Frustrations with school team

BobInMadison said:

Well, with all the griping I've done about my DD 3's HS program, I guess misery loves company.

From what I can tell, certain coaches get set in their ways, and do NOT like these new fangled ideas.

For example, my DD 3 made a huge mistake. She was told she would be the JV starting pitcher, and she assumed that meant she had a leadership role on the team. It didn't take her very long to step on the JV coach's toes that way. DD 3 had the unmitigated gaul, as a freshman, to suggest new drills to the coach, not knowing she was supposed to just do the same old drills and grumble about it away from practice like everyone else. By the first game there was a new starting pitcher, that's for sure. And DD 3 gets a lot of the same thing. Another girl makes an error, nice try. DD 3 makes an error, she's not taking the game seriously.

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Man, imagine, a kid wants to step up in a leadership role and suggest some different drills to a coach that has been doing things their way for years. Why learn anything new? Or from this century even? Its supposed to be "This is how its always been done".

I really wonder, how many kids out there are not playing because of situations like this. My DD said if she didn't want to play in college, that she would quit.

Arguably best P in OH quit HS Team, before she did she asked SEC school she is committed too if it was OK. They said fine.

MoparFin said:

Man, imagine, a kid wants to step up in a leadership role and suggest some different drills to a coach that has been doing things their way for years. Why learn anything new? Or from this century even? Its supposed to be "This is how its always been done".

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I have had players suggest drills before, rarely are they worth doing unless we have some extra time. Where did they get their drills vs where did I get mine?

I don't dismiss the players outright but if you have a real Coach he or she shouldn't need input on drills.

GunnerShotgun said:

I have had players suggest drills before, rarely are they worth doing unless we have some extra time. Where did they get their drills vs where did I get mine?

I don't dismiss the players outright but if you have a real Coach he or she shouldn't need input on drills.

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Operative word is "real". Our batting practice in the winter consisted of the same 4 stations, every day, every week. Tee work with just the bottom hand, full swings with 2 hands on tee, soft toss and batting cage with a machine from the 70's. That's it. I suggested some other drills. "Nope, we will stick with what works and make sure you tell them to squish the bug."

GunnerShotgun said:

I have had players suggest drills before, rarely are they worth doing unless we have some extra time. Where did they get their drills vs where did I get mine?

I don't dismiss the players outright but if you have a real Coach he or she shouldn't need input on drills.

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In many HS teams around the nation, there are certain coaches who have a small set of drills they do over and over and over for decades.

From what I have heard, this particular coach is not 100% adverse to changing her mind on drills, and has even in the past let some JV ACs run their own drills, but wasn't very happy about it unless she actually saw results from the drills.
Which put DD 3 in an interesting situation. Suggesting drills are going to p*** off this coach unless the coach sees that the drills actually work. The coach won't see that they work unless she tries them, and she won't try them.
I mentioned some other reasons elsewhere why the coach is angry at DD 3. Just say DD 3 is in a complete no-win situation at that HS for the time being. There may be ways for her to get into a better situation, basically by just being exactly the sort of follower they want, or else by improving her skills to the point where she will be one of the favorites of the varsity HC. Or both.

I told mine to just try hard and know that she is doing her best. If she can honestly say that she is doing the best she can, then she is doing her job. If he doesn't see she is improving or at least trying then that is his problem. I think the other coaches have started to notice as she has told me that her one JV coach has stuck up for her a couple of times when he was talking about her to the entire team, without saying her name. He makes comments about players without saying their name, I guess thinking that if he leaves that out the girls wont figure out or just automatically know who he is talking about.

MoparFin said:

"Why does he always yell at my kid?" when you are in the 3rd base dugout and the player you are trying to get to hear you is in RF...

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I learned this the hard way being a PE teacher. I had to explain that i was yelling too you because you are across the gym from me. I'm not yelling at you. I just explained this to a girl the other night that thought the head coach (also her dad) was yelling at her across the practice field. It's good to remind kids/families of this

I swear some of the teachers/coaches get on the good players just to make the weaker players feel better.

Also, the part where I said that I yelled at the girls in line, was what the HC said I did. He wasn't there. Had a few girls talking while I was instructing what they needed to do for a drill. I said "Hey" a little louder to get their attention, then asked them what I just got done saying about the drill. They had no clue.

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After reading your posts, it sounds like the same non-sense I got when I tried to turn rec league kids into travel players. Between the parents, kids and BOD I figured out real quick I was just beating my head against a brick wall. Tons of talk about changing.. yada, yada, yada.... When it came down to doing what was necessary they all balked at it.

The fortunate thing for your DD. She DOESN'T need to play HS ball to play in college. Get her on a travel team who has a history of getting girls signed. Work with her on her own and improve her skills.

So made some progress on this I think.

DW talked to JV HC with DD. She was told that DD is not the only girl that has come to her and said this. The favoritism is apparent (which I haven't mentioned here, but its with a small group of juniors/seniors), even to the JV coaches. She was also told that the JV HC didn't understand why DD was on JV, and felt that she should be playing up on V over some of the other players. JV HC said that her daughter (also on JV) has also told her about the difference of when the JV coaches are there vs not. the JV HC figured it was just her DD being overly sensitive and told her to basically suck it up. Now that my DD, plus another player have said something, she sees its an issue. She will be talking to HC and we will see what happens. DW told JV HC that if things don't improve, she will take it to school administration on up if need be. We have now had conversations with the AD, that did nothing, and with the JV HC. The JV HC said she is kinda in a hard place to make any changes, but she will talk to him about the concerns. DW also told JV HC if he is coaching next year (AD did tell me that they are going to be "changing things up" next year but didn't give details) that our DD will stay on JV with her (the JV HC). JV HC said she loves having DD because she is a leader, always helping the freshman and lesser experienced players, knows the game and is a good teacher. She also said she loves her work ethic. I was pretty proud of those comments.

Sparky Guy, we have considered her not playing for school, but she decided against it for a few reasons. 1) she is a school spirit kinda girl. She knows that her not playing would not help the team, regardless of if it is JV or V. She feels like if she didn't play, she would be hurting the team. 2) she loves to play and since most travel teams around here take the HS season off, she would be missing playing in March, April, and some May. She knows that the HS team isn't going to get her on a college team, trust me, we have had that discussion. She just wants the HS to be her fun season and then travel be serious. She has fun at the JV games and practices when the V HC isn't there. Our JV normally plays away games when the V has a home game, or they play at the same time depending on field availability, so he is rarely at the JV games. Its just that the limited amount of time that she spends with him at practice without the JV coaches there, is basically hell for her.