First Time High School Coach Looking for Advice

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Jun 6, 2016
2,714
113
Chicago
I've been lurking here since spring, but figured it was time to finally post my story. This may get a little long.

This past spring, the school where my wife teaches had high school sports for the first time. That included starting a JV softball team (last year, the school was K-10. This year it's K-11, and next year it'll be K-12). The school is only beginning its fourth year, and the sports culture is not yet developed at all.

She came home from work around a year ago and told me she was going to be the softball coach, which meant I was going to be the assistant softball coach. :p I had always wanted to coach, though I had figured I'd coach baseball if I ever did it. Turns out, coaching fastpitch softball is exactly where I belong. Since my wife was incredibly busy with teaching (and I have an awesome, flexible work-from-home job), I did most of the work planning practices, etc.

At the first practice (we did not hold true tryouts since we struggled to even get enough 9th and 10th graders to fill a team), I learned that 75% of our players had never played before. When I say "never played before," I mean I had to teach some of them how to hold a bat. I spent a couple weeks working with most of the team on proper throwing form. It was a struggle, but since our Athletic Director didn't schedule us a SINGLE game, we had more practice time than usual (we ended up playing a couple games at the end of May).

Long story short, we spent most of the first season practicing the very basic fundamentals that most kids are taught long before their 10th birthday. Heading into the summer, my wife and I decided to talk to the school about making me the head coach since I absolutely fell in love with the job to the point where I spend every day doing at least one softball-related thing to prepare for the spring.

This past spring was learning as we went. I always planned practice, but I'm sure I could've been more efficient. We probably were too nice (in fact, one player told me I was too nice). We didn't really have team rules established, and we never held a parent meeting. A lot of these mistakes will be rectified this year, especially since we have a new AD at the school, and he actually knows what he's doing. One of the benefits to having an official change to me as head coach means we can establish a new, more serious environment as we try to build a successful program. It should be easier to say "This year is different" since it actually is going to be different with me in charge.

So that's where my appeal for advice comes in. We are going to be a first year Varsity team, but we have full AD/school support. It's only August, but I'd like some advice on what I can do starting today all the way through the beginning of the season at the end of February. Rules prohibit us from practicing as a team until then, but we are trying to get our girls to play in a local park district fall league to refine their skills. I want to be completely and totally prepared, so any advice at all would be helpful. And I'll do my best to answer any questions you may have about our program.

Sorry this got so long, but I could talk about the team and all the strange occurrences from the spring for thousands of words. I'll spare all of you. For now. :)
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
So that's where my appeal for advice comes in. We are going to be a first year Varsity team, but we have full AD/school support. It's only August, but I'd like some advice on what I can do starting today all the way through the beginning of the season at the end of February. Rules prohibit us from practicing as a team until then, but we are trying to get our girls to play in a local park district fall league to refine their skills. I want to be completely and totally prepared, so any advice at all would be helpful. And I'll do my best to answer any questions you may have about our program.

Sorry this got so long, but I could talk about the team and all the strange occurrences from the spring for thousands of words. I'll spare all of you. For now. :)

First - thanks for taking on a tough job and enjoying it. It will be rewarding - just not all the time.

Ok... it all starts with pitching and catching...Have you actually played a game at all yet? Do you have a pitcher who can pitch? Nothing else matters until you have pitching sorted out (you really want 2) and a catcher (at least one serviceable). In your case it is worth your time dedicating a lot of time in practice to getting your pitchers better. Baseball coaches miss this because they are used to have anyone who can throw be able to pitch, but it doesn't work that way. Walkfests are awful - got to be able to throw strikes - with starting players, if it gets hit, it gets hit - but that is better than watching or being involved in a walkfest.

Live batting - if they have little experience in real games you need live batting practice with a real pitcher. If yours are not up to that yet, then go find one. Offer service hours or whatever - but they need to see live pitching. And a lot of it.

Small ball - teach them to bunt. Get the ball down and move runners. Got a fast girl learning to hit? Well that is a slapper right there. Why teach her to bat right - bat her left and have her slap. Slapper scare even good defenses.

And if you are planning on being around awhile - you have to get involved in figuring out where the next set of players are coming from. That means getting into the younger and younger kids who you can coach get better. Successful high school programs have players entering the school being able to play already - doing what you are doing is great, but you are not going to get anywhere if it is like that every season and it will get old especially if you have some competition who are getting solid players into their program every year. Get involved in training and developing the girls you WILL get through the local rec league, your school (since you are K-11 that means MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAM possibilities...) or even local travel teams.


