Yet another ambiguous OP with zero context resulting in a wide spectrum of responses.
HS coach In need of Advice
- Thread starter Robert Pannell
- Start date
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I loved my high school coach. He told us we had 4 things in life to choose from and you can only do 2 well at one time.
1) school
2) sports
3) job
4) girls
You have to go to school, so you can pick one (1) of the other things you want to do.
1) school
2) sports
3) job
4) girls
You have to go to school, so you can pick one (1) of the other things you want to do.
- Dec 15, 2012
- 102
- 18
This sounds like a great start. Everyone will know the expectations and the consequences.
Our coach has a rule that if you arrive late, the team runners suicides while you watch 1 per minute late. (This is for after school practices.). Guess how often players show up late without notifying the coach in advance..... This policy has the players policing themselves. Peer pressure can also be very positive.
Your practice times - 3 hours prior to the school year beginning and 2 hours after school starts are in line with all of the Varsity sports in our area. I don't mind loosing, but I hate getting out worked by our competition. If you put in the work (practice) you will be competitive and the winning takes care of itself.
Our coach has a rule that if you arrive late, the team runners suicides while you watch 1 per minute late. (This is for after school practices.). Guess how often players show up late without notifying the coach in advance..... This policy has the players policing themselves. Peer pressure can also be very positive.
Your practice times - 3 hours prior to the school year beginning and 2 hours after school starts are in line with all of the Varsity sports in our area. I don't mind loosing, but I hate getting out worked by our competition. If you put in the work (practice) you will be competitive and the winning takes care of itself.
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I respect that but I rather work with bad players who want to be there then a good players who don't want to be there!
JJsqueeze
Dad, Husband....legend
So let's say you have an ace pitcher in your district, she doesn't play other positions, she can't hit, but she is a stud in the circle, she has been developed over years of hard work, she played TB for years so she knows how to field her position. she has basically 5 things to learn for your team.
Your bunt coverage
Your backup strategy
Your relay strategy
Your pitch calling scheme
Misc defensive stuff like your pickoff plays and 1-3 defense on throw downs.
Other than that there is literally nothing she will improve on in practice with her high school team. she requests to practice 2 days instead of 5 days so she can ensure she gets straight As because she is taking 3 ap classes and has a job. and you tell her it is my way or the high way?
I think this strikes at the core of the typical High School mindset that everyone must be treated equally instead of fairly. Teachers and coaches are only rarely allowed to exercise their best judgment and discretion. You see this in the classroom with misguided zero tolerance policies, and unfortunately it manifests itself onto the athletic fields. Everyone practices the same way regardless of their skills and you coach to the lowest common denominator. The practices are dumbed down until everyone is successful.
Just curious - since your HS season is in the fall - your HS has tryouts during summer break? Or is the HS team pretty much someone's TB team with a few thrown in?
Not to speak for JAD, but I'm from Georgia and still follow softball over there. A rule was made this year to allow tryouts for the fall in the spring. The roster might not be settled officially until the first week in August. But you could hold tryouts in April, I think it was. I believe Aug. 1 is the first day you're officially allowed to have mandatory practice. So I think JAD means that the team practices 3hours/day from Aug. 1 until the season opener, which might be Aug. 15-20, somewhere in there.
HS teams are not someone's TB team with a few thrown in, at least not in metro Atlanta. There are so many travel teams there that it's not realistic to have a travel team that fits everyone in a particular school. You might find that in a smaller rural town, but the bigger metro ATL schools that are good will have several travel teams represented.
- Dec 15, 2012
- 102
- 18
Work with the end in mind. Where do you want your program to be 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years. You have to build development program for your players and see them grow.
We also play in the largest classification so all of our players are playing some level of travel ball, so the commitment level may be higher and the gap smaller between the weaker and stronger players. I should note that we had a division one player that was heads and shoulders above the rest of the team talent wise. She pushed the other players to be better., and this would of been missing had she been missing. I could see an issue if this player was practicing with rec level players found in many smaller schools. To my knowledge all of the schools in our region have similar rules concerning practices....
We also play in the largest classification so all of our players are playing some level of travel ball, so the commitment level may be higher and the gap smaller between the weaker and stronger players. I should note that we had a division one player that was heads and shoulders above the rest of the team talent wise. She pushed the other players to be better., and this would of been missing had she been missing. I could see an issue if this player was practicing with rec level players found in many smaller schools. To my knowledge all of the schools in our region have similar rules concerning practices....
Cannonball
Ex "Expert"
- Feb 25, 2009
- 4,882
- 113
Robert,
I sent you a pm but will publicly state some thoughts contained in that pm. Robert, if you listen to some of the advice in this thread, you'll be fired in a year and you should be fired. People, in this thread, were quick to create scenarios placing you in a position of being the bad guy if you held on to your position of wanting your team at practice. All practice! Are you going to build a team and program or are you going to baby sit. You were attack or at least it was suggested that you were an ego manic and worthless HS coach and so, let the kid do what they want. In fact, all HS coaches have been attacked in this thread as worthless and as those that don't develop talent but rather depend upon TB players for any success. Robert, if you believe that, quit.
