Dealing with a delusional parent who thinks he is a coach

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Nov 29, 2009
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She is currently still with the team. We have a tournament coming up in 2 weeks, and our first practice since talking to him is tonight. Her mom did text to say she will be at practice, but it will be interesting to see how he is during the tournament.

Good luck.

You need to have someone there with buckets of cold water to throw on him when he opens his mouth. Let him take the Ice Bucket Challenge a few times. hehehehe
 
Okay...maybe you mis-stated what your intent was. I absolutely agree that you cannot treat them differently as far as team requirements go. However, be aware that I also coach a 10U TB team that is very successful as well as an 8U baseball rec team that is similarly very successful. I've still found that other than the pitcher and catcher, the players are interchangeable. A true athlete can learn any position any time. Granted, not every player your dealt at the rec level is an athlete. However, do you think college coaches are recruiting by position? Heck no! They are recruiting top notch athletes. It doesn't matter what position they grew up playing. What matters is that they can hit against the better pitchers across the country and that they are true athletes able to adapt to new conditions, positions and circumstances. They believe, as I and knightsb do, as well as many others on this board, that true athletes at any of the other 7 positions are interchangeable. AGAIN, Let me say this....true athletes are interchangeable. At the rec level, you may have been dealt a lower hand. There's not much you can do about that other than do your job, coach them up and suck it up. If your rec team is as good as you say it is, then maybe it's time for your parents to, " Put up or shut up." The only way your team will get better is to play better competition. Getting your A$$ kicked time and time again against better TB teams is a great motivator. If the parents don't want to travel, say goodbye and find new players that do. No matter what you and your teams' situation is as far as community size goes, you have built a limited reputation as a successful coach at the rec level. You might be surprised who you can pull in. That's how I started as well as many others on here and I have players on my team that drive 3+ hours just for practice. Many on here have players that fly in or drive in for their tournaments and never practice with their team at all.

We are sort of off in the weeds here from the OP, but I do have to question the thought that even at 18 Showcase ball, you can make IFers OFers easily. Here's my reasoning. I agree that colleges recruit the best athletes, and let's face it, more often than not those are your SS. As a result, college squads often full of ex=shortstops. Since there's only 1 SS playing that means that all the rest of the SS are playing all over the field.

Bottom line, this presumably means there are a lot of former TB SSs playing OF in college. Certainly, of the 40 or 50 D1 games I watch on TV and in person, the outfield play is nowhere near the level of IF. Now there are some good OFers out there who play there position well, but I've seen some real excursions in the OF even at the top levels that are painful to watch. Badly misplayed balls, charging in on balls that wind up over the head, etc... I'd suggest that at the upper reaches of D1, it's not like the reps and coaching aren't there - some kids just aren't cut out to play some positions. When a college team with 20 girls can't find three to play the OF at a high level, I gotta think that being an athlete sometimes might just not be enough.
 

Greenmonsters

Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
Feb 21, 2009
6,166
38
New England
We are sort of off in the weeds here from the OP, but I do have to question the thought that even at 18 Showcase ball, you can make IFers OFers easily. Here's my reasoning. I agree that colleges recruit the best athletes, and let's face it, more often than not those are your SS. As a result, college squads often full of ex=shortstops. Since there's only 1 SS playing that means that all the rest of the SS are playing all over the field.

Bottom line, this presumably means there are a lot of former TB SSs playing OF in college. Certainly, of the 40 or 50 D1 games I watch on TV and in person, the outfield play is nowhere near the level of IF. Now there are some good OFers out there who play there position well, but I've seen some real excursions in the OF even at the top levels that are painful to watch. Badly misplayed balls, charging in on balls that wind up over the head, etc... I'd suggest that at the upper reaches of D1, it's not like the reps and coaching aren't there - some kids just aren't cut out to play some positions. When a college team with 20 girls can't find three to play the OF at a high level, I gotta think that being an athlete sometimes might just not be enough.

The dilemma is that the best hitters aren't always your best fielders. And many coaches will choose to err on the side of offense and hope that the defensive price isn't too great.
 
The dilemma is that the best hitters aren't always your best fielders. And many coaches will choose to err on the side of offense and hope that the defensive price isn't too great.

I realize that, and that's sort of my point. Even though they are "athletes", they can't just play anywhere on the field at a high level. You're reduced to trying to hide them.

To the OP, I feel your pain, but sounds like you are headed in the right direction.
 
Oct 3, 2011
3,478
113
Right Here For Now
We are sort of off in the weeds here from the OP, but I do have to question the thought that even at 18 Showcase ball, you can make IFers OFers easily. Here's my reasoning. I agree that colleges recruit the best athletes, and let's face it, more often than not those are your SS. As a result, college squads often full of ex=shortstops. Since there's only 1 SS playing that means that all the rest of the SS are playing all over the field.

