Frustration with lack of JV games

[PEPPERS]

The situation really deserves its own thread and I haven't been able to write about it yet. Between V & JV they had 23 girls at tryouts, some were told not to bother, a couple were cut immediately, more than 15 girls left in the last 3 weeks (12 walked off the field during a practice in protest). I wrote about this coach last year, besides just being a really bad coach when it comes to the game, she is just a horrible person who should not be involved with kids. The day that 12 kids walked she fired the JV coach and proclaimed to the few (7 girls were left at that point) that "this is my job for life". She's been placed on leave pending the results of a district investigation. Unbelievable and very sad for the girls who just wanted to play HS ball with their friends.

DD is a assistant coach at a middle school and high school her first year as a coach. The middle school has 2 teams some DD advised that has never played before this year. They tried to evenly divide the middle school teams and not have a varsity and JV team, but 2 equal teams. HS they do have a varsity and JV team they did not have enough for a JV team so they moved the 8th graders up to have enough to have a HS JV team, seems like this formula has worked because the varsity usually finishes near the top in the state.

Sorry for your DD experience, you may try and find a league for her to play in or travel ball. GOOD LUCK to your DD.

 

[Tatonka]

DD is a assistant coach at a middle school and high school her first year as a coach. The middle school has 2 teams some DD advised that has never played before this year. They tried to evenly divide the middle school teams and not have a varsity and JV team, but 2 equal teams. HS they do have a varsity and JV team they did not have enough for a JV team so they moved the 8th graders up to have enough to have a HS JV team, seems like this formula has worked because the varsity usually finishes near the top in the state.

Sorry for your DD experience, you may try and find a league for her to play in or travel ball. GOOD LUCK to your DD.

Thanks Peppers, my twin DD's have been playing comp/travel ball for 6 yrs now. They play a lot of fastpitch year round. High School in our world was always supposed to be sort of a respite where the kids get a chance to play with their school friends, earn a letter, play on the local field where we spend a lot of private time working out, have the other kids from school in the stands, all of that stuff. It's typically a very short season and in CO High School softball is played in the fall. The situation with our "coach" goes far beyond a lack of JV games. Both of my kids played Varsity last year as Freshmen and filled in at JV when they needed more players (same is happening this year). The AD and the JV coach were just brought back in to try and salvage the program and reunite the team. JV might get 2 or 3 more games in for a total of possibly 8 games this season. Varsity might get 5 or 6 more giving them a total of 16 or 17 games for the season (there's an outside chance they make it to regionals for a couple more post season games.

As I see it, the lack of JV games in our area is more related to the lack of coordination between the school AD's and the passion for the sport shown by many of the coaches in some school programs. They should get more involved with the softball world, talk to each other and be more flexible about scheduling and moving games/field locations around to accommodate weather and travel requirements. Most teams could play a lot more development/scrimmage type games. For those who may say scheduling the umps is a big problem, I understand that also but would say that for the sake of getting more live game experience in those non-conference, scrimmage type games use the coaches to call the games. C'mon. have some fun out there! The end result is kids/parents would get more bang for the buck out of school ball, the kids would have a lot more fun and bond with their teammates and kids from other schools and just maybe even get better at the game. Sounds way too simple right?

 

[Westwind]

A good friend of mine made the remark that girls sports are treated like an afterthought by hs athletic directors. Hiring a girls coach is something they just want to get off their desk so they can work hard to find the right coaches for football.

I never forgot that and it has held true for 5 years. Football is 9 games a year for us at our small school and they pump tons of effort and money into it. Made the playoffs one time that I can remember. Few boys will go on to play college football, fewer will do four years of college football. Yet quite a few of our schools softball players are playing in college. Despite the utter lack of interest by the hs.

 

[dbronstein]

For those who may say scheduling the umps is a big problem, I understand that also but would say that for the sake of getting more live game experience in those non-conference, scrimmage type games use the coaches to call the games. C'mon. have some fun out there! The end result is kids/parents would get more bang for the buck out of school ball, the kids would have a lot more fun and bond with their teammates and kids from other schools and just maybe even get better at the game. Sounds way too simple right?

