Celebrating mediocrity

[Coach JV]

The cold hard truth is some girls are good some are mediocre.
I turned out semi-normal after playing LL baseball where there
was only one league champion, they got trophies nobody else did.
We voted on all stars from 6-8 teams in the league and that was it.

As parents today we are compassionate for all the kids sake. Go back to
the truth-no 2nd tier post-season players. Kids are resilient, they will be mediocre
players who sign up to play with their friends each year. They will all turn out
fine, hopefully no serial killers will emerge from the mediocre group and
lives will go on.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

In rec ball, the season ends pretty quickly, if you aren't on All Stars. If someone can volunteer to put a game together for the rest of the girls, great.

 

[KAT]

Ok..my take

I am a pretty hard nosed when it comes to athletics. I don't really get the everyone plays mentality when it comes to competition. Everyone doesn't get an A in their class for showing up why should it be any different for sports. Now if its recreation I can totally see why everyone would play. With all of this said

I just don't see how this is a problem. Your all-stars have all stars to play in. If you don't feel this All League game represents that title change it! I think its a great way to just foster some love for the game, give those 2nd tier kids ONE GAME to maybe start. It's a game for FUN......I know hard to imagine that concept....I know I have a little hard time swallowing it...LOL

 

[Bill Bollinger]

I think a primary goal (especially a rec league) should be for the girls to have fun...and not just the good ones.

They enjoy the game when they learn the game and can do something well that helps the team do well. Not just by having "fun". Banging on the keys of a piano can be fun, but that doesn't make them want to keep doing it year after year. Lower end kids will keep playing if they actually feel part of the team by being able to do something positive. We spend so much time talking about skill development but never about teaching the game.

I also believe people in general want to be part of something successful. If you hold your local league to the highest performance standards people will want to be part of it. It is when they water everything down and go to the "fun" stuff is when it fails. No different than school. I want my daughter to be challenged to the best of her ability. She is not the smartest kid in class, but I will pull her out of any school that wants to make the #1 priority of her experience at school as having "fun". Softball is no different. People want to be part of something that wants to achieve and be held to high standards. The other stuff is just a bunch of tin hats in room pondering Kierkegaard and John Dewey who think they are smarter than everyone else in the room. Then ask.... "What? Don't you want the kids to have fun?"

Bill

 

[KAT]

Am I not reading this right...this is a recreational league? as apposed to a competitive league? Do people really seek out recreational leagues based on their competitive level? I am totally clueless here. The only experience I have had with rec leagues was when my daughter switched from little league baseball to rec softball to play with her friend and I think I could have had more fun watching paint dry!!! Seriously the coach asked my daughter not to throw the ball so hard instead of teaching the other kids how to throw the ball hard oh yeah or catch it. The rec league was exactly what i would think, kids/parents who have no desire or skills to play at a more competitive level. Or are the lines being blurred here? Are there rec leagues that are super competitive over other rec leagues?

 

[SnocatzDad]

We don't do REC all stars here, but to be honest I think our community travel teams are about on par. We have in house REC teams, but once kids have selected to do that for the summer that is the start and end of their season. We formed 4 12U community travel (all star rec equivalent IMO) the first year I was involved there was an A team, a B team and 2 C teams. As these girls approach their senior year in HS 6 years later next years Varsity team will consist of 3 kids from that A team, 5 from the B and 3 from those C teams. Some kids moved away, others went to other sports, our HS team has been ranked in the top 10 in the state in the top division of play for the last few years, so it wasn't lacking for a draw to be part of excellence. These 11 kids are playing for some of the top summer club travel teams in the state now and you wouldn't be able to guess which were C or A at age 11.

IMO any 10-12 year old that wants to put in the work to be a travel player should be afforded that opportunity regardless of where they are on the pecking order at that age. The larger that pool starts at 10, the better the eventual outcome at 16-17. Thinking a kid deserves special recognition because they have an active pituitary gland and developed a little earlier than their 10 year old counterparts is silly. I can't tell you how many 10 year old rock stars I've seen that 4 years later you can't imagine what you saw there. It's almost to their disadvantage to be good early as many of them can't motivate themselves to work hard to maintain that status and end up getting passed by peers that are working harder and hitting a later growth spurt. There are kids that are special in their early talent and their work ethic and they can maintain their elite status all the way through, but that is not anywhere near 100% the case.

EP's Dad probably knows this better than I do, The perennial #1 HS football team in our state is coached by Bud Grant's kid Mike. Unlike his neighboring programs who start travel football as early as 3rd grade. Mike Grant doesn't allow travel football, keeps all the kids in the largest in house program in the state split on even teams and tells the coaches "Feed me as many players as possible to 9th grade, and I'll sort them out then. It's not your job to cull the herd." That way he doesn't have to worry that he missed out on a 200 lb defensive end who had the misfortune to get cut from the 4th grade travel football team for being too small and decided to go play soccer.

 

[andyh64000]

They enjoy the game when they learn the game and can do something well that helps the team do well. Not just by having "fun". Banging on the keys of a piano can be fun, but that doesn't make them want to keep doing it year after year. Lower end kids will keep playing if they actually feel part of the team by being able to do something positive. We spend so much time talking about skill development but never about teaching the game.

I also believe people in general want to be part of something successful. If you hold your local league to the highest performance standards people will want to be part of it. It is when they water everything down and go to the "fun" stuff is when it fails. No different than school. I want my daughter to be challenged to the best of her ability. She is not the smartest kid in class, but I will pull her out of any school that wants to make the #1 priority of her experience at school as having "fun". Softball is no different. People want to be part of something that wants to achieve and be held to high standards. The other stuff is just a bunch of tin hats in room pondering Kierkegaard and John Dewey who think they are smarter than everyone else in the room. Then ask.... "What? Don't you want the kids to have fun?"

Bill

I wasn't talking about changing the philosophy of the league...I was commenting on one game at an end of season BBQ which I thought would be *fun* for the girls who play in it.

 

[AZball]

I think the reason to have rec softball is to promote and teach softball within your town,theirs a fine line between fun and competition and some parents have a huge problem with somebody that wants the players to reach for excellence.Some Board members know nothing about the game cause leagues struggle to get people to volunteer...I suggest join the board next year.

 

[Coachmom]

In rec ball, the season ends pretty quickly, if you aren't on All Stars. If someone can volunteer to put a game together for the rest of the girls, great.

Amy, This post was not about some random parents putting together a game it is about a League Sponsored Event that excludes the Allstars from participating.
If parents want to put together a scrimmage game that's fine but as a league I believe it sends the absolute wrong message.
Nobody from our BoD has yet answered my question about what this game is supposed to represent.

 

[Coachmom]

Again, maybe it's just me, but can you imagine being one of the girls who gets chosen for this? I would HATE knowing that I'm one of the best players left after the best players got picked for all-stars...It's kinda like getting to go to the prom with a guy after 5 other girls turned him down, and the whole school knew he didn't really want to take you to begin with.

Stephanie,
I agree, its like a pity party and what kind of message is that sending?
Not a good one in my opinion.