10U Coach Giving Take Sign on 3-0 Count

[Rolling Hard]

Yeah but you are from CA, the softball Mecca of the universe..

Facts

 

[daywalkerdad]

How is a take sign teaching a kid the game?

 

[RADcatcher]

How is a take sign teaching a kid the game?

Strategy in the game. Whether people like the strategy to take on 3-0 or not it is strategy.

What is the situation with this hitter? What if this hitter is the number 9 hitter and hasn't been on base her last 20 PA's. Maybe the coach wants her to have a chance to get on base? What if the pitcher hasn't pitched a strike in the last 8 pitches?

What is "Traveling City League" anyway?

My Response was a comment acknowledging the questions Orange Socks posted.
>There is more to the situation than just a batter being asked to take.

The Op question is a good one but the responses can be very open-ended because there was lack of more information.
____________________________________
Thankfully now there is a lot more interest in other states to develop softball!

 

[RADcatcher]

There is plenty of coaching to be done at 10u level. Even rec ball. In fact that's when the players develop listening skills. My DD was part of a 10u rec allstar team that went to Nationals in Boise. It was a very good team and those players were well coached. And I am sure most, if not all of them, understood why they were taking 3-0.

BOOM THERE IT IS!

 

[_MIA_]

BOOM THERE IT IS!

QED..no further discussion necessary.

 

[Sweet Lou]

A coach recently playing 10U Softball in a 10U traveling city league gave the player a take sign on a 3-0 count while leading in the 4th inning by a score of 6 to 0. Is this the correct way to teach softball? As a parent how should you approach the coach?

Not enough facts to make a good reply. It could be good. It could be bad.

 

[daywalkerdad]

Strategy in the game. Whether people like the strategy to take on 3-0 or not it is strategy.

What does the batter learn that helps them with batting? If they follow the take they already know how to follow instructions. The batter has no strategic decision.
Not against the take just do not not see it as teaching.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

In most rec leagues if a pitcher can throw a strike is a blessing from the gods and I sure as hell am not going to ask my hitter "to take the pitch". I don't care about the count or scenario.

It just builds excuses as some kids just want to walk period and they never develop as hitters. HIt the strikes, swing at the balls that are close enough. No excuses. Let's go.

 

[RADcatcher]

What does the batter learn that helps them with batting? If they follow the take they already know how to follow instructions. The batter has no strategic decision.
Not against the take just do not not see it as teaching.

How about
+ batting/ being in the box, is more than just swinging a bat.
+We don't know if the batter has previously been given a take sign and this may be their opportunity to learn seeing that signal.
+ Applying the signal they have been given. Aka following the coaches direction.
+They can learn why the coach is making a strategic decision. Because it may be for different reasons in that moment.
+Takes the pressure off of the moment.
+To get a good look
If a strike is thrown see what that looks like.


With the basic information of the team is up 6 and 0. I would be a coach saying the green light is on hit it if you like it.

 

[sluggers]

A recurring problem is people believing that softball "where they live" is like softball "everywhere in the world." It isn't. (I have, in fact, been to SoCal rec league games. They have little resemblance to rec league games in the rest of the US.)

E.g., some rec leagues in the vast American hinterland have a 5 run limit per inning, all players bat, and the pitcher must arc the ball. There is usually a one hour practice each week, assuming you can find an open field--and by "field" I don't mean a "softball field"...I mean literally "an open space where the grass is cut short enough to find the ball after it has been hit." Such a league is mainly "for fun," with a few well-meaning but insane people (usually dads) trying to make the league into a mini-CWS.

I've had kids on a 10U rec league team who have never threw a ball or held a bat before. I've had physically and mentally challenged kids on the team. So, trying to teach the intricacy of the "batting game" is a little over the top.

Personally, over my ridiculously lengthy career coaching rec baseball and softball, I never gave signs during rec league games. And, in my much shorter career as a rec baseball player, I was never given a sign.