Roster 15?

[absdad]

I think the girls should learn they have to share spots. Bench sitting does not ONLY have to be to show a girl she "stinks," but to learn teamwork (when you're down your teammate goes in and picks you up).
Some of the girls are ready to drop after 7 games in one weekend.

I say go with it and coexist. Yes all parents should get a discount when more players are on the roster.

That works fine and well in rec ball where everybody bats, and plays two positions and 3 innings a game. But on a competitive travel team, not everybody gets to play SS, or whatever position they want. The best player gets the spot. Typically your extra players are your hurlers, maybe a utility. Parents don't pay money to be told one thing, and then find out the coach misled them. It's not about play time, the coach lied. If he didn't lie, and the situation changed, then he should have told the parents, all of them.

 

[fivepotsogold]

This is, indirectly, about playing time. Also about truthfulness.

The more kids on the bench, the less time most will get. That is simple numbers versus available innings. With 12 players my younger DD still played about half the time as this coach was playing everyone on Saturdays as much as possible. We had no complaints about her time.

It started out with the team getting a chance to play a couple of random indoor games .. again this was optional to the the players. I wanted to know how many the coach intended to take ... again we have limited $ and time .. if I felt it was worth time money we would play. If not, we would not play. Coach flipped out and next practice my younger DD moved out of first 12 and I was told roster was 15 (after being told 4 days earlier it was only 12). "none of my business" .. etc ...

Didn't think this would go to 3 pages .. lol
I really don't mean to sound like a whiny parent either...

1. If he had said roster of 15 in August, we would have not signed up in first place (I have hours logged on my phone with this guy and it was 12 ...)
2. We came to the team because he is actually a good coach ...but it seems as though someone else is bringing these kids in (several have heard him say "it's them, not me") ...if other person is the coach, not what we signed up for.
3. Never would have made payments for DD#2 if he told me #13 ...he didn't. Actually told me several times she would 9, 10, 11 ...
4. Can't say optional, then turn around and say kid not comitted if kid misses a game ... especially when you asked us to bring her knowing situation way before weekend. She was there for 8 of the 10 optional games.
5. Can't say we need extra kid (X) to play SS because one player (Y) isn't coming .... you didn't even use that player (Y) at SS for any game last tourn ... argument invalid ... kid (X) is friend of coach bringing in rec players ...

Think I'm getting my answer just by writing this down...

thanks for letting me vent ...

 

[PlanoHeat]

If your still debating it then you know the answer.

 

[tnacntv]

You answered yourself in #1. Time to move on! Theres too many 'cons' and not enough 'pros'. Cut the ties and look toward the future. Spring is right around the corner and with that comes a lot of tryouts! Get your money back and close that door so another can open.

 

[alexander58]

Having 15 players on a team in a younger age group is poor judgement. Being mad at you for asking how many kids are on the team is clueless. If you stay with this team, it will be a miserable experience.

 

[Sparky Guy]

5SG,

Don't take this the wrong way. The fault is the coaches and yours equally. You are set with you older DD. She pitches and is one of the better players on the team. The younger DD is a soccer player who also WANTS to play softball. She is not a softball player who plays soccer. You stated she didn't work hard enough at it and now wants to be part of it.

What you need to do is take charge and step up. First off do everything you can to advance you younger DD's soccer career. Make that her focus. Give her every opportunity to excel at it. When it comes to softball let her play in-house and dabble with it as something to keep her busy.

With your older DD you need to do the same thing with softball. Give her every opportunity to excel at it. You never mention she like any other sports.

I have been coaching younger girls for a long time and my biggest issue is parents who have no ability to tell their children NO!. I've heard all the BS about wanting to play different sports and try them out. That's FINE. I have no problem with that. What I have problems with as a coach is a kid who is allowed to play multiple high-level travel sports at the same time. Sorry, there are not enough hours in the week to accomplish it at a high level. Something will suffer. Usually it's the sport that is #2 or #3 on the interest list. It sounds cold, but it's the truth and it's not fair to other players on the roster who have dedicated themselves to excel at one sport.

