Has anybody ever experienced "Daddy Ball?"

[GTRH8R]

DD plays 14U select ball. Been a mid-infielder for her entire softball career. Started off on a less competitive team and we moved up to an organization that was supposed to be good at developing talent. This team happened to be a newly formed team within this org so we knew there would not be a bunch of marks in the W column - that was ok, we are about development for HS and hopefully beyond. Coach starts her at SS. She does ok, but she needs to get more aggressive to the ball, she charges to the ball, but kind of "stops" when she gets to it instead of running through it. She doesn't let balls past her for the most part and has great range.

She finds herself at 2nd two tournaments later, no big deal. She's played fairly well, had a kind of rough outing two weekends ago in one game. She had a ball thrown to her and did not tag the girl on a non-force out. Then she had a ball thrown to her and did get tag down low enough and the base runner got under the glove. There was another ball hit behind 2nd, but it should have been the SSs ball as far as I am concerned, but her coach didn't think so. He swaps her for LF - she has never played there, but she doesn't get much so no disasters. Next game she is back at second and has a good game. The next game rolls around and HC's daughter is now at short and AC's daughter is now at 2nd. AC's coaches daughter (who I think is one of the best kids every, so I am not slamming her) doesn't have range nor does she know where she is supposed to be on any play. 4 E's cause 4 runs. She is upset for being put into that spot. She keeps getting put there for the rest of the weekend - errors ensue. Nothing but encouragement. My DD is in left, playing as best she can and has three E's on HUGE FB's that she has to turn and run for. She has never played out there and is struggling, but giving it her all. She gets yanked.

So we're off to practice last night. Same two girls mid-infield. Errors abound. I watch the new 2nd base (AC coach's kid) miss six straight ground balls. SS (HC's DD) is flubbing them. They are anoited the starting mid-inflield for this weekend.

I am pretty objective about my kid's play - she needs some refinement, but I am scratching my head on this one.

Is this Daddy Ball or am I being sensitive?

 

[Sweet Lou]

Is this Daddy Ball or am I being sensitive?

Sounds like some of both. They may not think your DD is cut out for MI but they don't seem to be going about finding a replacement the best possible way.

 

[SoftSocDad]

DD plays 14U select ball. Been a mid-infielder for her entire softball career. Started off on a less competitive team and we moved up to an organization that was supposed to be good at developing talent. This team happened to be a newly formed team within this org so we knew there would not be a bunch of marks in the W column - that was ok, we are about development for HS and hopefully beyond. Coach starts her at SS. She does ok, but she needs to get more aggressive to the ball, she charges to the ball, but kind of "stops" when she gets to it instead of running through it. She doesn't let balls past her for the most part and has great range.

She finds herself at 2nd two tournaments later, no big deal. She's played fairly well, had a kind of rough outing two weekends ago in one game. She had a ball thrown to her and did not tag the girl on a non-force out. Then she had a ball thrown to her and did get tag down low enough and the base runner got under the glove. There was another ball hit behind 2nd, but it should have been the SSs ball as far as I am concerned, but her coach didn't think so. He swaps her for LF - she has never played there, but she doesn't get much so no disasters. Next game she is back at second and has a good game. The next game rolls around and HC's daughter is now at short and AC's daughter is now at 2nd. AC's coaches daughter (who I think is one of the best kids every, so I am not slamming her) doesn't have range nor does she know where she is supposed to be on any play. 4 E's cause 4 runs. She is upset for being put into that spot. She keeps getting put there for the rest of the weekend - errors ensue. Nothing but encouragement. My DD is in left, playing as best she can and has three E's on HUGE FB's that she has to turn and run for. She has never played out there and is struggling, but giving it her all. She gets yanked.

So we're off to practice last night. Same two girls mid-infield. Errors abound. I watch the new 2nd base (AC coach's kid) miss six straight ground balls. SS (HC's DD) is flubbing them. They are anoited the starting mid-inflield for this weekend.

I am pretty objective about my kid's play - she needs some refinement, but I am scratching my head on this one.

Is this Daddy Ball or am I being sensitive?

Quite possibly and yes. Failure is a key element of learning. The teams you're facing are forcing your team to make plays and the more often that happens, the better your team is going to become.

