HS coaches say they like multi-sport athletes but......

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Mar 10, 2020
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I'll start by saying that this is only my opinion but......high school coaches say that they like multi sport athletes, but do they really?

Case in point. My DD just finished up her volleyball season. She is a sophomore and plays primarily on JV. She's tall and athletic but never played organized volleyball until her 8th grade year. Even then, her organized volleyball was only school ball. No club or anything like that. She plays for fun and for school pride. Welp, the volleyball coach makes it extremely hard for my DD to continue doing that. The volleyball coach knows that my DD plays high level travel ball and was one of 2 freshmen on the varsity softball team last year. At the beginning of the season, my DD was very transparent in the fact that there would be some weekends that she would not be able to play due to tournaments, camps, organizational practices, etc. At the time, it was "oh, no problem. We will work around that. Thanks for letting me know." Throughout the season, was a very different attitude. My DD was attending an SEC camp and was going to miss a JV volleyball round robin. My DD reminded the coach of the camp a week ahead of time. Well usually, the team gets Fridays off from practice. This particular Friday, the coach called a practice because, "I gotta find a new JV middle blocker because (insert DD"s name here) is going to a softball camp during MY volleyball season." Needless to say, a few girls got pissed but the majority were fine because they know that my DD is looking to play softball at the D1 level.

Fast forward a few weeks, volleyball practice was cancelled so my DD used that time to take a few cuts with some of her softball teammates. Well after that BP, my DD was riding with a friend and got into a little fender bender doing about 10 mph. Even at that low speed, my DD was exhibiting some concussion symptoms and the trainers did not want her playing for a few days. The coach found out that my DD was practicing softball and when the trainer told my DD not to play, the coach makes a comment along the lines of, "well maybe if you weren't practicing softball during MY season, this accident wouldn't have happened." Like....huh??? Even after my DD was cleared to play again, if practice was cancelled for a day, the coach would make it a point to tell the girls that they were not to do anything but rest and were not allowed to practice any other sport.

My DD's travel team was playing the PGF Show Me The Money a couple of weekends ago and had to miss a JV tournament that weekend and was benched the following game. Funny part was, she was not told that she was benched until it was her turn to rotate into the game. 8 minutes had already been played in the game BEFORE she knew she was benched. She stands up to rotate in and was told to sit back down and that she was not playing. It was an away game and I had to hustle to get to the game ontime only to learn that she was not playing.

Another instance, my DD missed a test due to a doctors appointment. Well, her 7th hour PE period is with her volleyball teammates and it was a Friday where they did not have practice afterwards. They were hanging out in the locker room until they could be dismissed. No practice, no drills, no lifting, nothing. Well my DD asked if she could go do a make up test and was asked by the coach, "Is this the last time my season is going to be interrupted?"

My DD wants to continue to play volleyball but being a 2025 grad, this is a critical year for her. She WILL be busy almost every weekend. At this point, she is so frustrated that she may quit and go run cross country instead. I don't know. I'm sure not every coach is like this but man, it makes it tough. We want to be open and transparent but we get retaliatory responses and actions in return. I get that these coaches have a program to run and that they are trying to win but don't talk out of both sides of your mouth when it comes to multi sport athletes. You like multi-sport athletes, but only as long as they stick to their respective school ball seasons. Got it.

End rant

TLDR....DD plays volleyball for her HS but despite being transparent about her softball schedule gets snide comments and retaliatory actions against her.
Typical family gets to do what they want play both sports and prioritize their own schedule regardless that it's not school related and still complaining about high school. And people wonder why coaches have an attitude. Would it be better your coach just say no if you can't show up 100% cant play. You would complain again. Edit: Schedule's change, coaches have to deal with the fluctuating schedules of players not attending and have personalities.
Get over it.
 
Last edited:
Nov 5, 2014
351
63
The slight offshoot of this that was mentioned earlier has always been one of my pet peeves; college coaches preaching how they like multi sport athletes.

They love multi sport athletes as long as those other sports don't stop the kid from attending their camp and playing in the fall live events even when those conflict with the other sport. And don't forget about working on your softball skills year round. So yes they like multi sport athletes that meet all of the criteria of athletes that specialize but also play other sports nevermind the conflicts that creates for the student athlete like the ones mentioned by the OP.
 
