Rule#1 for new coaches

[Cannonball]

I learned this from my mentor Tom Pile, "Never kill the kid in the kid!"

 

[nanotech14]

don't give out awards!!!!

 

[Mr.Ed]

It's way too complicated being a softball parent. Do this, don't do that. Offer to help, don't offer to help. Say this, don't say that.

This all true and down right stupid if you ask me. My daughter finished her first year playing competitive/tournament ball and now just went through tryouts and is on a new fall team. As a parent it took me about half the spring/summer season to figure all the do's and don'ts of being a parent (and advising your girl) of a kid playing above rec ball. Big learning experience and not one I can say was all that much fun to me. Daughter loved it and really grew as a player but there were some bumps along the way.

 

[BB875]

I am talking as a coach. You befriend the parents and eventually your decisions will be tougher to make. Its not difficult as a parent. Drop your kid off at practice time, pick them up ON TIME, come to all the games and be invisible! LOL.

 

[quincy]

Drop your kid off at practice time, pick them up ON TIME, come to all the games and be invisible! LOL.

You coaches know what you are doing and us parents will do just that. Well, we need to cheer a lot so we are not invisible.

 

[BB875]

You coaches know what you are doing and us parents will do just that. Well, we need to cheer a lot so we are not invisible.

I was kidding. Over 90% of the parent of kids I have coached are great!

 

[quincy]

I was too. Same about coaches, all my DD's coaches hearts have been in the right place.

 

[rowdy]

I am very friendly with all the parents. We go to eat during tournaments, we stay at the same hotels and genuinely like to be around each other. I will not take a player until I have interviewed the parents and consequently I don't have the issues many have talked about.

As far as making roster changes, well that is part of the game and parents and coaches both need to know it. I have seen coaches get more sideways for a player leaving than most parents do for getting cut.

 

[Greenmonsters]

For me the hard part as a coach was that when I played when a kid or teenager, no dads or men of any kind cared what softball was about. Maybe a mom or two at the most. Older sisters for sure and college and high school girls teaching at the rec center, the female gym teacher, yes. No teen boys watched or cared for sure (now they are dads).

Boys and dads made fun of us separately but went off to do their own thing. Boys and dads could have cared less what the girls were doing. (I will spare you the stories about being completely ignored, even when needing to go to the emergency room.)

Now, the dads and moms are hovering so much, the coaches hover so much, you can understand why I find it so disconcerting. I understand AND APPRECIATE the love and all, but can you love the sport and players with less micromanaging, verbal intrusion, etc.?

SB - your passion is evident in all your posts, but it seems outweighed at times by negativity. IMO, a vacation from softball may renew your perspective, otherwise why continue to do something that seems to bring so much angst?

 

[tguwarrior]

This might sound stupid to some of you, but I'm never cutting anyone. The way I look at it is if I'm coaching a kid and after a year or two she isn't progressing as a player then maybe I am the one who should be cut, not her.

My team moved up from 10u this year. 3 of the girls on last year's team were 9 so they stayed down, 4 of them broke off and formed their own team that fell apart shortly after try outs and now they all want to come back. That left me with 4 returning players.

I had players show up that I could have easily replaced 2 of them with, possibly 3, but they stuck with us so we are going to stick with them. It would be real nice to not have to worry about having try outs next year...