HS drama is fun ...

When it's none of my business.

So if you're the coach here, how do you handle?

The rival HS is full of TB players and tradition. Always makes the playoffs, usually make a little run, but never won it all. DD and I know most all the players and parents because they're close by, and as we all know, the softball world is small.

So, there is a new coach, and she's ''progressive.'' That is, she is starting a freshman who probably would have been on JV under the previous administration. The freshman is the most talented player (major D-I prospect) on a team of many good but not great players. No other D-I prospects. Mainly just a lot of good high school players.

Couple of older players who have started some in the past are pouting and/or mad. Parents have voiced concern. Make the freshman wait her turn, they say.

What do you say?

Best advice I heard was get better.

She can have her spot, no way there are 8 other players that are going to beat out Dd.

I understand how the disgruntled must feel. They've played TB all their lives. They're in the program 3 years. Hard to accept that softball is your main thing and you're sitting the bench on your high school team.

But that said, these 2 particular juniors don't like it that a freshmen is playing ahead of them, but at the same time, they don't have any problem being the first off the bench ahead of a senior. Then they want it to be about ability. Can't have it both ways.

I hate that these kids feel that they are entitled to start. The parents only feel this way since their kids had to sit the bench and wait their turn because they weren't skilled enough to start in previous years.

We have 4 starting freshman on my DD's HS team. There are two Juniors that are the main bench warmers. Somehow they made the Varsity team as Freshmen, but with the influx of the quality freshman and sophomores the past two years they have been relegated to pinch run and sporadic time in the field, which has been awful to watch. I am curious to see if they play next year. Last game of the year in a couple of hours. Wishing the 3 seniors good luck as they move on to the next chapter in their lives. One senior in particular has really bonded with my DD, and I couldn't be happier to have her take her under her wing. She happens to be the starting catcher in front of DD.

Orange Socks said:

I hate that these kids feel that they are entitled to start. The parents only feel this way since their kids had to sit the bench and wait their turn because they weren't skilled enough to start in previous years.

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Yes, that's it. Good point. I feel the same.

It would be easy to slam these kids and parents, but I can see their point of view, even though I disagree with it. Just trying to put myself in the cleats of a 16/17-year-old girl. One, in particular, is a great kid, former teammate of DD briefly in travel ball and feeder ball. Softball is a big part of her identity, and she happens to play at a school that is rich w/ softball players. She'd start at the other 7 schools in the league. So when her friends come to see her play, and she doesn't play, and there is a freshman out there, well, that's embarrassing. Hard to swallow.

So I get it, but it's school ball, and school is about learning. Hard lesson to learn.

Edit: More I think of it, I realize that the fact that this is a great kid makes it harder. She's accustomed to being told she's wonderful, because she basically is - smart, kind, hard-working, humble, everything adults like. Some kids don't fail enough. It can be good for them.

DD has gotten a few partition trophies, she throws them in the trash as soon as we get home.

She has some other things you better not touch unless you want to lose a hand.

quincy said:

She can have her spot, no way there are 8 other players that are going to beat out Dd.

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Agreed - the elite talent got ONE spot. Doesn't sound much like a 'progressive coach' to me - just someone who is going to play the best players they can which isn't exactly a new concept.

The players sitting on the bench are basically players 10 & 11. Be better than players 8 & 9 and you get to play. The issue is not that the elite talent is playing - she really isn't the player they are competing with - rather it is that they haven't found a way to beat out players 8 & 9 and get on the field.

As you said - the softball world is small. It was likely everyone knew who was coming in and who you needed to beat out for a starting spot - that is a discussion that starts happening half way through any high school season.

My dd was that girl. Man were some people upset. However, as I've posted before, the top 2 seniors wanted to win and so, took her under their wing and made sure that she felt like she belonged. As I've posted before, a large part of the JV quit.

marriard said:

Agreed - the elite talent got ONE spot. Doesn't sound much like a 'progressive coach' to me -

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Just compared to the previous coach.

marriard said:

As you said - the softball world is small. It was likely everyone knew who was coming in and who you needed to beat out for a starting spot - that is a discussion that starts happening half way through any high school season.

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Except that at this school, the assumption was that freshmen had to wait. I remember having a conversation with a parent from that school last year. Her DD was a rising junior, although as it turned out she chose not to play. But, I mentioned to the mom how competitive things would be this season and mentioned the freshman, then an 8th grader. The parent's response was to the effect that freshmen shouldn't be considered unless they're really needed. Otherwise, they're on JV.

Another factor is that most players and parents can't quickly see how good she is. She doesn't have great power or a strong arm (yet), the things that make you go 'wow.' She's just one of those that you look at the stats 10 games down the road and think, 'She's hitting .600? Dang!'

Best 9 play...end of story. Tired of the " I'm a senior" garbage. We have 6 seniors...3 start...one is out injured...other two don't start. You have to change the culture and that's what we are doing and so is that new coach . Difficult? Yes but had to be done to create a winning culture