So...we set our schedule and all the athletes on the team gave me a calendar with dates so we could set excusable misses from practice. From that I made the best schedule possible. Monday we do pitchers and catchers and extra help for others, Wednesday team practice and Sunday team practice. All the girls know that if they miss practice we will talk as coaches and administer consequences for none excusable absences. My one pitcher has now “told” me (not asked) she will miss a pitching practice do to a basketball game. When I asked her why this was not on her calendar and why she is choosing the other team. She said she felt obligated. This girl just found out a month ago that she got a partial scholarship to a school she wanted for softball not basketball. She has also spurted out at a practice that I could not do this with out her in a giggle. WELL...I’ve gave myself the 24hr rule and I am looking for advice! We are a travel team and Oh and in the conversation with her she said her parents did not want to attend a specific tournament because we will get waxed! Well I wonder why...so much for all the work on team spirit and “believe” we do. We have a parent meeting in a couple days. Has anyone been through this!?!? It’s a first for me.
Athlete trouble or manageable?
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I am wondering what state you are in because most HS's are in basketball season, with softball to follow immediately. So, if she has a school basketball game - school comes first. Actually, a game comes first before pitching practice, IF you were told that she also plays basketball.
Is she going to a pitching coach, or is that happening at your practice? She has to do one or the other, in my opinion.
You are right to lay out all of the problems with her parents. It is best to discuss everything and get it out in the open. I would also discuss her attitude and say that if you don't have her 100% team support that you need to let her go and find someone else.
She may be going through senioritis and is putting things on cruise control. That might come back to haunt her.
Is she going to a pitching coach, or is that happening at your practice? She has to do one or the other, in my opinion.
You are right to lay out all of the problems with her parents. It is best to discuss everything and get it out in the open. I would also discuss her attitude and say that if you don't have her 100% team support that you need to let her go and find someone else.
She may be going through senioritis and is putting things on cruise control. That might come back to haunt her.
- Feb 3, 2011
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Without hesitation. This is the type of incident that can affect your credibility with the team for the remainder of their time with you. Let them know that you're still running the team.
Often...once you have reached a goal ie "got her partial scholarship"...you change your perspective...especially if you don't have another goal set.
Sometimes it can be the big headed thing...where you spout off ridiculous words while your basking in the glory of your accomplishment….sometimes it simply can be that there were no other real goals.
Depending on her personality…the statement of “not doing it without her” …while giggling…may have been a joke she was making...funny or not…from her new perspective.
Talk to her and parents and find out more whats going on…if it’s a big headed thing…nip it in the bud and move on…if its in regard to re-setting goals and focus…teach her that.
Sometimes it can be the big headed thing...where you spout off ridiculous words while your basking in the glory of your accomplishment….sometimes it simply can be that there were no other real goals.
Depending on her personality…the statement of “not doing it without her” …while giggling…may have been a joke she was making...funny or not…from her new perspective.
Talk to her and parents and find out more whats going on…if it’s a big headed thing…nip it in the bud and move on…if its in regard to re-setting goals and focus…teach her that.
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- Jun 22, 2008
- 3,438
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Well, hopefully, she is also giggling.
(Please note that the girl in question is probably a 17 YOA young girl.)
It doesn't seem that what she is doing is going to hurt the team at all.
I don't disagree with what she is doing...I do disagree with her approach. (By the way, that in a nutshell is the problem with teenage girls...they have the social skills of a bull in china shop.)
(1) Athletes enjoy the competition. That is why they put up with coaches. They don't live to go to some gym or dog run and throw 200 pitches--they live to test themselves against others. That is what competitive athletes are all about.
(2) If she is good enough to get money to play in college, she probably practiced enough for 10 lifetimes. She has given up a lot to get where she is. And she will make even more sacrifices in the next 4 years. I can't imagine that 60 minutes more of practice would make any difference in her performance.
(3) She is probably stating the obvious--you probably need her a lot more than she needs you. She already has a scholarship. So, the maximum penalty is kicking her off the team--which means she would get to have a "normal" summer, which would be the first one she has had ever had in years. That probably is not much of a threat.
You can't pull the "rah rah" stuff on older girls and certainly not on seasoned TB parents that have been going to tournaments for 10 years. By that time, parents who know the game can watch the other team's pitcher and accurately predict the score.
It doesn't seem that what she is doing is going to hurt the team at all.
I don't disagree with what she is doing...I do disagree with her approach. (By the way, that in a nutshell is the problem with teenage girls...they have the social skills of a bull in china shop.)
(1) Athletes enjoy the competition. That is why they put up with coaches. They don't live to go to some gym or dog run and throw 200 pitches--they live to test themselves against others. That is what competitive athletes are all about.
(2) If she is good enough to get money to play in college, she probably practiced enough for 10 lifetimes. She has given up a lot to get where she is. And she will make even more sacrifices in the next 4 years. I can't imagine that 60 minutes more of practice would make any difference in her performance.
(3) She is probably stating the obvious--you probably need her a lot more than she needs you. She already has a scholarship. So, the maximum penalty is kicking her off the team--which means she would get to have a "normal" summer, which would be the first one she has had ever had in years. That probably is not much of a threat.
You can't pull the "rah rah" stuff on older girls and certainly not on seasoned TB parents that have been going to tournaments for 10 years. By that time, parents who know the game can watch the other team's pitcher and accurately predict the score.
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Hopefully shes only giggling!That would be my RED button. I've produced championship teams and some great players in my time. But if I EVER heard that come out of one of my girls, or boys when in baseball, I would have sent them packing right then. I don't need any of them, but there ARE 8 others on the the field that DO need everyone to be involved 100%. I just called a college coach friend of ours and presented this problem to her. She said if she heard of one of her recruits saying something like that, or acting like - "that player would find her name dropped from the roster before she ever started. If this player has not been taught how to act respectably and would do this sort of thing now, what is she going to do to "me" in her senior year of college". If I got that attitude, I'd make darn sure their new coach knew they just got canned from my team. I know the differance between a funny quick witted retort and a smart a$$, I'm now better than everyone here - my flatulence has no odor, remark. But as someone on here said - talk about it and get it in the open-- things like this are covered on day one of each new season for my teams. Not that you DON'T do that Longball. Good luck Coach.
- Feb 8, 2009
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I don't overreact to what teenaged girls say, or what another teenaged girl claims to have heard. If you do (react to hearsay), then you are creating conflict yourself. You need to be more objective than your players.
Unless, of course, the girl had a 65MPH fastball, in which case the coach would pretend she didn't hear the remark.
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