I have coached HS and TB. I have coached for 30+ years and have been the HC in 4 different sports. Each one of those sports were losing programs before I took over. I have had one losing season ever. That was in girl's basketball when we had 8 players come out my first year and they averaged 3 wins for 10 years. We won 3 games that first year. After that, we won 19, 23, 24, ... You know how we won? We made our programs special by demanding commitment, blood, sweat, tears, heartache and we won.
Robert, the instant you give into this young lady to leave early for her job, you will have mass exodus from practices. They will leave for every imaginable excuse. For that girl's basketball team, I inherited that very problem. So, if they left, great, that open a starting job for someone else. My AD was beside himself because I wouldn't have enough to field a team. If I believe that I should accept that I was a babysitter, take the money each month and never talk about wins, conference championships, regional championships, sectionals ... Instead, I stood my ground. We won the first regional championship in school history the next year. We on conference, regional and sectionals the next.
Robert, having said all of that, I had to do my homework for each sport. I had to watch film, go to clinics, talk to veteran coaches, and pay my dues. If you don't intend to pay your dues, quit.
Before I leave this thread, I'd like to address the comment about TB players making the HS coach and the comments about the length of practice. In my area and in the State of Illinois, some of the top national programs hardly ever practice as a team. Heck, they hardly ever practice as individuals with the TB coaching staff. Players in those programs come from various parts of the state and even out of state. So, how are they getting all of that quality TB instruction? In my practices, I teach fundamentals and we repeat those fundamentals with intense practices. My SS and 2B will know their pivots for the double play. We will have various bunt defenses. The will do various drill work I call Double Infield and Multiple Infield. When we hit, we will have hitting drills geared for team and individual practice. I leave no stone unturned and will match any of my knowledge and practices against anyone. I am not alone in this and know hundreds of outstanding HS coaches who do the same. So, while it may be in vogue to attack HS coaches as dummies and worthless, I ain't hip. I can find as many pathetic TB coaches as there are pathetic HS coaches.
I sent you a pm but will publicly state some thoughts contained in that pm. Robert, if you listen to some of the advice in this thread, you'll be fired in a year and you should be fired. People, in this thread, were quick to create scenarios placing you in a position of being the bad guy if you held on to your position of wanting your team at practice. All practice! Are you going to build a team and program or are you going to baby sit. You were attack or at least it was suggested that you were an ego manic and worthless HS coach and so, let the kid do what they want. In fact, all HS coaches have been attacked in this thread as worthless and as those that don't develop talent but rather depend upon TB players for any success. Robert, if you believe that, quit.
I have coached HS and TB. I have coached for 30+ years and have been the HC in 4 different sports. Each one of those sports were losing programs before I took over. I have had one losing season ever. That was in girl's basketball when we had 8 players come out my first year and they averaged 3 wins for 10 years. We won 3 games that first year. After that, we won 19, 23, 24, ... You know how we won? We made our programs special by demanding commitment, blood, sweat, tears, heartache and we won.
Robert, the instant you give into this young lady to leave early for her job, you will have mass exodus from practices. They will leave for every imaginable excuse. For that girl's basketball team, I inherited that very problem. So, if they left, great, that open a starting job for someone else. My AD was beside himself because I wouldn't have enough to field a team. If I believe that I should accept that I was a babysitter, take the money each month and never talk about wins, conference championships, regional championships, sectionals ... Instead, I stood my ground. We won the first regional championship in school history the next year. We on conference, regional and sectionals the next.
Robert, having said all of that, I had to do my homework for each sport. I had to watch film, go to clinics, talk to veteran coaches, and pay my dues. If you don't intend to pay your dues, quit.
Before I leave this thread, I'd like to address the comment about TB players making the HS coach and the comments about the length of practice. In my area and in the State of Illinois, some of the top national programs hardly ever practice as a team. Heck, they hardly ever practice as individuals with the TB coaching staff. Players in those programs come from various parts of the state and even out of state. So, how are they getting all of that quality TB instruction? In my practices, I teach fundamentals and we repeat those fundamentals with intense practices. My SS and 2B will know their pivots for the double play. We will have various bunt defenses. The will do various drill work I call Double Infield and Multiple Infield. When we hit, we will have hitting drills geared for team and individual practice. I leave no stone unturned and will match any of my knowledge and practices against anyone. I am not alone in this and know hundreds of outstanding HS coaches who do the same. So, while it may be in vogue to attack HS coaches as dummies and worthless, I ain't hip. I can find as many pathetic TB coaches as there are pathetic HS coaches.
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