I'm spinning this off the Hissy Quits thread, because I think it brings up an interesting set of questions about guest playing.
I've got two sets of questions, i guess. The first is as a player/parent, what are your expectations when it comes to guest playing? Do you think if you are invited to play, you should play, period, or do you see yourself/your Dd as just there to help out if needed? Does it matter how far you traveled for the tourney -- if you're a local who got picked up, should you have different expectations than if you're a peer of the team, ie you traveled with them to someplace out of state? Does it matter if you know the team already? Do you have conversations witht eh coach beforehand, or are you/your DD just happy for another chance to play?
Secondly, as a coach who is bringing in guest players. How much responsibility do you feel to them? Do you feel more responsibility to your own team, or to the girl who is making a sacrifice (?) to help you out? If you have a guest player who is clearly better than your own player at a position, are you inclined to play them over your own? And if you do, how do you justify it to your team? Does it matter to you if you invited them, or if they sought you out (responding to a Facebook post you made about needing players, for example)?
We've had a mix. Because we live in Colorado, DD got the chance to play with a team from Florida for Sparkler who posted on Facebook they needed a pitcher. I wrote them and they were thrilled to have an emergency arm. When they saw her pitch, they weren't overly impressed, but they were very nice the whole time, put her in to pinch run a few times during pool play. Then they had one of their players get hurt and another left early, so when it got to bracket play she was their starting first baseman -- made it to the semifinals, so she ended up playing every inning of five straight games (no errors, I'm proud to say). So that was three days of doing nothing and then two days of full time -- and interesting mix. But she's also guest pitched for a few local teams, and has had a couple of tourneys where she was invited and then barely got in at all.
For our team, our coach goes out of her way to reward guest players. We've recruited local pitchers when we've been shorthanded out of time, and she always makes sure they get at least a start if not more. And she's not been hesitant to start a guest over one of her own -- not because she thinks the guest is better, but to show her appreciation for them coming out. Not sure how I feel about that, so I thought I'd toss out what other folks feelings were about these strangers who occasionally invade our teams
I've got two sets of questions, i guess. The first is as a player/parent, what are your expectations when it comes to guest playing? Do you think if you are invited to play, you should play, period, or do you see yourself/your Dd as just there to help out if needed? Does it matter how far you traveled for the tourney -- if you're a local who got picked up, should you have different expectations than if you're a peer of the team, ie you traveled with them to someplace out of state? Does it matter if you know the team already? Do you have conversations witht eh coach beforehand, or are you/your DD just happy for another chance to play?
Secondly, as a coach who is bringing in guest players. How much responsibility do you feel to them? Do you feel more responsibility to your own team, or to the girl who is making a sacrifice (?) to help you out? If you have a guest player who is clearly better than your own player at a position, are you inclined to play them over your own? And if you do, how do you justify it to your team? Does it matter to you if you invited them, or if they sought you out (responding to a Facebook post you made about needing players, for example)?
We've had a mix. Because we live in Colorado, DD got the chance to play with a team from Florida for Sparkler who posted on Facebook they needed a pitcher. I wrote them and they were thrilled to have an emergency arm. When they saw her pitch, they weren't overly impressed, but they were very nice the whole time, put her in to pinch run a few times during pool play. Then they had one of their players get hurt and another left early, so when it got to bracket play she was their starting first baseman -- made it to the semifinals, so she ended up playing every inning of five straight games (no errors, I'm proud to say). So that was three days of doing nothing and then two days of full time -- and interesting mix. But she's also guest pitched for a few local teams, and has had a couple of tourneys where she was invited and then barely got in at all.
For our team, our coach goes out of her way to reward guest players. We've recruited local pitchers when we've been shorthanded out of time, and she always makes sure they get at least a start if not more. And she's not been hesitant to start a guest over one of her own -- not because she thinks the guest is better, but to show her appreciation for them coming out. Not sure how I feel about that, so I thought I'd toss out what other folks feelings were about these strangers who occasionally invade our teams