Interesting discussion.
We lost (at 16/18U) a super-athletic, underachieving player this tryout season. She spent a year with us. She was the doubting Thomas type ("I can't hit!" after ground outs, etc)..... She was becoming a full-time slapper, and when things got tough she wanted to swing away. She has ridiculous speed and fantastic power as a hard slapper, an amazing combination, but whenever things got tough she folded mentally and looked for the side-door escape.
We moved up to 18u this fall (a year early for some of our players) and she opted to change teams to stay at 16U. She didn't believe she could excel at the next level, was the story.
After some soul-searching after she surprised us and left, I've come to think that we as coaches have to take at least part of the blame. Yes she was a pain to work with and took a lot of time and energy. Yes, some of her negativity impacted team morale. But because we couldn't get through to her, now someone else is getting the chance to.
Some coaches may see that as a "good problem" to have : >
But I envy her new coaches and am left regretting that we can't be the ones to tap into her massive talent and potential -- by getting her to find a way to believe in herself. Perhaps it would never be possible, but I would have loved to keep trying.
PS--tks for the book recommendations. Kindled the ones I could this morning.
We lost (at 16/18U) a super-athletic, underachieving player this tryout season. She spent a year with us. She was the doubting Thomas type ("I can't hit!" after ground outs, etc)..... She was becoming a full-time slapper, and when things got tough she wanted to swing away. She has ridiculous speed and fantastic power as a hard slapper, an amazing combination, but whenever things got tough she folded mentally and looked for the side-door escape.
We moved up to 18u this fall (a year early for some of our players) and she opted to change teams to stay at 16U. She didn't believe she could excel at the next level, was the story.
After some soul-searching after she surprised us and left, I've come to think that we as coaches have to take at least part of the blame. Yes she was a pain to work with and took a lot of time and energy. Yes, some of her negativity impacted team morale. But because we couldn't get through to her, now someone else is getting the chance to.
Some coaches may see that as a "good problem" to have : >
But I envy her new coaches and am left regretting that we can't be the ones to tap into her massive talent and potential -- by getting her to find a way to believe in herself. Perhaps it would never be possible, but I would have loved to keep trying.
PS--tks for the book recommendations. Kindled the ones I could this morning.