New to this forum - for some background, I’m AC on a 2nd year 10u B level team. I played D1 baseball, HC played D1 softball, other AC played thru HS (though her husband had a cup of coffee in the show). It’s a great group who the three of us have coached since they were 7, so we’re largely responsible for all the good (and bad) they’ve picked up till now. Lord help the 12u coaches we hand them off to next year...
Anyway, went to the cages this rainy afternoon. It’s a small facility with one cage for 45mph softball (there’s a 55mph cage, but can count on two fingers the girls we’ll face next spring who will crack 50). There’s one girl in the cage - the AC and his DD from our cross county rival, the Yankees to our Red Sox, an evenly matched but not always friendly competition. A head nod of acknowledgement, but nothing else really said as the two girls took their turns, each of us coaching our own.
My DD was hitting well today, but the rival girl was struggling. She’s one of their better hitters usually, but mechanics were awful today, and he wasn’t exactly offering her any super helpful or insightful guidance.
Would you have offered any observations? I’m a coach, and I could see two or three really obvious corrections I could have offered up. Bit my tongue though because wasn’t sure how it would be received. Definitely not staying silent because they’re our rival - I want all girls to get better and learn whenever and wherever they can...guess I was more concerned about his reaction. We’ve had some lively disagreements on the field, but were holding what seemed to be a civilized truce in this moment.
Bite your tongue, or coaches coach?
Ps, on the ride home I mentioned I was surprised how many rounds DD took, she said “I wasn’t stopping before she did”...
Anyway, went to the cages this rainy afternoon. It’s a small facility with one cage for 45mph softball (there’s a 55mph cage, but can count on two fingers the girls we’ll face next spring who will crack 50). There’s one girl in the cage - the AC and his DD from our cross county rival, the Yankees to our Red Sox, an evenly matched but not always friendly competition. A head nod of acknowledgement, but nothing else really said as the two girls took their turns, each of us coaching our own.
My DD was hitting well today, but the rival girl was struggling. She’s one of their better hitters usually, but mechanics were awful today, and he wasn’t exactly offering her any super helpful or insightful guidance.
Would you have offered any observations? I’m a coach, and I could see two or three really obvious corrections I could have offered up. Bit my tongue though because wasn’t sure how it would be received. Definitely not staying silent because they’re our rival - I want all girls to get better and learn whenever and wherever they can...guess I was more concerned about his reaction. We’ve had some lively disagreements on the field, but were holding what seemed to be a civilized truce in this moment.
Bite your tongue, or coaches coach?
Ps, on the ride home I mentioned I was surprised how many rounds DD took, she said “I wasn’t stopping before she did”...