Apr 20, 2018
4,581
113
SoCal
Volleyball isn't suppose to overlap softball but it does a little or a lot depending on coach. DD played VB this year at her HS and will probably do the same next year. She was a every game starter. By the middle of the season she never left the floor. (17 girls on the team) But there is no way she can play Varsity (weekend tourneys would be way to time demanding plus this is serious VB and she doesn't put in the time to earn a Varsity spot) and perfectly fine with me. It is a great sport for entertainment value. The good ole days of getting 2 or 3 Varsity letters are long gone.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
The good ole days of getting 2 or 3 Varsity letters are long gone.
that is probably a bit of an exaggeration..

If you are a good enough athlete you can be good enough at two sports at the HS level to play Varsity. All State in both? Probably not in 2022 unless it is track and something else or your name is Bonita Jackson..Hardest two to be good at together would be bball and softball imo..While I realize this was 25 years ago my sister didn’t start playing volleyball till the 9th grade and I think she still holds a few records at the D1 school (albeit not P5) she went to.
 
Last edited:
Aug 5, 2022
361
63
We’ve been incredibly blessed. DD is a jr committed to an sec school and working on her 8th varsity letter. She’s an all conference soccer player, tries really hard in bball lol, and then of course softball. We’re a smaller school so stud athletes aren’t plentiful so that helps but her coaches have never been anything but supportive as long as she communicates. They text her good luck, tell her that they’re proud of her and I honestly think they were just as happy for her when she verbally committed as her softball coach. There are still coaches out there in it for the kids. There have definitely been hard feelings from kids/parents with less skill that dd plays over and I understand that the life lesson that sometimes people are just more talented no matter how hard you work is a tough one to learn for parents and children but when she’s there you won’t find a better teammate or a harder worker so we role with it and remain grateful for the opportunities.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Nov 26, 2010
4,784
113
Michigan
My dd played 3 varsity sports and travel softball. During the summer she balanced all the camps and captains practices and made it work. Only coach who ever seemed put off by her commitment to other sports was her VBall coach. DD was also in the the Marching band. her Junior year she was the starting setter on the VBall team started and played the entire first half of the season. The band had a marching band competition and participation was mandatory and part of her grade. She told the coach over a week ahead of time that she was going to miss a match, not a league match, what we in softball would call a friendly. After telling the coach that she didn’t play the rest of the year until the last match where she was put in for about 10 minutes. My wife and DD did not allow me to talk to the coach. VBall coaches appear to the be worst.
 

LEsoftballdad

DFP Vendor
Jun 29, 2021
2,838
113
NY
My daughter played Field Hockey this fall. She did it for the conditioning and social aspects, not because she had great aspirations of playing at a high level. We informed the coach before the season started that weekends would be near impossible for her to attend practices or games because of her intense softball schedule, and the coach was very understanding. Well, she was understanding until the games started. After that, she started calling out my daughter for not attending practices and missing games, which led other players to call her out in the group text thread they had for the team.

No single senior on the field hockey squad is playing in college, yet they had the audacity to complain about my daughter missing time. My daughter wasn't integral to the team's success and didn't care that she didn't see a lot of time. I was upset because it cut into her softball training time, but I felt she needed it for the above-mentioned reasons, so I let her play. After her experience this season, she will not be playing next year.
 
Nov 1, 2022
16
3
I'll start by saying that this is only my opinion but......high school coaches say that they like multi sport athletes, but do they really?

Case in point. My DD just finished up her volleyball season. She is a sophomore and plays primarily on JV. She's tall and athletic but never played organized volleyball until her 8th grade year. Even then, her organized volleyball was only school ball. No club or anything like that. She plays for fun and for school pride. Welp, the volleyball coach makes it extremely hard for my DD to continue doing that. The volleyball coach knows that my DD plays high level travel ball and was one of 2 freshmen on the varsity softball team last year. At the beginning of the season, my DD was very transparent in the fact that there would be some weekends that she would not be able to play due to tournaments, camps, organizational practices, etc. At the time, it was "oh, no problem. We will work around that. Thanks for letting me know." Throughout the season, was a very different attitude. My DD was attending an SEC camp and was going to miss a JV volleyball round robin. My DD reminded the coach of the camp a week ahead of time. Well usually, the team gets Fridays off from practice. This particular Friday, the coach called a practice because, "I gotta find a new JV middle blocker because (insert DD"s name here) is going to a softball camp during MY volleyball season." Needless to say, a few girls got pissed but the majority were fine because they know that my DD is looking to play softball at the D1 level.

