Parents Ego's get in the way

[Mocoso]

It happens every season and I dont get it! It amazes me to see how selfish parents can be and how their ego clouds their judgement! Im sure many have seen this scenario play out:

"Hell no my girl will not play for your lowly Silver team! I dont care if she will be the starting pitcher and the team needs her! She is a Gold player! I dont care if there are 4 other pitchers in Gold or the fact that she will likely sit on the bench! Its GOLD DAMN IT! She isnt playing this summer! Maybe next year you will learn your lesson and put her in gold!"

I feel for these kids specially when most if given proper parental guidance and advice would just love to play regardless of what the team is called or ranked as. Selfish, egotistical parents piss me off!

 

[JJsqueeze]

i found the insanity and unreasonableness to be equally distributed between the coaches and parents in rec. For every "hell no my kid doesn't play silver" parent there is a coaches kid on gold that either doesn't deserve it or was at best a 50-50 choice and got the nod over ther other girls because daddy is a league VP or coach.

 

[JAD]

I tell parents, especially pitchers parents, that TB is a marathon, not a sprint. No one cares what level your DD played when she was 12U or even 14U, college coaches recruit 16U and 18U.

 

[Little Angels Softball]

It happens in travel ball, too. Lots of "A" teams out there that would be better off staying in rec then playing "B" for the summer. But when daddy realizes his DD isn't quite good enough to be a starting pitcher on a real "A" team, he starts one of his own. This attracts like-minded parents and pretty soon you have an "A" club that does just fine against other teams that were formed for the same reasons it was, but that gets smoked 12-0 when they play true "A" class teams.

"My DD plays "A" ball!" If parents would follow JAD's advice and play at the level they're best suited for, life would be a lot nicer and we'd have great levels of competition for all girls who want to play.

 

[Top_Notch]

It happens in travel ball, too. Lots of "A" teams out there that would be better off staying in rec then playing "B" for the summer. But when daddy realizes his DD isn't quite good enough to be a starting pitcher on a real "A" team, he starts one of his own. This attracts like-minded parents and pretty soon you have an "A" club that does just fine against other teams that were formed for the same reasons it was, but that gets smoked 12-0 when they play true "A" class teams.

It's not just daddy doing this. There are a few "A" level organizations around where I am at that insist their teams play "A" level when certain teams are clearly not. DD plays for a "B" level organization yet her team is clearly "A" level. (Granted, her team is the exception) It's always fun to play teams in a tournament that won't scrimmage against us because we are "B" level. It's one our better recruiting tools as their level of play gets noticed quickly. Call us what you want (we typically go 'open'), but you'd better be prepared to play!

 

[bucket pinata]

The ego of TB coaches in my area really makes me crazy, During HS ball they insist on multiple weekly practices and weekend tournaments. The reason they state is they believe the HS coaching is just so bad that they have to. BBBBSSSS, Why cant they just enjoy watching their players contribute to some great school ball. with maybe one practice a week. I got news for them,If their kids are not hitting in school ball its not the HS coaches fault.The reason is that NO good true A teams play any tournaments during school ball so they cant resist trotting out their teams that they call 16-18 GOLD ,Elite, Premier showcase team and actual win a game or two, Because when TB season really starts they will be back to the team that's sticking to the bottom of real gold teams shoes. This year my DDs school team has lost three big bats and great players,(both catchers and starting 3rd basemen) due to injury playing weekend B ball. Coaches put your god complex aside and let the kids enjoy their high school experience , Maybe you don't get it anymore but the young ladies do.

 

[Little Angels Softball]

The ego of TB coaches in my area really makes me crazy, During HS ball they insist on multiple weekly practices and weekend tournaments. The reason they state is they believe the HS coaching is just so bad that they have to. BBBBSSSS, Why cant they just enjoy watching their players contribute to some great school ball. with maybe one practice a week. I got news for them,If their kids are not hitting in school ball its not the HS coaches fault.The reason is that NO good true A teams play any tournaments during school ball so they cant resist trotting out their teams that they call 16-18 GOLD ,Elite, Premier showcase team and actual win a game or two, Because when TB season really starts they will be back to the team that's sticking to the bottom of real gold teams shoes. This year my DDs school team has lost three big bats and great players,(both catchers and starting 3rd basemen) to playing weekend B ball. Coaches put your god complex aside and let the kids enjoy their high school experience , Maybe you don't get it anymore but the young ladies do.

You're allowed to play travel during high school season? Weird.

 

[guero_gordo]

Most pitcher's parents catch on after a while (few seasons?) that circle time trumps all....until they get to HS and the switch in their brain flips off again when the glories of sitting the bench on VARSITY outshine the drudgery of pitching every game on JV.

 

[Little Angels Softball]

It's not just daddy doing this. There are a few "A" level organizations around where I am at that insist their teams play "A" level when certain teams are clearly not. DD plays for a "B" level organization yet her team is clearly "A" level. (Granted, her team is the exception) It's always fun to play teams in a tournament that won't scrimmage against us because we are "B" level. It's one our better recruiting tools as their level of play gets noticed quickly. Call us what you want (we typically go 'open'), but you'd better be prepared to play!

Yup, lots of travel ball orgs field less-than-stellar A ball clubs and put their name on the front of the jersey. Happens all the time, and drives me crazy. And while I understand that certain orgs play A no matter what (this is OK with me), when you just don't have the talent to do so you need to either walk away from the money and disband the team or shop your tourneys carefully so you aren't stats fodder for the top teams in the area.

One thing I will say, if your DD's team is truly "clearly A level", they should be playing A exclusively. Open or B is not only a waste of time, it really isn't fair to the truly "B" teams they run up against when they are out beating "A" teams and recruiting A ball players. An A ball team trophy hunting in B ball is probably worse than a weak team playing A ball in most people's eyes.

 

[Rocketech1]

Mocoso - I have experienced this from both sides and it can be equally ugly from the parent and coaches perspective. Having attended many rec league all-star drafts, very few (if any) are really 100% fair. Since the managers and board almost always have kids in the league, they make backroom deals to get their kids on the higher all-star team. The other parents see this and cry foul but nothing really changes each year. The primary reasons you want your kid on the better all-star team is a) the coaching is generally better (i.e. they are more experienced, better instruction), you are playing with more talented group of girls that push your kid to get better (playing time competition); 3) you have an opportunity to qualify for State and National tournaments (unlike the second or third all-star teams), and d) your competition is going to be better. Having a daughter that played mostly on the higher all-star teams I can say unequivocally that the experience is far superior to being on the second team, where some players may not even be able to catch and throw the ball, the pitching is weak, and the coaches are inexperienced. It has nothing to do with being recruited when you are in High School but everything to do with having a challenging and awesome experience no matter what level of ball you play. Are some parents absolutely crazy? Yes, but the vast majority are frustrated because they see little suzy work hard and get passed up because of daddy ball. Happens every year, in every league.