This is my first year as a TB coach for my dd 10U team. We have 6 solid players and 3 middle of the road with 3 weaker players. All the girls play on local little league teams at least twice a week, and practice or games 2x's for TB as well. How do you handle subs in the game. Do you only play your strongest on the infield or put a less experienced player in the infield. Do you push for wins in TB or give up the possible win for experience gain. Parents are mixed between those who want to win and those that want variety in playing time so I know everyone will not be happy.
Parent help
- Thread starter QofD
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- Apr 1, 2010
- 1,673
- 0
At 10U I would try to give less experienced players plenty of practice time and also plenty of time in pool games. At that age, you never who might be a diamond in the rough, plus, at any age, you can find yourself missing one of your starting infielders. --Best to develop some strong backups. I think it's a little short-sighted to concentrate on wins at 10U.
At that age I'm still in "serious developmental mode". The 6 solid players will get most of the time, but that gives me open slots for working with the 6 others. Weekend TB tourneys are such a blessing for allowing less athletic players to get some much needed experience.
For me, I always looked down the road. We might have lost some games at 10/12 on me because we were trying to develop as a team for the long haul. I wanted them ALL to be well rounded and skilled by 14u+.
That means the less talented played in pool games if no consequence. They played in pool if the opposing team was "beatable" if pools seeded. They entered pool games if we got a lead.
Brackets same way, playing a beatable team or a nice lead they came in. It's small steps in this game, it's confidence building. I want those girls to get comfortable hitting an average pitcher, I want them fielding average hits, I want them to try to "out" average base runners. THEN we slowly move them into more talented level games and situations. It's a process.
One thing that stuck in my head from my father was "A good coach will make his players see what they can be, rather than what they are ". ( think it was an old basketball coach before my time with the original quote? ) But the message is timeless and very sobering for any coach.
For me, I always looked down the road. We might have lost some games at 10/12 on me because we were trying to develop as a team for the long haul. I wanted them ALL to be well rounded and skilled by 14u+.
That means the less talented played in pool games if no consequence. They played in pool if the opposing team was "beatable" if pools seeded. They entered pool games if we got a lead.
Brackets same way, playing a beatable team or a nice lead they came in. It's small steps in this game, it's confidence building. I want those girls to get comfortable hitting an average pitcher, I want them fielding average hits, I want them to try to "out" average base runners. THEN we slowly move them into more talented level games and situations. It's a process.
One thing that stuck in my head from my father was "A good coach will make his players see what they can be, rather than what they are ". ( think it was an old basketball coach before my time with the original quote? ) But the message is timeless and very sobering for any coach.
Thanks for the info, game in question was a pitchers duel with all outs being made on the infield. As soon as I made switch due to worrying about upset parents they score multiple runs that we couldn't overcome. Questions by some of why we changed when we had the chance and others why we didn't change sooner. Either way it's a no win situation.
Hell w/ the parents. Do what the kids want. Most parents want to win more than their kids do. The players want to win, but first and foremost, they get into travel ball because they want to play more softball, get better competition and be with like-minded players. Winning has little to do with it for them. Sitting on the bench and playing only in the outfield is not what they're signing up for. That's how parents run kids out of the game who might've been good if they'd been given more chances. It's been 3-4 years since I coached 10U. I have never looked back and thought, 'I wish that I had limited playing time to the lesser players so that we could have won more.' It's the opposite. I'd let my #3 pitcher get more innings. I'd let my right fielder play more infield. And I would still do now what I did then - bat the max number of players in every game, pool or bracket. The better players get a better deal - they'll bat higher, they'll spend more time in the infield, etc. But everybody plays. A lot.
- Mar 28, 2013
- 769
- 18
NEVER NEVER EVER EVER do you bring parents desires into your game day planning and calls.the sooner they realize this the longer you get to keep the Team.They will destroy the Team if you let them.Run your show or they will.
You are right, you'll never please everybody. However, you will have fewer grumblings and complaints if you spell out your coaching philosophy to your parents before hand. For example you might say, in pool play all players are going to get roughly equal playing time and weaker players will even get some infield time; but in elimination play my best players are going to get the bulk of the time and will play the most important positions. Not saying you should do that, just an example of one way to approch it.
- Apr 16, 2013
- 1,113
- 83
To start with, exactly what Sweet said. You have to tell the parents straight up, at the beginning of the season, that you're here to develop the talent. Winning is a secondary desire.