Fast forward a few weeks, volleyball practice was cancelled so my DD used that time to take a few cuts with some of her softball teammates. Well after that BP, my DD was riding with a friend and got into a little fender bender doing about 10 mph. Even at that low speed, my DD was exhibiting some concussion symptoms and the trainers did not want her playing for a few days. The coach found out that my DD was practicing softball and when the trainer told my DD not to play, the coach makes a comment along the lines of, "well maybe if you weren't practicing softball during MY season, this accident wouldn't have happened." Like....huh??? Even after my DD was cleared to play again, if practice was cancelled for a day, the coach would make it a point to tell the girls that they were not to do anything but rest and were not allowed to practice any other sport.

My DD's travel team was playing the PGF Show Me The Money a couple of weekends ago and had to miss a JV tournament that weekend and was benched the following game. Funny part was, she was not told that she was benched until it was her turn to rotate into the game. 8 minutes had already been played in the game BEFORE she knew she was benched. She stands up to rotate in and was told to sit back down and that she was not playing. It was an away game and I had to hustle to get to the game ontime only to learn that she was not playing.

Another instance, my DD missed a test due to a doctors appointment. Well, her 7th hour PE period is with her volleyball teammates and it was a Friday where they did not have practice afterwards. They were hanging out in the locker room until they could be dismissed. No practice, no drills, no lifting, nothing. Well my DD asked if she could go do a make up test and was asked by the coach, "Is this the last time my season is going to be interrupted?"

My DD wants to continue to play volleyball but being a 2025 grad, this is a critical year for her. She WILL be busy almost every weekend. At this point, she is so frustrated that she may quit and go run cross country instead. I don't know. I'm sure not every coach is like this but man, it makes it tough. We want to be open and transparent but we get retaliatory responses and actions in return. I get that these coaches have a program to run and that they are trying to win but don't talk out of both sides of your mouth when it comes to multi sport athletes. You like multi-sport athletes, but only as long as they stick to their respective school ball seasons. Got it.

End rant

TLDR....DD plays volleyball for her HS but despite being transparent about her softball schedule gets snide comments and retaliatory actions against her.
You are just going to run into people like that, especially in HS. You can complain all the way to the Supt. but likely will get nowhere. Lesson in life for the kids- to recognize people out there like this and learn not to act that way when they end up coaching one day. Life has easy lessons and painful ones, and I feel your pain on this one. Perhaps it is time to whittle down the sports programs for your player and start focusing hard on one or two if she is looking to play after HS. That time on the volleyball court butting heads with the coach might better be put to use elsewhere like the weightroom, or the batting cage perhaps.

We went through a few seasons of volleyball where my daughter outperformed most on the team but sat often watching the coaches and teachers kids play ahead of her without merit. It was not just us either, it is the way they treat all players here who don't belong to the supper club or kiss butt. She left volleyball and put that time into training and I can tell you she has improved in speed and agility and strength where she might not have if she was hitting a volleyball. No looking back with any regrets at all. We sometimes pop in and watch them lose if we are at the school when they are playing. It was especially rewarding when my daughter wore her State Champion softball shirt and the volleyball coachs temperature went nuclear LOL. Best just to dissassociate yourself from those people that try to hold you back or try to tell you that you aren't a good athlete/player. Believe in yourself, especially when others don't and keep forging ahead with a purpose and you will get there.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
Lesson in life for the kids- to recognize people out there like this and learn not to act that way when they end up coaching one day.

We sometimes pop in and watch them lose if we are at the school when they are playing. It was especially rewarding when my daughter wore her State Champion softball shirt and the volleyball coachs temperature went nuclear LOL.
🤔
 

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