Growing Softball in the area

[Rocketech1]

Lots of examples on Youtube.

Is this an example of good drills (wall circles and sock ball drills)?. I would pass and focus on DFP pitching videos taught by real experts.

Btw, everytime I see the LSU coach I can't help thinking of plastic horse heads in the dugout.

 

[JAD]

A

Is this an example of good drills (wall circles and sock ball drills)?. I would pass and focus on DFP pitching videos taught by real experts.

Btw, everytime I see the LSU coach I can't help thinking of plastic horse heads in the dugout.

I just searched YouTube and picked the video of Beth Torina because I figured she knew what she was talking about. To be honest I never watched it because I had to run to a meeting. LOL

 

[finalcloud]

I watched it and shared it on the league's softball page. Thought she explained the drills well and it was something the girls could do on their own. Thanks for the video.

 

[quincy]

Slow pitch has a better following in our area. I think if we started over DD would have played slow pitch or baseball until she was 12.

Get pitching figured out and they will come.

 

[nicelag]

The secret is keeping the ones you have while you are getting new ones. The best way to build a league is to do everything as right as possible without all of the shenanigans that most leagues have. Do this and the word will travel that you run a good fair league. That's all that most people are looking for. When making rules and decisions for the league I used the following guidelines for myself.

1. What's best for the girls as a whole. Girls happy - parents happy (generally) (i.e. have a fair and equal draft from pitchers down to players.)

2. What's best for the league as a whole (i.e. have a fair and equal draft from pitchers down to players.)

3. What is good for the parents.
a. You cannot try to please the parents first. Most want their kids to be good and happy so they are often unknowingly short sided and selfish. As we should be
I suppose, but unfortunately when you try to please one you piss off another. This leads to trying to please everyone which is impossible, and you will just be
chasing your tail. Just saying!

b. If the kids are happy and the league is generally good, the parents will be happy for the most part.

4. Have an open ear and listen to what people have to say, and give them solid reasons as to why you do, or do not, do things a specific way. "Because that's the
way we do it" is not an appropriate answer, and people don't want to hear that. It sounds arrogant and like you have an agenda.

5. Agendas never work and will ultimately kill a league. (i.e. have a fair and equal draft from pitchers down to players. Hmm, do you see a pattern here?)

I have only 5 main goals, but believe me it is a lot of ongoing work to keep the goals in view. The larger the league gets the harder it is to make sure your league officers and coaches are on the same page. Do things right and I have no doubt you will be successful over time. We are not a huge league, but we are getting 5-10 girls from other leagues every year. We are also finding that the girls we are getting from the other leagues are better players. Upon looking into why this was happening we found that the average to not very good players don't really want to come to us because the parents can't bring their agendas with them. Therefor, their daughters would most likely not get the special treatment / privileges they get where they are at (i.e. making the all star team because their buddy is on the selection committee etc.)

 

[finalcloud]

The draft is something I'm not concerned about yet. Should we actually have enough to have two teams or more, everyone will be at Showcase. If they don't show for Showcase then the name goes into a hat.

Overall the parents are happy. Not thrilled that they have to travel half the time but understand we are growing. We have had other league's softball commissioners bring his daughter over to us. That is a new one.

 

[djcarter1966]

When considering a draft you have to be very careful. Remember at 10U and 12U you don't have two teams unless you have two pitchers, a team without a pitcher is simply a group of girls who sit and watch as someone throws the ball in the general direction of the plate until 5 runs (assuming you have run rule limit) are scored, it is very painful and a quick way for parents and girls to become quickly uninterested.

Unless all the coaches drafting know the girls in question I would not let anyone get drafted blind (have another day even if its just a couple girls or only the asst Coach or player agent can see them), the old well it's my turn and since she is the only one left I guess I'll take her stunt as been played many a time and like magic the girl is a stud who would have went in the first or second round if anyone had seen her is placed on the already stacked team.

I would also make every girl remotely interested and maybe even all of them if you only have 20 or so in an age group throw 5 to 10 pitches. It lets you know what you have even if it is only potential. Then I would mandate pitchers first; each teams first pick should be the #1 and #2 pitcher in the pool, no ifs ands or buts. Even if you have to have your player agent play neutral party and tell the coaches who they get to pick from in round 1 so be it...this will save you so much heartache as the year progresses I can't even begin to tell you.

Next thing to be wary of is the asst coach, once you have HC picked they might start asking for several dads they know to help them out...I would let them know up front that the HC is limited to one AC prior to draft day, which means they only get 2 guaranteed picks, the I have 4 asst coaches trick has also ruined many a draft day.

I would also institute rules about siblings the first sibling drafted means the other is an automatic pick BUT in the slot where they belong, you don't get penalized for picking the better sister.

This list can go on and on but I can't tell you how important draft day is in most recreational leagues it sets the tone for the whole season if it is perceived to be fair and judicious you can prevent a lot of heartache, if it goes poorly and some people feel they were treated unfairly it can fester all season long.

Two biggest things is get a copy of your by laws hopefully a lots of this things are already written down...also remember if certain things are not written down you have to FIRST follow what is written then if there is no mention the league commissioner can set up rules as long as they don't conflict with written rule, finally a very neutral and very fair and well respect person needs to be player agent so they can be the honest broker in the process ideally this is someone who knows the game and girls well but is NOT in the division he or she is the agent of (and for best result does not have family members or life long buddies in either).

Let me know if you have any other questions...I was the new guy in town (military move) and was a volunteer to coach when a fourth team was added to our division and to say I was the odd guy out left in the cold come draft day would be a huge understatement, see I thought it was all about the girls and having fun since this was rec after all but our rec program was really strong and to say they took things seriously was an understatement. Now little did they know that you can coach girls to play up to their potential instead of rest on your laurels and they were really surprised with how hard it was to beat what was supposed to be the 4th best team in our league. After a fun season and a few apologies (that may have involved some adult beverages) the next year I was on the board and basically put myself in charge of rewriting the by laws to make sure this could not happen to the next guy that walked through the door.

 

[finalcloud]

Our bylaws spell out the draft but it's questioned every year. As for the managers, they get one AC before the draft. So that is two picks off the top. I ran our Fall Showcase like the baseball Showcase; a few basic skills are shown and the managers picked from there. Terrible I know but I had to field four teams from 8U-14U with the majority being 10-12 year olds. My plan is to break it down by age groups. I know I'll have at least two 10U teams with one returning coach. So everyone goes to Showcase/draft. Everyone 10u and up will pitch at least 5 pitches. We have to have some additional pitches out there then what we got. It's time to discover them.

Interesting scenario might pop up this season. For the past few seasons my wife has managed while I coached. The reason we got involved was we didn't have a manager for then 12U program. Then the only reason was my wife's best friend daughter was on the team. Didn't want them left without a coach so we stepped up. So in the event we have two teams in the 14U program, would that player go with my wife's team or would she get two additional picks since the HC and AC don't have a player in the division?

 

[JAD]

Slow pitch has a better following in our area. I think if we started over DD would have played slow pitch or baseball until she was 12.

Get pitching figured out and they will come.

Slow pitch does not help develop pitchers and every year the girls play slow pitch puts them another year behind. Slowpitch may help the development of some of the other positions due to the number of balls put into play, but you will need to import some quality pitching when they make the transition.

 

[djcarter1966]

Slow pitch does not help develop pitchers and every year the girls play slow pitch puts them another year behind. Slowpitch may help the development of some of the other positions due to the number of balls put into play, but you will need to import some quality pitching when they make the transition.

Truth be told if my only option was slow pitch I would probably have my DD play baseball