First Time Player on DD’s MS Team

[quincy]

Not only has this Player not played softball before, she has never played in any sport before.

HC put her at 2nd in the 4th inning; this is her 1st game ever. Of course the balls are going to be hit to her, you know how that goes.

Ball hit to her and she caught it but made a bad decision on the throw. I do not think she was impressed with 4 teammates and 20 adults yelling at her she made a mistake.

2nd ball she caught again, not even close to the 1st baseperson on her throw. She might have been worried about everyone yelling at her again. It wasn’t too bad, but if you never have experienced it before I can understand why the Player would be worried. No one said anything about the bad throw but you still hear the grown from the crowd.

3rd ball she caught and threw the runner out at 1st.

Pitcher was too fast for her but she walked, stole 2nd and eventually scored.

Good times.

Unfortunately the HC pulled her and that was the only inning she played.

 

[PA SB Dad]

The 20 "adults" in the stands have no business yelling anything to players on the field other than encouragement. What is wrong with people that they think that is alright? Despite the lack of encouragement, I give your player credit for making an improvement each time she played the ball.

 

[quincy]

Qunicy you should tell the parents to shut up or better, play a game against the kids. I bet the parents would lose.

I do not go anywhere near the parents or the coaches, I sit down the line and cheer. I found a football coach that shares my philosophy and am good.

We have only played 3 games and I can see all the tension starting.

 

[rdbass]

I learned that early with my son.I would stand on the opposite outfield side of what ever postion he played.With DD I take my bucket and go far down the line.I coached her enough during the week,she doesn't need me to be coaching her during the game.When on mound doesn't need to see my reactions.It's her time I'm just along for the ride.

 

[chinamigarden]

My dd had a girl on the HS JV team who had never put a softball glove on in her life. She was a foreign exchange student from Korea, part of her school graduation requirements is that they play a sport. She decided she would try something in America that was not offered in her school. So she picked softball. Great kid, the girls loved her and I think if she had played softball for a few years she would have been a decent player. Tracked the ball well in the outfield, made contact at the plate. But over all her game was not good enough. But everyone cheered for her and even when she had cringe inducing plays no one felt it necessary to yell at her.

Lost a pop up during a practice and broke her nose, so she couldn't play the last couple of weeks. Eve though her season (and her softball career) was over, she made it every practice and all games

 

[quincy]

I learned that early with my son.I would stand on the opposite outfield side of what ever postion he played.

DD has had the misfortune of playing the OF where I was sitting. I am waiting for her to tell the HC, I do not want to play LF my dad is out there can I play RF instead?

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

There is no MS in our area and the HS has between 700-800 students in a town of about 3,200 people. Every single year there are kids who come to tryouts who have never played before and every single year the JV coach picks them up. The only time a player has been cut from the team is when they don't make grades or can't be bothered to come to practice.

The JV team practices every day and the coach is good at teaching fundamentals. By the end of the season there is a team of fairly good softball players. It's a heck of a lot of fun going to the games because there is a lot of what quincy describes and the girls have a blast.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

As a coach I always had a pre-season meeting and told the parents not to yell things. Especially things like "Go! Stay! Slide." The girl will hear her dad, every time and not listen to me.

Even as a Freshman, my DD encountered girls that had never played before. We were in Flagstaff, AZ. and there was no MS program and a poor rec program. I didn't think that parents even understood, how dangerous the game could be, for a novice.

It should be required that parents work with their DD all summer, if she is going out for a school team. (I am dreaming.)

 

[CoachG]

Unfortunately the HC pulled her and that was the only inning she played.

So many things in play here, what was the score? How did the other bench players look like? How was starting 2b playing? Where I am from, everyone with uniform has to play at least one inning.

 

[quincy]

I have no idea what the rules are, talking to some other parents they do not either. I am not sure the HC knows the rules. I have them somewhere in my Email but I have not bothered to find them again.

I know I take softball less seriously then most posters here but let the younger players play win or lose.