Go ahead..say "I told you so"

[maksoftball]

FYI: You don't have to 'pressure' your colleague coaches who like you to do something FOR you, such as bring on your student...they also do it because they trust your judgement in who you find coachable or who you lauded in their presence.

I don't buy the lack of conflict of interest.

PC has to go.

1) PC didn't know she was coming to tryout ...just mentioned to us that they were having tryouts and looking for pitchers; 2) the colleague coaches didn't know she was a student of his...he told them AFTER she accepted spot on team . Just sayin'...

 

[Momo'sDad]

All this reminds me of everyone saying "your DD should move up" times 100. And I'm talking about pitchers in general when I say that.

If you have good TB competition in your area, and plans to go medium distances to get in better tourneys, there is no need to move up.

If a DD is blowing away the comp at 12-14U ( every tourney ) then that tells me one of 2 things.
A. She is the next Finch, Osterman, Abbott.
B. The comp you are playing is weak.

We have an article in the paper this week about a local pitcher. It goes on and on about her record and strikeouts, yada yada. What it doesn't say is she plays for a private single A "minor" school. They have zero competition, and I mean zero. They have a free cake walk to state every year. We invited them last weekend to play in a fundraiser HS tourney up the road ( 10 schools ). They declined and played in a weak 4 school tournament and couldn't even win that one. I don't mind a player getting some ink, but lets put the whole truth in the article.

I always tell people to stay in their age group, you'll get the experience if you have/find good comp, and 16/18U will be there before you know it.

I don't know what the level of play is in the poster's area, but I went back to their original thread.

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/coaching-softball/8750-question-coaches-parent.html

Poster describes DD as an average 12u player and since she wants to become a pitcher, it's suggested that they find a 12u team for her, because she needs circle time in order to develop. Almost everyone here agreed that she needs to be pitching in games, not waiting around to get an inning here or there.

If Maksoftball wants to protect the coach, that's fine, and I understand why - he's a swell guy. My perspective is different, though. We've got a big softball community out here and for the most part, instructors don't coach teams. It's been tried, but tends to turn out badly, because every other coach - whose students may have been seeing those instructors - are now going to assume that the instructors will be trying to recruit the best students to jump over to their teams instead. Call it paranoia, but it's in the best business interests of an instructor NOT to coach a team.

 

[joeman39]

Mak what age is she? Started Live pitching last fall?? If she just started live pitching last fall why would you put her with older girls? Maybe the coach might had seen something and gave her a chance and she hasn't developed like they thought she would. I know it's tough but maybe a blessing.

 

[joeman39]

Just a thought.... would you not call a coach an instructor??? Momo I understand your point...

 

[maksoftball]

I think I understand your point regarding the coach/instructor thing. He's been around for 25 years now so he knows the business. And it's probably why he has 3 other coaches on board with him. He doesn't make the sole decisions, and I do believe they do a good job of co-coaching. They had 17 girls on this team, and still managed to make every girl feel included. Now pitchers, that's another story...he had only one GOOD/STRONG bracket pitchers, and 4 up-and-coming pitchers that needed more mound time. The coaches tried to keep these pitchers happy, but with my dd being the newest/youngest, she got the last straw, AND we knew this going into it.

Anyway, I get the instructor thing, and quite honestly, I will be happy going back to just him being the instructor and no longer a coach. LOL. We are getting to a point to asking if we can "graduate" to a better instructor...just a matter of time that she will be ready for him.

 

[Jr10234]

17 on a tb team? They must be very convincing if you're willing to have 6 on the bench every inning. Do your fees cover coach expenses and income? I'd check the books to see if my money was being used as expected.

 

[iMlearning]

17 on a tb team? They must be very convincing if you're willing to have 6 on the bench every inning. Do your fees cover coach expenses and income? I'd check the books to see if my money was being used as expected.

I agree. We have 12 and that's one too many in my opinion!

 

[MsDinosaur]

I agree. We have 12 and that's one too many in my opinion!

IA, as a parent, 17 is closer to being the optimum number of players for TWO teams (22) than it is to being the right number for one (11). I can understand coaches wanting 12 players, but 17? No way.

 

[baller]

With family schedules I could see maybe 15 or so on roster for a travel team. 17 does seem a bit extreme in most cases.

 

[RookKev]

I would start off by asking for a refund from the team. 100% refund. Amount of games played is irrelevant. The lack of respect that this move demonstrates is terrible. It is doing nothing but establishing bad ethics from all perspectives. I hope you DD can see past the mess and realize that a commitment works in both directions.

The expense you will incur trying to find a new team, and the time to do it, as well as uniforms and such.... get a refund.

It will be hard to continue on a team where she feels a lack of confidence and trust.