- Jun 24, 2008
- 26
- 0
We just finished our first spring/summer of travel ball. My DD really loves playing (she is 9) and already has set herself a goal of playing in college. We chose to get into travel ball because of the opportunity it would provide her to improve and play against better competition as opposed to Dixie which is what they play here. I ended up as an assistant coach on the team.
And it was a very frustrating experience, particularly at the end of the season.
In February and March, we practiced as consistently as the weather would allow and I felt good about our progress. But then rec ball started, something 10 of the 12 kids on the team played. Mine was not one of them for a variety of reasons, one of which being the fact that we wanted her to commit to travel ball and not have conflicts with another team.
Long story short, it turns out that the head coach didn't make that same commitment.
His daughter played on the same rec team as a few others from our squad, and they ended up winning the league title which meant they made All-Stars, where he is also a coach. The all-star team is essentially our travel team with six of our players on the team.
When schedules for the all-star tournaments came out, they conflicted with our final two scheduled travel dates of the year. The result was basically that all-stars was chosen over our travel team. From the point that decision was made, our travel team nose-dived (we still had a couple of tournaments left to play). We never practiced and lost both to teams we had beaten fairly easily earlier in the year and to teams that had no business beating us.
Toward the end of the last tournament, when he was clearly frustrated with our performance, I made the comment about as straight-forward as I can make it that we need to go after this travel thing full-throttle and dump Dixie ball. The response kind of skirted the issue and he said something about "finding better players." That stuck in my craw and has continued to irritate me since because it should have been our job as coaches to make the players we had selected better. Hard to do that, of course, when you never practice because everyone has rec league games.
To make matters worse, I find out yesterday that the all-star team is practicing EVERY DAY when I couldn't convince him to practice at all with our travel team except on weekends that we weren't playing.
My DD and I would go out and watch some of the rec games, and every time I asked her if she wished she had played, she laughed and said "no." She's 9, but she's smart enough to understand the difference in the level of play and to know that she won't get better seeing 23 MPH pitching with an arc that might get within a foot of the strike zone.
In short, I've begun to feel that we have outgrown our current team, not from a performance standpoint but rather from a mental/goals standpoint. My DD was right in the middle of the pack in terms of performance and is hardly a superstar, but she works hard, improves consistently, and currently has the desire to get to a high level of play as she ages. If things with our current team don't change, the situation will not match her goals. There was too much of a rec-league mentality about making everyone happy, etc.
Right now, my plan is to wait until all-stars is over and have a heart-to-heart with our head coach about the situation. My fear is that things will never change to the degree they need to in order for us to be a more competitive team. I also have a gut feeling that we'll be down to four players (one pitcher) next year and that's with just three moving up to 12U.
In the meantime, I'm looking for tryouts to get her to. She and I have discussed it, because she has several friends on the team, and she is ready to change teams. I wouldn't think about moving her if she wanted to stay on there because the social aspect was that important.
Anyone else who's been through this that could offer some advice and insight, I'd appreciate it. Am I handling this right?
And it was a very frustrating experience, particularly at the end of the season.
In February and March, we practiced as consistently as the weather would allow and I felt good about our progress. But then rec ball started, something 10 of the 12 kids on the team played. Mine was not one of them for a variety of reasons, one of which being the fact that we wanted her to commit to travel ball and not have conflicts with another team.
Long story short, it turns out that the head coach didn't make that same commitment.
His daughter played on the same rec team as a few others from our squad, and they ended up winning the league title which meant they made All-Stars, where he is also a coach. The all-star team is essentially our travel team with six of our players on the team.
When schedules for the all-star tournaments came out, they conflicted with our final two scheduled travel dates of the year. The result was basically that all-stars was chosen over our travel team. From the point that decision was made, our travel team nose-dived (we still had a couple of tournaments left to play). We never practiced and lost both to teams we had beaten fairly easily earlier in the year and to teams that had no business beating us.
Toward the end of the last tournament, when he was clearly frustrated with our performance, I made the comment about as straight-forward as I can make it that we need to go after this travel thing full-throttle and dump Dixie ball. The response kind of skirted the issue and he said something about "finding better players." That stuck in my craw and has continued to irritate me since because it should have been our job as coaches to make the players we had selected better. Hard to do that, of course, when you never practice because everyone has rec league games.
To make matters worse, I find out yesterday that the all-star team is practicing EVERY DAY when I couldn't convince him to practice at all with our travel team except on weekends that we weren't playing.
My DD and I would go out and watch some of the rec games, and every time I asked her if she wished she had played, she laughed and said "no." She's 9, but she's smart enough to understand the difference in the level of play and to know that she won't get better seeing 23 MPH pitching with an arc that might get within a foot of the strike zone.
In short, I've begun to feel that we have outgrown our current team, not from a performance standpoint but rather from a mental/goals standpoint. My DD was right in the middle of the pack in terms of performance and is hardly a superstar, but she works hard, improves consistently, and currently has the desire to get to a high level of play as she ages. If things with our current team don't change, the situation will not match her goals. There was too much of a rec-league mentality about making everyone happy, etc.
Right now, my plan is to wait until all-stars is over and have a heart-to-heart with our head coach about the situation. My fear is that things will never change to the degree they need to in order for us to be a more competitive team. I also have a gut feeling that we'll be down to four players (one pitcher) next year and that's with just three moving up to 12U.
In the meantime, I'm looking for tryouts to get her to. She and I have discussed it, because she has several friends on the team, and she is ready to change teams. I wouldn't think about moving her if she wanted to stay on there because the social aspect was that important.
Anyone else who's been through this that could offer some advice and insight, I'd appreciate it. Am I handling this right?