Adding a few players

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Apr 6, 2017
328
28
I was going to go off on a rant and decide to ask you coaches a question.
Have any of you turned away better talent to maintain and develop the kids you have? This situation envoles a team that won 1 game during winter season. Made up of small town kids.
Several girls moved up, I took Dd over for a tryout. I don't think this team would be a great fit regardless,the coach seems so flaky it's crazy.
Parents we're asking questions and making comments about how well Dd hit. Coaches kid pitches, Dd pitches. I don't think he would watch Dd pitch for nothing. He did offer a spot. I asked what spot and he said he couldn't say right now. I told him Dd pitches a few times and his only response was he has 3 pitchers.
He did seem like a nice guy but wow. He told me Dd did great and would do good on the 14u team that's looking. Ugh- ok
 
Apr 26, 2015
704
43
I am not a coach but honestly I wish DD's old coach would have passed on better talent...and here is why. He never, (and I mean maybe 5-8 innings of an entire season) ever played his own kid because he knew she couldn't compete with the rest of his team. She literally dressed out every game and sat in the dugout. Bored stiff. It drove me crazy. I felt so bad for her. How do you coach "for your kid" and never play her? I have a lot of respect for coaches who build teams of similar talent around their kids. I know some people will say - surround yourself with the best to get better - and in some (most) cases I agree. DD is one who will push herself - she hates to be outplayed - so she wants to play with better players - but that coach's kid was just simply overwhelmed. She didn't have goals of playing in college - she just wanted to play for fun. DD left that team because she (and we) lost a lot of respect for that coach (MANY other reasons than just not playing his own kid). I think if the coach is steering you in another direction I would find a different team.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
I was going to go off on a rant and decide to ask you coaches a question.
Have any of you turned away better talent to maintain and develop the kids you have? This situation envoles a team that won 1 game during winter season. Made up of small town kids.
Several girls moved up, I took Dd over for a tryout. I don't think this team would be a great fit regardless,the coach seems so flaky it's crazy.
Parents we're asking questions and making comments about how well Dd hit. Coaches kid pitches, Dd pitches. I don't think he would watch Dd pitch for nothing. He did offer a spot. I asked what spot and he said he couldn't say right now. I told him Dd pitches a few times and his only response was he has 3 pitchers.
He did seem like a nice guy but wow. He told me Dd did great and would do good on the 14u team that's looking. Ugh- ok

If you wanted to make sure your DD got circle time, you should have let him know ahead of time (e.g. before she tried out) she wouldn't join unless she could pitch....
 
Apr 6, 2017
328
28
Totally understand k power. But it's so bad. Coaches Dd looked ok. Probably 3 or 4 were alright. Another thing I didn't understand is
he had a guest 16u coach run the practice. He talked to me and the 12u coach and said. He can only use 5 kids from the same
school on a team. He said he looks for surrounding areas for the rest on his 16u team.The 12u coach kind of looked down and walked
away. I talked to the 16u coach for a minute and he took Dd info for the 14u team.
 
Mar 20, 2015
174
28
Any coach that doesn't even want to look at your DD pitch when you say she pitches is a red flag. If he evaluates pitching that way he will run the team that way.
 
Jun 6, 2016
2,714
113
Chicago
Any coach that doesn't even want to look at your DD pitch when you say she pitches is a red flag. If he evaluates pitching that way he will run the team that way.

Maybe it's just my constant struggle with finding pitchers leaving me forever worried and paranoid I won't have enough pitching, but I could have Monica Abbott, Cat Osterman, and Jennie Finch on my staff and I'm still going to want to see a pitcher pitch at a tryout.
 
Jan 5, 2018
385
63
PNW
Maybe it's just my constant struggle with finding pitchers leaving me forever worried and paranoid I won't have enough pitching, but I could have Monica Abbott, Cat Osterman, and Jennie Finch on my staff and I'm still going to want to see a pitcher pitch at a tryout.

The things that give us coaches nightmares and keep us up at night!
 
Jun 6, 2016
2,714
113
Chicago
The things that give us coaches nightmares and keep us up at night!

Through two games, our pitchers have only given up 5 hits!

They've also walked 38 and hit 12. I'm not joking. It's rough having high school kids who are just now learning to pitch, especially since I'm a terrible pitching coach (I mostly know what they need to do, but I'm awful at getting them there).
 
Jul 16, 2008
1,520
48
Oregon
I guess it really depends upon what the tryout said. I know we have had tryouts where we were looking for specific positions (But we also advertised looking for X), and we have had tryouts where all positions were open. I will say if a pitcher showed up and we really didn't need a pitcher, we would look at her, but she had better be hands down way better than what we had.
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
Through two games, our pitchers have only given up 5 hits!

They've also walked 38 and hit 12. I'm not joking. It's rough having high school kids who are just now learning to pitch, especially since I'm a terrible pitching coach (I mostly know what they need to do, but I'm awful at getting them there).

That made me laugh. Perhaps not your full intent, but funny. Here I thought you had a stellar pitching staff (after reading they only gave up 5 hits). :D
 

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,477
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top