Are there S.B. Coaching Credentials?

[radness]

Are there softball coaching credentials?

How do you define softball coaching credentials?

Excluding college ball & High school.

How about for the anyone can step up and do it positions....
Rec
&
Travel

What resume would you look for?

 

[Jdaddy]

Experience and success. I don’t think you can rule out HS coaches because a lot of the good ones coach travel too. They love softball! They truly want kids to succeed. It’s not about ego, but the love of the game.

I believe some of the best true coaches are coaching B ball. They are not about accruing talent, but making B players into A players.

 

[GELLO]

Coaching credentials -
#1 You have a daughter that plays.....
#2 You are a former baseball player.....

Just kidding.

Many many dads/mothers are great coaches. If you are open minded, fair, engaged, passionate, and willing to learn, you can be good coach. There are a LOT of great coaches that have kids that play.

On the other hand, just because you played the game, doesn’t qualify you as a coach.

 

[Traps71]

Ideally, I think you would want someone who had significant playing experience (high school and travel; college would be even better) as well as someone who has kept up with the game since they stopped playing. Another positive would be someone with other experience coaching youth sports. However, at the Rec/Little League level--perhaps the most important level for getting girls into the game--this is not realistic. If you held to this sort of standard, you wouldn't have enough teams for girls to play on. Our local Little League has a strong softball tradition and we still struggle to find coaches every year at the different levels.

At the earliest ages, the reality is that you are going to get a mom or a dad who perhaps played the game in their youth and knows the basics. I think this is ok--it sort of has to be--as long as the coach understands how much they don't know, commits to learning, and seeks help from those that know more. In the case of a Little League or Rec, the League should be helping new or inexperienced coaches by hosting clinics and such with those who can help teach key skills. For example, our LL hosts a pitching clinic in the offseason by a woman that pitched for UVA back in the day. If you are serious about pitching, it certainly has its limits, but it provides a place to start on a movement that is alien to most people.

At higher levels of play--and certainly if you are talking about "national" level travel teams--then I think coaches should have a resume that gives them credibility. Presumably this is partly what folks are paying for at that level. But at the youngest levels (8U, 10U) the sport needs parent volunteers and the sport should be helping them. It definitely should not wave them off because they don't have the requisite street cred. They have to start somewhere and the longer they do it--again, assuming an open mind--the better they should get. For what I would guess is the vast majority of girls, these folks are helping to build the foundation, for better or worse, that supposedly higher-level coaches are going to inherit.

 

[GELLO]

Traps71 you are100% correct, you have to start somewhere.

Quality coaching clinics would be great for local Rec departments and even for many middle/high school level coaches to attend.

The problem is finding the QUALITY. And having folks buy in. Too many think being LOUD and making the kids RUN makes a good coach.

Some people just have a gift to be able to teach. They have the unique ability to convey the needed skill, correction, feel, or whatever it maybe.

Others don’t have this skill, regardless of past playing experience, I truly believe this.

 

[Lemond]

I have my ACE certification, and basic first aid. Plus, I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night, so I'm GTG!

 

[Gags]

Our basketball league hosts a PCA (Positive Coaching Alliance) seminar at the start of every season. For the majority of us that spend time on DFP, you won't learn anything earth-shattering, but you'll still come away with some new things to add to your toolbox. I also like that they offer a "next level" seminar for coaches who have already attended the initial one.

Both sessions I've been have had great speakers - I think that's one of the programs strengths - PCA seems to put a priority on the quality of the presenters, which helps when you're 60 minutes into sitting in a folding chair or school auditorium, you've already put in a full day at the office, and still haven't had dinner.

As a credential - concussion awareness would be a good one as well. I've asked a team parent to take the course for that - thanks for the reminder that I need to follow-up on that request. (I want take it myself, but I don't want to be the only one).

 

[Ken Krause]

The National Fastpitch Coaches Association has its Master Coach program. It is the best overall coaching program I have found. You spend about 20 hours over two or three days delving into a single area. If you are serious about learning the craft it is a great way to do it.

 

[Ken Krause]

That's 20 hours per course. You need two courses to achieve One Star certification. There are four stars in all, so that's eight classes, or 160 hours (roughly) of training.

 

[The Man In Blue]

Having run a rec program ...

Requirement #1 — do you have a pulse?
Requirement #2 — can you pass a background check?

Requirement #1 is negotiable. Requirement #2 is optional.

My biggest frustration when I ran the program was the unwillingness to step up, but the ease at which complaining occurred. It was a Catch 22 for me ... the whole point of the program was for kids to play ... so do I tell kids they can’t play because I can’t find decent coaches, or do I take mediocre coaches because I have kids that want to play?

I tried to develop training, clinics, etc. to provide “coaches“ with the support they needed. They wouldn’t show up. But they were there the first day they could get equipment and draft a team.

I hate to say it, but I gave up. I had a Board that was made up of those same people, so I had no backing.