My kids have all been involved with sports for about 7 years now. We have never had a problem with any other sport but softball. The drama is so high in this sport that there have been many times when I have encouraged my daughter to quit. My daughter is a natural athlete and softball is her favorite. We were on the same team for three years and decided to change her this Spring b/c for three years we saw nothing but Drama between our coaches and parents and saw so many girls quit the sport. Also, the coaching was mediocre at best. We were asked to join the #3 team in the state for our age group. Our old coaches got mad of course, tried to get my dd back, when she wouldn't come back they bad mouthed us to everyone in the sport. By the way my child is only 8! This sport is awesome but why so much drama, hatred and jealousy. I don't know if we should make her quit to save our family the pain or just indure it for her love of the game??
Drama in this Sport
- Thread starter LilahKay
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I'm sorry your famuly has been having a bad experience but you say you've been with the same people for 3 years (if your dd is 8 I'm assuming thats about her whole softball career). Maybe its a good time to switch teams and see if things are different. Softball doesn't have to come with drama, though some people do.
We were with the same people her whole time in softball. Been with the new team for 2 months and it seems people on this team are upset with these coaches but for a different reason- about to "reorganize the team for 10 under" and get rid of the weak links. They are very serious and want a team full of D1 prospects. It seems there are just a lot of problems. Maybe it's where we are from, the South.
Its not just this sport its all sports at every level that why there are so many teams out there. Find a new team and move on from the drama thats what I have done with both my niece and my DD. They both played for different teams in our hometown and it was full of drama and popularity contest between the parents and coaches that my niece took a break and was invited by another team to play and she has been with this team for 5 years now and we have had little to no problems and those problems we have had are gone cause the head coach does not play those games. my DD was in the similar situation and my niece's head coach and I started a younger team being our DDs are the same age and boom still no drama. You just have to find the right team that is the right fit. The coaches, players and parents need to be able to work towards being a family more then a team and that when the fit is right. Just hang in there and let her enjoy her love for the game and one day you will find the right fit.
- Jun 7, 2013
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There are a lot more saner teams out there than you have encountered. Find one for your DD to play on. Avoid the insanity!
If the coaches are willing to badmouth an 8 year old, the switch was probably wise. My daughter is also 8 and has been playing for almost 3 years. We've seen precious little drama, fortunately. We've also been with the same coach all along (first rec, then all stars, now travel) and I think he's just an easy person to get along with. Even when there have been issues with parents they've not gotten really blown up. I hear about this kind of thing and it makes me sad for the kids, who just want to play. I think sometimes parents have really unreasonable expectations when it comes to their own kids and if a coach doesn't know how to handle that gracefully (or if the parents won't let them), it can get pretty ugly.
Obviously I don't live in the South so I don't know what your kids have to go through just to play softball - but I think things like 6U All-Stars and 8U travel ball are ruining the game. JMO. I'm so glad DD waited until SHE was ready to ask us to move her to travel ball at 2nd year 12U.
Cannonball
Ex "Expert"
- Feb 25, 2009
- 4,891
- 113
Believe it or not, there are teams out there without drama. My dd played on one for several years. It was pretty neat to see how such a large group of players and parents truly looked forward to being together. To this day, we stay in touch with those families.
Totally ignoring the actual subject, but how do you know they're the #3 team in the state for your age group?
As for the drama, we've been fortunate. But there are many things about travel softball that can be a powder keg. The main one being that there are so many ways to manage a team and so many decisions to make, such as lineup, playing time, how to warm up, how to practice, that it's very difficult to please everybody. Humans don't react well to differences of opinion about their children.
