Roster 15?

[SoCalSoftballdad]

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.

I purposely used "similar" and not the "same" concept to make a point (of course there is not a legal issue here, but more ethical). If someone is paying for lessons, I would hope that the pitching coach would be looking out for the student and not undermining her behind her back. There is a lot of personal information that gets shared with a pitching coach, including whether and how much time she is putting in to get better, etc. and I would not want that information used against the student by the team coach. The student needs to be 100% comfortable to share information with her PC and if that trust is broken, the relationship is compromised.

 

[Sparky Guy]

I purposely used "similar" and not the "same" concept to make a point (of course there is not a legal issue here, but more ethical). If someone is paying for lessons, I would hope that the pitching coach would be looking out for the student and not undermining her behind her back. There is a lot of personal information that gets shared with a pitching coach, including whether and how much time she is putting in to get better, etc. and I would not want that information used against the student by the team coach. The student needs to be 100% comfortable to share information with her PC and if that trust is broken, the relationship is compromised.

The team also knows about the volleyball. She's missed team practices due to volleyball. The coach approached me and asked. The parents and pitcher know I have very good working relationship with the team coach. It's not a secret, the coach just wanted it confirmed.

 

[Sparky Guy]

Those pitchers who practice, practice and those who don't, well they may not be as good or get a scholarship to college, but these are young women and families who get to do things the way they want, not the way you want it for advertising purposes.

It's not for advertising. I can only work with a limited number of girls due to work and other commitments. What I make giving lessons amounts to some pocket money. The reason I do it is that I like to watch dedicated athletes grow and succeed to the full potential of their abilities.

 

[PEPPERS]

My first 2 years as a coach I tried to be a nice guy and take all the kids that wanted to play, both times the poo hit the fan. Parents or friends got mad if daughter did not get to play as much as so and so. If I placed daughter in center-field for one game and not shortstop or third they got mad and threaten to quit or did quit. It was one thing after another all I tried was to help as many kids as possible. Parents got mad because they had to pay gate fees to a game and daughter did not play the hole game, that is after I paid or got sponsorship money to pay for uniforms, insurance and tournament fees.

I forgot to add by the end of the season I had to get players from other teams to have enough to play sometimes 3 or 4. No wonder that guy Leo Darosha said nice guys finish last!

 

[Bishop]

I purposely used "similar" and not the "same" concept to make a point (of course there is not a legal issue here, but more ethical). If someone is paying for lessons, I would hope that the pitching coach would be looking out for the student and not undermining her behind her back. There is a lot of personal information that gets shared with a pitching coach, including whether and how much time she is putting in to get better, etc. and I would not want that information used against the student by the team coach. The student needs to be 100% comfortable to share information with her PC and if that trust is broken, the relationship is compromised.

How is an honest discussion about a player shared between coaches 'undermining her behind her back'? The rest of it...huh? Both coaches are trying to help the player to improve to her goals and full potential. If her goals (you and I don't know them) include pitching in college then she NEEDS to be serious about practice year round. Discussing the situation between coaches is doing thier jobs.

You seem to be of the mind that Sparky should be 'covering' for the player so that she can retain her spot on the team. That's not in any coachs job description I'm aware of. If someone writes it into mine, I'll quit.

 

[Sparky Guy]

In any case, by a certain age (I won't say because I think it is quite young), the pitching coach has little to do with the pitcher's success. It is the practice and dedication and the ability to teach yourself that matters but you can't force it on someone; that is what makes the star pitcher different; they come by the decision themselves.

That is like saying a teacher has nothing to do with a child's education. Who do you think teaches the pitcher the correct way to hold the ball, spin the ball, deliver the ball and everything else that goes along with learning how to do it. It's up to the player to work on what they've been taught to develop the muscle memory to repeat the same motion over and over with consistency.

Pitchers constantly look to their coaches. No matter how long a pitcher has been doing it things can creep into their motion that a trained eye can spot and correct. Even if they try to self-teach themselves. Why do you think the pro baseball teams have pitching coaches for multi-million dollar players. Many D1 teams have a pitching coach because of it. A good pitcher never stops learning or looking to improve no matter what the age until they stop pitching.

