Question/Plea to Coaches of Younger Teams

[Screwball]

I am watching my nieces go through JV and V softball in HS and also my nephew in JV baseball.

It seems the JV girls have been taught (at younger ages) a limited game with the infield always in, where you never go after the lead runner. The players seem content with one play and seem to doze off for cut offs or secondary plays. I find this odd as young runners love to run. Then when they get older they completely stop running and doze off when there are defensive errors. The girls are timid in all cases. They do not dive after balls. (My teammates in HS dove even when they did not need to, and were very much like boys).

I just watched a V play-off, using the international tie breaker. The lack of skill/decision-making, etc. in going after the lead runner really is apparent in this format. Of course the coach was not helping (he did not call out where the hitter hit previously, ask the defensive players to move according to the play or last hits, or call out where the offense was in the batting order, even though the two teams played several times this year.)

Does anyone else see this? What can we do about it?

My plea is to have the 10/12 u coaches teach more of the 'grown up' game and not be so concerned with getting the easy out at first. The arms coming out seem so weak and not footwork on the bases. (You can still get clobbered on the base even if less DPs.)

The boys on the other hand, go after everything often in a foolhardy manner, whether it is running down a pop fly, throwing, diving, or running to an extra base, from a longer distance away. (I know in 7-9th grade, some girls are bigger than some boys.) Their pivots at 2b are far better.

 

[YOCOACH]

I teach that there is always more than one play at any given time. I also teach to go after the lead runner in most circumstances. Obviously, there are exceptions to any given rule but I want that lead runner off the bases as soon as possible without a run scored if it can be done. Otherwise, if it can't be done when the ball's hit, I want to go after the high % outs.

On offense, I run the heck out of my girls. I am extremely aggresive with my runners on the bases (some might say foolhardy).
That way, in the future when they are hopefully playing for their HS or college, they've already made the mistakes with me and know what not to do and why. I tell them to be aggresive and that if they make a decision running the bases and it's wrong, I will never yell. However, after the game, I'll ask them why they did what they did and explain to them why they shouldn't have done it. I want them to learn to be aggressive at the right times and to be smart about it.

I'm sure that many others on here are the same way.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

I think this shows why some hate HS softball. You must have a good feeder into HS ball. IMO, you can't wait until 12U to teach them basic plays and scenarios.

One of the best things I did for our ( now HS kids ) was in 6U. We all know at that age bad throws happen almost every play and then you have 50 people screaming and the kids over throw again and again, a single turns into a in park HR. So.......I got them to roll the ball ( infielders ) on each play. Get the lead runner when applicable. That 90% eliminated all the bad throws and gave me a chance to teach where the play should be. There was minimal confusion for the girls without all the overthrows and parents/coaches yelling their lungs out. Our runs allowed were cut in half, we won the league that year.

The next year they were mentally way ahead of the other teams, while the others sprayed the ball from dugout to dugout mine knew where the play was..........and more important where the next play would be. The other teams were lucky to even pull one play off yet alone two.

So they have learned the play and to "watch" the ball to the glove and squeeze from the ground. All I had to do then was to teach turning the glove over for an air catch. Again, they caught on faster to catch and throw than the other 7 teams who taught the conventional way with 1000 errors. And I think a lot had to do with their confidence handling the ball from the ground.

he did not call out where the hitter hit previously, ask the defensive players to move according to the play or last hits, or call out where the offense was in the batting order, even though the two teams played several times this year.

Now these here, I taught DD to control these calls.

he did not call out where the hitter hit previously

She will turn to the position player where the hit was and call her name.

or call out where the offense was in the batting order

She will call out batter # before the first pitch of the inning.

 

[CoachAl]

good points..but

There are some excellent points being made here and overall, I agree the 12u and 10u coaches need to do a better job of teaching the real game. The one thing I will take issue with here is the over emphasis on the lead runner. There are times, plays, and situations where getting the lead runner is certainly applicable. However, if you look at pure numbers (even at the D1 college level) you will find about 90% of the put outs are made at 1B. Teams that use a "get the lead runner at all costs" mentality are setting themselves up for defensive disaster. This is not baseball! Get the high % outs and get out of the half inning asap!

A previous poster said, there are several options on every play once you have runners on! Getting your players to understand this is absolutely crucial. With practice, they will develop an instinct on their own of what plays are possible when!

