Coaching Behaviour?

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osagedr

Canadian Fastpitch Dad
Oct 20, 2016
280
28
DD is 1/3 the way through her TB season, 13 year old first year U-14 player; #3 pitcher on her team and getting a good amount of work with the #1 out with a hip injury. Unfortunately last weekend was HBP in the pitching wrist resulting in a buckle fracture. Them's the breaks (har, har) so hopefully will have cast off by the end of this week.

She's a good soldier, goes out to all practices and participates to the extent possible, attends games in uniform and cheers the team on. The org is the best in the area, one of the best in the whole country, and is used to winning provincial championships (equivalent to state champs in the US). Coaches are mostly former college players but there is some daddyball too; for example the HC and one AC on her current team are player daddies.

Last Monday we play another local TB team who is historically one of the weakest in our area; they have some decent players this year and decent pitching so it winds up a 6-6 tie (don't ask me why no extra innings). Really the game was pretty decently played; few mistakes here and there but far from horrible and we have played way worse.

DD's arm was fractured Saturday; saw the doc Monday and got the cast on. She is a good soldier so when the coaches raked the girls over the coals after the game then ran the girls she ran with them as a member of the team. Had been up a couple of nights with the wrist throbbing and so was starting to slow down so one of the coaches yelled "Why are you stopping? You broke your arm not your leg!" Same coach yelled at another girl, who was about to puke from the run to "Stop being a wuss!" That kid is still 12 years old.

Email came out the following day and included a line something like "We coaches are not ready to give up on these girls just yet." Ummm...you don't have the option of giving up on the girls. At that point they were 9-3-1 on the season. I track the games on Game Changer so obviously watch things very closely. I honestly have not seen an ounce of quit in any girl, haven't seen any bad attitudes, haven't seen any lack of effort. There was another episode with this same problem coach humiliating the "older" girls in practice earlier this spring (maybe 6 weeks ago).

Disappointing b/c we joined this org thinking it would be the best of the best and we would work harder than everyone else. I have seen zero indication that these coaches take any responsibility for what the team is or is not capable of doing. The notion that you can "give up" on a bunch of 12-14 year olds sickens me. Take a look in the mirror coaches - you hand-picked these 11 girls from 40 who tried out. You had all winter to work with them. You are the ones who thought TWO outdoor practices in total over April and May would be good enough for them to be ready to go. You are the ones who are playing a lighter travel schedule than every other team, partly b/c you have DD's on U-16 and U-18 teams and only have so much time for softball. Now you have the audacity to rag on a bunch of girls?

*rant over*
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
40 players tried out so that must be doing something right. Does not sound like a fit for my DD but each thier own.

Best wishes for your DD and her recovery.

I am sure there are a lot of good qoutes out there but winning is easy, you see what a person is made of when they are struggling.
 
Jul 5, 2016
652
63
DD is 1/3 the way through her TB season, 13 year old first year U-14 player; #3 pitcher on her team and getting a good amount of work with the #1 out with a hip injury. Unfortunately last weekend was HBP in the pitching wrist resulting in a buckle fracture. Them's the breaks (har, har) so hopefully will have cast off by the end of this week.

She's a good soldier, goes out to all practices and participates to the extent possible, attends games in uniform and cheers the team on. The org is the best in the area, one of the best in the whole country, and is used to winning provincial championships (equivalent to state champs in the US). Coaches are mostly former college players but there is some daddyball too; for example the HC and one AC on her current team are player daddies.

Last Monday we play another local TB team who is historically one of the weakest in our area; they have some decent players this year and decent pitching so it winds up a 6-6 tie (don't ask me why no extra innings). Really the game was pretty decently played; few mistakes here and there but far from horrible and we have played way worse.

DD's arm was fractured Saturday; saw the doc Monday and got the cast on. She is a good soldier so when the coaches raked the girls over the coals after the game then ran the girls she ran with them as a member of the team. Had been up a couple of nights with the wrist throbbing and so was starting to slow down so one of the coaches yelled "Why are you stopping? You broke your arm not your leg!" Same coach yelled at another girl, who was about to puke from the run to "Stop being a wuss!" That kid is still 12 years old.

Email came out the following day and included a line something like "We coaches are not ready to give up on these girls just yet." Ummm...you don't have the option of giving up on the girls. At that point they were 9-3-1 on the season. I track the games on Game Changer so obviously watch things very closely. I honestly have not seen an ounce of quit in any girl, haven't seen any bad attitudes, haven't seen any lack of effort. There was another episode with this same problem coach humiliating the "older" girls in practice earlier this spring (maybe 6 weeks ago).

