I need someone to yell at me please.

[softball_mom#7]

I'm one of "those" parents. Far too high strung for softball. Far too competitive and/or worried about what others may think.

I try to talk myself "down" all the time. For the sake of my youngest who is quite a talented pitcher. And despite her mother, she may actually still like playing this sport.

But you really can't always talk yourself out of "crazy." So I really need someone to yell at me. Help me put it back into perspective please. ?!?!

For whatever reason- my husband is managing dd's 12u rec team. Grrrrrrrrr. We were undefeated. We've lost 2 in a row. And I've totally lost it. Can't bring myself back. lol.

Hate everyone. Don't want to go to the games anymore. I truly, truly have never hated a sport more than softball in my life. It was a situation where the draft left my husband with the players who all needed constant practicing to even have a chance of being better than the other girls in the league (if you know what i mean).

Without daily practices the team is majorly falling apart. No one remembers how to hit or field a ball to save their life. Maybe I just stop coming afterall, huh? They make me scorekeep, but it may be time to tell the other parents to take some turns. I just do not have the stomach for this sport.

I'm starting to think that some parents should just stay at home. For the sake of everyone involved.

Ok hear it goes...You need to put your big girl panties on and stop being a sore loser. Suck it up sister! He had a team of inexperienced girls and they went undefeated up until this point so the coaching staff must have done something right.? Your girls/parents need to understand that they are still required to work on skills OUTSIDE of scheduled practice. Therefore, they need to put in the work to keep improving. "Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard".

They are going to have bad games and those games do not define them as players or people. It happens. News flash, if they keep playing it will happen again and again. It is how they recover from those losses that will define them. Do they hang on to it or do they pick themselves up, dust off and let it go?

They don't suck because they lost 2 games! Detach your ego from their performance. Their performance is not a reflection on you.

Look for the beauty and positives that can come from those losses. The most important thing for you to remember is, they are YOUNG GIRLS and there is an opportunity to foster the love for the game or make them hate it like you say you do.

 

[BT3100]

The real truth lies in notion that professional/college sports makes the game look easy.

Every adult at some time or another has watched a professional baseball or college softball game. These games showcase the best of the best and they all have one thing in common..... they are so good that they make hard plays look easy. Hard grounder to second? Easy play... Line drive to the outfield? Easy... no.. guaranteed out. In 12U softball there are no such things as guaranteed outs.

This comes to life every week on the Rec team I coach. My DD is a pitcher who works her tail off day in and day out to improve.. To her credit (against rec teams) she sets em down one after the other.
Our Rec league only allows a girl to pitch 4 innings so each game we need a second pitcher to finish the game. I get parents coming to me every game. Can so and so pitch?
Sure... They say "I know she will do great". No need to sell me... I say. Everyone gets a chance to pitch.
Then these kids get up there and can't throw it over the plate. I work with every girl who wants to pitch but it takes effort and a ton of time to learn control, and command. One parent came to me after his kid cost us a game with walk after walk and said "I'm sorry, I thought she would do great". I responded that she did do great. Some of the other pitchers make it look easy.. that's the beauty of the sport.

 

[dschreib]

My new job has prevented me from getting to watch many of my kids' games--softball, basketball, and volleyball. It has given me a whole new perspective. Even prior to that, though, I was the softball dad who you'd find in one of the OF corners, mostly by myself, eating seeds by the bagful to the point where my tongue was numb. I can't stand sitting near the dugout/plate with a bunch of parents who want to yell at not only their kid, but everyone else's...the coach...the umpire...the other team... When I coached, I was sometimes "that guy" who gave the umps an earful more often than I should have. My daughter actually apologized to me this year because I got to watch a game where the team played awful and we lost to a team we shouldn't have. I simply told her there's no reason to apologize and that I just enjoy getting to watch her play. She'll be a senior next year, and that'll probably be it for her. Still have 5 more years with the youngest, and then I won't know what to do with myself.
That said...I still have a hard time at basketball games. There's nowhere for me to hide.