Sportsmanship issue?

[dadofadirtlover]

dad, wasn't the yelling of "ball" to signify that you had the ball?

No. Ball or Same team was yelled to me by the other team for the express purpose of deception and vice versa. Literally thousands of times over my career. The reason it worked is because you'd naturally communicate with your teammate.

Anyway, good discussion. Good luck to your dd.

Agreed and thanks!

 

[JJsqueeze]

I just don't remember a whole lot of verbal distractions in BB that worked, some kids tried them and maybe once in a while it caused a mistake but I never viewed that as unsportsmanlike, and I don't remember it being coached at all. I think the pace and contact nature of basketball make this sort of thing seem OK. Softball seems more of a game where opponents take turns. And in sports like that sportsmanship includes each person be able to take their "turn" without being unduly interfered with. So while soccer, football, basketball have distraction as a part of the game both verbally and visually because the game actually includes IMPEDING of the opposing team, softball is more like golf where each team gets a turn and when they are taking their turn, verbally or visually distracting a player is poor form. So cheering during a pitchers release, waving a bat in front of a catcher, calling "mine" to the opposing team...etc. All just seem completely out of place like yelling out during your golf opponents backswing. Then within this game we allow for things like takeout slides, blocking the base etc. when the game does have a brief moment of actual head to head action of two athletes. We don't call that unsportsmanlike because for those brief moments, the game is a contact sport so we have adopted some contact like sportsmanship opinions and rules.

 

[AndyS]

The only thing I will add to this thread is when they get older they regulate the game themselves and really move beyond Mom and Dad. I was not even thinking anything about a situation where my DD hit a batter the other night in HS ball. For some reason I asked her at dinner after the game (Dad and DD time) was that a riseball that got away? She just got this look on her face like "ohhh dad". She just looked at me and said the girl she hit slid way late into the SS who happens to be a sophomore she has taken under her wing. She said she wasn't throwing at her but but just working her inside and she was not quick enough to get out of the way.

Let the moralists fire away. My kid is the nicest person you will meet off the field but in the circle she has a mean streak. On a sidenote she was on the ASA USA fb page on Friday...so killing two birds with one stone with this post : https://www.facebook.com/ASAUSASoft...61981996054/10153800242221055/?type=1&theater

 

[dadofadirtlover]

I just don't remember a whole lot of verbal distractions in BB that worked, some kids tried them and maybe once in a while it caused a mistake but I never viewed that as unsportsmanlike, and I don't remember it being coached at all. I think the pace and contact nature of basketball make this sort of thing seem OK. Softball seems more of a game where opponents take turns. And in sports like that sportsmanship includes each person be able to take their "turn" without being unduly interfered with. So while soccer, football, basketball have distraction as a part of the game both verbally and visually because the game actually includes IMPEDING of the opposing team, softball is more like golf where each team gets a turn and when they are taking their turn, verbally or visually distracting a player is poor form. So cheering during a pitchers release, waving a bat in front of a catcher, calling "mine" to the opposing team...etc. All just seem completely out of place like yelling out during your golf opponents backswing. Then within this game we allow for things like takeout slides, blocking the base etc. when the game does have a brief moment of actual head to head action of two athletes. We don't call that unsportsmanlike because for those brief moments, the game is a contact sport so we have adopted some contact like sportsmanship opinions and rules.

And seeing as I never played golf, without the explanation, I couldn't possibly understand why it would be different. I don't know the first thing about what is unsportsmanlike in golf. This is why ignorance should be cured with questions and answers instead of blanket assumptions. Not everyone thinks the same or has the same background.

 

[Cannonball]

The only thing I will add to this thread is when they get older they regulate the game themselves and really move beyond Mom and Dad. I was not even thinking anything about a situation where my DD hit a batter the other night in HS ball. For some reason I asked her at dinner after the game (Dad and DD time) was that a riseball that got away? She just got this look on her face like "ohhh dad". She just looked at me and said the girl she hit slid way late into the SS who happens to be a sophomore she has taken under her wing. She said she wasn't throwing at her but but just working her inside and she was not quick enough to get out of the way.

Let the moralists fire away. My kid is the nicest person you will meet off the field but in the circle she has a mean streak. On a sidenote she was on the ASA USA fb page on Friday...so killing two birds with one stone with this post : https://www.facebook.com/ASAUSASoft...61981996054/10153800242221055/?type=1&theater

Andy, that is an awesome picture. Congratulations. If any of you don't know the organization that Andy's DD plays for, it is one of the top programs in the country.

Darrell

 

[Rocketech1]

H

Then the fastball to the head, ribs, knee, etc. wouldn't come as a surprise...because pulling that bush league crap would happen exactly once...

I really hope this type of old school attitude about players policing themselves, blah blah blah stops with this next generation of ball players. This nonsense has to stop. This is by far more serious a "bush league"' tactic than a player verbally saying I got it. Both are wrong but physical violence should never be tolerated or encouraged on the softball field. We don't live in the wild, wild west anymore....

If my DD intentionally threw at a batters ribs, that would be the last time she pitched as long as she is under my roof. Absolutely no excuse for it.

 

[625ender]

I've never heard of screaming out ball or I've got it is bad sportsmanship. It was part of the game when I grew up. I played catcher, first, and third so on every pop up I fielded the opposing dugout tried to make me think that I someone how ran off the field and onto a highway filled with speeding cars to make a catch. It was part of the game for a long long time. No different than screaming swing just as the ball approaches the plate. Jesus made ear holes in helmets so the sound reverberates perfectly after a baseball hits it. Times have changed

Before all the bucket dads get mad I would never coach that way, but if the kids pick up on it I'm ok with it

 

[obbay]

it's not your job as a blue to make sure that the player knows what she's supposed to do with the ball when the other team starts yelling -

Thank you for sharing this, I know some Blues think like that.. while there are many excellent officials around, there are also weak ones whose bad calls or lack of calls make them all look bad.

Unless I'm mistaken, the umpire's job is to make sure the game is being played according to the rules. If the rules say you cant yell at someone to distract them from the play then when the blue chooses to ignore this rule he is not doing his job. yeah, they're not there to babysit, but call the damn game and call it fair! Umpires with different strike zones for different teams, baseball umpires that don't know softball, etc. drives me crazy!

We had a game where the F5/3B kept obstructing the base to make outs and the ump refused to recognize it. One of our girls (on her own) did a Ty Cobb when the girl obstructed her at 3B, just as another player had done to her (last year) when she was in the wrong place. She showed us where she still had a hole in her pants from the cleat.

That's the thing, players doing the wrong thing and then going uncorrected will take a game to dark places. ( Refs not calling fouls in youth basketball is the worst)

That's where the reference to getting intentionally hit by a pitch came from. When kids see unfairness, they often feel that justifies applying a penalty to the offender.

 

[AndyS]

Andy, that is an awesome picture. Congratulations. If any of you don't know the organization that Andy's DD plays for, it is one of the top programs in the country.

Darrell

Thanks and your DD had an amazing career. It was fun to follow!

 

[Coach JV]

Seriously, a 3 page thread to probably one of the silliest things ever posted. IMHO
it is time to give it a rest. How many ways can the OP be told that it is wrong? I also
am not a big advocate of 'giving her one in the ribs.' What happened to respecting the game?
Teaching players to respect the game?