DDs see no honor in being called up to varsity, and riding the bench-hear me out.

[Bob516]

They have to learn that freshman aren’t going to play because they as good as the juniors and seniors. A freshman has to be significantly better.

As I said in my original post, at the parent's meeting before the season started the HC said there are freshmen (DDs) who should be playing varsity and upperclassman who should be playing JV, then said he is playing all of his nine returning players from last year. So he even stated outright that they deserve to be on varsity, but that is not what he did.

He's made several statements of how his DD is better than the older girls. It’s clear he’s expecting significant playing time over them. He doesn’t have to complain to the coach. There’s enough of it on here, in front of his kids and to other parents. He’s made multiple statements about his daughters not wanting to be there. That in itself shows a lack of maturity.

When did I say I complained to the coach?

I said DDs do not feel honored to sit on the bench and watch girls, who the HC himself said should be playing JV. DDs watching the varsity team play, making sometimes ten errors in a game, does not fill them with any sense of honor.

Yes, I’m making assumptions. It comes from experience. I’ve seen and heard so many freshman parents complain about the same thing. They’re on the best travel team with the best coaches. The juniors and seniors are inferior.

That may have been your experience, but that does not mean every other situation is identical to yours. I never said either DD was on the best team. One is on a showcase team, the other is on a B-level team. I certainly never said they have the best coaches.

DD’s HS coach played D1, was an All-American, won a national championship and went on to coach 20 years at the D1 level. Freshman parents would come in and still say she wasn’t qualified!

What does this have to do with my situation?

Time to be blunt. Your kids aren't starting varsity for one of two reasons and possibly both. They're not that good, or you're being a pain in the butt and coach is taking it out on your kids. It's time to back off.

Again, making grand assumptions, without any basis for knowing what is going on. Am being a pain in the butt? I have not talked to the coach at all. I have no interest and see no value in talking to him since his mind is set, regardless of the level of ability, he played the upperclassmen.

If we disagree, fine, but making assumptions about the situation, does not further a discussion and to me seems more counterproductive than helpful.

 

[Bob516]

This is the first time in the parent's life where they have no control, and they can't move Little Daisy to another team.

Not so in my case. One year DD was put on the "weaker" team in her organization. In the late spring and summer one year she had been getting sloppy, riding on her talent, not working on improving her skills, so she was moved down. She hated it. Though she didn't know it at the time, It was the best thing that could have happened to her.

Being moved down within the organization lit a fire under her that has not stopped. Since then she has never taken it for granted that she has to always be improving or she is going to be left behind.

 

[Bob516]

I have to wonder about the coaches in this area. They truly must be terrible.

A lot of them are. The schools are required to hire coaches from within the school faculty first. If no one wants to coach a sport, then, and only then, does the district look elsewhere for coaches. Does not make for the best coaches.

 

[Cannonball]

Bob, I am a coach within the faculty. When they needed a coach, I was one of the people asked to do so. I'm sure that despite having one losing season in all sports combined, there were parents who didn't think I was qualified. Simply stating that someone is a teacher doesn't mean that you know their qualifications. I'll give one example with girl's golf. I was not the "popular choice" at the time. Then parents wanted to know why I got the job instead of ... Well, ... didn't understand things like Jim Hardy and his ideas on the one and two plane swings. That candidate didn't know Mo Norman and his thoughts on natural golf. That candidate wasn't a scratch golfer. Still, the parents were upset. The Doctor was the most vocal and was, in fact, the first parent I had banned from coming to matches. He refused to stop giving his daughter advice and so I disqualified her in a match and had him banned by the school board. The popular choice wouldn't do that. The parents would have run the team if they got their choice. Instead, we started winning and winning a lot. We started sending girls to sectional tournaments and state. We became a power. I resigned this position last week since I am retiring. I made sure that my replacement volunteered last fall to follow me around and learn how to run that program. I'm going to bet that she won't be popular right away but she will be awesome!

 

[Bob516]

I am a coach within the faculty.

I did not mean to suggest that a faculty member coach is automatically not qualified. From what I hear he has consistently lead his fall team to many winning seasons, and a few conference championships. I take it that he is highly qualified to coach that sport.

Besides the issue of keeping (by his own words) varsity-level freshmen in JV, when upperclassmen on varsity who should be playing JV, the skills and drills he works on with the team run contrary to what DDs have been taught in travel ball. DDs have a list of all those things. During the practice the day after pitcher DD had a bad game in the circle he told her to go to the side and throw 50 strikes to build up her confidence. She didn't want to simply try to throw strikes to build confidence, she wanted to understand what was wrong with her mechanics. What good is trying to throw 50 strikes when a pitchers mechanics are off. Seems to me more likely than not the pitcher is only going to get more frustrated until her mechanics are corrected.

I'm sincerely glad you had a positive experience coaching.

My basis for questioning his qualifications to coach softball doesn't come from any of my own thoughts. When DDs come home after practice and explain to me that what he is teaching goes counter to what they have been taught, that is my basis. When I am at a game I clap and keep my mouth shut except for saying "yeah" when DDs' team does well. I know I don't know enough about the game to criticize anyone's coaching.

 

[redtop]

Some of the best HS coaches I've seen are teachers.

Some aren't

 

[Cannonball]

Some of every profession are good and some aren't. Why would anyone expect differently with regards to coaching. Some TB Coaches are good and some aren't. See how that works!

 

[FP26]

I did not mean to suggest that a faculty member coach is automatically not qualified. From what I hear he has consistently lead his fall team to many winning seasons, and a few conference championships. I take it that he is highly qualified to coach that sport.

Besides the issue of keeping (by his own words) varsity-level freshmen in JV, when upperclassmen on varsity who should be playing JV, the skills and drills he works on with the team run contrary to what DDs have been taught in travel ball. DDs have a list of all those things. During the practice the day after pitcher DD had a bad game in the circle he told her to go to the side and throw 50 strikes to build up her confidence. She didn't want to simply try to throw strikes to build confidence, she wanted to understand what was wrong with her mechanics. What good is trying to throw 50 strikes when a pitchers mechanics are off. Seems to me more likely than not the pitcher is only going to get more frustrated until her mechanics are corrected.

I'm sincerely glad you had a positive experience coaching.

My basis for questioning his qualifications to coach softball doesn't come from any of my own thoughts. When DDs come home after practice and explain to me that what he is teaching goes counter to what they have been taught, that is my basis. When I am at a game I clap and keep my mouth shut except for saying "yeah" when DDs' team does well. I know I don't know enough about the game to criticize anyone's coaching.

When at travel ball practice, the other coaches and I teach our players what we consider to be the best methods. We obviously would not teach something that we know is not correct. But when DD is working with another coach (guest player, high school, or now college coach), I ask her to have an open mind. Just because these coaches may be teaching something that is different than what we believe, does not mean it is wrong. It may just be a different method.

Just an an example, we have followed the same bunt coverages for several years. Her high school coach wanted to do something different. When DD got home from practice, she questioned this. I asked her to explain the entire system to me, and then I grabbed an old white board and explained to her what she was trying to accomplish. No, it wasn't the way I would do it, but that doesn't make it wrong. Just different.

 

[UB40]

But when DD is working with another coach (guest player, high school, or now college coach), I ask her to have an open mind. Just because these coaches may be teaching something that is different than what we believe, does not mean it is wrong. It may just be a different method.

When a coach has a reputation for being knowledgable, or quickly proves they are highly knowledgable, then absolutely a player should consider what is being taught.

When a coach has a reputation for not being knowledgable, or in the first practice teaches things that simply do not make sense, I think it would be hard for a player to take that instruction seriously.