- Jul 29, 2016
- 231
- 43
My daughter is a 14U catcher. Her team blew up last summer, and we were left scrambling to find a team. She played pickup with several teams toward the end of last summer, and went through try-outs late 2017.
As luck would have it, she was close, but not quite ready to land on one of the "big" A-level teams in our area (there are 4 or 5). She ended up on an A-level team with an established organization, but they were clearly restructuring. They have a fair amount of talent, but it certainly isn't consistent from position-to-position. Further, the team was pretty much brand new, with maybe three of the girls knowing each other - so they had never played together. You can certainly tell by watching them together on the field.
The coaching is outstanding, though. We have seen our daughter make remarkable steps in the four months she's been working with this team. Part of the problem, though, is that the pitching is so bad that she had gotten really really good at blocking. Not all of the players have blossomed with the coaching, however.
But in our three tournaments we've played since we formed the team, we've averaged one win per tourney. And it boils down to bone-headed plays in the field and base-running. The pitching is inconsistent, and we don't have an ace.
So after three tournaments, our daughter is starting to get discouraged with all of the losing. She understands that playing is going to make her better, but no one likes to lose all the time. My concern at this point is it will be increasingly difficult for her to get noticed by coaches or better teams simply because no one likes to watch a sloppy game. On the plus side, she's the primary catcher, and gets lots of playing time.
My loyalty runs primarily to my daughter, but I like and respect the coach. I'm concerned about the prospect of a season wasted on four and five-game outings with loss after loss. Should we start shopping with a view toward pulling up stakes? I'd be interested to hear advice on this subject.
As luck would have it, she was close, but not quite ready to land on one of the "big" A-level teams in our area (there are 4 or 5). She ended up on an A-level team with an established organization, but they were clearly restructuring. They have a fair amount of talent, but it certainly isn't consistent from position-to-position. Further, the team was pretty much brand new, with maybe three of the girls knowing each other - so they had never played together. You can certainly tell by watching them together on the field.
The coaching is outstanding, though. We have seen our daughter make remarkable steps in the four months she's been working with this team. Part of the problem, though, is that the pitching is so bad that she had gotten really really good at blocking. Not all of the players have blossomed with the coaching, however.
But in our three tournaments we've played since we formed the team, we've averaged one win per tourney. And it boils down to bone-headed plays in the field and base-running. The pitching is inconsistent, and we don't have an ace.
So after three tournaments, our daughter is starting to get discouraged with all of the losing. She understands that playing is going to make her better, but no one likes to lose all the time. My concern at this point is it will be increasingly difficult for her to get noticed by coaches or better teams simply because no one likes to watch a sloppy game. On the plus side, she's the primary catcher, and gets lots of playing time.
My loyalty runs primarily to my daughter, but I like and respect the coach. I'm concerned about the prospect of a season wasted on four and five-game outings with loss after loss. Should we start shopping with a view toward pulling up stakes? I'd be interested to hear advice on this subject.