My thoughts on infield play for the "lesser" players are to put them at SS and 2nd. Yup, pretty important spots. However, they get prime hits to them, but don't have to worry about the really hard throws and catches. Yes, you have the throw down to 2nd, but teaching them the backup routine isn't hard. (SS covers, 2nd backs up SS, and the CF backs up 2nd.) It's all about the fielding and learning to watch the game. Your first and 3rd base(wo)men will always have to be the better players IMO. If you want to develop a good catcher, then they both have to be ready for hard throw downs that are MUST CATCH scenarios. They need the same fielding skills as SS and 2nd, but with the added pressure of great gloves and arms. Even first will have the occasional throw. My DD plays first a lot, and you'd be surprised how many times she has to fire one to home after a play at first. That's just my philosophy, others may disagree.
I'll share my little story from rec basketball this past winter. I was the head coach on my DD's team. I told the parents at the beginning of the year that I believed in all girls getting equal playing time. Once the end of season tournaments came, we'd go for the win, but I would NOT sit any girl for any extended period of time either. For most of the season we had a team of 10, so it was pretty easy. 8 min 1/4's, every 4 minutes I swap the entire team. I zeroed in on the other teams' strengths, and in practice we practiced to defend against those strengths. In the first half of the season we stunk. We always lost. Then, things started changing. By the end of the tournaments we were the best TEAM out there. We made it all the way to the finals. The final game was the highest scoring game of the season. We were handily beating the other team that just so happened to be missing the best (BY FAR!) player in the league. We had them scared! Their best player made it to the game in the 2nd half and won the game for them single handed. However, we showed that, again, we had become the best TEAM. We depended on no 1 girl. The other #1 team was only #1 because of one immensely talented girl. I was SOOOOO proud of them. Point of the story is that, from the start, all the girls got an equal chance to learn and participate. We were a team and won and lost as a team.
I'm seeing the same scenario play out this season as the AC and my DD's BB team. 2nd base will almost always have a "lesser talented" kid, and often SS will. Has it cost us a few games? Very possibly. However, they're getting better and hopefully enjoying the game more. The end of season tournament is coming up in early June and I'm positive we're going to be a strong contender to take it all. We're the only team that's put a kink the the armor of the #1 team. They've never lost, but tied to us twice. I'm definitely looking forward to it.
My thoughts on infield play for the "lesser" players are to put them at SS and 2nd. Yup, pretty important spots. However, they get prime hits to them, but don't have to worry about the really hard throws and catches. Yes, you have the throw down to 2nd, but teaching them the backup routine isn't hard. (SS covers, 2nd backs up SS, and the CF backs up 2nd.) It's all about the fielding and learning to watch the game. Your first and 3rd base(wo)men will always have to be the better players IMO. If you want to develop a good catcher, then they both have to be ready for hard throw downs that are MUST CATCH scenarios. They need the same fielding skills as SS and 2nd, but with the added pressure of great gloves and arms. Even first will have the occasional throw. My DD plays first a lot, and you'd be surprised how many times she has to fire one to home after a play at first. That's just my philosophy, others may disagree.
I'll share my little story from rec basketball this past winter. I was the head coach on my DD's team. I told the parents at the beginning of the year that I believed in all girls getting equal playing time. Once the end of season tournaments came, we'd go for the win, but I would NOT sit any girl for any extended period of time either. For most of the season we had a team of 10, so it was pretty easy. 8 min 1/4's, every 4 minutes I swap the entire team. I zeroed in on the other teams' strengths, and in practice we practiced to defend against those strengths. In the first half of the season we stunk. We always lost. Then, things started changing. By the end of the tournaments we were the best TEAM out there. We made it all the way to the finals. The final game was the highest scoring game of the season. We were handily beating the other team that just so happened to be missing the best (BY FAR!) player in the league. We had them scared! Their best player made it to the game in the 2nd half and won the game for them single handed. However, we showed that, again, we had become the best TEAM. We depended on no 1 girl. The other #1 team was only #1 because of one immensely talented girl. I was SOOOOO proud of them. Point of the story is that, from the start, all the girls got an equal chance to learn and participate. We were a team and won and lost as a team.
I'm seeing the same scenario play out this season as the AC and my DD's BB team. 2nd base will almost always have a "lesser talented" kid, and often SS will. Has it cost us a few games? Very possibly. However, they're getting better and hopefully enjoying the game more. The end of season tournament is coming up in early June and I'm positive we're going to be a strong contender to take it all. We're the only team that's put a kink the the armor of the #1 team. They've never lost, but tied to us twice. I'm definitely looking forward to it.
