Dealing with team after a horrible day of playing

[mad hornet]

I am not big on post game meetings either. I'm generally a "lets move on to the next game" kind of coach but 17 errors in one day??? I think I would have had to take my assistant coach and head straight to the nearest bar.

 

[MsDinosaur]

Sometimes, I would ask - Is there something going on that I don't know about? Did your dog die? Is there a problem at home? Well, then, what is it?

Girls take everything to heart, when something is bothering just one of them.

That's the sort of thing I was thinking. Or it could be physical too. Maybe some of them did something exhausting on their Saturday off or had a sleepover or stayed out late the night before, etc? If you can find something to point to, it sounds like it could be a good lesson for them on what happens when you're not mentally and physically prepared to play.

 

[YOCOACH]

I haven't been coaching as long as many on here have. However, one thing I've noticed with my teams is that they always play to the prize. If it was a one day tournament with nothing riding on it such as a qualifying position, then they played poorly and went through the motions. If it was a high quality tournament; large number of good or great teams and a qualifier position on the line, look out. For some reason, "playing for pride" doesn't mean much to my girls. Getting down on the girls never helped either. As others said, pack it up, go home and save the team talk for the next practice session. Get their input and address their concerns if they have any. Then go out and practice them VERY HARD so they get the message that their play was unacceptable.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

In school and college we were cussed like sailors if we had a loss or a bad game. We'd be called female anatomy parts right there in front of the whole team.*

My football coach ( 6'7 320 ) picked up a squat machine ( prob 300 lbs ) and threw it across the locker room after a loss. And I'm not going to even type the things he would say.*

I've seen coaches grab boys and pin them up against a wall for half-rear effort.*

But I'll have to say, it would get your attention or scare you so bad you'd give 110% next time. I wouldn't try that with girls, probably land you in jail.*

Screwball, my daughter has male friends and those things still happen in the male sport world.

 

[KCM]

Clear the dug out, call next practice and head to the bar with mad hornet.

How long has this group played together and was there any inside drama going on that you were not aware of?

 

[PEPPERS]

My Sociology Teacher told me, this was years ago, he purchased a book titled “All That is Known About Women” and it was all blank pages!

I would not yell and rant, I would reassure the kids we will work on the problem and get it corrected. Having said that, ever team has a bad game even the best of them.

I would work in practice in game situation putting pressure on the fielders to make the plays. I would have the kids run early in the practice getting them tired and then work on game type fielding situations, when the kids get tired they lose focus and errors are more common. Working on correcting the errors when they are tired may help keep the focus when they play that 4th or 5th game that day.

 

[PEPPERS]

In school and college we were cussed like sailors if we had a loss or a bad game. We'd be called female anatomy parts right there in front of the whole team.*

My football coach ( 6'7 320 ) picked up a squat machine ( prob 300 lbs ) and threw it across the locker room after a loss. And I'm not going to even type the things he would say.*

I've seen coaches grab boys and pin them up against a wall for half-rear effort.*

But I'll have to say, it would get your attention or scare you so bad you'd give 110% next time. I wouldn't try that with girls, probably land you in jail.*

Screwball, my daughter has male friends and those things still happen in the male sport world.

When I played college football we had lost a close game, the assistant coach came up to the buss and kicked a large dent into the side of the buss. It was a long silent ride to the school, the front gate to the school about five miles away from the school. We were put out of the bus with our gear at the front gate and it was like 3 or 4 AM in the 30’s and a cold rain, we had to walk the remaining 5 miles to the school.

 

[BaldNBeautiful]

I know of a college s-ball program that has in the past forced the players to run three miles the day after the loss. Not necessarily too bad unless you are a catcher and you have to run in your gear.
Personally I have tried lots of things, some have worked, some have not. It comes down to knowing your team and what makes the individuals tick. Usually there are two or three players that, if you can reach them with your message, will lead and influence the rest.

 

[Coach JV]

Amy has a good point, although depending on circumstance, I tell them
'no meeting' if you like, talk to each other as a group, team only meeting
and I give them the schedule of our next activity. I walk away and never question
what is said during team meetings

 

[knightsb]

In the last game, they layed down against the other team. It was obvious.

One thing I have noticed with our team is that momentum is hard to come by but easily lost.

We have lost to one of the better teams in our division by 12 runs, and turn around the next week and beat the same team with both teams fielding the same line up . The main differences between the games was the attitude and intensity of the girls. The biggest mystery to our coaching staff is how to even out the highs and lows and be a more consistent team.

During the tournament weekend, one of the ACs makes note about our intensity, errors, and mental mistakes.

For lack of effort on a tournament weekend, we tell the girls during the following practice the level of effort put forth was not enough, followed by some intense base running drills, and a four corners drill where they throw to the bag, then sprint to the bag they just threw to.

For errors on a tournament weekend, we have the girls, during the following practice, work on skills and drills reenforcing mechanics and techniques. For us, the main problem is getting our glove on the dirt and not letting the ball roll under the glove. We do lots of fast pace in-fielding drills working on fielding and throwing to a given base.

For mental mistakes on a tournament weekend, we set up those same situations during the following practice and rehearse them several times. Explaining why and how we want everyone to react. We try to recreate a similar game pressure situation.