers, none of which were my daughter. What a mistake that was! My number 5 got little to no circle time. Parents were extremely unhappy. Number 4 got limited innings. Odd thing is, that my #1 stopped playing the game. My #2 ended up going to Jr. College as a pitcher. My #3 stopped pitching, but did get a DI scholarship. My #4 never went anywhere. My #5...well she got a DI scholarship for pitching.

I did learn a lesson. 3 pitchers on a team at the younger ages is the best. I am glad that my #5 didn't get discouraged and stop pitching. Happier yet that she humbled me with her hard work and achieved her goal.