Face Palm and SMH last night

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The last year I coached softball in rec league. I had a player refusing to try sliding at practice. So I politely ask her to get her bat bag and go home. So she got her bag and went to her car crying. Well here comes Dad I explained all of our players were going to try to learn skills needed to play the game. Dad says since she was a bigger girl she wouldn’t be sliding anyway. I ask him to take it up with the rec league board. Yes they called and told me I had to let her play so next practice about half way through practice and I haven’t hit her 1 ball. She went to the dugout got her bat bag and was walking off. I ran over to her and ask if she was willing to try the skills I’m teaching the next time we were working on sliding. She agreed and we never had another problem and she did try sliding later. If she had refused I would just let her go. A bad attitude can kill a team. I feel it’s better to have a talk with parents at beginning of team to let them know I’m not going to argue and I coach the best I can. If you get a know it all parent ask them to pitch batting practice in the cage tell them to only throw strikes. I swear that’s the hardest thing for a parent to do. It will shut them up.
 
May 6, 2015
2,397
113
first year of coaching coach pitch (coached t ball year before), ages 5-8, I was handed a team of 16 girls (we only had 2 teams, other team had 15, league could not find third coach). about two games into season, I had a dad approach me, he felt his daughter "could be doing more to help team", she had some skills (and he was right on that), why was she not seeing more time at prime positions (ie in this coach pitch rec league, basically P and 1B, saw the most action by far). I had to explain to him, it is two games into season, I am juggiling 16 girls, whom I all made certain played IF every game if possible (sometimes not, as if they sat two, then played two in OF, that might be end of game, but then they started in IF next game). it took us like four games to actually make a play involving a throw (previously, only outs made in field were from player fielding ball making force play themselves).

parents are nuts, including me!
 
Dec 5, 2012
4,143
63
Mid West
Remember WHY we choose to coach... We simply learn to tolerate all the extra BS along the way.
Lesson learned... keep parents in the loop, and don't ever say "don't worry about it" to a parent. If little Jenny needs to run for disciplinary reasons or just to warm up, keep everyone in that loop. They need to know whats expected from them, little Jenny, and what they can expect from you as the coach.
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
Parents baffle me. I was doing batting practice with a 10u player helping out a rec ball team that was in shambles from HC not showing up and then finally quitting mid season as well as no assistant coaches. We were way down the first base line in the outfield while the rest of the team was working on ground ball drills with the new HC. Very first practice I had a parent came charging across the field from the 3rd base side hustling up behind me and started laying into me about not changing her swing right in front of his daughter. No introduction, no "hey coach can we talk real quick", just aggressive right away. I think I diffused it ok because I wasn't trying to change anything with her swing, I was asking her about her swing and how she was taught. I wish I was better at how to handle confrontations, but that just isn't my thing. Afterwords I replayed it in my head and I really wanted to stand up to him and tell him to get off the field, but that probably wouldn't have ended well. I just let the HC know it happened so we can keep an eye out for him in the future.

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Interesting how the most opinionated parents often want no part of coaching. But the second they think you're coaching wrong, they'll charge you.

You're either a coach or you're not. You're either on the field helping all the girls all the time or you stay off the field (unless invited) and give positive support.
 

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