 

[GTRH8R]

Let me expound more...I'm perfectly fine wherever she plays, but I think she should be taught to play a position she is being put into if she's never played there and is going to continue to be there. The team only practices one night a week and practices are rec ball practices for all practical purposes. Slow, a couple of lame drills and a quick "runners on first and third" scenario thing and that's it. My daughter wants to get better. She chose this org because of the developmental opportunity. In all actuality her coaching has been "you have to run through the ball.". That's it. No this is where you should wind up and here is how your footwork should be, etc. We have played musical positions with everybody ever game with the exception of our third baseman. They have no continuity or can get comfortable with the girls around them because nobody knows where they are playing. Don't get me wrong, I believe in girls playing multiple spots, but they never practice half of the spots the are thrown into.

She struggled a little at the beginning of the season because I took her to a new swing coach to get her better fundamentals and she had some SOs until it came together and it caused her to be a little less confident, but she is hitting good now and her confidence is back.

She wants to practice more so I found her an A level team (she plays on a B) that will allow her to practice with them once a week. She held her own last outing and the coach used her at SS exclusively and told her she has all the talent to play that spot, but she needs to "let it go.". Loved her attitude and told her exactly what she needed to get better at and it was a lack if coaching. He asked her to keep coming to their practices on that day of the week and he'd get her there then assigned two girls to mentor her at each practice. She was thrilled that he offered and how well she stacked up against girls on that level.

I am pretty objective when it comes to her playing and I have been sitting and wondering if I've become one of "those" parents, but that's the 2nd A level coach that has told her she has the talent to play MI at that level, so I wonder what's going on.

I see her replacements struggle and they are coaches kids...so it's hard not to think it might be Daddy Ball.

 

[GTRH8R]

Yes. Outfield is not simply a punishment and requires certain skills that need to be taught.

I totally agree with this. On one hand I am glad she has time out there, but I don't want her to be set up to fail and create bad habits because she hasn't been taught correctly.

 

[GTRH8R]

Interesting...it seems as if her coach believes there is only one type of ground ball. Well at least as far as he is concerned.

I'm no expert, but I'm not a chef either an I can tell you when food tastes bad.

 

[GTRH8R]

GTR: Be careful with 'run through the ball.' It looks like that is what is happening at college level especially, but the cues are more detailed than that for various types of ground balls. It is a progression and there are nice drills out there. I like 'catch the short hop early in the bounce, scoop it out in front of your body' and 'run in on slowly hit or stopping balls' for examples. This gets them to lose the fear because they are busy looking at it to get the type of ground ball.

I've been looking for these drills online and have had no luck...is there a site that you know of that I can take a look at?

 

[InsidePitch]

having spent a year in a similar situation, HC and AC's kids led the team in errors by 3x yet one was always at SS and second. I know the stats as I kept the book. Both coaches were very nice and didn't seem malicious at all and probably didn't see it the way most of the rest of the team did. DD over half the team opted not to attend the fall tryouts.

I don't advocate leaving in the middle of the season, so time to make lemonade. Dad if you know anything about OF you could work with DD and get her up to speed in one or two sessions.

 

[iMlearning]

help

I totally agree with this. On one hand I am glad she has time out there, but I don't want her to be set up to fail and create bad habits because she hasn't been taught correctly.

GTR, my DD is experiencing some of the same things on her team and at first wasn't thrilled with playing outfield. Now she is completely in love with it and doing well (when given the opportunity). You may have luck getting someone to help her with specific positions outside of practice. We asked around and was thrilled to get a D1 center fielder to give some lessons specific to the outfield. This girl just truly loves helping younger softball players. You might have some luck now that many schools have finished with softball.

 

[GTRH8R]

having spent a year in a similar situation, HC and AC's kids led the team in errors by 3x yet one was always at SS and second. I know the stats as I kept the book. Both coaches were very nice and didn't seem malicious at all and probably didn't see it the way most of the rest of the team did. DD over half the team opted not to attend the fall tryouts.

I don't advocate leaving in the middle of the season, so time to make lemonade. Dad if you know anything about OF you could work with DD and get her up to speed in one or two sessions.

We committed so we don't do the leave mid-season thing. We're going to work on the good old drop step tonight since we have a tournament this weekend and three more to go after that for the summer. I played outfield most of my playing years so I am proficent enough to get her moving in the right direction.

It's not a bad thing (other than the lack of coaching). Every girl should know how to play outfield at least average. She understands that this might be where she has the best shot at seeing the field in HS for earlier playing time so she is pretty positive about the whole situation. She just gets upset when she doesn't know how to do something and gets torched for it.

She also had a hitting coach that played D1 softball that told her that most of the outfield at the school she played at were all star infielders where they came from. You have to be able to play it.