Yes, this. Why not schedule some scrimmages? And in the games that get run-ruled early, why not stick around and play a few more innings? Maybe mix the teams up to even it out a bit.

It looks like we're losing another JV game next Wed. There's a varsity game at the same time, so that's taking up two coaches, and the third coach doesn't come on Wednesdays due to another commitment. They are trying to reschedule it for Friday if the other school can do it. I told DD to tell the HC that I'll coach the JV game if that will allow them to play.

 

[Cannonball]

We play an 18 game schedule and then 2 big tournaments. Our experiences are nothing like many comments here.

 

[dbronstein]

It's typically a very short season and in CO High School softball is played in the fall.

Yup. This year official practice started Aug 14, regular season ends Oct 7. Most other fall sports run two weeks longer.

 

[KPower]

As I see it, the lack of JV games in our area is more related to the lack of coordination between the school AD's and the passion for the sport shown by many of the coaches in some school programs.

I would whole heartedly agree with this statement. DD currently attends at K-12 school. They have football, baseball, volleyball, basketball, soccer, tennis, golf, XC and track (and maybe others I'm forgetting)...but no softball - and no plans for softball. That is one of our main reasons for moving DD next year to a different HS. There are several HS in our area that have good academic programs and good softball teams too. I don't understand the lack of passion for the sport...I would rather watch softball over baseball ANY day! Every time I ask our AD about softball she just rolls her eyes.

 

[CoachJD]

A good friend of mine made the remark that girls sports are treated like an afterthought by hs athletic directors. Hiring a girls coach is something they just want to get off their desk so they can work hard to find the right coaches for football.

I have no doubt this is true in many places, but it's not true everywhere.

The softball team is the team at our school, but that's because I made it that way (I'm hardly the best coach ever, but I've worked hard to make softball the "it" sport at the school). It was easier since we're new and building all the programs; the school has cycled through coaches in other sports trying to find ones who'll commit. But our AD last year and our new AD this year have both gotten behind me and the softball team because they appreciate what we (me, my ACs, and of course the girls) put into it.

But we're a small school and the administration largely doesn't care about sports. And we don't have a football team. And we're in a city with a great basketball public league that we don't have much of a shot of competing in. And as I've mentioned before, softball around here is bad. So it actually makes a ton of sense to get behind our softball program since it's one of the few sports where we can really compete.

 

[Westwind]

I have no doubt this is true in many places, but it's not true everywhere.

The softball team is the team at our school, but that's because I made it that way (I'm hardly the best coach ever, but I've worked hard to make softball the "it" sport at the school). It was easier since we're new and building all the programs; the school has cycled through coaches in other sports trying to find ones who'll commit. But our AD last year and our new AD this year have both gotten behind me and the softball team because they appreciate what we (me, my ACs, and of course the girls) put into it.

But we're a small school and the administration largely doesn't care about sports. And we don't have a football team. And we're in a city with a great basketball public league that we don't have much of a shot of competing in. And as I've mentioned before, softball around here is bad. So it actually makes a ton of sense to get behind our softball program since it's one of the few sports where we can really compete.

Hats off to you! I love stories like that.

A very good travel ball coach did similar with a team in our conference. He organized the parents, fundraised to improve facilities, added experienced assistant coaches and trains/practices to dominate. The results have been impressive.

I will say though, you have to have at least some talent coming up. That starts years in advance. I retire from my day job soon and I think that might be the thing I can help with, getting the little ones started, point them at good travel programs, repeat.

 

[CoachJD]

Hats off to you! I love stories like that.

A very good travel ball coach did similar with a team in our conference. He organized the parents, fundraised to improve facilities, added experienced assistant coaches and trains/practices to dominate. The results have been impressive.

I will say though, you have to have at least some talent coming up. That starts years in advance. I retire from my day job soon and I think that might be the thing I can help with, getting the little ones started, point them at good travel programs, repeat.

We have 2nd and 3rd graders at the school who are super excited to play softball one day. It helps that my DW/AC is a popular 1st grade teacher at the school. These girls want to play in part because they see her coaching the older girls. I really hope I can get the 10U team started this year (there's no 8U softball near here, just t-ball/baseball).