Travel Ball inquiry response vibe

_MIA_ · Jun 30, 2017

MNDad said:
You said “The guy is super-positive about everything,”. There’s nothing more important at that age so if he can get enough payers I’d suggest sticking around.

So if somebody fields a ground ball incorrectly it is ok for the guy to say good!! I agree about positive reinforcement when they do something correctly but this guy does it good,bad or indifferent. I am not saying you yell and scream at the kid but don't praise them for doing something wrong..but I guess this is the 21st century way of doing things...

MNDad said:
Just an observation in your comment about playing only SS until college and not wanting the same thing happening to your DD. Don’t ever say or even think about college and a 7 yr old again.  I know you were speaking more in general terms of when she’s older, but at a quick glance it sounded pretty funny.

I said nothing about her and college I was referring to me and used it as an example of not knowing other positions. If you thought it was funny then I am glad I could help brighten your day...I played enough ball to know that it is almost impossible to predict anything about one's future success in a sport at 7...

MNDad said:
FWIW there’s nothing she can be taught at this age, good or bad, that will having any bearing on her future development.

You can't really believe that..If what you learn at 7 has no bearing on one's future development then why do any of us go
to elementary school???

MNDad said:
Hopefully she has a long and prosperous career ahead of her.

Thanks.

Lightning · Jun 30, 2017

pattar said:
So if somebody fields a ground ball incorrectly it is ok for the guy to say good!! I agree about positive reinforcement when they do something correctly but this guy does it good,bad or indifferent. I am not saying you yell and scream at the kid but don't praise them for doing something wrong..but I guess this is the 21st century way of doing things...

My DD is a second-year 8U and she's played for many different types of coaches. I can tell you that the least effective coach was the one who corrected every single mistake.

Rather than teach the girls how to play right, he just scared them. It wasn't even about yelling, it was about being embarrassed by being corrected yet again. They stopped trying to make plays because it was easier for them to hear that they need to try harder than it was for them to be reminded of their mistakes every time they made one.

That coach believed that he was trying to keep the girls from making mistakes. But the reality was that he was making the game less fun, and more stressful. He offset any improvements in play by making all of those kids into head cases. To be honest, at the end of the season I would rather have had DD where she was before she met this coach, when she was less skilled but more confident. Lots of coaches can teach skills, but building confidence (especially once it's been eroded) is much harder.

_MIA_ · Jul 1, 2017

Lightning said:
My DD is a second-year 8U and she's played for many different types of coaches. I can tell you that the least effective coach was the one who corrected every single mistake.

Rather than teach the girls how to play right, he just scared them. It wasn't even about yelling, it was about being embarrassed by being corrected yet again. They stopped trying to make plays because it was easier for them to hear that they need to try harder than it was for them to be reminded of their mistakes every time they made one.

That coach believed that he was trying to keep the girls from making mistakes. But the reality was that he was making the game less fun, and more stressful. He offset any improvements in play by making all of those kids into head cases. To be honest, at the end of the season I would rather have had DD where she was before she met this coach, when she was less skilled but more confident. Lots of coaches can teach skills, but building confidence (especially once it's been eroded) is much harder.

Show me where I said one should correct every little mistake??? With 7 and 8 year olds practice would take 10 hours if you did that. What I said was you shouldn't say something is good when it isn't..e.g. lying just to make them feel good. It is akin to giving everybody trophies...

Anyway like I said originally, he seems like a good guy so I don't to make it sound worse than it is. It is just that stuff like that annoys me...that's all

Daughter seems like she has been having fun at the practices and at all the tryouts so that is what matters. She is a very personable little girl so as long as she is around other kids who enjoy the same stuff she does she is usually pretty happy!!

_MIA_ · Jul 2, 2017

They won a game in pool play in that TB tournament (lost the other) and then lost in the last inning of the first single elimination bracket games. They picked up 3 kids, 2 of which were good so we still have only 7 "regular" players if you count my DD. She hit well and fielded well (she mostly played third with a couple of innings at SS..the pickup was a SS with a good arm but couldn't move all that well) when the ball was hit at rec speed but she isn't reacting quickly enough to hard/medium hit ground balls e.g. she waits till the ball is halfway to her before she moves by which point she has no choice but to do the bullfighting Ole! at the ball. Could be she is a bit fearful of the ball as well but I typically work my way to hitting them hard at her in infield practice and she never goes at it like she has in these TB games... who knows. Hopefully she will learn as she plays more games against better competition which was one of the main reasons for moving her to TB.

