$400,000 for boys baseball field, $27,000 for girls softball field.

[quincy]

Dad is President of Naperville LL, like 1400 teams or something. I also grew up there, graduated from Naperville North.

DD plays against the diamonds a few times a year, not my favorite team but just my opinion.

All the softball fields we played on are fine, we have never had any Issues.

By the way baseball team is usually pretty good, softball team not so much.

 

[Cannonball]

Dad is President of Naperville LL, like 1400 teams or something. I also grew up there, graduated from Naperville North.

DD plays against the diamonds a few times a year, not my favorite team but just my opinion.

All the softball fields we played on are fine, we have never had any Issues.

By the way baseball team is usually pretty good, softball team not so much.

How good or bad the softball team isn't the point. If you have a daughter and that is their status quo, you can't stand for that. Your dds all deserve equality IF the situation is as reported. If you allow that then you are saying that your dd is second class.

 

[Cannonball]

Why don't the parents just chip in and work? It doesn't take tens of thousands to rehab a field and build cages. I've never felt that complaining or whining was the answer. I'm fine with rolling up my sleeves and rallying the troops

That is fine and is how I got a lot of stuff done. However, when it comes to money spent, you can't ask parents of the softball players to foot the bill. Asking that boys and girl's teams being treated fairly and equally is not whining. I've been the HC of 4 teams and I've seen the difference on how teams are treated. Thank goodness the administration I work for treats everyone equally. We are not allowed to have a specific booster club for any sport to prevent this from happening. We have one booster club that treats all sports equally and does its best to make sure all teams get what they need. I just got 8 new golf bags for my girl's golf team. They are top of the line. I get nice logo balls every year. I get range balls, carts for coaches in our matches, ... all paid for. Again, I know first hand what happens other places and it isn't right.

 

[quincy]

I disagree.

We have like 30 people from both teams come out to SB game, absolutely no reason to build a stadium. Baseball there can be hundreds.

Give me a good field, which they do, I am happy.

 

[Cannonball]

I disagree.

We have like 30 people from both teams come out to SB game, absolutely no reason to build a stadium. Baseball there can be hundreds.

Give me a good field, which they do, I am happy.

Do you believe that the difference in that team's ability to compete is that they don't have the facilities? Boys get cages and girls don't. Boys get bullpen areas and the girls don't. Then, you state that the girls aren't as competitive. I don't wonder why. They are being treated as second class citizens and produce results as such. I'd bet it is the same with the quality of coaches etc. At least since you accept this, you won't complain about how terrible the girl's programs are. Just accept it.

 

[quincy]

I think it is a rabbit hole and excuses. DD is good regardless of coaches or facilitys.

Naperville should have really good softball teams not sure why they do not.

Facilities is low on my list why.

 

[Westwind]

I don’t see how softball doesn’t have great facilities at every school that foots the bill for that wondrous super sport called football.

9 game season here. We stink. No expenses spared.

Do you believe that the difference in that team's ability to compete is that they don't have the facilities? Boys get cages and girls don't. Boys get bullpen areas and the girls don't. Then, you state that the girls aren't as competitive. I don't wonder why. They are being treated as second class citizens and produce results as such. I'd bet it is the same with the quality of coaches etc. At least since you accept this, you won't complain about how terrible the girl's programs are. Just accept it.

Absolutely right. To run a really good daily practice I’d like to see two cages and pitching practice area. And spend as much time and thought on hiring a head softball coach and staff as the weeks and months of cogitation and fussing that goes into hiring a football coach or a basketball coach.

Administrators treat softball like an activity not a sport despite the fact that more softball players go on to play in college than any of the boys sports combined. Maybe not in other places but definitely true in my area. D1 football players? No. Yet my area has produced numerous sb players, some of which played/play at the highest level of college softball.

 

[Cannonball]

I think it is a rabbit hole and excuses. DD is good regardless of coaches or facilitys.

Naperville should have really good softball teams not sure why they do not.

Facilities is low on my list why.

I really can't believe we are arguing about this. You are ok with your dd and her team being treated as second class citizens?

Well, I guess your dd is fine then. For the team I coach, we have two astro turf cages. We set up 8 stations in those cages. Two of those stations are front toss. My players get in a few hundred swings per night. When it has rained, if it has stopped, we can get outside and hit while the OF players can field hundreds of balls in the OF. I tend to think that makes us better. I can coach all of those stations from one central position. We have a bullpen area where 2 pitchers can throw at the same time. It is pretty nice. We have yet another for the visiting team where, in practice, our JV pitchers can throw. I tend to think that this makes us better.

Our varsity and jv fields are covered with turface but more importantly, dredge. Dredge is an underlay that sucks up the water and we can play most times after about an hour after it stops raining. That stuff is expensive. The boys got it, we got it.

Per our staff, we have two coaches who are career record holders at the universities that they attended. Our HC played. I am kind of held in high regard as a coach. In short, our staff is second to none. We have a paid scorekeeper who is a teacher and fanatic about keeping an accurate book. We run one of the best tournaments in our part of the state. You complain about the quality of HS softball in you area and the school your dd attends. I don't understand why you don't get it but now, maybe I do.

Edited to add:

How does a coach build a program that players want to be a part of? Well, facilities are a major part of that. We have camp week this week. We have 47 players in that camp. Those players not only represent our school district, we have players from 4 other school districts there. We have at least 4 players who live in our community that have to pick between a private school and our HS. We know who they are and now, they get to see our facilities and meet our coaching staff. No one stands around because we have the facilities. In two weeks, we will have an "advanced hitting camp." We have 24 signed up for it already and we created it yesterday. That is what facilities can do. BTW, coaches in our school district can not be paid more than $125 per camp. All of the rest of that money will go into our program. We have 2 pitching machines which we rarely use to hit with. We use them for OF practice. We have 10 screens. We have cambats, wooden bats, TCB balls with the holes in them, whiphits, ... We have all of this because we can match the boy baseball in every regard.

 

[Westwind]

Our varsity and jv fields are covered with turface but more importantly, dredge. Dredge is an underlay that sucks up the water and we can play most times after about an hour after it stops raining. That stuff is expensive.

Sorry to keep yapping on your posts but you keep hitting on good stuff.

That expensive material is a good investment if you can do it because the more games you get in, the better for the players which is lost on many schools and coaches. Playing makes you better, obviously, but also if you can get games in early in the season, the kids get recognition that other schools kids can’t because they can’t play on the diamonds. Also with getting more games in, the kids get more chances to set records and maybe get some post season recognition.

 

[bobbyb]

How does a coach build a program that players want to be a part of?

This is huge imo.

One of the best things about having a nice on campus field... is kids coming out of school watching the game. The junior high team comes and plays on it too.

The girls feel like they represent their school now...they are a part of things, they really feel like they are playing for something more. They get recognition for their efforts.

They had twice as many girls try out this year than last year.

It helps build the program.

Playing across town had so many issues it was crazy including safety of even getting there.

I could tell you all kinds of inequality and challenges we had during our process. While we kept it positive as we could...believe me...there was a lot that went on!