how would you handle this?

[Sparky Guy]

We are in a very similar situation. My twins play for a very competitive 'A' team. We have a manager that has a DD on the team and a HC that does not...and my DH is an AC. The manager is a dictator who decides all positions and batting lineup without listening to HC or AC. He also will not respond to complaints that I make and other folks make and uses his salesman BS with my DH

Right now calling the person running the team a "Manager" is nothing but semantics. He is the Head Coach who is running the team. All the others are Assistant Coaches and nothing else. It sounds like someone is trying to imitate professional baseball and failing miserably at it. As for the "Manager" being a dictator.. He needs to be. There can be only one person running things. If you don't like the way things are run then take your daughters and leave the team. From what your describe this guy is about winning and not developing the players even with the excessive team practices.

It's obvious that one family figured it out early. I'm guessing this organization may be perceived as one of the tops in your area and parents are willing to put up with more. Even so, if what you're say is accurate it may be a another case of Daddy Ball in a slightly different wrapper. It's too late in the season to change teams now. At tryout time take your DD's and look to change teams.

 

[MsDinosaur]

Please believe me, lostbayou, it's not that I'm a pro-IF/anti-OF snob. I saw a lot of Royals games growing up and my absolute favorite player was their center fielder, Amos Otis. It was magic, the way he seemed to glide effortlessly to the ball. I decided at a young age that playing OF was the coolest thing around! Outfield is very important and gets more so the older they get. I also think it's important that every girl knows how to play outfield.

However, my DD is s-l-o-w. Balls that would be caught for outs are singles because DD has to play them on the hop and if she gets the angle wrong or they take a bad bounce, they're past her for extra bases. She's a liability in the OF. IMO she IS one of those players who should be limited to infield because of shortcomings.

It's also perfectly reasonable to place a good batter in the 9-12 slots. Strategically, it's not been working out very well. As chance has it, DD is usually coming up to bat with two outs and no one on or she's coming up to lead off an inning. As you can expect with her lack of speed, that's not the best. Even though she's been in a slump, she generally makes contact and will get RBIs or move runners. Instead, I watch innings where we leave runners on followed by an inning where DD doesn't beat the throw to first when no one is on. Of course, that's in the games where she gets to bat. When they only bat 9, she sits, which can't possibly be chalked up to strategy.

Her team has been losing most of their games too. I try to be fair and admit when players are simply better than DD and deserve the playing time. --I'm a parent though, so I might still be griping about her lack of playing even if their play was sparkling. But it isn't. I'm seeing terrible plays while DD is sitting on the bench. That really bothers me. If your team is at .200, why aren't you playing everyone and working on player development?

 

[MsDinosaur]

Dinosaur, reading your posts I'd swear our dd's were on the same team!
Learning, I've taken notes on the teams who use pick ups, have internal bickering and those who rotate players to develop well-rounded ball players. I know who I will let my DD play for and where we won't be seen.
We walk into games knowing we will 10-run a team and the only change is the pitcher. Bench players stay there. Not really coaching but their record looks good!

LOL, ditto that! Except that it sounds as though your DD's team is winning easily, whereas my DD's team is losing almost every game. I really don't understand continuing to do the same things over and over when you're losing. How can they expect anything to change?

 

[quincy]

However, my DD is s-l-o-w.

Last game DD pitched the leadoff batter had an inside the park homerun on a hard grounder to SS. There wasn’t even a play at home. I was there and watched the play and still do not know what happened.

 

[KT6]

thoughts...

Last game DD pitched the leadoff batter had an inside the park homerun on a hard grounder to SS. There wasn’t even a play at home. I was there and watched the play and still do not know what happened.

this was the strangest post in this thread.. "inside the park homerun on a hard grounder to SS"? What is that? Do you mean a 4 bag FC? If a SS misses a ball, and the batter reaches 1st safely, thats not a hit.. and if the OF'er does not back up, and the batter reaches 2nd, that is not the SS fault at that point, and if the ball passes the OF'er and they do not throw in, or have nobody to throw a ball to, to make an out at 3rd or home, well, I'd say this team has some serious coaching problems.. and I would not put that on a SS...