I am sure I can think of a thousand other things... but this is a start
 
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Sep 30, 2013
155
28
Northwest, IN
CoachJD - please send me a message, I help run the Illinois Softball Coaches Association for High School coaches. I'm also a travel ball coach as well.

There are some rules you must abide by from the IHSA in regards to the offseason. I'd be happy to talk to you on the phone to help you out if you'd like!

Let me know!!
 
Jun 6, 2016
2,714
113
Chicago
Ok... it all starts with pitching and catching...Have you actually played a game at all yet? Do you have a pitcher who can pitch? Nothing else matters until you have pitching sorted out (you really want 2) and a catcher (at least one serviceable). In your case it is worth your time dedicating a lot of time in practice to getting your pitchers better. Baseball coaches miss this because they are used to have anyone who can throw be able to pitch, but it doesn't work that way. Walkfests are awful - got to be able to throw strikes - with starting players, if it gets hit, it gets hit - but that is better than watching or being involved in a walkfest.

We played two real games and a scrimmage (because the umpire didn't show up). We have a couple pitchers, though they're both new to pitching. They improved a lot from the beginning, but they still have work to do. I plan to bring in a pitching coach in the spring, and I was going to ask if anybody had ideas for the best way to find someone who could come once or twice a week to give our girls further instruction. I was hoping for someone with college experience, though I know that being a good player doesn't necessarily make someone a good coach.

As for a catcher, we have one girl who is dedicated to learning the position, but it's definitely tough. Her biggest issue is that she just can't really throw. She's not afraid back there, and I think in time she can be pretty good, but I've already thought about finding someone else who might be able to handle it.

Live batting - if they have little experience in real games you need live batting practice with a real pitcher. If yours are not up to that yet, then go find one. Offer service hours or whatever - but they need to see live pitching. And a lot of it.

The incredible thing is that almost all of them can hit at least a little bit. It was the biggest surprise (after realizing most of them had never played and didn't know the first thing about the game). We've done live pitching, pitching machine, etc. In the couple games we did have, they didn't do too poorly considering their experience level. Pitching/defense was definitely a bigger issue.

Small ball - teach them to bunt. Get the ball down and move runners. Got a fast girl learning to hit? Well that is a slapper right there. Why teach her to bat right - bat her left and have her slap. Slapper scare even good defenses.

My biggest regret was that I waited until near the end of the year to turn two girls around. I only thought of it after watching tons of college games and realizing we faced no slap hitters in the couple games we had (and we had no lefties on our team). The one girl I turned around is one of our two best players, and I think she can play in college if she works at it. She was a Freshman last year, solid hitter. The day I turned her around she was excited to try it. She missed the first couple pitches, then started hitting them. She pouted a little when I told her she was done batting righty, but I have no doubt she can do it. The other girl is really, really tiny (under 5 feet tall, and I've met her parents; she's not gonna grow much more). Her only real chance to be productive is to bat from the left side and develop slapping/bunting skills, and she did pretty well.

A couple others gave it a shot, but it didn't really take so I didn't force it.

And if you are planning on being around awhile - you have to get involved in figuring out where the next set of players are coming from. That means getting into the younger and younger kids who you can coach get better. Successful high school programs have players entering the school being able to play already - doing what you are doing is great, but you are not going to get anywhere if it is like that every season and it will get old especially if you have some competition who are getting solid players into their program every year. Get involved in training and developing the girls you WILL get through the local rec league, your school (since you are K-11 that means MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAM possibilities...) or even local travel teams.

The unique advantage we have is that the school will be K-12 by next year. There's no guarantee that we'll retain the girls as they enter high school (in fact, I found out we lost a pretty good incoming Freshman in part because she wanted to play for an established program), but we are planning to start a junior high team, hopefully as early as this year. A lot of what you're describing sounds a little bit like recruiting, which isn't allowed (I know everybody does it, but I'd really prefer to not go breaking all the rules).

I appreciate all the thoughts. It's good to know that I've at least thought about most of what you've said here, so I'm not doing everything wrong.
 
