Did I do the right thing?

[wild man]

A fellow that I know called me up the other day and asked me to watch a practice of a group of girls that he wants to play travel ball.
He is kind of inexperenced.and wanted to get my opinion of their basic skills.Now I had to go to them some 40 or so miles. I watched them field and hit and pitch. they practiced about 2 hours or so.
Bear in mind that this team will not really play any games untill next season.
But still after watchinh them he asked for my HONEST opinion.

After everyone had left I told him bluntly:"They are not ready for travel ball". I told him to seriously consider making a Little League team first, I told him that it would be a better guage for there ability.

He was pretty insulted, He said "We will not stoop to LL standards". I then told him that he asked me a LL coach. I reminded him that he has about 2-3 girls that might make the middle of the road travel teams and that is not good enough.

I told him play 1 season of LL if you kill every one ine the local league go travel. But I warned him that the girls wont enjoy themselves in travel if they are not ready,AND THEY ARE NOT.
Should I have told him what he wanted to hear?

First I am not like that and second those girls dont deserve to play above their readyness.
What do you guys think?

 

[sluggers]

Should I have told him what he wanted to hear?

Of course not.

What do you guys think?

I think you should have charged him 45 cents per mile.

If you are looking for sanity around the softball diamond, be prepared for a long search.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I contend that it is dangerous to put a group of girls on the field that are not ready. They can hurt themselves or someone else.

You did the right thing.

I can tell now, when people just want me to agree with their point of view. It isn't pretty to have to disagree.

State tourneys should be going on. Ask him to go see a game with you.

 

[Coach JV]

There is an upstart 12U travel program forming in a town for fall ball neighboring mine.
The majority of these girls could not make the more 'established' teams in the area.
The younger girls on the team have never been exposed to travel at all and are moving up from 10U.
All of the better players from this town are already on travel teams.
The manager asked my opinion, I told him point blank that the travel teams that
won only a handful of games (or less) all year will welcome them as a team that they all can beat.

Was the manager pissed?-YES, my reply? If you didn't want my opinion you should never have asked.
Originally, we planned on having a cold one after the practice the invitation never came back around.

I know most of the upstart girls from rec ball and my fear is the discouragement of being
mercy ruled will have them hang up their cleats forever. Its like Ray said, some of the crazy daddies
and crazy coaches see these girls thru rose colored goggles overlooking the pure lack of talent.

 

[sluggers]

Parents see their kids through rose colored glasses.

One of my DDs played all through grade school and high school against Candace Parker, the WNBA all-star. (Candace is a great person. My DD's teams were 1-100 against her.) I'm telling my usual Candace Parker stories, and a couple of parents say, "Candace is good, but you ought to see my DD. She is great. The UConn coach is making her an offer." I'm a little skeptical, but, who knows? Chicagoland has a lot of hoop stars, so maybe lightning will strike twice.

Turns out the the kid (a HS senior) is 5'5", weighs 100 lbs wet, and can't get the ball to the rim from behind the 3-point line.

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

I contend that it is dangerous to put a group of girls on the field that are not ready. They can hurt themselves or someone else.

You did the right thing.

100% agree

A local 18U team was having trouble fielding a team so the "coach" asked a 14YO kid to play with them. The 14YO is an OK player at 14U but has absolutely NO BUSINESS being on the field with 18 yearl olds... At her first at bat the pitcher threw a hard screwball that came in on her hands and broke 2 of her fingers.

I have no problem with a team getting run ruled because ther aren't playing well. I DO have a problem with putting these kids in danger because they are nowhere near being ready to play at a certain level.

 

[CoachKevin]

While I agree with putting kids at risk isn't what you need to do, I can tell you we started a travel team at 10U. That first year we maybe won 2 games all year long. The next year we were about .500. The third year of 10U (yes we started really young) we were competing very well. Now at 14U we compete with most of the teams. I guess what I am saying is even if you don't think they are ready... go ahead an try, the girls will either get better or quit. If they quit then they weren't travel ball material in the first place.

 

[PA SB Dad]

You gave the guy your honest opinion of where his team is "at this point in time" and that is all you can really do. Whether he takes that in and makes adjustments to his roster and/or his teaching and training methods is entirely on him.

I think it's hard to know where a team will be in a year's time. A real commitment to practice over that period of time can make a significant difference at 10U and even 12U. Frequent scrimmages with appropriate level teams can also be a huge help. But I think it really comes down to whether the coach is being realistic, and whether he has the ability to teach proper mechanics and fundamentals so that these players benefit from the year of growth. If he has a year of practices in which he is not correcting fundamental flaws and mistakes, and is merely getting them together in the off-season and calling it a "travel team", he and the other parents will quickly realize he is overmatched and ill-prepared to be a TB coach.

I saw a similar situation in our town this year (my DD plays on another team 20 miles away). At 12U, one local organization filled 2 rosters with our LL All-Stars, spent the year fundraising and training, and at the end of the day had very little success. Were these players significantly worse than players on the other travel teams? Or was the year of training wasted because the coaches did not concentrate on improving each players skills and correcting their flaws? I truly believe it is the latter, that good coaching, particularly at the younger ages, can make a world of difference and can translate in to success in a reasonable period of time. What really holds these young teams back is the inexperience of the coach in doing the right things to get his/her team ready in that year of off-season training. Perhaps that is what your friend really needs to hear.

 

[playball13]

With out a doubt you have to be honest with him. My first year coaching at 10U was a learning experience. But I got 2 experienced 2nd year 10U pitchers who could pitch and surrounded them with a bunch of inexperienced 1st years. I picked my tournaments carefully avoiding the top teams and going to the lower tournaments. Found some teams we were competitive with and had friendlies. It worked well we won 30 % of the games, got killed when we played the top clubs but were competitive against the rest. The girls learned enough to hold their own the next year.

Although it really depends on the age of these girls you saw and their experience. Entering travel ball at 14 or 16 will be a lot rougher. They could always do the LL thing and take a couple of chances at low level travel tournies to see how it goes.

 

[softball_chic_12]

he wanted your opinion. you gave it. you shouldn't have lied. These girls would not have fun.