Over the years I've fought the same battles your coach is with parents. I've lost kids to other sports. I have no ill will towards them. They made a choice. What irks me as a coach is when I lose a player from an over use injury because she's play travel softball, travel volleyball and school basket ball after I told the parents it was too much for her before she even started all of it and I got the ole "She can handle it." line from them. Or I get the "But, she wants to do it." yadda, yadda, yadda.... The rant could go on for pages from here so I'll stop.

I have girl who I'm giving pitching lessons to who is doing the same thing. She is a great natural athlete but she's complaining her shoulder hurts since she's started volleyball. I see her throwing form falling apart and looking like a volleyball server. She also plans on trying out for her school basketball team. I told the coach of the team she's playing on that she's not working on her pitching between lessons and is not making any progress. He has adjusted his thought process when it comes to the spring. I know it should be "None of my business." but it is my business. It's my name that gets associated with that player when she steps in the circle. I know what type of pitcher I develop and I let the coaches know how a girl is advancing.

Move your younger DD off of the team and let her have a chance to excel without the off-field craziness.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

I have girl who I'm giving pitching lessons to who is doing the same thing. She is a great natural athlete but she's complaining her shoulder hurts since she's started volleyball. I see her throwing form falling apart and looking like a volleyball server. She also plans on trying out for her school basketball team. I told the coach of the team she's playing on that she's not working on her pitching between lessons and is not making any progress. He has adjusted his thought process when it comes to the spring. I know it should be "None of my business." but it is my business. It's my name that gets associated with that player when she steps in the circle. I know what type of pitcher I develop and I let the coaches know how a girl is advancing.

Really? Let me get this straight. You are taking money from one of your pitching students and bad mouthing her to the coach that she is not putting in the time for her team! I think that is extremely unethical of you and it is not your place to tell her coach anything of the sort. She may not be putting in the time YOU think she should be, but it really is none of your business to tell the coach anything. If she is not up to the coaches pitching standards, the coach will recognize it and not play her. There is a certain "privilege" (similar to doctor/patient) that one has when paying for PRIVATE lessons that shoud not be breached just because you might think it looks bad that might be producing sub-standard pitchers.

 

[shockcoach]

There is a certain "privilege" (similar to doctor/patient) that one has when paying for PRIVATE lessons that shoud not be breached just because you might think it looks bad that might be producing sub-standard pitchers.

Just curious, but where is this written other than your post? I have never read it anywhere. Not in any rulebook nor in any laws. Please let us all know where this is stated.

 

[Sparky Guy]

Really? Let me get this straight. You are taking money from one of your pitching students and bad mouthing her to the coach that she is not putting in the time for her team! I think that is extremely unethical of you and it is not your place to tell her coach anything of the sort. She may not be putting in the time YOU think she should be, but it really is none of your business to tell the coach anything. If she is not up to the coaches pitching standards, the coach will recognize it and not play her. There is a certain "privilege" (similar to doctor/patient) that one has when paying for PRIVATE lessons that shoud not be breached just because you might think it looks bad that might be producing sub-standard pitchers.

When a coach asks me how "Suzy" is doing I'm not going to BS him, especially when it's him sending the girl to me. Like I said, the girl is VERY athletic and was progressing very nicely. When her performance level dropped significantly and the coach asked why I will told him why.

Before the coach even asked I had a discussion with the pitcher and the father. I told them both right up front that we're having to go over and over the same things because she's not working between lessons. Dad says shes busy with volleyball during the week and doesn't have time to practice. I told them if she's not working then I'm wasting my time and his money. He agreed but still wanted her to pitch.

Before I take $1 from any parent I have a long talk with the pitcher and the parents together. I explain to them EXACTLY what it takes to succeed at the position. I explained to the dad if she just a positional player she could get away with the other sports. But, because she wants to be a pitcher she needs to dedicate herself to the position year round. And it's not because I said so, it's the nature of the position if you wish to play at a high level.

 

[Sparky Guy]

I think it's the NAME of the girl in the circle that people associate with the pitching, good or bad, not the pitching coach. She's doing the work and her family is paying you.

You are right and you are wrong. One of the first things someone asks when they see a good pitcher after finding out her name is, "Who the girl takes lessons from?" Especially if they are interested in lessons for their daughter. All the other stuff is a given about the hard work.

So I do have a personal stake in making sure I have the girls I work with as prepared as they can be.