Anyway she had a good time...wanted to stay and watch the game after hers last night even though Dad, Mom and 2 year old DS wanted to eat..she won out on that one.

Two more tryouts this week and I don't think she will play next weekend and then we are traveling for the next two weeks. Thanks for all of the comments so far!!

MNDad · Jul 3, 2017

pattar said:
So if somebody fields a ground ball incorrectly it is ok for the guy to say good!! I agree about positive reinforcement when they do something correctly but this guy does it good,bad or indifferent. I am not saying you yell and scream at the kid but don't praise them for doing something wrong..but I guess this is the 21st century way of doing things...

I said nothing about her and college I was referring to me and used it as an example of not knowing other positions. If you thought it was funny then I am glad I could help brighten your day...I played enough ball to know that it is almost impossible to predict anything about one's future success in a sport at 7...

You can't really believe that..If what you learn at 7 has no bearing on one's future development then why do any of us go
to elementary school???

Thanks.

Sorry, I tried to make it clear I understood you weren’t talking about your DD’s college future. I found it funny because there are plenty of 10U parents that DO think they’re preparing them for college.

I guess I just said “future development” instead of “long-term softball development”. In elementary school and at 8U softball girls are learning how receive instruction, social skills, self-confidence and hopefully having enough fun to stay focused, so technically, yes, they are learning something. I was talking about skills instruction like hitting, throwing, pitching etc. where there’s nothing at 8U that will have an effect on their skills in high school or college. If I had paid more attention in elementary school maybe I’d be a better writer



Your post got me thinking of my DD’s experiences. Rec ball until 14U and little to no instruction. Her 12U coach was always positive and encouraging and helped her fall in love with softball. He sounds a lot like your current coach. At 14U we sought out a travel team and the coaches taught her how to do everything right. Actually it’s the same for most MN girls because we don’t have travel ball until 14U. There’s some good rec coaches, but most are whichever parents were willing to do it. By second year 14’s many of our teams have caught up to their peers in neighboring states who started much earlier.

Best of luck the rest of the season and I hope you find a great fit for next year.

_MIA_ · Jul 3, 2017

MNDad said:
Your post got me thinking of my DD’s experiences. Rec ball until 14U and little to no instruction. Her 12U coach was always positive and encouraging and helped her fall in love with softball. He sounds a lot like your current coach. At 14U we sought out a travel team and the coaches taught her how to do everything right. Actually it’s the same for most MN girls because we don’t have travel ball until 14U. There’s some good rec coaches, but most are whichever parents were willing to do it. By second year 14’s many of our teams have caught up to their peers in neighboring states who started much earlier.

Thanks for the comment. I very much agree that at the younger ages the best thing that a coach/parent can teach a child is to love the game. I do think there are some things which you can teach them skill wise which will make it easier when they get older. Learning proper throwing,hitting and fielding mechanics at an early age cannot hurt but you are in general correct that if that does not occur it is not the end of the world. I can teach her those things at this point anyway for the most part (with some help from this forum regarding hitting mechanics...nobody said a thing about my hitting until I was in college so I was lacking in the finer details

)

MNDad said:
Best of luck the rest of the season and I hope you find a great fit for next year.

Also thank you for the well-wishes.

_MIA_ · Jul 6, 2017

Went to location of private tryout last night but guy didn't show. Texted him and he was apologetic saying that family member was having surgery tomorrow (today) and he was with that person at the hospital and forgot all about it. Current 8U team for the guy is playing Southwest Nationals near our house this weekend and said he would work DD out when he had free time. Was tempted to tell him to have her play with the team as her tryout..but didn't

Will give the guy the benefit of the doubt for now but he has yet to text us back with time and location for weekend tryout..hopefully he doesn't do it an hour before he wants us there.

DD got invited back to attend second practice tonight for team she tried out for a couple of weeks ago. Kind of leery about this guy/team as I have heard some stuff but will give him/team benefit of the doubt for now. Part of the information I received I overhead from wife of coach of team DD has been practicing with (and played in TB tourney last weekend) and she was certain to make sure it was loud enough that I heard it 15 feet away....

Speaking of that team DD has been practicing with for the last 3 weeks, it appears to be getting smaller not bigger as it seems as if 2 kids have already bolted leaving them with 5 if you count my DD.

