First Time High School Coach Looking for Advice

[Cannonball]

JD, build on little success. Catch the players that are not committed to the program the way you want doing good and compliment them. Ask all the players about the "team." Do some team stuff and make sure that all get some kind of recognition if nothing more than a pat on the back. Once the players are invested in the team and realize it is their team, they will come around. This takes patience and some major effort on your part to stay the course. Believe me, I know.

 

[CoachJD]

JD, build on little success. Catch the players that are not committed to the program the way you want doing good and compliment them. Ask all the players about the "team." Do some team stuff and make sure that all get some kind of recognition if nothing more than a pat on the back. Once the players are invested in the team and realize it is their team, they will come around. This takes patience and some major effort on your part to stay the course. Believe me, I know.

We have some plans to try to make the team more of a team this year. It was refreshing to see the whole team come up to us at orientation, so we know they're all excited to be there. Even a couple girls who didn't have the best attitudes were all about it on Friday. Of course, getting them to not be lazy is the tough part!

I think a lot of it was that we practiced so much and played so little last year. I hope that being a "real" team this year helps.

 

[Doug Romrell]

In my opinion.... Rule 1 is to never assume that you own your players 12 months out of the year. Accept the fact that some, maybe many, of your high school players will be playing on competitive teams unrelated to your high school program. I'm not talking about during the high school season. Never make your high school players feel they are blacklisted if they do this.

 

[CoachJD]

In my opinion.... Rule 1 is to never assume that you own your players 12 months out of the year. Accept the fact that some, maybe many, of your high school players will be playing on competitive teams unrelated to your high school program. I'm not talking about during the high school season. Never make your high school players feel they are blacklisted if they do this.

I'd never discourage a girl from playing softball (or any other sport). This summer, only two girls on our team played in a summer league. I'm actually encouraging them to play more often than they do.

 

[Cannonball]

We have some plans to try to make the team more of a team this year. It was refreshing to see the whole team come up to us at orientation, so we know they're all excited to be there. Even a couple girls who didn't have the best attitudes were all about it on Friday. Of course, getting them to not be lazy is the tough part!

I think a lot of it was that we practiced so much and played so little last year. I hope that being a "real" team this year helps.

I learned a long time ago that a coach should not assume that a player knows how to be a hard charger. I am coaching a young lady now who's dad I coached. Her dad told her all these stories about how I coached "back in the day." In particular one thing he said was that when practice started, everything was high energy and intense. He said that he was intimidate when he moved in to that school district and entered a practice unlike anything he had ever seen. He jumped in and adjusted and became a "stud player." So, I don't assume any player is lazy. Instead, I think in terms of helping them get up to speed.

 

[CoachJD]

Maybe lazy is the wrong word. "Adverse to hard work" might be more like it.

Our catcher joined cross country a couple days ago, which was great because she (and the whole team, really) could benefit from getting into better shape. She quit yesterday because it was too hard. And she's one of the girls who is the most willing to put in the work, if that tells you anything.