Bizarre Coaching Situation - Could use some advice

[marriard]

The batting order is continuous within the game and no player can sit twice until everyone sits once. I am just protecting the players who are scared of the ball and batting them last. I was one of those kids myself and remember the anxiety of the on deck circle. Obviously, it's my hope that by season's end this won't be the case.

So you think they are going to get less scared of the ball by batting them less?

For rec you mix the order up - get them out there as much as possible. I regularly bat one of the new players 1st or 2nd - often it is good if they have less time to think about it. Also hitting can be contagious - putting a less experienced batter behind a hitter will often get them a hit.

 

[PA SB Dad]

I am just protecting the players who are scared of the ball and batting them last. I was one of those kids myself and remember the anxiety of the on deck circle. Obviously, it's my hope that by season's end this won't be the case.

That is just an excuse for laziness on your part. You should not be protecting the kids, you should be teaching the kids how to protect themselves when they are up. Each year, I take the girls to the batting cage (10U through 14U) and have them stand on home plate. I fire the Baden Lite Flight balls from a pitching machine and teach them to turn away to protect themselves, and learn how to get hit with a pitch. I take those same balls and front toss them (from behind a screen) and have them hit - some of the balls will hit the kids, others they need to learn to swing at. Giving them fewer at bats will only make them more anxious when they come to bat, not less.

 

[CoyoteCoach]

I guess I see practice as the time to develop confidence at the plate.

 

[mad hornet]

Please let us know how this plays out with you and the organization.

 

[2 DD Coach]

I guess I see practice as the time to develop confidence at the plate.

I think this is a valid statement. IMOP it also shows that your not being lazy, you have thought this out and decided on a course of action that you consider best for the girls on your team.

The one problem I see is that you just don't have enough practice time. We will be having our 7th game tonight, and we have had 12 practices. So yes, it would be nice to build confidence in practice, but it looks like you won't have that luxury.

Are your girls scared of the ball? Or is it the thought of standing up in front of everyone and striking out?

 

[CoyoteCoach]

Please let us know how this plays out with you and the organization.

Thank you everyone for your feedback. The situation is still playing out without a conclusion. I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[CoyoteCoach]

Are your girls scared of the ball? Or is it the thought of standing up in front of everyone and striking out?

Scared of the ball. Even on outside pitches the stride is away from the plate.

 

[HornetsCoach]

i once was coaching a U10 boys team and one the boys couldn't hit the ball with the bat under any circumstance. and i mean none, worst hitter i'd seen out of about 200 kids.

i had read on a forum to try allowing him only bunt, and bunt only, every time at bat. so i tried it for about six games.

it worked out great to the surprise of myself and everyone else. he got confident from all the contact, and got on base plenty as well because, well, once the ball was in play on the field anytihng could happen and he ended up being a pretty good hitter at teh end.

 

[PGSAKen]

Since Sluggers has given you some batting order advice I will give you my $0.02. Most rec leagues require you to bat everyone. They also usually have an allowable number of runs per inning. The secret is to make sure you score the maximum number of runs every inning and you do that by spreading out your weak hitters. It you lump them together at the bottom of the batting order the probably of scoring no runs that inning increases dramatically! If you are able to 'coach up' your weakest hitters your chances of winning go up exponentially!

Great advice. I will supplement by saying hitting is contagious so stack 2 types of qulaity hitters and follow with a weaker hitter so she has opportunity and confidence thanks to the previous batters in the lineup. Never stack the weaker hitters as its demoralizing to a less confident/capable hitter.

 

[Sweet Lou]

CC what you are doing by no means sounds wrong. But I agree with others who have said that there needs to be a clearer deliniation of responsibilties.

In our rec league we have specific rules about playing time what the manger does (all game decisions, practice schedule, playing time, batting order, etc.), what the coach does (support manager on field and practice, cover for manager if not available) and what the team mom/coordinator does (uniforms, snack list, team party, fund raising, etc.).

I'm coaching 8U rec and let's call it "semi-competitive" we do keep score and standings and play a 16 game schedule, though rain is playing havoc with it so far, but every team makes the playoffs.

We bat the whole order and I do have several girls who this is their first experience with softball and they aren't that good. Doesn't really matter, we try and coach them all up. I keep track of plate appearances and try to even them out even though I have 3 or 4 girls who are quite good and we'd have a better chance of winning if I stacked them at the top of the lineup. But then the girls who aren't that good would get much fewer PAs and not really improve. So what I do is if we got through the lineup 2.5 times, the gilrs who got 3 PAs this game would bat at the bottom half next game and the girls who got 2 PAs would bat at the top. Not necessarily the same order but I would move them around.

For fielding we had 12 girls, so every 6 innings each girl gets 3 innings in infield, 2 in outfield and one on the bench with the coaches.

I have one girl who is a really good pitcher and 8 others who want to pitch. None are particularly good yet as this the first year pitching for most of them. But we keep rotating them just the same. I could take the 3 or 4 that I think have the most potential and just pitch them. I think we'd have a decent staff after 16 games but that's not really my focus. Not saying my approach is correct, just saying how I do it.

Like Momo's Dad I feel 1B is a saftey issue and if they are afraid of the ball or can't catch, I don't put them at 1B.

I explained all of this to parents at the original team meeting and made sure they were all OK with it and what my coaching philosophy was going to be.

Over the years we've had some managers who give more or less equal time and some who play their best girls at the most critical postions as much as they are allowed to.

We have a summer all-star travel/select team for our league and that's the place where rotations stop, girls play mostly one or two positions and only the top 2 to 4 pitchers ever get circle time.

Personally I think that's a good balance; others may disagree. Now winning is more fun than losing but there are plenty of good teachable momments and good indvidual plays that you can go over with your team even in defeat.