Disappointing b/c we joined this org thinking it would be the best of the best and we would work harder than everyone else. I have seen zero indication that these coaches take any responsibility for what the team is or is not capable of doing. The notion that you can "give up" on a bunch of 12-14 year olds sickens me. Take a look in the mirror coaches - you hand-picked these 11 girls from 40 who tried out. You had all winter to work with them. You are the ones who thought TWO outdoor practices in total over April and May would be good enough for them to be ready to go. You are the ones who are playing a lighter travel schedule than every other team, partly b/c you have DD's on U-16 and U-18 teams and only have so much time for softball. Now you have the audacity to rag on a bunch of girls?

*rant over*

The coaches sound like losers to me. Why on Earth would you make the girls run for punishment? What is the possible value in that? Oh, I know - the beatings will continue until morale improves.

My daughter, not exactly US Marine Corps material, joined a travel team because she wants to be better and wants to be on a better team. The coaches coach and the girls try hard. There's no yelling and no punishment - well, sometimes the head of the organization loses his temper - but the girls seem to understand it is because he cares. So, my daughter is working harder than I have ever seen her do before - because she wants to, not for fear of consequences.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
The coaches sound like losers to me. Why on Earth would you make the girls run for punishment? What is the possible value in that? Oh, I know - the beatings will continue until morale improves.

My daughter, not exactly US Marine Corps material, joined a travel team because she wants to be better and wants to be on a better team. The coaches coach and the girls try hard. There's no yelling and no punishment - well, sometimes the head of the organization loses his temper - but the girls seem to understand it is because he cares. So, my daughter is working harder than I have ever seen her do before - because she wants to, not for fear of consequences.

If there were behavior problems or lack of effort than a few laps wouldn't be out of the question..but making them run because they lost is dumb.
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
If there were behavior problems or lack of effort than a few laps wouldn't be out of the question..but making them run because they lost is dumb.

A few years ago MS coach caught a few players lying to them and other players covering for them. Nothing important, just silly.

Track team does not run as much as they made them run at practice.

Really liked her coaches.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
The coaches sound clueless.

"Running to enhance performance during a game" is stupid. It doesn't work.

There are only two ways to "enhance game performance": (1) better training and (2) benching kids who don't play well. But, Daddies cannot bench their own DDs, so they come up with some other way to "teach them a lesson."

Having a 12YOA child run till they throw up is child abuse, plain and simple. There is no excuse for it.

(Running to get players in shape is different, of course.)

If there were behavior problems or lack of effort than a few laps wouldn't be out of the question..but making them run because they lost is dumb.

One problem with running is that it is unequal punishment. The OFs breeze around the field without breaking a sweat, while the 1B/3C/C die a thousand deaths.
 
Last edited:

TMD

Feb 18, 2016
433
43
Tough to really tell without the full context, but the "not giving up on the girls yet" part from the email seems odd for a 9-3 team.

Our HC can be a bit..fiery, let's say, especially when we woefully underperform. That was the case after the first game of this past weekend's tournament (18U ASA National Qualifier). As soon as that clusterf--- of a game was over, he took the team far into the warmup area beyond the outfield and made it very clear for a very long time how he felt. He then left the girls to discuss among themselves how they were going to approach the rest of the tourney differently. Went 6-2 the rest of the weekend and played great.

I guess my point is depending on the team, a more aggressive coaching style can work as long as it's fairly metered out and balanced...and the team is at the right age and has the right temperament to respond to it.

Again, we are 18U A level and the girls are all experienced, seasoned players all playing at the next level after high school, so it's probably not quite apples-to-apples.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
The coaches sound clueless.

"Running to enhance performance during a game" is stupid. It doesn't work.

There are only two ways to "enhance game performance": (1) better training and (2) benching kids who don't play well. But, Daddies cannot bench their own DDs, so they come up with some other way to "teach them a lesson."

Having a 12YOA child run till they throw up is child abuse, plain and simple. There is no excuse for it.

(Running to get players in shape is different, of course.)



One problem with running is that it is unequal punishment. The OFs breeze around the field without breaking a sweat, while the 1B/3C/C die a thousand deaths.

Peer pressure can be a powerful thing..a couple of dirty looks from those who were not at fault, to those who were, can sometimes go a long ways to curtailing behavior/effort issues.
 

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