Whole team moving

[Slappers]

I believe that too can be common too. I think there was a thread last week on here from a coach contemplating such a move and asking about the pros & cons.

Yeah, that was me. I decided not to do it for a lot of reasons that yocoach and a few others in my thread pointed out. I am also curious why the three girls aren't going.

 

[FP26]

YOCOACH makes some very good points. Our team is part of a larger organization, but we try to maintain the best of both worlds. We get some of the benefits of being part of a larger group, but we are permitted to maintain our own autonomy which allows us to treat our players like individuals instead of numbers. It works for us.

 

[SATXsoftballmom]

Double the money that is currently paid for monthly dues. Also coach will get paid. Coach often brings in guest players and favor them over his own.

 

[FP26]

Coach often brings in guest players and favor them over his own.

I am not a fan of this process. We keep a small roster to ensure playing time for everyone (not necessarily equal playing time, especially on Sunday), but this forces us to use a pickup player once in a while. The pickup players become part of our sub rotation. They will play, but our official roster players play more.

There are teams in our area that use this type of approach with pickup players. One in particular is always looking for the "next great thing" to add to the roster. The pickup player plays most of the tournament in the hopes of recruiting her to stay. Unfortunately the players (and parents) that are part of the regular roster typically look at this as a sign of things to come and typically start looking for other teams. We have a few girls on our roster that faced similar situations last year. Even the girls that continue to play start looking over their shoulders and worry when the next phone call will be made. Some teams can be very successful with this format, but it isn't for me.

 

[YOCOACH]

Please explain how these pick up players are available? Here the teams play almost all qualifiers and the rosters are locked. You have to fill out a guest player form or get a release. There are also rules about going up and back down in age or level.

True, but many teams will play only one or two sanctions such as ASA/PGF. If a team is off that weekend, many players/families will post on the local message board to pick-up with a team for an NSA event. Also, the whole locked roster thing will usually only come into play if the team wins a tournament and takes the bid. If they don't take it for some reason, the roster is usually never questioned. I'm not saying it's right, just what usually happens in our area.

 

[YOCOACH]

Double the money that is currently paid for monthly dues. Also coach will get paid. Coach often brings in guest players and favor them over his own.

Paying the coach, especially if he/she is a non-parent coach, shouldn't be an issue. Many times the pay a coach receives will barely cover travel expenses for the year and if it's a little more, they chalk it up to hazard pay for dealing with us crazy softball parents. Also, as OILF said, it can light a fire under the coach to perform since they will now be held accountable to higher level of expectations.

As for our team, due to injuries and other circumstances, we are now down to 9 players to finish the season. When a sub comes in for us, we treat them as any other player on the team. They play/sit as much as any other player on the team with the exception of our sole catcher. Like fastpitch26, I'm not a big fan of using playing time as an incentive to recruit/poach players. You always take the chance of losing your established players and there's a lot to be said for continuity in a team setting.

 

[FP26]

Please explain how these pick up players are available? Here the teams play almost all qualifiers and the rosters are locked. You have to fill out a guest player form or get a release. There are also rules about going up and back down in age or level.

I was trying to help a coach in a neighboring state find some players, and all the good ones from rec were taken already and all the relevant TB teams are at the relevant tourneys already...how do you have good players just sitting around available to play, if they are not already on a team? I could send a HS only player, but she is going to be rusty.

In PA, ASA offers the options of having a standard roster or a championship roster. Teams interested in playing in state tournaments or qualifiers must use a championship roster. Locking rules do apply. Teams that are not playing in those events can keep a standard roster. Those rules are more flexible. When we need a pickup player, we typically use someone from a team with a standard roster.

 

[FP26]

We don't play in those non-championship tourneys and because HS season runs long, we don't have many off weekends....I would say most of HS players have 1 or 2 weekends off, and perhaps one week off after nationals, then tryouts start all over again. Many are going to college camps at the same time.

Most of our high school age girls are in 16u and 18u, so much of what you are talking about apply to them as well. We have a 14u team. Some play junior high softball, but many of the schools in our area don't even have junior high softball programs. Most little leagues stop at 12u. Therefore, when you are 13 or 14, you have two choices; play travel ball or pick another sport....

The OP is looking at 10u moving up to 12u so none of the high school discussion is pertinent to them.

 

[FP26]

You might as well start off coaching with staffing a team properly at 10u and not having the stress in coaching (not just in parenting) of having to pick up players. It also gets kids to understand competing for positions among teammates/friends (although I personally would rotate a lot at that age). Families always have conflicts in scheduling anyway. That is preferable to always running close to not having enough and making them upset about a stranger replacing them. Also the fee thing upsets people if the sub never has to pay or go to practice.

There is PGF for 10 year olds, PGF was discussed in thread?

You make some good points in here. Especially for the 10u level. I agree that kids should be rotated frequently at that level.
NOTE: I am not familiar with PGF. In reviewing their website, it looks like they do offer tournaments across the country, but there are very few in the northeast.