Wristbands vs traditional signs

[ockerj]

what age group is this?

High School.

 

[steve1244]

A couple ideas for wristbands.

When I make them and laminate them I make them in pairs of colors. For example one side is red, the other side is blue. If we get in a situation where we have exhausted calls, we can just flip them over and change between innings. We also will change sides of the wristbands between games of a double header. Its is just always a pre-game check in our pre-game meeting. Just verify, we are red on offense, brown on defense, and black for pitcher/catcher or whatever combinations we are going with.

We use the the wristbands that open and close, so we keep our offensive card up front and the defensive calls on the inside. If we get into a 1st/3rd or bunt situation they can just flip up.

We will carry 3-4 pairs of colors for both offensive and pitcher/catcher. We don't repeat colors between offense and pitcher/catcher so there isn't any confusion. I also use black wristbands for offense and white wristbands for pitcher/catcher.

I do use Never Miss A Sign, so it makes this process easier. We wristband everything, offense, defense, and pitching. The one issue we do have once in awhile is that my pitchers/catchers that hit will forget to change wristbands. Easy fix is to put the offensive wristband on their bat or in the batting helmet, their pitching/catching wristband in their glove.

Teams used to try and write down our numbers to scout us, they don't even bother anymore. They can visually see what color we are one and they know we have switched.

My daughter's first year 14u team does almost exactly this. In tournaments they usually go with fingers, as it's fairly routine for coaches from other teams to scout and chart pitches/calls in pool play.

 

[Northball]

This is what we use.
View attachment 29472

It all means "OMAHA! OMAHA! OMAHA!"

 

[mmeece]

I'll double-down on the color coding different sets of cards. Makes it so much easier to be sure everyone is on the same card with just one glance. I liked to have 4 sets of cards for pitch calling. If most of the numbers repeat on each card you have an almost infinite ability to change between games or even between innings. I HOPED they were wasting time trying to pick pitches. Also, the various systems available to purchase are fine but once you make one set of cards correctly it is incredibly simple to shift the calls over, up, etc and make a new set.

 

[CoachJon]

Thank you for the great replies!

 

[varefump]

Thank you for the great replies!

From an umpire's point of view, wristbands are the worst thing that has happened to softball in the last 20 years. If both teams are using them, they add 15-30 minutes to the length of the game. In my area, it seems every coach is trying to outdo his/her opponent by coming up with a more complicated system. Why coaches are giving signals to pitchers after every in 10U when they can't even throw a strike, much less a curve or changeup, is beyond me. And please tell me the philosophy behind giving signals before every pitch to a batter with 2 outs, no one on base, and a 3-2 count.

 

[Towny9]

From an umpire's point of view, wristbands are the worst thing that has happened to softball in the last 20 years. If both teams are using them, they add 15-30 minutes to the length of the game. In my area, it seems every coach is trying to outdo his/her opponent by coming up with a more complicated system. Why coaches are giving signals to pitchers after every in 10U when they can't even throw a strike, much less a curve or changeup, is beyond me. And please tell me the philosophy behind giving signals before every pitch to a batter with 2 outs, no one on base, and a 3-2 count.

Control my friend…it’s all about control.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

And please tell me the philosophy behind giving signals before every pitch to a batter with 2 outs, no one on base, and a 3-2 count.

This has occurred to some coaches, so we have a signal that means "hit away/let's go". We don't even flash numbers it's just a wave of the hand, and it takes half a second.

Also, many of our numbers mean nothing (hit away) and the players know this immediately when they see the number (as the number ends in a 4 or 5, whatever for that game).

The players just glance at the wristband for show/routine.

The majority of the time we are waiting for the umpire or the other team to play ball.

 

[Rolling Hard]

Calling pitches should be like playing checkers. The pitch caller should have a good idea of what pitch they are calling next or even two pitches ahead and the game should move along quickly. Unfortunately, this rarely happens. Seeing two coaches sitting on buckets with a sheet of paper between them debating on which pitch to throw next locks my jaws and hurts the game in general. Umpires please enforce the 20 second rule and start issuing balls on the first violation.

 

[ockerj]

Game pace is strictly up to the coach. I don't think wristbands change the game if the coach has a clue what they are doing. The same coaches calling out wristband numbers with two strikes and two outs and nobody one are the same coaches who will be giving 20 seconds worth of signs in the same situation.

Offensively I don't use the wristbands until someone is on base. Even then it doesn't mean I am calling anything off the wristband. That is dependent based on game situation and/or players up to bat or on base. Still have some flash signals if needed.

Pitch calling can be sped up if the coach knows what they are doing. Have a plan in place on how you want to sequence a batter but be ready to make an adjustment based on if you pitcher isn't executing. Essentially an if/then plan BEFORE each pitch.