Player leaving

[_MIA_]

I do appreciate the chemistry but I'd prefer chemistry + skill. Great chemistry makes for fun, which I love for the girls. In and of it self it doesn't make for good softball.

Give me a team full of kids who are a)highly skilled, b)care about winning and c) are good teammates ( you don't have to know or even like a kid to be a good teammate) and I won't give two sh*&s about team chemistry. Being "besties" with everybody on the team won't matter one bit in the (mostly) individual battles which take place on the diamond.

The chemistry crap in sports is one of my pet peeves..winning breeds so-called "chemistry".

 

[HighStrung]

Give me a team full of kids who are a)highly skilled, b)care about winning and c) are good teammates ( you don't have to know or even like a kid to be a good teammate) and I won't give two sh*&s about team chemistry. Being "besties" with everybody on the team won't matter one bit in the (mostly) individual battles which take place on the diamond.

The chemistry crap in sports is one of my pet peeves..winning breeds so-called "chemistry".

This is pretty much what we realized this year. Last year we had to switch teams due to ours falling apart in march. The team we joined (DD knew a couple of the girls prior to) preached chemistry and the girls being "best friends for life" first and "keep these girls together for the next 6 years", the softball skills would grow with age. I know, I know, but like I said we had to find a team we could get mound time with mid season. We ended up very disappointed and couldn't get away quick enough. Still like many of the girls, but became very frustrated with several who didn't put in the work/effort, DD was more frustrated than we were.

This year moved to a higher level team with plenty of very skilled girls, all very driven, and very few who knew each other. What we found was that very quickly the girls learned they could trust each other to work hard to get better, they could and do push each other to get better, they all wanted the same thing, they could trust each other to go out there and do their jobs....and very quickly they've "gelled" quicker than any group we've ever been a part of. Most of these girls literally love each other now, and it didn't come from weeks/months of being friends first, it came from their ability to trust each other on and off the field, to do what they're here to do.

 

[grcsftbll]

Give me a team full of kids who are a)highly skilled, b)care about winning and c) are good teammates ( you don't have to know or even like a kid to be a good teammate) and I won't give two sh*&s about team chemistry. Being "besties" with everybody on the team won't matter one bit in the (mostly) individual battles which take place on the diamond.

The chemistry crap in sports is one of my pet peeves..winning breeds so-called "chemistry".

I'm not sure the chemistry thing has anything to do with being buddies. Sometimes you watch a team warm up and think, this team's just ok. Then you see them during a game and the way they work together puts their outcomes above where it looks like they would be based on the individual players' skills. It happens in the MLB - one year a team is practically unstoppable and the next year they're just ok. Some of it is the skill of the players, but I don't think that's all of it. Some groupings of individuals come together better than others. The best ones have what I call chemistry. To me it's as mysterious as why you'd fall in love with this person but not that one. Or why you meet one person and immediately like them for no apparent reason.

 

[_MIA_]

It happens in the MLB - one year a team is practically unstoppable and the next year they're just ok.

It also often happens with the same group of players..so did they stop "working together" or did four players who had career years the year before just regress to the mean? For every play everyone has an individual job to do on the field. The best teams have players who do these individual jobs more consistently with the highest skill levels. When I played I didn't worry about what everyone else was doing I only worried about what I had to do.

 

[FP26]

Chemistry is an interesting "buzzword". I think people use it to describe something arbitrary that is more evident when it isn't actually there. When a team has poor chemistry, it becomes quite obvious. I also think too many coaches attempt to train or replicate it when it is something that can only happen organically. That said, I do think there are components of chemistry that are very real. As an example, DD has an extremely good relationship with the catcher on her travel team. They have worked together so much that they have little signals for each other when they want to change signs or run a play. I remember one game when the 3rd base coach was blatantly trying to steal the catcher's signs and then would yell to his hitter "watch for the change". Without our coaches even saying anything, the two of them made some adjustments and started playing a game of cat and mouse with the other coach. We didn't even know about their game until a couple of innings later.

 

[Bart Bouse]

Without reading each and every other reply, unfortunately, it's just the fickle nature of the sport. I just witnessed a kid sign with a college team that had played for me several years. I helped two kids she played with get signed by this same college and built a reputation with this college coach. I spent no less than 3 hours over multiple occasions talking to these college coaches about this kid despite the fact her mother had stiffed me for about $600 in camp and team fees. Nonetheless, at her signing they call and have her current coach show for the picture. She's been with him a total of six weeks and committed prior to meeting him. I wish I could tell you it gets better but it doesn't. And, with the recent changes in the NCAA, we are seeing the same process play out in college. Team hopping versus playing the game has become the new sport for parents and players.

 

[uncdrew]

Give me a team full of kids who are a)highly skilled, b)care about winning and c) are good teammates ( you don't have to know or even like a kid to be a good teammate) and I won't give two sh*&s about team chemistry. Being "besties" with everybody on the team won't matter one bit in the (mostly) individual battles which take place on the diamond.

The chemistry crap in sports is one of my pet peeves..winning breeds so-called "chemistry".

My DD cares about chemistry, and besties and having fun. So I do too. It's much more important to me than softball.

That may change for her, I don't know. I hope it doesn't.

 

[_MIA_]

My DD cares about chemistry, and besties. So I do too. It's much more important to me than softball.

That is fine, but what I was responding to was the idea that you need that in order to win. I never said
being friends with your teammates wasn't a good thing in particular if it is important to the player.

 

[BT3100]

We are with the same Organization for the 4th season. The way I measure success is did DD get better year over year? If the answer is yes then why leave? If the answer is no, then why stay?
I've seen more people leave organizations based on emotions then on logic. When emotion goes up intelligence goes down. Think long and hard before you make a move. You are sending a strong message to your kid when you leave. Sometimes it may be a good message but most times I've seen people leave for playing time and role on the team. Leaving for those reasons does very little for your DD. We should be teaching our kids to fight for playing time and work to get better. You don't get better in games you get better working to prepare for games. Just my opinion.

 

[SBmom8992]

I’m seeing more and more top players leave local teams to play on more competitive national teams comprised of players from many states. Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with the team they are leaving but the decision to leave is related to more exposure in an area they want to play college ball in, opportunity to play stronger competition, or personal growth / competing for playing time on a higher level team versus being a starter in every game on their current team.


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