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Nov 29, 2016
33
6
I'm curious to hear some different thoughts about a situation that's developing on my daughter's rec league all star team. I don't know if I'm being over sensitive because DD's one of the players riding the bench but I'd like to think that I'd feel the same even if she was the number 1 pick on the team.

Here's the situation. The team consists of 13 girls because almost every weekend there's going to be a girl who's missing a tournament. The team has 4 pitchers who pitched a good amount of innings for their teams during the season, three of them are about equal and one is a little behind the others but nothing drastic. One of the three better pitchers has fractured a finger and will most likely miss most of the all star season if not all of it. The coaches on the team now want to use this to recruit in to the team the top pitcher from the regular season who wasn't allowed to tryout by her parents. Getting this girl would be within the rules of the league and would certainly help the team. My issue is the message it sends to the other girls who are trying to earn their playing time. It basically tells them and everyone else on the team that you're not good enough to win games for me so I need to do whatever it takes to bring in another player and I think that's just wrong. These girls have sat the bench for 2 weekends now and have done their best to work hard in practice for playing time. They should not be disregarded in this fashion. It would not be a detriment to the current team if any of them played more, they're just at the bottom of a pretty even crowd. If it were a case where the team was in danger of forfeiting games I'd have no problem but that's not the case. It's just one coach who sees his opportunity to squeeze a better player. Now what happens if the injured player comes back? If the coach drops the 14th girl she'll feel like she's the one who is causing the team to lose now. It just doesn't seem right to me. Or am I just being a disgruntled Dad of a daughter who's not playing a lot.
 
Aug 29, 2011
2,581
83
NorCal
13 sounds like too many to carry to me. Too many disgruntled parents about playing time.
That said if the coach is replacing an injured player and feels he needs to replace the injured pitcher with a healthy one I wouldn't question the coach too much on that one.
 
Jul 19, 2014
2,390
48
Madison, WI
13 isnt unreasonable for this situation.

When you have a girl who wasn't allowed to try out, and then they want to recruit her, there is probably a lot more to this story than what we see in the post. I would leave it be.
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
If there is an expectation that one or more players will be missing every tournament, carrying 13 players isn't unreasonable at all.

There's a mentality shift that happens in tournament ball that parents sometimes struggle with (especially if their DD isn't a top player)...Making sure everyone gets equal playing time is no longer a priority. It's a tournament. It's about winning. This means that some players will play more than others, and some players will play smaller roles (CR for P or C, for example). If the team lost one of it's better players (pitcher or not) due to an injury, I'm not surprised at all that the coach is trying to recruit the best replacement they can find - especially if she's an upgrade. The coach is trying to field a winning team. That said, most decent coaches will try to get everyone involved when they can. In a lopsided game, putting in a pitcher who wouldn't get much time in a close game is generally a good move.
 
Feb 14, 2014
160
16
Our LL all star teams typically carry 13 players. With 13, they only have to have one complete at-bat. With 12 or fewer, they all must bat once and play defense at least two consecutive innings.




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Sep 29, 2014
2,421
113
Are these tournaments four game guarantees?

If so I would have a serious talk with your DD (to make sure she wants to play) and the coach (to ask him is there any way chance she will play)...with 3 pools games and at least one bracket game in the tournament even the last player on the bench should play either all of one or two half games in pool.
 
Nov 29, 2016
33
6
Thank you all for your replies

I completely understand that this is tournament softball, but I think that having a winning at all cost mentality is just wrong for a rec league all star team. You do owe something to these girls who have been there from day 1 even if it means being less competitive IMO. This is not a travel team that needs to maintain a winning record in order to attract higher quality girls.

My concern here is not for playing time for my daughter. I'm very realistic in my evaluation of her skills. I know she doesn't have the same experience as the other players and she wouldn't benefit much from losing another player. I'm happy that she gets to spend a few months of the summer with daily softball activity that will make her a better player in the end. I think it's a great life lesson for her to learn that you can work your butt off and do everything right and still not make it, but that doesn't mean you stop fighting for your chance. This coach so far has been fair with playing time, allowing all the girls to play in pool games and then batting 9 or 10 in the bracket games. I have no argument there.

My concern is in bringing in another player that didn't even try out. Why bother to hold try outs if you're not going to abide by them. If they need another player then go down your list of alternate girls who actually tried out. I would be fine with that if he thought it was necessary, but this is just a way to sneak a girl on to a team and it may be within the rules but at what point do we hold to our integrity and say that there is a right way to win and we should follow that path. Why must we dash the hopes of that girl who's on the bubble of getting that starting position for the sake of winning? Is it really worth it in the end?
 
Jul 19, 2014
2,390
48
Madison, WI
Thank you all for your replies

I completely understand that this is tournament softball, but I think that having a winning at all cost mentality is just wrong for a rec league all star team. You do owe something to these girls who have been there from day 1 even if it means being less competitive IMO. This is not a travel team that needs to maintain a winning record in order to attract higher quality girls.

My concern here is not for playing time for my daughter. I'm very realistic in my evaluation of her skills. I know she doesn't have the same experience as the other players and she wouldn't benefit much from losing another player. I'm happy that she gets to spend a few months of the summer with daily softball activity that will make her a better player in the end. I think it's a great life lesson for her to learn that you can work your butt off and do everything right and still not make it, but that doesn't mean you stop fighting for your chance. This coach so far has been fair with playing time, allowing all the girls to play in pool games and then batting 9 or 10 in the bracket games. I have no argument there.

My concern is in bringing in another player that didn't even try out. Why bother to hold try outs if you're not going to abide by them. If they need another player then go down your list of alternate girls who actually tried out. I would be fine with that if he thought it was necessary, but this is just a way to sneak a girl on to a team and it may be within the rules but at what point do we hold to our integrity and say that there is a right way to win and we should follow that path. Why must we dash the hopes of that girl who's on the bubble of getting that starting position for the sake of winning? Is it really worth it in the end?

Again, there is a lot of information missing, such as why her parents wouldn't let her try out, and why they think her parents would let her play now. It seems like you are holding a grudge against this girl, and you don't want her on the team.

I really don't see this as anything to get upset about. The coach is doing what he thinks is best for the team and the program. You are really making too big a deal out of the one tryout.

I'll give you an example. For my DD 3, almost every team she played on either she didn't need to try out, or else she was asked to try out as a formality and was actually offered a spot on the team BEFORE tryouts. One time for a little league season they had tryouts, but every coach had already decided to use the first draft pick on her even before the tryouts. One time she was able to switch teams while she was 1000 miles away from the tryouts because she had pitched against the other team, and the new coach wanted her on the team. So, for any tryout, her position was set pretty much BEFORE the tryouts even started. The coaches knew what they wanted, tryouts were just a formality for the best players. For the bubble or unknown players, tryouts are important.
 

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