Policy on your players playing with other teams

[llsoftball]

Have a great group of kids and parents where most have been together for quite some time. We have been very successful in 8s and now 10s. When this happens other competitive teams notice and start inviting our players to play on off weekends. I want the girls to play as much as they want, but don't want this to interfere with our team. Looking for some opinions on how this should be addressed and what, if any, rules should be set regarding this?

I am very up front with how I coach and provide parents with a detailed plan and letter every season of how we work.

 

[FP26]

We have some interesting dynamics with our 14U group. Some of them will be playing Junior Varsity or Junior High softball this spring. Others may be playing other school sports; soccer, track, field hockey, etc. Some may be playing rec ball. However, there are a few that won't be involved in anything else besides our TB team. Once the entire group is available to play, we plan to have an aggressive schedule with maybe one weekend off per month during the summer. Once that schedule starts, we would prefer that our players stick to playing with our team. Before the busy season starts, we will not object if someone decides to play as a pickup player for another team. In fact, my DD may be doing that. However, if someone does play as a pickup player, we would like to know about it.

It is a very interesting topic, and I am curious how others will answer it. Each team typically has a variety of interest levels. If you keep them relatively busy, many of them will not want to play for other teams. However, there are some that want to play every weekend and are disappointed any time there is a weekend off. I have several friends that are TB coaches, and from my experience, their tolerance or intolerance to pickup players can be summed up in one of two ways.

1) If they are up front and honest as you are stating in the OP, typically they are not bothered by their players playing for other teams. They feel secure and are not worried that these players will not come back to them.
2) Some others can be very concerned that allowing their players to do this could lead to defections. My opinion is if this is the coach's concern, the defections will occur anyway. It is just a matter of time.

 

[James Smith]

I am not sure how to put it into a rule but I would be interested in pitching and catching. I know I do not want my #1 pitcher in the circle all weekend, #3 P good for her if she is. Same with C.

Otherwise have fun and let me know when the games are.

 

[CoogansBluff]

As a head coach, I had no rule against it and generally thought it was a good thing because I was coaching 10U and 12U, and the more they played, the better. They were very much in the developmental stages. Especially pitchers needing to get innings. I did want to know about it, and I did expect that the parents/players were not using their pickup opportunities to consider team swapping during the season. But as far as the possibility that my players would wind up on another team at some point, I didn't mind that. If you're in it for the players, then you want them to be on the team that suits them the best. If someone else can convince them that they have a better team than mine, that's my problem.

There are teams, though, that can justify a no pick-up rule. If you're playing 20 tournaments a year, traveling out of state, playing 2- and 3-day tournaments, then I think you have a right to make rules that prevent burnout or injury. If you're trying to peak at a certain time of year, you may need to monitor how much time they're on a softball field.

 

[CoachAl]

Our policy is pretty simple. Guest playing is allowed, and even encouraged, as long as it does not interfere with any of our team's games, practices or other scheduled events. And, head coaches must be informed and approve.

The caveats to this are there are certain teams, not many but a few, that I do not allow our players to guest play for. This is only because these teams have developed a reputation for bringing in guest players, not becauase they have a need, but because they have season long recruiting machine at work or other questionable things going on! There are also times when a coach may not allow a player to guest play if the team only has one off weekend during the month or one off weekend before a stretch run with state and WS tournaments etc.

As far as fearing player defections, I agree with fastpitch26. These are not players/parents you want on your team anyway so that kind of takes care of itself in the long run.

 

[Momo'sDad]

I tend to agree with CoogansBluff. While some coaches may be opposed to other teams recruiting players from their rosters, I believe the bigger concern is injury, especially once you get to 12u.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Our policy is pretty simple. Guest playing is allowed, and even encouraged, as long as it does not interfere with any of our team's games, practices or other scheduled events. And, head coaches must be informed and approve.

The caveats to this are there are certain teams, not many but a few, that I do not allow our players to guest play for. This is only because these teams have developed a reputation for bringing in guest players, not becauase they have a need, but because they have season long recruiting machine at work or other questionable things going on! There are also times when a coach may not allow a player to guest play if the team only has one off weekend during the month or one off weekend before a stretch run with state and WS tournaments etc.

As far as fearing player defections, I agree with fastpitch26. These are not players/parents you want on your team anyway so that kind of takes care of itself in the long run.

Not implying that this is the case for any specific poster or coach here, but the reality is that there may be a better fit for a player on another team. In other words, no team or coach is the best fit for every player. That could be for any of a number of reasons - team or positional strength/weakness, level of play/competition, schedule, travel distance, coaching philosophy/temperment, etc. I'm just pointing out that "your" players may truly fit better with another team and that's not their or your "fault". IMO, guest playing helps teams and players find their best fit.

 

[CoachKevin]

I never had a rule against it. In fact I encouraged it. I have never lost a player during the season because of recruiting, I would even go watch them play many times. I have lost players after the season, but the way I see it is that you play year to year so that never bothered me at all.

 

[ScottyDont]

I allow it as long as I'm informed of it in advance. I had one catcher last year who guest-played for one of our "rival" teams without telling me...and it got back to me later. Turns out they were recruiting her while she was there and then made a big show of saying "hello" and making a big deal over her every time we played them later in the season.

Long story short, she left our team at the end of the year with the intention of going there, and then never got an offer. She's now playing for a "B" team that we'll never see in a game, so more power to her, I guess.

One thing I am clear about is that injuries suffered while guest playing are a huge problem for me. If a player gets hurt in somebody else's game, and misses practice or other team commitments due to that injury, the coaching staff does not consider that a valid excuse and it will result in less playing time.

 

[Greenmonsters]

I allow it as long as I'm informed of it in advance....One thing I am clear about is that injuries suffered while guest playing are a huge problem for me. If a player gets hurt in somebody else's game, and misses practice or other team commitments due to that injury, the coaching staff does not consider that a valid excuse and it will result in less playing time.

In effect you are punishing a player for putting in extra time and effort trying to improve their skills. IMO, that doesn't reflect well upon you as a coach.