 

[Dusty]

I've taken my two dd's to a private coach for over three years now and I've never known him to have a conversation with either of dd's travel coaches about them, even the ones he personally knows. I know he's not the least bit worried about one of his students not practicing and not representing what he teaches when in the circle and he doesn't have a day job, professional fastpitch instruction is his full time job.

I'm not a professional coach and I don't mean to tell someone else how to run their business but if I were in the fastpitch instruction business I would be wary of getting involved with travel coaches about my student's progress. First of all, you risk injecting yourself into the everyday drama of a travel team and second of all your students parents who write the private lesson checks may come to believe your interest in preserving your reputation as a private coach is a higher priority to you than their dd's development as a pitcher, regardless of whether that perception is accurate or not.

 

[Sparky Guy]

I've taken my two dd's to a private coach for over three years now and I've never known him to have a conversation with either of dd's travel coaches about them, even the ones he personally knows. I know he's not the least bit worried about one of his students not practicing and not representing what he teaches when in the circle and he doesn't have a day job, professional fastpitch instruction is his full time job.

I'm not a professional coach and I don't mean to tell someone else how to run their business but if I were in the fastpitch instruction business I would be wary of getting involved with travel coaches about my student's progress. First of all, you risk injecting yourself into the everyday drama of a travel team and second of all your students parents who write the private lesson checks may come to believe your interest in preserving your reputation as a private coach is a higher priority to you than their dd's development as a pitcher, regardless of whether that perception is accurate or not.

The coach came to me and asked based on the girl's poor performance. I had a conversation with the player and the parent telling them exactly what I'm seeing BEFORE the coach came to me. Believe it or not I DO have the player's best interests in mind. She is well on the way to an over-use injury which will render her inactive in everything she does. The parents have put her in the position to let down 3 different teams and her own development as well because they refuse to put limits on her activities. There are only so many hours in the week and so much a developing body can take. It needs time to rest and recuperate.

 

[Bishop]

It's interesting to see how this is playing out.

Sparky stated he saw a decline in a students progress. He spoke with the players team coach about the problem. Tar and Feathers have ensued.
His major sin appears that he cares too much and went out of his way to get some additional assistance with motivating her to practice more, so she can be successful.

What would have happened had he said...Pffft, Not my problem. And keeps cashing the checks, if he even gets them. I'm sure no one would be throwing rose petals at his feet praising him for championing the rights of a teen aged girl to squander her talent and opportunities. I'm pretty sure I've read plenty of threads of people damning the instructors that do that.

Can't have it both ways people.

The thing that then must be bothering some of you is Sparky stated he feels the quality of his students performance reflects upon him as an instructor.
Ok and? I don't think I want my daughter learning any thing from anyone who thinks that her ability to learn something isn't a reflection on them as an instructor. Math, science, hitting or pitching I don't care, the instructor better feel that my kids ability to progress in the topic at hand is a direct reflection on them, otherwise they have no business teaching.

Now, I think I know where Sparky is from, and possibly what organization he or maybe his daugter was playing with in her travel days. I know a little bit about that organization, having been jack slapped by thier teams a few times. Would any of your opinions on this change if it came to light that Sparky is only teaching girls from a specific organization and has been affiliated with tha organization for...well, a while? I don't know that's true, but I strongly suspect it's the case.

What do I know. I know as a team coach, I talk to my pitchers private instructor almost every week about what she see's, what has changed, anything I need to watch out for at team practice, anything I can do to help her out if...? Pretty much the same stuff I do for my DD. If that makes me some kind of heinous coaching nightmare, I'm cool with that. I'm not sure how I'd feel about a private instructor that wouldn't give me updates on one of my players when I asked for it. I haven't encountered that yet.

I'd personally rather know what's going on with my players in thier development outside of team practice than blunder around blindly running into works in progress and adding to the players frustration with my ignorance of the situation.

 

[Sparky Guy]

Would any of your opinions on this change if it came to light that Sparky is only teaching girls from a specific organization and has been affiliated with tha organization for...well, a while? I don't know that's true, but I strongly suspect it's the case

Bishop,

Don't go by the name. It came from something else. But the daughter did play for a very high level program.

As for the one program... That would be a no also. But I do appreciate that someone does understand what it takes to do something well at a high level.

SG