High School Softball ,No Thanks I'll pass

[RubberBiscuit]

The high school game is still about the juniors and seniors. Always has been, always will. Common to have a less talented senior playing ahead of a rising freshman. Just how it is, and quite frankly, after we took our season on the bench and are now a regular, how it should be.

Now, we would not want some hot shot freshman to take our place, for the youngsters will get their turn in a year or two.

OMG - Blood shooting out of my eyeballs!!!

The strong should survive!!! - it is pathetic when a senior classman "get's their time" when a much better underclassmen gets slivers in their butt.... What a "participation trophy" system you promote. Yeah, let's celebrate mediocrity!!! Yuk!!! (ya this is hs alright....)

Sorry SCDad - you & I are just two very different animals in two very different environments. I love ya as a fellow DFP-er but we will have to agree to totally disagree on this topic & philosophy......

 

[CoogansBluff]

OMG - Blood shooting out of my eyeballs!!!

The strong should survive!!! - it is pathetic when a senior classman "get's their time" when a much better underclassmen gets slivers in their butt.... What a "participation trophy" system you promote. Yeah, let's celebrate mediocrity!!! Yuk!!! (ya this is hs alright....)

Don't know why I feel the need to be peacemaker in this thread, but here's how I see it --

There is value in rewarding seniority on high school sports teams. If HS coaches fail to acknowledge this and operate with a travel-ball mentality, the program may suffer in the long run. It's not an issue of giving a participation trophy. It's a strategy that can help the team win MORE, not less.

A school team in which you have 4 age divisions (FR, SO, JR, SR) that are progressing up the grade ladder and who are stuck with their players (and their players are stuck with them) is much different than a travel ball team where everybody is equal and players easily come and go. In school ball, you must give a certain loyal and respect to upperclassmen who have worked for 3-4 years in the program (or longer if you have a middle school or feeder program). If you don't respect seniority, then they players have less incentive to work hard, or to embrace their team as their own. You won't have the same team chemistry, IMO.

This is similar to my thread on the issue of 'wanting to win'. Players who think their coaches and teammates will dump them when a better player comes along will not have the same desire to win as those who believe their coaches and teammates will stand behind them and be loyal.

All that said, not sure that I agree w/ SCDad. I'm just trying to pull this debate toward the center. There must be balance. You cannot ignore a stud freshman or somebody who is clearly better than an older player who has been in the program for 3+ years. The goal is to win. But putting the most skilled players on the field is not always the best way to do that. It's also about heart. A senior who is slightly less talented than a freshman or sophomore has more skin in the game and might have a little something extra inside her heart from three years of toiling and being rewarded that makes her run through a wall that the freshman wouldn't.

 

[humpty]

Coogan. In short if your gonna sit as a freshman no matter what, how does that make you work harder? And if your gonna play as a senior no matter what, how does that make you work harder? best 9 players start is what makes players work harder.

 

[obbay]

In the year before she sat on the bench,she was the DH and hit 450's (their numbers, not mine) which was among the top 3 averages on the team. she got to watch lesser players playing her positions but at least she got to hit. the coach had one senior on the team that he almost cut that year but his wife reminded him that she was paying him for private instruction so he couldn't cut her. nice kid though, she sat on the bench her senior year too. On Senior day, both of DDs parents were working so she had no one there when they presented them with flowers. I came later in the game and saw that DD played zero innings on Senior day of her Senior year. TB last summer revived her though she developed some serious problems that previous spring and we never quite got her back to 100%.

Sorry for ranting but this is cheaper than therapy.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Coogan. In short if your gonna sit as a freshman no matter what, how does that make you work harder?

I didn't say that a freshman would sit no matter what. My quote: ''You cannot ignore a stud freshman or somebody who is clearly better.''

I have a way of being long-winded in posts. Quick version: Seniority (time spent in the program) should be valued. It's not the final word, but do value it.

 

[Classof2020]

So we have confirmed that HS can be WAY different experiences based on where you live and what size of HS you belong to and if you are on the states winning team or not.

But I will still submit that SCdad your experience with HS is a 1% experience. I bet ya most others will identify with HS being a lesser team/coaching talent scene. It almost sounds like the upper fringe of CA HS softball has evolved to more of a TB domain. Congrats for being in the right sb state and in the right sb school district. I am truly envious of that potentially top-tier caliber environment your DD appears to have year round.

