Please swing the bats!!!!

[Jojo]

Sounds to me like it will end up a funny story to share among teammates years later. "Remember when we had to wear the clown nose if we struck out looking"? It's a better story than my DD's, "Remember when so-in-so's dad forced us to eat mango's in the dugout?, I can never eat a mango ever again!"

You know, I really can't answer that. I don't remember. If I had a guess? I'd say there was probably a marginal improvement, but we weren't the greatest team out there to begin with. Unlike many of the parents and coaches on this board, I am not a "softball fanatic" - so my involvement in the game at that point was providing sunscreen, snacks, and cheers. I am trying to fix this, however, by hanging out on these boards and educating myself. I'm afraid I'm instead becoming a little hostile and crazed . . . Oh wait . . .

Maybe I'm arriving? SMACK TALK STARTS ANY MINUTE!

Nope. I got nothing. Guess I'll head back over to the mask thread and hone my skills.

 

[ConorMacleod]

We had this issue last year on my DD's 12u team. Coach finally ended up buying a red foam clown nose, and if you went down looking, you wore the nose the rest of the inning.

Significantly improved the swinging on the team, pronto!

--------------
I laughed at this suggestion. And now I'm giving serious thought...

 

[ConorMacleod]

Just in case any Umpires pop on in, I want to make it very clear I had no problem with the Umpire. Sure, his strike zone was big, but he was absolutely consistent. And it was one game out of three that the strike zone seemed expanded. The other teams sure didn't seem to mind when they kept swinging and putting the ball in play. Which, of course, means our pitchers were throwing around the strike zone as well.

I'll come up with something, but I will stay away from any sort of punishment or embarrassment during an actual tournament. I won't show up the kids, our team, our city, or the parents in front of other teams. But like I used to tell my kids when they misbehaved in public; "just remember, sooner or later you have to be alone with me..." (non-violent punishments of course )

 

[Ken Krause]

People can tar & feather all they want, I didn't do it, coach did.

FWIW, it was 1 game, 3 girls total. After that, the nose always made an appearance but wasn't used again. Was it effective? Yep. Was it nice? I don't know. I watched girls play an awesome game last weekend, only to be screamed at when they lost and made to run foul poles. Still punishment, right? And it isn't a unique occurrence.

That was our first experience with TB, and it was B level. We were too uncertain about which tactics were Ok and which were bad. It didn't make my DD cry, it didn't scar her, and she started swinging the dang bat. Was it love and logic approved? Yeah, probably not.

One thing we always have to keep in mind as we read these stories is context, and the coach's relationship with his/her players. What might sound awful in a forum post might have actually been warm and fuzzy between the coach and the players. Depends on how the coach handles it. A sense of humor while coaching is a beautiful thing.

 

[CoogansBluff]

But I think the key here is that you had a crap umpire. I say that because you taught the girls what a strike zone is (hopefully) from the armpits to the knees and from river to river. An umpire who doesn't like walks and blatantly tells you he's not going to count to 4 shouldn't be behind the plate.

Agreed. It's not the umpire's job to get kids to swing the bat.

Pitch selection is a challenge at any age. It's not surprising that they'd struggle at 10U or 12U if the umpire has a larger-than-life strike zone. And if one girl take a called 3rd strike on a ball outside the strike zone, it's hard to get mad at another one for doing the same. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

 

[bucket pinata]

To many coaches stand at third telling the batter to only swing at strikes. dirty looks every time they get fooled and swing and miss.then they are frustrated when the team locks up at the plate and start watching pitches. I always tell my DDs the umpires zone is irrelevant. what is YOUR zone? If you like it you drive it who cares if its in blues zone.at least 50% of my DDs hits including dingers would not have been called strikes. The first Grand slam the Duck Batter hit off the UCLA pitcher last sunday was off of her shoe tops.should she have watched it instead?

 

[Little Angels Softball]

The first Gland slam the Duck Batter hit of the UCLA pitcher last sunday was off of her shoe tops.should she have watched it instead?

Yes, she probably should have watched it. Although the result was good that time, while I can't give you exact odds I'd feel comfortable saying she probably fails her team with the bases juiced about 9 times out of 10 by swinging at that pitch (probably more, truth be told). She got lucky and put a fortunate swing on a great pitcher's pitch, one that pitcher would throw again and again in the same situation.

Weak nubber off the end of the bat or a pop-up would be the result most of the time.

 

[ConorMacleod]

To many coaches stand at third telling the batter to only swing at strikes. dirty looks every time they get fooled and swing and miss.then they are frustrated when the team locks up at the plate and start watching pitches. I always tell my DDs the umpires zone is irrelevant. what is YOUR zone? If you like it you drive it who cares if its in blues zone.at least 50% of my DDs hits including dingers would not have been called strikes. The first Gland slam the Duck Batter hit of the UCLA pitcher last sunday was off of her shoe tops.should she have watched it instead?

Except, that would be the opposite of my teams problem. My daughter swings the same way. Had a contact percentage of 97% last fall. Her zone is huge, and she gets her hacks in, and puts most balls in play. But what to do about the player who perceives her zone as mid thigh to waist, dead center of plate only? Or worse yet, the girl who prays that four balls come before three strikes. 12u is tricky. In my experience, it's the last age group before half of the girls decide softball isn't for them. So you get a wide range of talent, even on a competitive team.

 

[quincy]

A lot of coaches want to have it both ways. If you expand they expand their strike zone, they are going to swing a bad pitches. Back to tee work and soft toss to work on their strike zone.

For the player that just watches the ball, tell her she Has to swing at either the first or second pitch no matter were they are.

 

[wichita]

Start sitting kids for taking called third strikes......it's harsh but they get the point pretty quick