Giving Players a Game Ball

[quincy]

This has been brought up before but I am changing my opinion a little bit. DD does not care if she gets a game ball, they are scattered around the house already. I would say she is 1 of the 3 or so Players that should get the game ball almost every game. 1 game this year she was involved in about ¾ of the fielding outs our Team made, no game ball for her. She doesn’t care.

One tourney the other Team gave one of our Players a game ball, the other Team’s players gave it to DD, and the opposing coach ripped it out of DD’s hands and gave it to another Player.

I know there are a lot of Issues with this but watching a Player walking off the field clutching a ball they know they earned makes up for a lot of the Issues.

 

[starsnuffer]

Every rec ball team I coached I made sure every kid got a game ball over the course of a season, no kid got more then one. I'm really not a fan of rewards for participation, but as a coach, it's my job to make sure players improve over the season. When they show that improvement on the field, that is grounds enough for a game ball. It's pretty easy to justify in front of the team.

I've done this for everything up to 14u and I do it for my t-ballers now.

I've never given game balls out on travel teams nor have I ever witnessed a travel organization giving out game balls. The ony time they even get to keep the ball is from the championship game. That usually goes to the pitcher. Occasionally, I see coaches giving the "team trophy" out as a reward to an MVP. My daughter has a few plaques (not given by me, I don't coach her anymore) for this on her wall.

-W

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Game balls will mean more later in life. I have plastic tubs and tubs of cheap little trophies and game balls that are special to me but others see it as junk. ( the wife ) But I can pick up a trophy and almost remember the whole game, tournament or season.

Game balls should be given or collected for special events.

For DD I have first HR in TB, first HR in middle school, first HR in HS. All are signed by players and coaches and noted the year and where the event took place.

Pitching she has them for first ever district champions in middle school. First shut out in MS and HS individually. Game ball this year for a good performance at the regional level going into state. Then got the game ball for winning the first ever state victory in the schools 25 year program. TB she has them for 3 state championship wins.

Does this impress you, cause its not meant to. It's memories that you hang onto for all the hard work it takes to play this game. I wouldn't give out game balls as a coach every game, they are meant for special occasions to make them more..............special.

Even DD doesn't realize how important those game balls are, but about 30-35 she will see, and even more special to pull them out and show your children................look what mom or dad did when I was your age.

 

[BrianMonk]

but others see it as junk. ( the wife )

I had to read this part twice. First time I read it I saw the period after the last parenthesis….

I thought you were going to be in serious trouble.

 

[Daddy O]

Daughter got a game ball last year in championship game of a tournament (14u). She is a catcher and ball was given to her by the umpire crew. She felt pretty good about getting it. But what was funny was that we lost and it could not have been more obvious that umpireing crew wanted the other team to win (host of tournament) because of their obviously biased calls and I am not kidding. In fact it was so bad that after the game the other coach came over and apologized to our coach because the umps were so bad. But yeah dd still cherishs that ball because she must have been pretty special for the umps to want to give it to her.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

I had to read this part twice. First time I read it I saw the period after the last parenthesis….

I thought you were going to be in serious trouble.

Lucky for me she rarely gets on here, mostly because she hears enough about softball in person.

I know I spend way too much time on here, but it's the 1-2-3 hour phone calls at night talking ball that really drives her nuts.

 

[NachoMama]

DD has gotten a game ball after losing...umps gave them to her. One was a loss that was mostly due to fielding errors. And the other was a loss for pitching a team that blasted every pitch into the outfield. Doubles, one homer, etc. I think both times the umps said it had something to do with her attitude and energy on the mound.

She's gotten other game balls in the past from RCs...but the ones with the hard losses are the ones she really protects the most. They don't roll around in her bag or in a bucket somewhere...they're on her dresser with a bunch of other crap that she likes to look at from time to time. I love that those are special to her. Because she could use a self-reminder about her attitude sometimes!!!

 

[Lozza]

Man, that gets expensive!

I don't know if the fast food places do this in America but we can get 'award' from them that have a voucher for a free meal. We give one to each kid.

As someone who had boxes full of trophys they don't mean a lot. I have balls that have been given to me as a coach, but generally for a season.

 

[redhotcoach]

10-12 tourneys, 5-10 games per tourney, close to $4 per ball. "Great job" and pat on the back is more in the budget.

 

[Cannonball]

I've never seen a team give out a game ball. We gave out "bursts," "double bursts," and "triple bursts" to players after a game. A "brust" is clapping as a team one time together to honor that player's achievement. So double burst is two claps and triple burst is 3 claps. Kids always looked forward to that.

Homerun balls are different. DD has several and some are more special than others. One hit in Orlando, Florida might be her favorite BUT certainly the one hit out of an old slow pitch softball diamond is right up there as well. The coach for the other team gave that one to her and I appreciate the class that they showed doing so. She still has her first over the fence home run ball as well. It was hit out of a high school diamond and she was 12 years old. (I've told that story many times and don't want to bore you with it again but that was one of the proudest moments of my life.)