Coaches,
I am the LL Manager of my son's CP Fall Ball baseball team (primarily 1st to 2nd graders with a young 3rd grader). I had an issue come up last night that I believe is also applicable to CP softball, and was wondering what you CP coaches, or past CP coaches, think. This is the conversation between myself and an Asst. Coach that started when I was taking the pitching circle to get ready to pitch to the kids:
Asst. Coach: Why are you pitching?
Me: I feel the Itch to Pitch (said humorously).
Asst. Coach: Dont you think you are being unfair to the kids? (Smiling in a supercilious way).
Me: No, I feel like pitching to the kids.
Asst. Coach: Its all about you then (Again smiling in a supercilious way).
Needless to say, I went up to the circle a bit PO'd and rattled. So instead of just having the weight of throwing good pitches to the kids, I also had the monkey of this coach on my back too. Fortunately, my kid was lead-off and knocked a Dbl (which shoulda been a Triple if he had run faster).
Background: Another Asst. Coach has been pitching to the kids for the past 5 games. The game previous to this one in question we had 8 K's. He also has been throwing very loopy balls to the kids. While I havent pitched in a game this season, I have been warming the kids up before games with Front toss using wiffle balls (and HitnStik) and also pitch at practices--so wasnt coming straight off the bench with these kids. I also believe in flatter pitches with a bit more speed. I struck out 4, so at least halved the Ks. I also had a contingency plan that after 2 innings if the kids were doing badly with me pitching to go back to the other coach. The kids were doing alright so I pitched the complete game.
In my previous outings as a coach in CP, I have been the main Pitcher, and if gone, another coach will pitch, sometimes with good results sometimes not. In the past, I have seen teams disintegrate if the regular coach is not pitching. I prefer to mix it up a bit, to have the kids get used to a style or two. So I guess my question to you all is: Do you all think it was "unfair" to the kids to expose them to a new pitcher (which I assume was my Asst. Coaches issue) or to mix it up a bit? My view is mix it up, as pretty soon in Minors, etc. the pitchers are going to be changing frequently, and the batters will need to adjust accordingly. Plus, who was to say that change was a bad thing, especially after 8 Ks the previous game. Any comments, insights, etc. would be appreciated. Thanks.
ACoachDad
I am the LL Manager of my son's CP Fall Ball baseball team (primarily 1st to 2nd graders with a young 3rd grader). I had an issue come up last night that I believe is also applicable to CP softball, and was wondering what you CP coaches, or past CP coaches, think. This is the conversation between myself and an Asst. Coach that started when I was taking the pitching circle to get ready to pitch to the kids:
Asst. Coach: Why are you pitching?
Me: I feel the Itch to Pitch (said humorously).
Asst. Coach: Dont you think you are being unfair to the kids? (Smiling in a supercilious way).
Me: No, I feel like pitching to the kids.
Asst. Coach: Its all about you then (Again smiling in a supercilious way).
Needless to say, I went up to the circle a bit PO'd and rattled. So instead of just having the weight of throwing good pitches to the kids, I also had the monkey of this coach on my back too. Fortunately, my kid was lead-off and knocked a Dbl (which shoulda been a Triple if he had run faster).
Background: Another Asst. Coach has been pitching to the kids for the past 5 games. The game previous to this one in question we had 8 K's. He also has been throwing very loopy balls to the kids. While I havent pitched in a game this season, I have been warming the kids up before games with Front toss using wiffle balls (and HitnStik) and also pitch at practices--so wasnt coming straight off the bench with these kids. I also believe in flatter pitches with a bit more speed. I struck out 4, so at least halved the Ks. I also had a contingency plan that after 2 innings if the kids were doing badly with me pitching to go back to the other coach. The kids were doing alright so I pitched the complete game.
In my previous outings as a coach in CP, I have been the main Pitcher, and if gone, another coach will pitch, sometimes with good results sometimes not. In the past, I have seen teams disintegrate if the regular coach is not pitching. I prefer to mix it up a bit, to have the kids get used to a style or two. So I guess my question to you all is: Do you all think it was "unfair" to the kids to expose them to a new pitcher (which I assume was my Asst. Coaches issue) or to mix it up a bit? My view is mix it up, as pretty soon in Minors, etc. the pitchers are going to be changing frequently, and the batters will need to adjust accordingly. Plus, who was to say that change was a bad thing, especially after 8 Ks the previous game. Any comments, insights, etc. would be appreciated. Thanks.
ACoachDad