 

[02Crush]

We teach codes. I call ask for them in games and practices and we teach each positions job based on the codes...
The codes are based on where runners are on bases or unique situations like....Bunting or slapping. It is nice as it allows
me a universal language for the girls..I can say...So when we are in a code 12....and proceed to explain how to handle something and the players all know what we mean. We start with a baseline and then add to the code...Example...At first when we had a runner on one we taught the SS to go to 1st for the out...When she developed better fielding skills we then added that if her body was carrying her one direction or another that she could go to 2nd or 1st depending on "her" location or momentum. We also tell them that if we ask them, "what were you thinking on that last play?" to know we are not mad but would like to understand how they saw the play so we can communicate and teach based on what the perceive. I could go on for hours on the subject but won't. I agree we need to teach them the game and them during the process teach them in a way that allows them to "think" ahead of time where and how they can pursue an out.
Our competition laughs at us when I ask for the code in a game and then when yelled by the entire defense I respond with a bold.....Say it, Know it, Play it.... It help the girls know what to do..,it reminds the ones not paying attention to come back to the field and play ball mentally and helps me know if they are paying attention. All good things.

 

[02Crush]

The people making fun of you are not the smartest. College teams yell out, repeat or signal codes all the time.

And that is why we do it. It is one way we can know the "team" is in focus and ready to make a play. It has worked great so far. I cannot wait to begin opening the door more more by adding to defensive situations as the next year or two progresses. It will be so much fun to see the players "get it". Our catchers are slowly starting to understand things more behind the plate. Which is another sign we are slowly moving in the right direction.

 

[Carly]

This is a multi-level problem. I can't speak for other parts of the country, but in my experience 80-90% of high school coaches are completely useless. That certainly doesn't help the situation, but it's not the problem either. If a 14 year old kid doesn't enter her first year of high school softball with a decent grasp of the game, it's the failure of the feeder system.

A high school team will have a leg up if every player also plays tournament ball, but that's not always realistic. The coaching in rec and regular travel is typically miserable, and gets more miserable the younger you go. The coaches are parents with no experience. On one hand, you can't blame them because they're volunteering and the programs flat out wouldn't exist without them, but on the other hand they are absolutely the problem. The majority coach a couple of years until their kids move to the next level and then they stop, and during that time they make no effort to become better coaches. I've even run into a lot of tournament coaches who fit this bill—or worse, ones who are REALLY into their teams and stick around and STILL make no effort to become better coaches. But again, what can you ask of a parent coach who isn't getting paid and has a full time job taking up most of his/her time? Most of them probably get frustrated coaching the youngest levels and would rather teach the kids to get an out and move the game along so everyone can go home rather than teach aggressive plays and wait around while the kids screw up.

I'm not dissing all parent coaches... some, obviously, are fabulous (my dad taught me just about everything I know about coaching softball). I just don't think we can expect the same out of all volunteer coaches as we put into the game. The best volunteer coaches I've seen are ones who don't have kids on the team, but they're so much harder to come by because what's the incentive to volunteer?

The other problem is in a lot of cases, no one is in control of a community. At my old high school, the AD and the V/JV coaches have never said two words to the people running the rec and travel leagues. How can you have NOTHING TO DO with a program and still expect it to do a good job feeding your program?? It totally boggles my mind. Then the decent players get frustrated and scatter to different tournament programs, and when they come together for HS ball they haven't played with each other, plus they have to mix with the poorly coached travel players who fill out the HS roster.

So what's the solution? I wish I knew. In two of the most successful high school programs local to my home town, the varsity coaches are also in charge of their respective travel/tournament systems. Instead of relying on parent volunteers, they pay a few hundred dollars a season to any of their graduated varsity players who are still around. The coaching is much better. This probably isn't realistic in all communities though.

The one thing that probably should happen on a wider scale is communities should focus more on coaches' clinics than players' clinics. You can reach more players in the long run if you're teaching their teachers than if you've got a few good coaches teaching them for a weekend and then expecting the kids to remember what they learned with no reinforcement.

 

[#10]

My plea is to have the 10/12 u coaches teach more of the 'grown up' game and not be so concerned with getting the easy out at first. The arms coming out seem so weak and not footwork on the bases. (You can still get clobbered on the base even if less DPs.)

As a 10U coach, I'd love to spend more time on getting the lead runners (about five of thirteen girls apply the concept in games,) but there's only so much time in each practice. I spend a lot more time and focus on throwing mechanics, as the majority of kids on our team this season struggle with consistently throwing the ball straight and hard. It all starts with throwing and catching.

 

[ScottBev]

That is why I hate when parents say that ex-players make bad coaches.

Screwball I know what you are saying.

I have had the luxury of coaching with several ex D1 and HS players, and they have all been wonderful for the girls. Each ex-player has known 10x more then I could have ever know. I wish I could recruit more ex-players to help with the rec and travel programs.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Screwball

Not sure how NFHS covers other states, but TSSSA only allows 5 HS tourneys after the season for the HS coach to be involved. Or you can do league play with 10 double headers. Some schools around here do the league double headers as tryouts for incoming freshman.*

I'd rather do the tourneys, but our travel girls ( all have different college goals ) split between 4 TB teams and hit Exposer events in regard to where they might be attending college. *