A different high school thread...

[Il softball fan]

So, DD is a junior this year, and I have watched our high school games for a few years before that, so short sample size for reference. I have noticed that our school plays a LOT of teams that we just really don't stand a chance against. Based on the the size of the schools, and population that they support, are normally the better programs. And then of course there are a few exceptions that the schools just may have good coaching, and a good core group that the local travel teams support. Looking at our DD's schedule, we have 35 games scheduled this season. Our conference teams, including DD's team, there are 6 Total. We only play each conference team one time. One time. Doesn't make any sense at all to me. Why not eliminate some teams that we never beat, and don't even give a good game to (Cannonball's school for one, and their neighboring team (Bulldogs cannonball)) and play each conference team two or three times each?

Is this type of thing common in High School? Common in other areas of the country also? I am metro east Illinois side from St Louis. We actually do Ok against like sized/skilled teams, but a lot of these games are just throw away games that we have no chance.

 

[4KidsDad]

I believe it's the same in all states. . . high school sports are grouped together based on school size. A school with 2,500 students shouldn't be playing a school with 500 students. In our state, it's classified as 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A.

35 games? Sheesh. We only play 20 games and we're 4A, the largest school size.

High school seems to be the great equalizer in many regards. Teams don't get to "select" their players. They just get whoever attends the school.

 

[55dad]

We play a few non-conference games and play every team in the conference twice here in central Minnesota.

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[Cannonball]

I am not in a good position to respond without sounding full of myself and/or our program but will try to respond. When I took over the baseball program here, I had just won a state title in another school. (Long story that would bore you to death.) We played the schools in the conference that Il Softball Fan's team is in. I wanted to cancel all of those teams and play the Southwestern Conference teams in double headers. Those schools are two times the size of my school. I was told I was crazy and that we would never win. I was told I would be fired in a year. Il Softball Fan would know these teams. We played E'ville, BW, BE, O'F, GC, all in double headers and only one of those programs has a winning record against me and my teams. IMO, you have to build a program and you have to play the best. You have to think of your schedule as 1/3 teams you will beat, 1/3rd teams you are equal to and 1/3 teams you should never beat. From there, I asked to play in a tournament with the best teams from Chicago. I was told again, we were outclassed and would not stand a chance. My teams won that tournament 4 out of 8 years.

I started a thread on the site I moderate. The premise of that thread is that it is never the coach. It is the kids. I created a program based upon the best program in our state that I came from. (We had something like 10 straight years of 30+ wins, won 64 games in a row once. Won 2 state titles. Was a state runner up. Sent 19 players to professional ball. ...) I knew that my little school could never match that but then again, my players did know. They went to work. We met every morning at 6 in the morning to do plyos and/or weight room. They showed up for the speed work. They did the work on the video break downs. ... In the end, they took the program, made it theirs and refused to lose. They refused to allow any player to shirk their duties. They policed themselves.

In those games that we did lose, we didn't lose the lessons. It made us better. We won 24 games a year and while that may not sound fantastic, it was with most of our non conference games coming against the best in the state.

I will wrap up by saying that my school never takes games against Il Softball Fan's team for granted. Sure we have girls that can hit and for power. We scored 29 runs last night in a W and then lost tonight 6-5 to one of the top teams in state in the class bigger than us. If I were a coach of another program, you had better believe that I would be trying to schedule a game against us.

(I hope I didn't come off as a jerk or arrogant. I don't intend to. I know what it is like to be on both sides of the spectrum.)

 

[CoachJD]

I believe it's the same in all states. . . high school sports are grouped together based on school size. A school with 2,500 students shouldn't be playing a school with 500 students. In our state, it's classified as 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A.

35 games? Sheesh. We only play 20 games and we're 4A, the largest school size.

High school seems to be the great equalizer in many regards. Teams don't get to "select" their players. They just get whoever attends the school.

Illinois has the same classifications for softball, but they only matter for the state tournament. Schools can play whatever schools they want in non-conference games.

To the OP: This is on your AD or the coach, whoever does the scheduling. He/she is finding these games (there may be multi-year contracts, but I doubt they're more than a couple years) against schools your school shouldn't be playing. Of course, additional conference games are another matter, but if you have enough schools in your area (again, size/classification doesn't matter for regular season), the AD should find non-conference gamesthat are a good match. It can take work to scout the teams just using info available on the internet, but the info is out there.

