Should she give up school ball?

[Towny9]

@bmakj, you are right and i should know to stay out of these type threads. Have a great day.

As a former high school coach I always laugh when I see these threads. I can’t imagine any player I had ever even asking to go to a private lesson during practice. I would guess at your stronger programs that just doesn’t happen. As a head coach at the HS level you can’t get into the “why” of missing practice. Like @Cannonball said - you would never have your whole team there and a kid missing for a lesson and still playing in games is disrespectful to the kid who does her lessons around team practice and then sits behind the kid who misses practice. I’m with you @Cannonball - missing practice is a Pandora’s box. Open it and your program will never be good.

 

[ang2bmd]

-doubt very many HS teams practice for 3 hours during school year, at least around here, 2 is more the norm.
-if lesson is only 30 minutes, I would expect player to be at some portion (beginning, end) of practice. DDs lessons are 60 minutes, half hitting, the other half catching or other defensive work
-you are going to have MOST of the team their every day. this also gives backups an opportunity to take some reps in situational field work, rather than just starter at every position getting vast majority

yes hitting is practiced in team practices, but no way any coach at most HS practices is giving the detailed individualized instruction that most batters need to truly excel.

and most schools are not fortunate enough to have experts in particular skills on the coaching staff. the pitchers will NOT get the instuction they need at most schools practices.

I simply said one day where no one is excused for lessons, ie schedule your lessons around that designated day, because yes, they do need to work as a team. they should also learn to work when starting SS is not theree because of college visit, injury, etc.

Our team did....3 hours every day...6 days a week...

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[texasheat]

If you were a HC you would be fired when your team couldn't function as a team due to a lack of having team practices if they all were allowed to do their individual stuff and practice with the team on their terms.. JMHO!

An example of what we did yesterday.

I ran the hitting and did team and individual work.
Our OF took balls off of a machine and off of a bat. A coach was there for all of this hitting the live ball.
Our IF did individual position work, took balls in infield, and then did some situational work fielding bunts and doing bunt responsibility.
Our catchers did individual work with a coach who holds several college records at her former college. Then they jumped in to do the bunt work.
Our pitchers worked with our pitching coach who holds several records at her former college.

4 coaches? For a high school? That's incredibly rare. Hard to compare those practices to a typical middle school practice.

 

[texasheat]

As a former high school coach I always laugh when I see these threads. I can’t imagine any player I had ever even asking to go to a private lesson during practice. I would guess at your stronger programs that just doesn’t happen. As a head coach at the HS level you can’t get into the “why” of missing practice. Like @Cannonball said - you would never have your whole team there and a kid missing for a lesson and still playing in games is disrespectful to the kid who does her lessons around team practice and then sits behind the kid who misses practice. I’m with you @Cannonball - missing practice is a Pandora’s box. Open it and your program will never be good.

Did you happen to notice that the original post was regarding a middle school team?

 

[Tide_will_Roll]

Biggest problem here is that a MS coach is implementing rules based upon the complaints of a 13 YO girl...

Or very possibly a 13 YO girl's mom.

 

[Tide_will_Roll]

A school pitching coach would be reason to quit.

Not so fast, my friend. One of the assistant coaches at the h.s. my daughter will be attending is a former D-1 pitcher. She is also my daughter's pitching coach and used to coach for one of the better clubs in our region. She is excellent and highly regarded in our area.

 

[Tide_will_Roll]

@Cannonball I appreciate your wisdom on these threads. Facing some similar issues on my DD's HS team this year. We are cutting them a little slack because of COVID we are glad to be having a season. Next year expectations will be set at beginning of season school ball is the first priority.

PS- On middle school ball about 7 years ago there was a player whose parents were convinced that Mike White was going to sign her at Oregon, so they wanted her to go to her club practices. She was told to choose. Life is about choices. She isn't playing in a P5 conference, pretty sure she's at a JUCO and recovering from injuries.

So, you are saying there is still a chance.

 

[KrisHur]

DD was stuck in that situation in 7th grade. MS practice/games were every day. DD is an A+ student who between practice and homework didn't have time for pitching lessons. After the first week of practice it became clear the coach was a soccer coach who knew NOTHING about softball and made little/no time for pitching. The team was very, very weak - 20 girls looking for something to do after school). So we approached the coach about her taking one day a week for her pitching lesson - she was their only decent pitcher and still developing. He said OK. Then a girl complained and he took away her captainship. This same girl went on to write an english paper about "dedication" and how captains should be there for every practice that was read aloud in class and quickly ran through the gossip vine throughout the school. DD is a better person than me, b/c I was ready to let her quit - the team was a waste of time anyway. But she sucked it up and led them to every victory they had. If she didn't play they lost. Thankfully she was able to try out for, and made, HS ball the next year. Would do it all over again, she needed the lesson and time for homework - I will always do what's in DD's best interest.

 

[heman1202]

This is exactly what is wrong with sports in the modern age. Everyone is out for themselves first, team last.
Thinking that it is ok to miss a team practice for an individual practice is putting yourself (your daughter) above the team. You can try to justify it any way you like but it is very individualistic. Schedule your lessons on your own time, team practice is just that, for the team. By allowing one or more girls to miss for individual reasons you are putting them above the team and that sends the wrong message. School ball season isn't long enough to justify that missing a few lessons is going to send you daughter down the path of despair. I imagine they throw bullpens everyday and they are pitching in games. She is not going to magically forget how to pitch because she missed a few lessons.

To each their own but if you commit to the team, be on the team.

 

[Towny9]

Did you happen to notice that the original post was regarding a middle school team?

I did not, but thanks for pointing that out to me. I would still hold firm on kids missing practice. I also probably wouldn’t practice Monday through Saturday either like I did as a high school coach. Coaches can set them up for success or failure with their rules. I would be firm about missing practice for any reason, but I would also try to build times in or days off where the kids could do extracurricular things, like lessons, without missing the team practice.