Oct 3, 2011
3,478
113
Right Here For Now
For your catcher, check out HighLevelThrowing.com and Catchingcamp.com. Austin Wasserman's ebook on throwing better and faster and the New England Catching Camp DVD/ebook on catching instruction are the definitive Platinum standards as far as many are concerned across the country. Pitching-look for DVD's from Rick Pauly, Bill Hillhouse ( Houseofpitching.com ) and make sure to look through the pitching threads on here. Pay particularly close attention to the sticky threads such as I/R in the classroom. Fielding, go to youtube and watch anything by Howard Kobata. Then go to Kobatastyle.com and order his 3 dvd set on fielding. These sources will give you a very good foundation from which to build your SB knowledge about mechanics. You can teach the girls and show them drills to improve themselves. Instead of saying girl X has a weak arm, give her a better one! That's what coaches do.

As far as finding girls, all marriard was saying is you have to make it known that you and your school are there by going to the local rec league and watch. Go give free clinics to these kids. Start a TB team at the younger ages and let them go all the way through until they hit HS age. Start a MS team.

Start to provide proper coaching, techniques and mechanics early. It's much easier to teach them properly at the younger ages than it is at the older ones before they develop bad habits or improper mechanics. Nobody says any of these kids have to come play for you at the HS level but at least let them know that you and your program are a viable option by becoming highly visible and knowledgeable. If you don't start providing yourself with a solid pipeline of decent incoming players in the very near future, you will be doing this year after year after year and getting your butt handed to you on a regular basis in games. This is not a good way to build a program if many of the kids coming up consider your program weak and leave for greener pastures /better programs.
 
Sep 17, 2009
1,637
83
It's a little surprising that NONE of your girls play outside of school. Are you in the Chicago area? Is this a private school? My first step would be to hold a softball interest meeting for ALL ages (since the school is K-12). Find out who is playing rec or travel softball already and what teams they are playing for. Run some clinics for the younger girls to get them interested and moving in the right direction. For the small group of players you already have at the new "varsity" level I'd see if they'd be willing to play travel ball and then help them find teams. As you and others have indicated, you can't work with the players year round, you need them to play outside of school with teams and/or receiving private instruction, especially the pitchers.

The best thing you can do is to become a softball advocate for your girls, get to know local travel coaches and get your girls playing. As for the things you are doing when you DO have access to the girls, it sounds like you are doing a lot right. Take advantage of the resource mentioned above and dive deep into this site, you'll always be learning. Best of luck to you.
 
Jun 6, 2016
2,714
113
Chicago
It's a little surprising that NONE of your girls play outside of school. Are you in the Chicago area? Is this a private school? My first step would be to hold a softball interest meeting for ALL ages (since the school is K-12). Find out who is playing rec or travel softball already and what teams they are playing for. Run some clinics for the younger girls to get them interested and moving in the right direction. For the small group of players you already have at the new "varsity" level I'd see if they'd be willing to play travel ball and then help them find teams. As you and others have indicated, you can't work with the players year round, you need them to play outside of school with teams and/or receiving private instruction, especially the pitchers.

The best thing you can do is to become a softball advocate for your girls, get to know local travel coaches and get your girls playing. As for the things you are doing when you DO have access to the girls, it sounds like you are doing a lot right. Take advantage of the resource mentioned above and dive deep into this site, you'll always be learning. Best of luck to you.

Thanks, Rich.

We're a public charter school in Chicago. Of the girls who played for us last year, only three had played regularly before. A couple others had experience in PE or playing on a park district team for a year, but most had never played. There aren't many softball opportunities in the area for the younger kids, though there are a few, and I've already started getting to know those people.

I like your idea of holding the all ages meeting. We are planning to start a junior high team, but generating interest among all levels and getting them to sign up for the local park district leagues is something I want to do. I think doing multiple clinics for younger ages is a great idea, and that's something I'll look into setting up for the summer.

So here's the big question: How do I get them to WANT to play outside of school? We had a hard time getting them to sign up for the summer league (only 3 joined, and I believe 1 quit). They're all about playing for us during the spring, but I honestly think a lot of them are afraid to venture out into the vast softball wilderness to see what's out there.
 
Dec 10, 2015
845
63
Chautauqua County
can you do off season open softball practices? we do that here in my part of NY, practices are open to everyone, all skill levels, and it's a great way to bring players in and go over skills. softball starts in January.
 
Sep 29, 2014
2,421
113
If you are only going to be K-11 this year I would seriously consider playing as a JV team, if you still don't have any experienced players (especially a pitcher) it is going to be fairly brutal playing other varsity teams.

Also definitely find the best rec organization in the neighborhood and have them come hand out flyers to grades 2-6 and encourage them to give softball a try.
 
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