But, about play time...

For anyone that has their child on a team for any sport, you have to decide what is best for your child. Do you want to be on a team that everyone gets equal time? Try Little League, or other league sports, that's the best chance for that you will get. If being on a select club team is your goal, to have the most competetive team, then, look for that, try out, and do the things with your athlete to get them on that team.. If you want your athlete to play, learn and progress, find the team that has the most dedicated coaches, that are more concerened with the athletes progressing than winning.. not all teams are the same, you have to find one, in which the goals of the coaches/managers/players/parents are the same.

My daughter played last year on a team, that was very successful in terms of winning games/tournaments. They had a great pitcher, and at the level she was at last year, that was the reason they were succesful.. My daughter played IF all year, and batted in the top 5 consistently. It was the worst year of softball i've ever been a part of.. her coach was miserable, he had no interest in coaching the team, only his daughter (our pitcher) and was a horrible bully to several girls on the team.. the year couldn't get over soon enough.

That being said, we could most likely have our daughter playing in the next higher age division than she is is now, but, it was most important for us to find a team with coaches that knew the game, understood mechanics and fundementals of the game, and that had ALL of the girls best interst in mind. We have 1/2 a team that will be forced move up due to age next year, but that hasn't made any difference on play time, etc.. additionally, our coaches put the best team on the field MOST of the time.. you have to have girls PLAY to progress, and they are very good at working in the girls (we have only 11) so that everyone gets time, with pool play games, and non-elim games, they manage to even work in game breaks for what some would consider to be our strongest girls.. by coaching ALL and giving ALL play time, we are still a GREAT team on the field if our strongest players are out for a game..

do YOUR homework.. if you try out coaches the way they try out your athlete, you will be able to make a more informed choice for your child.

ask the coach(es) and other player parents, how they handle coaching, play time, # of players on roster, etc. if you find yourself on their team, and they aren't following their own explanation, ask them why. directly..

then, go to your kids practices, are they teaching proper mechanics? if not, why is your child there?

Ask questions of the coaches about their strategy, and game plan. Understand that not all people will evaluate talent the same, if you think speed and a good arm are the most important, and your coach(es) think ball handling and hitting are most important, you can understand how you may not agree on the best lineup/batting order...

bottom line, YOU are in control of your child's experience.. find a team that is a good fit, and do the things to keep your child in line with that.. if you find out, that what you signed up for isn't what you're getting, and your discussion to get it back on track with the coach(es) is not working, and YOUR CHILD (not YOU!) is not happy, find another team.

 

[quincy]

this was the strangest post in this thread..

Sorry, I will try to stay on topic.

 

[MsDinosaur]

I almost always watch the entire practice for my DD's team. Everyone except the SS and 2B practices outfield (they do the cutoffs) and everyone practices infield every practice. They always use a pitching machine for batting and only rarely do anything else like hitting drills, t-work or tcb balls. I'd prefer to have more variety for hitting but that's the coach's call. I assume the girls are all doing hitting drills on their own anyway.

Maybe I just don't know enough to be able to spot it, but I'm having a hard time putting my finger on what may have gone wrong and when for the team. Many times the girls look good in practice and good for many innings of most games. They'll often hang in very well against better teams, but against lesser teams there's usually one inning where they fall apart and cost themselves the game. Mental fatigue or lapses? Perhaps the practices don't have enough game-type pressure?

I really enjoy the company of the other parents and I HATE the stress of shopping for a new team, but DD is getting more and more unhappy. I keep hoping things will turn around, but it's probably time to get realistic and at least begin considering other options for next season.

 

[fastpitchtwinz]

oops...deleted post

 

[iMlearning]

We just had a change as our coach has resigned. Now hopefully good changes will come

 

[fastpitchtwinz]

We just had a change as our coach has resigned. Now hopefully good changes will come

Awesome luck for you...congrats!