Bottom line, this presumably means there are a lot of former TB SSs playing OF in college. Certainly, of the 40 or 50 D1 games I watch on TV and in person, the outfield play is nowhere near the level of IF. Now there are some good OFers out there who play there position well, but I've seen some real excursions in the OF even at the top levels that are painful to watch. Badly misplayed balls, charging in on balls that wind up over the head, etc... I'd suggest that at the upper reaches of D1, it's not like the reps and coaching aren't there - some kids just aren't cut out to play some positions. When a college team with 20 girls can't find three to play the OF at a high level, I gotta think that being an athlete sometimes might just not be enough.

Unfortunately, you may have missed the part where I said as long as the athletes can hit off of the better or best pitchers, they can get recruited and more often than not, play for many teams. While I completely understand where you are coming from, you must also understand where I am as well. On my showcase team, I am not reduced to just fielding hitters. I am fielding athletes because I know how to turn them into both hitters and fielders. I'm not saying that most college coaches aren't able to, can't or won't, but I AM saying that thanks to this site, years of coaching experience and learning about the best techniques, mechanics and instruction available today (through continuous study) as well as having the willingness to continue to learn about the advances in all of the aforementioned items, I have had no issues so far.

Is every girl equal in foot speed, fielding experience, hitting ability, position training, etc. etc.? Of course not. I've seen many catchers at the P5 level that I wouldn't have as my starting catcher on my showcase team. The only reason that they're a starting catcher at that level is because they're a transitioned athlete that can hit well, has a cannon for an arm and top hitting catchers are in extremely short supply. However, from what I've seen, they cost their pitchers anywhere from 9-15 called strikes a game (and that's being generously low a majority of the time). That's an inning plus for their pitchers. Yet, the coaches prefer to have a stick behind the plate and are wiling to give up some called strikes in exchange for a hitter even though a recent MLB study has shown that a great receiving/defensive catcher only has to bat around the .170 mark in order to justify putting them on the field. I understand that in a way, I'm helping to make your case, but, the catching position is a skilled position and thus, we've come full circle to pitchers and catchers.

The other 7 may be able to pull the position off or not. The only reason they're on the field at all is because they can hit and not cost the team, in the HC's eyes, too much on defense versus a truly better defensive player that can't quite hit as well as the others. Many feel offense will win the game a majority of the time versus defense. So if you felt that way and truly believed it, what would you choose? A better defensive player that will make 98% of the plays and hits .300 or an offensive player that hits .380, makes 90% of the defensive plays and holds the opposing team to singles?
 
Last edited:
Aug 24, 2011
161
0
This will be my 5th year coaching the same girls. We went 15-0 and won our fall league last year. I get along so well with my assistant that i call him my co-head coach. Everything is great, except for one parent who is living in a parallel universe.

This person did not grow up playing baseball, and only knows what he thinks he knows about softball from a pitching coach he has taken his daughter for the last couple years. His daughter is almost 6' tall at 13 years old and throws mid 50's. His pitching coach thinks she has 7 different pitches, and the father has been trying to get her to paint the corners for a couple years now, even when she couldn't keep from walking girls. He insists on throwing a change up that is literally 32mph and inaccurate, compared to fastball which has been clocked at 56mph. This is a useless pitch and never works, yet because he thinks she has to learn to throw this pitch in game situations, he will call it on 3 ball counts, regardless of the situation. We let him call pitches because we are afraid he will pull his daughter from the team if he can't. We don't think it's fair to her to be pulled from her friends, and it's also going to mess up our season if we lose her. He isn't a coach because he didn't sign up through the league, is never at practices, his daughter misses all the time because of volleyball, yet he had the nerve to ask the other coach randomly if he could be in our team picture (he doesn't talk to me because he knows i don't care much for him). My assistant was surprised by the question and essentially said "it's just a picture, i don't really care who is in it". Might be true in a way but i definitely care if he's in it, and almost all of the girls and parents will also be either annoyed or confused by his presence.

I could go on and on about how ridiculous/obnoxious/disconnected/selfish this person is, but i'll save everyone from the sob story. Just looking for peoples' opinion on this situation. I want to pretty much tell him he isn't a coach, i don't want him at practices, and he doesn't need to be calling pitches, and he sure as heck doesn't have any reason to be in the team picture, knowing that he will probably throw a fit and try to pull his daughter from the team. At that point we aren't sure what will happen. it will be his daughter and wife likely wanting to stay on the team, and him wanting her to leave. If she did leave, we would lose any opportunity of competing in some tournaments we have already paid for (we are a true rec ball team that can beat travel ball teams), and will also ruin our chance of winning our rec league. My assistant would rather deal with his stupidity throughout the season rather than all the consequences of him pulling his daughter from the team. Looking for some outside opinions.

If you really want to help the girl help her find the best travel team on which she can contribute and let her go. Why hold her back?
 
Aug 24, 2011
161
0
As for the team picture, why do the coaches need to be in the picture? I've seen many team pictures without coaches.
 

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