- Jul 3, 2021
- 33
- 8
You need a parent assistant coach. One of those parents knows
The game and is waiting for someone to ask them….
I’d buy a net and a good travel t. The kids can help each other at
Batting after you show them what to do.
Have them play catch and hit at the start of every practice.
I’d find the best 2 or 3 pitchers and stick with it. If you don’t know anything about pitching have someone help that does. Find the
local rec stud pitcher if you have to. The pitchers need reps and
that needs to happen at home as well as practice. 12u rec is all
about pitching. Whoever has a pitcher will be top.
The parents have definitely been asked, more than once, and I got no bites. I've made 3 purchases to support this effort: a Tanner Pro tee, a 7-inch travel net, and 25-pack of small cones to use for various fielding drills.
I agree on pitching. I'm not sure what our pitching skills look like, but from what I have gathered almost all of them want to pitch. This may be the single hardest thing I have to juggle this season.
+1 for NFCA. I believe all the videos shown above, ebook, Practice Keys, and Plans and Drills Package 1 are included with the first year membership.
IIRC, the per-membership cost for multiple teams drops to like $50 if you sign up for 4-5 accounts.
IMO, an even better bang for the buck (or just get both) is an ABCA membership. I signed up before the convention last year, and now have access not only to this years virtual convention, but access to the video presentations from just about every previous convention. Wasserman has presented several times, Jerry Weinstein numerous times, Trosky, Tanner Swanson, Ryan Sienko (can you tell I favor the catching info?). To get past NFCA videos, you still have to buy them separately. Not ridiculously priced, but NFCA isn't nearly as big as ABCA, so I can understand their need for revenue.
I took the advice here and signed up for an NFCA membership. There's definitely some good material here that I will look through over the next week or so. In your opinion is the ASA's ACE Coaching Certification worth the cost of admission?
Based on my background ... don’t go out buying videos. Your players are not ready for that. I’m not saying there isn’t something to be learned, I’m saying you don’t need to spend money. Figure out your goals and make sure your actions align.
You said you are a 14u team with some 10u players ... that concerns me, but I admire the “whatever we need to do so they can play” attitude.
You also mentioned “so they don’t have to unlearn things in the spring.” Where will they be playing in the spring? Start by asking there ... find those teams/coaches and ask them what they would like to see. You might find some help.
I also love the idea of reaching out to some older players (high school or college), especially if they played for the organization.
Finally, to circle back where I started ... THANK YOU! I have a soft spot in my heart for community rec leagues. They need to be revived.
I recently visited the program I ran and was happy to see they had retained the partnerships with other programs (something I worked hard to build), but was not surprised to hear (and see within 15 minutes) that it was hanging by a thread due to the people in charge. It is a shame. Community ball needs to survive and be treated with the respect it deserves.
The videos and material were really for two purposes: to give me ideas of fun exercises to do during practice that are engaging while still helping the girls learn and improve, and to help me figure out what proper mechanics look like, how to recognize problems and how to correct them. The problem I was running into was, for example, one YouTube video might have one piece of advice that would then be disputed by the next video. I want to know the defacto standard for things as much as possible, though I definitely recognize there's more than one way to do things. It's also about helping them build habits that will protect them from shoulder and elbow injuries. I'm of the mindset that to be successful as a coach I need to be a student of the game as much as possible. I'm just looking for knowledge and ideas to absorb.
Good news is, it's not quite as bad as 14U and 10U. It'll be 2011 birth year and older kids playing in 12U, when some of them could technically have one more year in 10U. In reality, they may go back to playing 10U in the Spring when there is more interest at the 10U rec level. That brings me to your next question - I suspect they'll be in this same league in the Spring. With the state of rec softball here I suspect I'll still be coaching. What I need to find out is how many of them have interest in club programs and then talk to some of those coaches to figure out how to best prepare these girls for tryouts next summer.
The state of rec softball in the area is definitely frustrating to me as a coach and softball parent. We're nearing 40 teams signed up for rec fall baseball, but will likely only have a 12U fall league with 4 teams for softball. Tournament and travel softball is thriving it seems, at least based on the postings for tryouts this week and next. That's not something I'll be able to change, BUT, if half these kids bring a friend to play in the Spring, and then do the same for next Fall, that's at least one more rec team. Have to make it through this season first though.
Thanks again to everyone for all the help and advice in this thread. It's been incredibly helpful!