Will keep looking out but don't want DD to have to go too many tryouts another 1 or 2 teams would be the limit.

Edit: Tryout/workout cancelled tonight..guy said he is stuck at work..this whole TB thing not going so swimmingly so far. Maybe somebody is trying to tell me something...

_MIA_ · Jul 30, 2017

DD is back from vacation and has tried out with another team. Played with them this weekend. Team did fine, DD had fun and played well. All the kids seemed like good kids and my DD got along nicely.

However the coach did a few things which were not good IMO. First 3 times in 5 games, he pulled girls from the positions they were playing IN THE MIDDLE OF THE INNING... The girls made errors but it wasn't from a lack of effort. Twice they were moved to a different position, the third time the poor girl was pulled completely. I've played lots of ball and watched even more and cannot say I ever saw something like that. Is that a normal thing in TB?? Can't see how it is..especially considering these kids are 7-9 years old. I can take constructive criticism or even yelling but doing something like that is a no-no in my book. FYI, he was on his best behavior with my DD as he wants her to play with them. I am sure that won't last.

Other thing he did was make a stink in the championship game when the ump called the game with 4 minutes left. Apparently ump said they cannot start a new inning with less than 5 minutes but I guess the coaches said that rule was pool play only. Whatever, that isn't the point. The point is the coach made a scene about it. For a second I thought he was going to not even have the girls go out for the trophy presentation..if that had happened I am not sure I would been able to shut my mouth.

Needless to say I am not happy about the behavior. DD is working out with another team tomorrow night with a team who I saw play a couple of tourneys ago. From what I saw, I liked how the coaches handled themselves so we'll see. Might be a longshot since the coach said he was really looking for an 08 (my DD is 09) pitcher (she doesn't pitch) but hopefully DD will win them over

If not then we either keep looking or choose between the previous team who has no pitchers and not a full team and the bad behavior coach team....

Gambler Bob · Jul 31, 2017

pattar said:
DD is back from vacation and has tried out with another team. Played with them this weekend. Team did fine, DD had fun and played well. All the kids seemed like good kids and my DD got along nicely.

However the coach did a few things which were not good IMO. First 3 times in 5 games, he pulled girls from the positions they were playing IN THE MIDDLE OF THE INNING... The girls made errors but it wasn't from a lack of effort. Twice they were moved to a different position, the third time the poor girl was pulled completely. I've played lots of ball and watched even more and cannot say I ever saw something like that. Is that a normal thing in TB?? Can't see how it is..especially considering these kids are 7-9 years old. I can take constructive criticism or even yelling but doing something like that is a no-no in my book. FYI, he was on his best behavior with my DD as he wants her to play with them. I am sure that won't last.

Other thing he did was make a stink in the championship game when the ump called the game with 4 minutes left. Apparently ump said they cannot start a new inning with less than 5 minutes but I guess the coaches said that rule was pool play only. Whatever, that isn't the point. The point is the coach made a scene about it. For a second I thought he was going to not even have the girls go out for the trophy presentation..if that had happened I am not sure I would been able to shut my mouth.

Needless to say I am not happy about the behavior. DD is working out with another team tomorrow night with a team who I saw play a couple of tourneys ago. From what I saw, I liked how the coaches handled themselves so we'll see. Might be a longshot since the coach said he was really looking for an 08 (my DD is 09) pitcher (she doesn't pitch) but hopefully DD will win them over

If not then we either keep looking or choose between the previous team who has no pitchers and not a full team and the bad behavior coach team....

First thing. Yelling at young girls at that age level for a error on defense is not acceptable. Even more so considering the errors that were made had nothing to do with lack of effort. I could understand some yelling at the 14u level for lack of effort or hustle.

Not sure what the coach is trying to prove by pulling players in the middle of the inning but I don't agree with that move either at that age level. Sounds like this coach has no idea how to improve a childs confidence. Now if he was pulling a pitcher for walking a lot batters that would be acceptable.

In regards to the scene that the coach made. Since I was not there and don't know all the details of the rules or how much of a scene the coach made. I don't have any advice to offer.

Tread carefully.

grcsftbll · Jul 31, 2017

There may be history with the players you don't know. I'd be pissed if a championship game was called over with 4 minutes left. If he was right and that was only supposed to be for pool play he had every right to be upset and to try to get them to do things right. If he was screaming and throwing things, that's not cool no matter what. But sometimes the coach has to fight for his players, especially when it's something like that. JMO.

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