Question

[cbullard]

Thanks Jad....I'll take your advice. We know a young lady committed to Nebraska that plays 2nd. So, I'm sure she'll help her

 

[cbullard]

JJS, I'm surprised that he won't even let her do it in practice. I would think a coach would love a kid that wants to learn

 

[JAD]

It blows my mind how many posts I am seeing where a coach doesn't teach everyone at the younger age levels both infield and outfield positions. Coaching to win is important, but player development is equally important. At least coach/teach them the position in practice.

A lot of coaches would consider P as her primary infield position.

 

[cbullard]

Jad, there are 4 pitchers on the team. One plays SS..2 plays 2nd...DD plays OF

 

[CoogansBluff]

JJS, I'm surprised that he won't even let her do it in practice. I would think a coach would love a kid that wants to learn

I am not surprised. He doesn't believe your DD would help the team at 2B, and he doesn't believe it's in the interest of the team that she get practice time there. It's possible that the coach is entirely correct on both counts. Is he? Probably not, but the info you've provided is not enough to conclude mismanagement, IMO.

When I coached this age group, everybody took grounders and flies. So I'm not saying I'd handle this situation as he'd doing, but I understand the thinking behind it. It's not realistic for a coach to honor all player requests about practice. What if 8 girls wanted to try their hand at shortstop? Should a coach design a practice to accommodate those 8 girls? Those are 8 kids that want to learn. Shouldn't he love that? Yes, he should. But, he has to decide what is the best use of the time for the goals of the team. Similarly, what if you have a righty who wants to take batting practice left-handed. Should I let her? She wants to learn. But if I don't believe her left-hitting will help the team, I won't let her, not in the team practice.

Again, just lending a coach's perspective. Not saying this particular coach is making the best use of your DD's talents. He may well not be.

 

[MNDad]

Is this a rec team? P, C and IF are the most coveted positions and the coaches have multiple girls wanting to play there. Since your DD pitches it might be that he's giving other kids a chance. it would be nice if the coach taught the kids both infield and outfield, but being fall ball the practice schedule may not allow it if he wants to put a competent lineup on the field.

 

[cbullard]

Coogans, I appreciate you coming from a different perspective. Greatly appreciated. I think the frustration comes from DD is that he said he'd let her try it and now "blows" her off when she follows up on it

 

[cbullard]

MN, it's select ball. DD's team competes at 'A' level (went to 12u A nationals). So, they're a good team.

I'm not sure she would've even thought of 2nd if a few parents wouldn't have mentioned it and if the current 2nd's would go after the ball.....I was sitting with the catcher's Dad tonight. And he said "I told the AC that we have a hole at 2nd. AC said I know, I know"

Now, he did go on to say that the team needs to get better in the OF and he's hoping to put our best athletes there. If that's what the HC is thinking that's fine. Just tell DD that and she'll be just fine because she likes OF too

 

[grcsftbll]

It blows my mind how many posts I am seeing where a coach doesn't teach everyone at the younger age levels both infield and outfield positions. Coaching to win is important, but player development is equally important. At least coach/teach them the position in practice.

I agree with this. I was just talking about this with DH the other day. It seems popular in TB to not rotate girls at all and at younger ages I just don't agree with this. My DD isn't getting to play where she'd like (she wants to pitch mostly, short stop second - she's pitcher #3 and back up position 1B) but the reasoning behind the coach's decision makes sense to me. We've told her to keep working hard to catch up with the experienced 10U girls on the team, and she'll get more pitching time and probably get a shot at short too. He practices ALL the girls in ALL positions. My DD hasn't played outfield with any regularity since 6U but she still does the OF drills in practice. Our primarily OF girls do IF drills during practice as well. Every girl gets equal time at every drill. He's always willing to rotate through, give girls a shot at different positions. We have a couple who, in games, play OF almost exclusively, and a couple of our girls are in pretty set positions, but for those particular girls it makes sense (pitcher, catcher, short stop, 1B). How can you know where a 9 year old girl is going to thrive? They're so young, still developing. Anyway. I think that's probably true for several more years beyond 10U.

 

[cbullard]

Thanks GRC....I think that's what's strange to me. What would it hurt for her to jump into IF drills? A few of the girls that play OF will rotate into the IF drills. So, it's not like the OF players never join the IF drills....but, last night I told DD to be the best OF she can be. Don't worry about 2nd right now. "Master" OF and we'll go from there. Coach has his reasons so we have to respect that (even though in my head I'm thinking he should just tell her why she's needed more in the OF)