Parent keeping book also!
- Thread starter blighdog
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In reality, there's nothing I can do to stop it so why worry about it? Many parents keep their own books in the bleachers/stands for various reasons. If indeed the parent you are talking about is going to raise a stink with it, it certainly wouldn't be the first time it's happened and I'm sure it won't be the last. It all comes down to how HC handles the situation. He can politely make his position known on whatever matters are brought up and respond in a civilized manner to the parents concerns or he can basically say too bad. It's my way or the highway. Just wondering, is this rec ball or travel ball?
There is nothing you can do to prevent a parent from keeping their own book, but if they want to discuss any "stats" with you, I would put my foot down and say no, especially if the "stats" are also those of other players and not just their DD. Most parents (and many coaches) have no idea how to keep score properly anyway - how many times has a parent come to you and called ground outs "hits"?!
I'm not a big fan of keeping stats in youth softball/baseball, since it is very subjective. Depending on whether your DD is the pitcher, fielder, or batter, you are going to score any given play differently. Last weekend, one of our players comes up with bases loaded, bottom 6 with 2 outs. She hits a fly ball to left field. At 14U, that ball "should" be caught, but the left fielder doesn't come close to it, and we score 3 runs to win the game. Our head coach called it a game winning triple. If you consider it a hit, it's a double with an advance to third on the throw home. If you are the pitcher's parent, that is a three run error. It all depends on your point of view as a spectator and parent. If you want to be a little less biased regarding your own players, why not calculate stats based on your opponent's book?
I really only look at 2 stats - strikeouts and on base percentage. They tend to be the most objective. Did the player strike out - yes/no. Did they get on base - yes/no, even though calculating OBP can be wrong if the person does not correctly count plate appearances. All I really care about is whether the kid is putting the ball in play and hitting the ball hard. Parents love to tell you how high their kid's BA is, but with relatively few games (compared to college and pro ball), small differences in how you score hits/errors can make a rather large differences in BA.
I'm not a big fan of keeping stats in youth softball/baseball, since it is very subjective. Depending on whether your DD is the pitcher, fielder, or batter, you are going to score any given play differently. Last weekend, one of our players comes up with bases loaded, bottom 6 with 2 outs. She hits a fly ball to left field. At 14U, that ball "should" be caught, but the left fielder doesn't come close to it, and we score 3 runs to win the game. Our head coach called it a game winning triple. If you consider it a hit, it's a double with an advance to third on the throw home. If you are the pitcher's parent, that is a three run error. It all depends on your point of view as a spectator and parent. If you want to be a little less biased regarding your own players, why not calculate stats based on your opponent's book?
I really only look at 2 stats - strikeouts and on base percentage. They tend to be the most objective. Did the player strike out - yes/no. Did they get on base - yes/no, even though calculating OBP can be wrong if the person does not correctly count plate appearances. All I really care about is whether the kid is putting the ball in play and hitting the ball hard. Parents love to tell you how high their kid's BA is, but with relatively few games (compared to college and pro ball), small differences in how you score hits/errors can make a rather large differences in BA.
If it were a "Totally Disgruntled Parent", then you might have problems...but a Somewhat Disgruntled Parent? No big deal.
Many people keep their own book, just to keep busy. Very few, actually know how to keep score. I tried to help a lady once, and she said, "oh, I just color in the box, when a girl scores."
After all, when has a parent doing something out of ignorance ever caused problems in softball?
I would ignore it and don't allow yourself to be drawn into a discussion on playing time based on stats.
This is my kind of parent - supportive, enjoys being out there, and just loves to watch the game!
I hate doing the book, let them do the Team book.
My wife keeps score in her ipod touch using the Gamechanger app. It lets us keep track of what our dd is doing on the mound. There is a lot of info that it automatically tracks that tracking on the old school score pad is dificult, then the program does all the math so you don't have to spend a half hour trying to figure out whats the percentage of first pitch strikes...
Disgruntled parents don't need ammo to be disgruntled. Maybe they will look at all the hard and fast stats and say, wow now I can see why our dd is batting last in the order, probably not, but if you as a coach (assuming you are the coach) have placed their dd in the correct spot and have her batting in the right order then keeping stats won't and shouldn't be an issue. But if you are the coach and your dd is batting 3rd with a low average and is playing ss with a ton or errors and theirs is batting 8th with no fielding errors and a much higher batting average, then maybe they have a beef. If you did your job right, the parents keeping score shouldn't be a problem for you.
Disgruntled parents don't need ammo to be disgruntled. Maybe they will look at all the hard and fast stats and say, wow now I can see why our dd is batting last in the order, probably not, but if you as a coach (assuming you are the coach) have placed their dd in the correct spot and have her batting in the right order then keeping stats won't and shouldn't be an issue. But if you are the coach and your dd is batting 3rd with a low average and is playing ss with a ton or errors and theirs is batting 8th with no fielding errors and a much higher batting average, then maybe they have a beef. If you did your job right, the parents keeping score shouldn't be a problem for you.
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