Question to coach

[tenandten]

My dd plays 12u on an A type team. She pitches and plays 2nd base. We are very happy with the coaches, team and the organization. We just finished tryouts and have been asked to come back and have accepted. My dd is the starting second baseman and plays the position every game and almost every inning except when she is pitching. She is built for second base and plays it very well.
I would like to ask or send and email to the coach asking that she gets some throws from short and third in practice. With tryouts for middle school coming in the spring she could definitely play these positions on the middle school team. Im in know way asking him to play her at short or third in game. Just to have her get some longer throw from the other infield positions. In 10u on an other team she was the shortstop and third baseman. This team the girls that play third and short are bigger older and stronger then she is she probably fields to ball as good but does not have as strong of an arm. This is a very good team that usually is runner up or wins the tournament. My question is how to go about asking for this and is it okay to ask. I would never ask or tell a coach where to play my DD and truly believe her future is at second base. But on a weaker team she could easlily be and has been the shortstop.

 

[RetiredCoach]

I would suggest that you take her out yourself and hit her as many balls as she wants from those positions.

 

[MNDad]

My dd plays 12u on an A type team. She pitches and plays 2nd base. We are very happy with the coaches, team and the organization. We just finished tryouts and have been asked to come back and have accepted. My dd is the starting second baseman and plays the position every game and almost every inning except when she is pitching. She is built for second base and plays it very well.
I would like to ask or send and email to the coach asking that she gets some throws from short and third in practice. With tryouts for middle school coming in the spring she could definitely play these positions on the middle school team. Im in know way asking him to play her at short or third in game. Just to have her get some longer throw from the other infield positions. In 10u on an other team she was the shortstop and third baseman. This team the girls that play third and short are bigger older and stronger then she is she probably fields to ball as good but does not have as strong of an arm. This is a very good team that usually is runner up or wins the tournament. My question is how to go about asking for this and is it okay to ask. I would never ask or tell a coach where to play my DD and truly believe her future is at second base. But on a weaker team she could easlily be and has been the shortstop.

There's a good chance she'll work at it in practice anyway. If not, copy and paste this post and send it to him. You've explained it perfectly.

 

[SoCalASABlue]

I would suggest that you take her out yourself and hit her as many balls as she wants from those positions.

Totally agree with this...and if your DD wants to ask the coach this question herself, that's better...JMO...

 

[Little Angels Softball]

No need for an email on such a subject. I like it when a girl wants to take on some more work and improve her versatility.

I'd start by having her work at SS/3B on her own for a couple of weeks and by having her work long toss when she is warming up at practice. Once she has been doing the long toss at three or four practices, her coach should have noticed. That's when she needs to ask him herself:

"Hey coach! I've been working a bit on my own at SS and 3B and have been getting my arm stronger with quite a bit of long toss. Do you think I might be able to get some reps in at those two spots during practice? I'm going to be playing middle school ball soon and I might end up at one of them and that experience would make me a reasonable backup if either of our starters here ever got injured or had to miss a tourney. Whattya say?"

 

[CoogansBluff]

"Hey coach! I've been working a bit on my own at SS and 3B and have been getting my arm stronger with quite a bit of long toss. Do you think I might be able to get some reps in at those two spots during practice? I'm going to be playing middle school ball soon and I might end up at one of them and that experience would make me a reasonable backup if either of our starters here ever got injured or had to miss a tourney. Whattya say?"

Isn't it a selfish question, though?

If I'm the coach, I'd welcome practice suggestions that help the team, but not those that are designed to help one player.

Now, if the player says, ''I've been working hard to improve my arm and I think I can help the team at SS and 3B in case you ever need me there, and I'd love to show you what I can do,'' well, that's different. She's showing initiative, confidence, with a little humility, looking out for the team.

But, "Can you change what you think is the best practice for this team so that I can practice my middle school position,'' I'm not too interested in that.

 

[Little Angels Softball]

Coogan - I meant that she could suggest that she might be able to use the experience she gets in middle school plus the experience she gets working the new positions at practice to help her travel team somewhere down the road.

Hopefully, the coach will see that she has been working on her own to earn the middle school job and can see the benefit to the team if he can piggy-back onto the experience she'll gain there by seeing what she can do at his practices, with the long-term goal of having another left-side infielder at his disposal should the need arise.

As an example, a few years ago when I was coaching a second-year 14U team, a strong-armed C/LF I'd had on the team for a couple of years made her high school team as a freshman and started every game for them at 3B. When she told me this, I worked her there at practice, knowing she had 15-20 games of experience that I could tap into. Well, she ended up looking pretty good at practice and I ended up using he there at least one game every tourney that year. She even gave me six games at 3B once when my starter missed an entire tourney due to some complications from wisdom teeth removal.

I simply piggy-backed onto some extra experience she was getting and it ended up really helping our team over the course of the season.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Coogan - I meant that she could suggest that she might be able to use the experience she gets in middle school plus the experience she gets working the new positions at practice to help her travel team somewhere down the road.

I see what you're saying and agree that it's all in how you frame it. ... Is the request about the team, or me?

Reminds me of a friend who just yesterday was encouraging his daughter to talk with the coach about playing time. This is a high school team, and she started the first 2 games at second base, went 2-for-5, but mysteriously hasn't started the past 3 games.

''What can I do to get my old job back?'' would be a selfish question, IMO, because the coach's goal is not for any one girl to win a certain position.

So, ''What can I do to help this team win? What can I do to be a better teammate? What can I do to be a more valuable player on this team?" are all much better questions.

I think it's a subtle point that gets lost in many player-coach and parent-coach discussions.

That's my advice to the OP and anybody (player or parent) who has a request of the coach. See if from the coach's perspective - which is all about the team - and appeal to that.

 

[tenandten]

Thank you for the eye opening enlightening view of this. I have chosen to say nothing to the coaches and i agree that this would be a little bit selfish and not in the best interest of team. It also may be a little if not all about my wants for my DD. I will work with her on my own from SS and 3rd. My DD is perfectly happy and proud to call herself the 2nd basemen of this team. And if she ever decides that she wants to try a different position she would probably have no problem asking them and there is no doubt in my mind that they would give her an opportunity at it.

I will keep cheering for her from the sidelines and telling her i love watching her play. It has gone in the right direction so far.

Thank Again