Here in my little sb state if a big D1 HS team (largest schools) has even majority TB players on the squad it's a "loaded" team. But even then you have half the team that is rec players. So with this sport being pitching dominated you have this weird altered state of reality where a hs pitcher can just have a fastball and hit the outside corner and she is recognized as an All-State pitcher, as long as she is on a winning team. Then at the same time you can have an amazing college-D1 talented pitcher on another team that will get zero recognition because she is on a losing rec team that get's beat by the short game (just putting the ball in play). I being a sports purest can not tolerate local newspapers and other state organizations elevating the value of players fictitiously like this while seldom recognizing true talent. If I were a college scout looking for true talent in the hs scene, the LAST place I would go is to the newspapers or the other state-run media outlets and the ONLY place to recognize TRUE UNFILTERED talent is to wait and see what these girls do when they get to TB.

Just calling this to your attention as to what I believe the majority of the nation has to deal with when their DD is not on the best HS team in southern CA.......

RB just so you know this was a great post and it was well written, and clear and made sense. Someone out here in DFP actually read what you wrote and appreciated it. It's like you are speaking a complete different language right now and what is being lost in the translation is just never going to compute. But don't fret there are some of us out here who are following you and aren't confused.

 

[BaldNBeautiful]

When the school year started, our HS program had five seniors on it, one of whom came back after not playing SB since her freshman year......but three freshmen started from day one and another was in the pitching rotation. One Senior changed positions, one moved to DP, one transferred to another school. No juniors in the lineup (last two have since left the program) and the rest of the starters were sophomores.

 

[MsDinosaur]

DD went to watch her future HS play yesterday. She said the JV team sucked. --DH and I are trying to get her to lay off the s-word, but it (and "like") must be pretty prevalent in middle school. She ranted that the catcher couldn't block at all. Girls were making errors all over the place. Short and second collided and then laughed instead of trying to make a play. Wild throws were being made to first and the first baseman had trouble with good throws. Yada yada... She was sure that her old 12U teams could have beaten them easily.

She said the varsity team was better, albeit there were still more fielding errors than she liked. (Then again, who ever wants to see errors, LOL) The varsity pitcher had some decent stuff and the catcher seemed solid; she didn't see her make any mistakes. We started telling her that if there's a competent upperclassman catcher ahead of her, she can't count on playing C, but needs to be ready to play wherever the coach puts her, whether that's JV or some other position in varsity.

I know we're already a bit of a broken record, but IMO DH and I need to work on her, especially if she ends up on JV. Being confident and playing hard is good. Being arrogant and a biaotch to teammates who aren't as intense is not good. Going by her reaction, I'm going to be crossing my fingers and hoping they do find a place on the varsity roster for her.

 

[CoachKevin]

OMG - Blood shooting out of my eyeballs!!!

The strong should survive!!! - it is pathetic when a senior classman "get's their time" when a much better underclassmen gets slivers in their butt.... What a "participation trophy" system you promote. Yeah, let's celebrate mediocrity!!! Yuk!!! (ya this is hs alright....)

Sorry SCDad - you & I are just two very different animals in two very different environments. I love ya as a fellow DFP-er but we will have to agree to totally disagree on this topic & philosophy......

Until your DD is the one sitting for a Freshman.... Let's say your DD has been on Varsity for 3 years, a Senior, and is now sitting because a stud Freshman comes in... How do you act now?

 

[RubberBiscuit]

Until your DD is the one sitting for a Freshman.... Let's say your DD has been on Varsity for 3 years, a Senior, and is now sitting because a stud Freshman comes in... How do you act now?

No problem - It is happening right now in varsity vb. DD is getting some slivers now that she wasn't expecting. She is getting time-shared by a full-year-round vb-tb player. It's only right (in my book) cuz the other girl is better right now. DD accepts it too and is accepting the challenge to get better than a girl that doesn't have the vb-rust that she does. (it's not a freshman but a sophomore but I think that is not changing the exchange here right?....)

No I like to think my guidelines apply to myself as much as anyone else. (hey what about that congress!?!?!?)

Now was I thrilled to buy the hs vb season pass only to see DD sit half the time?...,...no,... but it does not change the determination of what's right/wrong.