School Ball wrap up

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Jun 19, 2014
846
43
Raleigh,NC
With school ball wrapping up for us, I wanted to reflect back at D's senior year and some of the lessons learned.
1)School ball is a popularity contest...the girls the coach likes the most always play and never sit the bench no matter what.
2)You can pay to play...in case point. a players parent pays for all of the softball stuff and donates to the school. She plays every game.
3)If you are not in either category you are Sh!t out of luck. You will get pulled your first error and not play again for awhile...while girls in #1 or #2 category will be moved to another position if they make too many errors. Example, center made back to back errors, then allowed a runner to get to 2nd on a bunt because she never covered 2nd...she is moved to 2nd base, and still cannot cover 2nd.
If you are fast and a coaches favorite, you will be leadoff...don't matter if your batting average is .200. She is quick, y'all(some southern twang added for effect). It doesn't matter how fast she is if she never gets on base.
With joking aside, a valuable lesson can be taken from this experience....you can only control the controllable. When things don't go your way, you will be stronger in the long run if you stick it out. D was offered a pitching spot at a private school. We could of taken the coach up on his offer and D would of played a lot more. But, what does it teach D? Just quit and go somewhere else when things don't work out the way you want it to. We see that a lot in travel ball...just quit is never the answer. Feel sorry for yourself because you were not a favorite nor mommy and daddy is going to pay for your playing time? No, get out there and work harder. It doesn't matter if not everyone sees how much you work or gotten better...it was never about them but about you. In the long wrong, D became a better player, not just physically but mentally. Sports teaches you more than the game, it also teaches you about life. Life is not always fair...either feel sorry for yourself or get over it. Whatever you do, quitting is never an option.
D's batting improved tremendously, she was at the bottom of the team...now she has the best batting average on her team with .422. Last couple of games, D pitched...she has averaged 2 K's per inning. She pitched against 2 nationally ranked teams and did well....even recorded a couple of strikeouts. Even the coach had praised her for her work ethnic and improvement. If you want to prove a point, let your action shut up the doubters...and keep working hard! Learning not to quit will take you far in life.
 
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Oct 5, 2017
214
43
Western Indiana
Funny you say that about quitting.

Started the season with 22 players.
Going into tonight's game we will have 14 players.
We did not cut anyone. All have quit on their own.

We are a new coaching staff and they do not like the changes. We honestly have not tried to run any of them off. But as soon as they don't get their way they have a reason to leave the team. My parents would have never let em quit mid season.
 
Nov 29, 2009
2,975
83
It's one thing to quit to move into a better situation. It's another thing to quit because you didn't get your way. Too many princesses today. It's easier to quit than to outwork someone else.

To me I think a lot of the mentality falls on our schools with the all-inclusive, feel-good about yourself things that have crept into the school environment to the extreme from the so-called experts. Life can suck at times. The time to deal with it is when the kids are younger. Let them develop the skills to overcome setbacks and disappointments on a smaller scale first.
 
Jun 6, 2016
2,714
113
Chicago
Funny you say that about quitting.

Started the season with 22 players.
Going into tonight's game we will have 14 players.
We did not cut anyone. All have quit on their own.

We are a new coaching staff and they do not like the changes. We honestly have not tried to run any of them off. But as soon as they don't get their way they have a reason to leave the team. My parents would have never let em quit mid season.

22 is a lot to carry on a roster.

Fair to assume most of the ones who quit did so just because there wasn't enough playing time (or even a path to playing time) for many of them?
 
Oct 5, 2017
214
43
Western Indiana
22 is a lot to carry on a roster.

Fair to assume most of the ones who quit did so just because there wasn't enough playing time (or even a path to playing time) for many of them?

We have had JV games scheduled and if they did not play in the varsity game they started the jv game.
4 quit before the first game. 1 after the first game.
 
Apr 16, 2013
1,113
83
Crystal, what team do you all play for? We're 14u, typically play USSSA here in the area. I know you're in the 16/18u category, but sometimes 14 and HS plays at the same venue. Would be nice to meet you if you're playing at the same venue one weekend. Like this weekend, 14u and HS are both playing at ECAP.
 
Jun 19, 2014
846
43
Raleigh,NC
Crystal, what team do you all play for? We're 14u, typically play USSSA here in the area. I know you're in the 16/18u category, but sometimes 14 and HS plays at the same venue. Would be nice to meet you if you're playing at the same venue one weekend. Like this weekend, 14u and HS are both playing at ECAP.

She plays for Impact and Lady Heat.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Nov 3, 2012
480
16
In Response to Indy Coach- accidentally didn't hit reply.



4 JV games isn't much motivation to play, and probably against some other small school JV team which can be pretty uninteresting. Playing with 22 girls on a high school team is just way too much. Im not surprised you have some girls quit. I would assume they just stuck around where they fit in. I would seriously re-think the no-cut policy and get the team to a manageable level. Everybody might be happier after that. If you went with 16 or 17 and found a niche for some of the lower level players, you might not have had the mass exodus.
 
Last edited:
Oct 5, 2017
214
43
Western Indiana
In Response to Indy Coach- accidentally didn't hit reply.



4 JV games isn't much motivation to play, and probably against some other small school JV team which can be pretty uninteresting. Playing with 22 girls on a high school team is just way too much. Im not surprised you have some girls quit. I would assume they just stuck around where they fit in. I would seriously re-think the no-cut policy and get the team to a manageable level. Everybody might be happier after that. If you went with 16 or 17 and found a niche for some of the lower level players, you might not have had the mass exodus.

We actually had 10 JV games scheduled (some where just 5 innings after a varsity game.) But what I was saying is out of 22 girls 4 quit before our first game and 1 the day after the first game. So we were down to 17 after first game. Lost one to injury (16) one quit due to family issues (15) one quit to work more hours (14). Two of those I believe were really due to not starting varsity but gave a different reason.
 

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