Obligated to play?

[joemcq51]

My DD is a pitcher on a 16U team. The organization has an older team also. The teams are almost always scheduled to go to same events. This leads me to the question. Last week, we were scheduled at same event. The younger team had last minute player commitment issues and withdrew from the tournament. They let the tournament know a week out. (as if that isn't bad enough) The 16u team lets the girls know they weren't going to be able to play. My DD was disappointed, but decided to make some plans with friends. Couple days go by, and she is approached to pitch for the older team. They apparently were short also. She politely declines stating that she had made plans already. So my question is did my DD make a mistake by declining to play? Do players play for teams or organizations? Normally, she would have jumped at the chance to play. I would hate to see her burn bridges over this. She loves her team and the program and wants to continue with them.

 

[MTR]

My DD is a pitcher on a 16U team. The organization has an older team also. The teams are almost always scheduled to go to same events. This leads me to the question. Last week, we were scheduled at same event. The younger team had last minute player commitment issues and withdrew from the tournament. They let the tournament know a week out. (as if that isn't bad enough) The 16u team lets the girls know they weren't going to be able to play. My DD was disappointed, but decided to make some plans with friends. Couple days go by, and she is approached to pitch for the older team. They apparently were short also. She politely declines stating that she had made plans already. So my question is did my DD make a mistake by declining to play? Do players play for teams or organizations? Normally, she would have jumped at the chance to play. I would hate to see her burn bridges over this. She loves her team and the program and wants to continue with them.

IMO, if you are dealing with intelligent human beings, this should not be a problem now or in the future.

If dealing with a bunch of fanatical control freaks who believe every player and parent is an indentured servant to the organization, you want to find out now so you can find some intelligent human beings to associate with next season.

 

[roscoe545]

Absolutely no obligation. It is always nice to help out a team in need, especially within your
own club. But your DD shouldn't be or feel obligated in any way to any team other than her
own. If she is one of their top choices for a fill in role, she will most likely be asked first again
next time they are in need. If they take it personally that she refuses to change plans for them,
she doesn't need to play for them in the future anyways.

Coaches should never expect, or force a player not on his/her roster to be obligated to fill in. It's
always nice to have a fill in P or C just a phone call away, but should not be expected.

 

[crystlemc]

Not only that, but depending on the sanction, she could end up frozen on their roster.

 

[glf0845]

Yes, in my opinion. It's an honor to be "pulled up". A great way to show the gold coach what she can do. The coach is probably thinking that she was suppose to play this weekend anyway so what is so important that she cannot play. I don't know the level of play your DD plays but if that happened where my DD plays that player would never get picked up by the gold coach. As they say, we all make our choices. Your DD chose to spend the day with her friends and not play at the next level.

 

[joemcq51]

I don't know the level of play your DD plays but if that happened where my DD plays that player would never get picked up by the gold coach. As they say, we all make our choices. Your DD chose to spend the day with her friends and not play at the next level.

I get what you are saying. She did make the choice to see her friends over going up for a weekend. Not sure if it matters, but she was all in to go with her team before a bunch of scheduling conflicts caused her team to withdraw. She was not one of the conflicts. She would have been there with her team. When it got cancelled, she accepted plans to do something with a bunch of friends that she turned down prior because of softball. How would it look if she said yes to them now, then backed out again because of softball? There is the social aspect of life to consider. I support her decision. If it hurts her later, she will learn from it.

 

[MTR]

Your DD chose to spend the day with her friends and not play at the next level.

She made a choice to honor a commitment to her friends. To me, that shows a lot more maturity and responsibility than most young women and many adults.

 

[sluggers]

She politely declines stating that she had made plans already. So my question is did my DD make a mistake by declining to play?

Suppose you are working on a project at your job. You get a couple of extra days off because of a lull in your project, so you make plans to hang out with your buddies and go fishing.

Then, the boss calls and says, "I need a hand the next couple of days on a big project. It is a temporary thing, but you'll get to see how we operate on a big project." So, what do you do?

 

[Greenmonsters]

Suppose you are working on a project at your job. You get a couple of extra days off because of a lull in your project, so you make plans to hang out with your buddies and go fishing.

Then, the boss calls and says, "I need a hand the next couple of days on a big project. It is a temporary thing, but you'll get to see how we operate on a big project." So, what do you do?

Me? If I've had it scheduled, I have to go fishing. That's my time to relax, recharge, and rejuvenate. I return to work and for the next 6 months I'm ready and able to take on the world and save the day during that important project emergency that inevitably occurs each week. As for our DDs, if they think they need some time off, they probably do. We need to let them play SB on their own terms, not ours or some other crazy coach's.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

In either case it is an organization - be prepared for potential fall-out. Ya can't expect organization leaders to be "understanding" although we all wish.....