 

[marriard]

(I hope I didn't come off as a jerk or arrogant. I don't intend to. I know what it is like to be on both sides of the spectrum.)

Not at all. Challenging your team is cool. Being successful the way you clearly have is something to be proud of. That you give the kids all the credit, is a credit to you. It sounds like a program that people would consider moving just to have their kid be a part of.

I will give our HS coach credit as well. The team was not good last year and it was clear no one was sure how good we were going to be with a bunch of strong freshman coming in so the schedule was a little light. There was an adjustment in the schedule mid-season with a group of schools agreeing to move some games around - some of the lesser teams ended up not playing us and our new opponents but playing each other instead. It was well done all round. We have 9 divisions (9A largest which is where we are through 1A smallest). This season we have played the 7A State Champion (#3), an 8A semi-finalist(#15), a 9A semi-finalist(#18), the #7 rated team in the state and the #10 team in the state (who are in our district). We are 2-4 in those games but we have been competitive in all of them. Should set us up for next year. We also tried to set up a game against the #1 team in the state but it couldn't be worked out (they have the best pitcher I have ever seen in high school. She is something really special and I wish we had got a chance to face her before she graduates)

 

[Jdaddy]

In Tennessee, we play everyone in our district (9 teams) twice. Then we play a double elimination district tourney to decide champion and runner up; both move on to region tourney. Outside of those 16 games and tourney, we are free to play who we want. We have several standing series with teams outside our district that are traditionally the better teams in our area. We add to that three or four tourneys a year where the better teams play.

Softball is a tournament sport. It's all about districts, regions, substate and state tournaments. The season is about getting better. IMO, you need to be playing the best competition to prepare you for your "tournament season". If your pitchers getting hit, your defense is getting valuable fielding reps and opportunities to learn what to do in game situations. If your seeing great pitching, it will help your hitters "learn" the strike zone, as most great pitchers hit their spots really well. It also makes the pitching in your division look a lot easier to hit. The key is your coaches teaching through all of these tougher games and having the girls realize and believe it IS making them better. Coaches have to communicate that this is their plan from the beginning and get the players to buy in to getting better through losses and preparing for the post season.

 

[Cannonball]

In Tennessee, we play everyone in our district (9 teams) twice. Then we play a double elimination district tourney to decide champion and runner up; both move on to region tourney. Outside of those 16 games and tourney, we are free to play who we want. We have several standing series with teams outside our district that are traditionally the better teams in our area. We add to that three or four tourneys a year where the better teams play.

Softball is a tournament sport. It's all about districts, regions, substate and state tournaments. The season is about getting better. IMO, you need to be playing the best competition to prepare you for your "tournament season". If your pitchers getting hit, your defense is getting valuable fielding reps and opportunities to learn what to do in game situations. If your seeing great pitching, it will help your hitters "learn" the strike zone, as most great pitchers hit their spots really well. It also makes the pitching in your division look a lot easier to hit. The key is your coaches teaching through all of these tougher games and having the girls realize and believe it IS making them better. Coaches have to communicate that this is their plan from the beginning and get the players to buy in to getting better through losses and preparing for the post season.

Do you have "Conferences?"

 

[kjmpa]

Our HS is small private A in PA. We play in a league comprised of small public and private schools with two conferences. They periodically move teams to balance the conferences by sport. We have teams that are in A or AA PA District classified and when we were strong in my older DD era couldn't get past a school team that has stayed in A but sends players to DII schools. We've gotten close. Play teams in our conference twice - with 20 games in this year's schedule. So half conference, remainder league or other.


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[sluggers]

There is an attitude adjustment by the team. Once you play a top team, other good teams are not intimidating...."This girl throws 60MPH. So what? We faced better."

My DD#3 played HS hoops and played against Candace Parker (NCAA D1 player of the year twice, WNBA #1 draft pick, WNBA rookie of the year, WNBA MVP, Olympic Gold, etc.). For better or worse, when my DD#3's team played Candace's team, she would be matched against Candace. Candace would, of course, school her.

A few years later, DD#3 was playing in the D3 national championship. The other team's post player had had a tremendous season, and was a two time D3 All American. DD#3 watches some tape of her and says, "No worries. She ain't Candace. We can handle her." And, they did.